British Adventurers Dave Cornthwaite and Sarah Outen have successfully completed their Blue Bath2London challenge, becoming the first to Stand Up Paddle (SUP) between Bath  and London. They completed their journey across England arriving at Tower Bridge today, 8th June, to coincide with World Oceans Day.

The duo who between them have set world records by rowing or paddling across oceans and continents, paired up for the week-long endurance challenge, Stand Up Paddling  the 150 mile long route navigating 114 locks on the way.

Cornthwaite, who once skateboarded across Australia and also paddled the length of The Murray River, Australia’s longest river, and Outen, who rowed solo across the Indian Ocean last year, measured their trip in Blue Miles, which are miles travelled on or beside the water. The dynamic duo are both Ambassadors of The Blue Mile - Race for the Environment, the UK’s newest mass-participation event which encourages participants to swim, paddle or walk for our seas. They were planning for 100’s of paddlers to join them for sections of the trip aiming to amass a total of 1000 Blue Miles before they reached their finish line at Tower Bridge.
Speaking from London at the end of the challenge, Cornthwaite said “Between us, Sarah and I have crossed oceans and travelled along some of the world’s longest rivers, so to experience a Blue environment much closer to home and to share that with so many other paddlers, cyclists and walkers has been a privilege. Wherever we are our seas, lakes and rivers are all interconnected, and after 150 miles to arrive at Tower Bridge on World Ocean’s Day is the icing on the cake.”
Outen added “My favourite bits of the planet are the blue bits – the oceans, the rivers, the lakes – so it is great to be ending our journey on World Ocean’s day. We are a maritime nation with thousands of miles of coastline here and overseas territories, so for us to land in London today is a little reminder to Westminster that we need to protect the wonderful wildlife and qualities of our shores and seas right around the world. Water and life are so intrinsically connected that now, more than ever, we need to protect it and all the services and habitat it provides and the wildlife living there.
Our journey has shown how important water is to people – for food, for transport, for enjoyment, for fitness, for homes – it has been wonderful to see this and to be able to encourage more folks out onto the water with us to clock up some blue miles. “
The Blue Bath 2 London is being supported by Sport Environment and promotes the Blue Climate and Oceans Project, an initiative that works with sports men and women to harnesses the popularity of adventure sports that showcase the natural environment.

Other supporting sponsors include Spaceships Campervans, Starboard, Africa & Asia Venture, Palm Equipment Europe, Cotswold Outdoor, Nakd Wholefoods and the Family Adventure Store

British Adventurers Dave Cornthwaite and Sarah Outen aim to be the first to Stand Up Paddle (SUP) between Bath and London. The pair, who between them have rowed and paddled across both oceans and continents, are to team up for the first time, to endure a week of Stand Up Paddling across the UK from Bath to London. They are aiming to arrive into London’s Tower Bridge on the 8th June to celebrate World Oceans Day.

Cornthwaite, who once skateboarded across Australia and also paddled the country’s longest river, and Outen, who rowed solo across the Indian Ocean last year, are measuring their trip in Blue Miles, which are miles travelled on or besides the water. The dynamic duo are both Ambassadors of The Blue Mile - Race for the Environment, the UK’s newest mass-participation event which encourages participants to swim, paddle or walk for our seas. They are planning for 100’s of paddlers to join them for sections of the trip aiming to amass a total of 1000 Blue Miles before they reach their finish line at Tower Bridge.

“Fusing sport and travel is a great way to enthuse people about the Blue environment in which they play and train,” Cornthwaite says,  “there’s no better way to celebrate the spirit of British Adventure than travelling through our own country with an ever-growing group of strangers joining our ranks.”

“SUP is similar to surfing, but it’s much easier as you use a paddle to get around – a bit like punting,” said Sarah.  “I love anything that allows me to travel on water and get close to nature.  As a sport it is great because it is so accessible and versatile - it can be done virtually anywhere by anyone, plus it’s a great way to keep fit.”

The 150 mile route isn’t just a straightforward paddle, as 114 locks – or portages - lie between Bath and London. Effectively, Cornthwaite and Outen are taking on the route of the famous Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race, with another 25 miles on top.

The Blue Bath 2 London is being supported by Sport Environment and will promote the Blue Climate and Oceans Project, an initiative that works with sports men and women to harnesses the popularity of adventure sports that showcase the natural environment.

Other supporting sponsors  include Spaceships Campervans, Starboard, Africa & Asia Venture, Palm Equipment Europe, Cotswold Outdoor, Nakd Wholefoods and the Family Adventure Store.

About Sarah Outen
In 2009 Sarah rowed over 4000 miles between Australia and Mauritius, becoming the first and youngest woman to row the Indian Ocean and the youngest woman at the time to ever row an ocean. She is now preparing for a self-propelled circumnavigation of the globe starting and ending in London, England. She's due to set off in April 2011.

About Dave Cornthwaite
Dave was the first person to skateboard the length of Britain and in 2006 broke a Guinness world record for the longest distance ever skated by travelling across Australia from Perth to Brisbane. In 2009 he completed a source to sea expedition along Australia’s largest river, the Murray, before becoming the first person to Stand Up Paddle the length of Lake Geneva. The Blue Bath2London is the second in a series of mini-adventures on Stand Up Paddleboards leading up to a World Record breaking distance journey in 2011.

About The Blue Project
BLUE connects people, their lifestyle and their passions by harnessing the popularity of adventure sports that showcase the natural environment. BLUE works with world-class sports men and women who share their experiences, their passion for the environment and their commitment to healthy living with the wider community. BLUE channels this content to build digital learning, social networking and mass participation activities designed to achieve measurable behaviour change and clear environmental and social outcomes.  www.theblueproject.org
The BLUE MILE – Race for the Environment is the UK's newest mass-participation event designed to engage people actively with our BLUE Environment. It will be open to everyone to take part and complete a mile in, on or next to a water environment. www.thebluemile.org
Charities
Dave and Sarah are paddling in aid of:

About AV foundation
The AV Foundation is an educational charity supporting rural schools in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It was established by the volunteering organisation Africa & Asia Venture ("AV") to help enhance the quality of school education in the communities served by AV volunteers. www.avfoundation.org

About CoppaFeel
CoppaFeel aims to hit home the importance of breast examination in younger women.  Cancer isn’t fussy about your age, it doesn’t conform to the over forties rule we try to impose on it.  As well as informing young women about breast cancer, CoppaFeel’s active campaign work strives to instil confidence in young women wishing to seek professional advice when concerns arise.  The ultimate goal of CoppaFeel is to reduce the incidence of late detection or misdiagnosed breast cancer.  www.coppafeel.org.


For more information:
·        Visit www.thegreatbigpaddle.com
·        Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
·        AV foundation: www.avfoundation.org
·        CoppaFeel: www.coppafeel.org

During the adventure:
·        Contact the support team on 07872 986084
·        Donations can be made in person or online at www.justgiving.com/greatbigpaddle

Article and Photos by Tyler Hustrulid

Spring is definitely on it’s way to Wilmington! As the water warms up, more people are drawing their paddles out of the corner of the garage and heading back out on the water. This was obvious at our March outing. We are pleased to report that the number of SUP Cleanup participants has steadily increased with each event, which means more hands to help remove trash from our local shores.
On the morning of Saturday the 20th, Wrightsville Sound was cool and glassy off the beach behind the Blockade Runner Resort, our rendezvous. Paddles sliced cleanly through the water’s surface, which made for a quick trip to the nearby spoil islands. It was a superb day for younger and new paddlers to get outside and practice their sweep or try standup paddleboarding for the first time.
Weeks ago, we had spied a pile of old abandoned crab traps and even a rusted-out bicycle laid-up on one of the smaller spoil islands. We thought that was a good enough indicator of a place to start the day’s efforts and it wasn’t long before trash bags were filled, tied-up, and brought to our support boat to be hauled back to shore for proper disposal.
Perhaps one of the best parts of waking up early to spend time around these small islands is being able to observe the local flora and fauna that call them home. With the season’s change now rapidly underway, we noticed how the bushes and shrubs had grown small green buds, still waiting to unfold, and how the grasses didn’t crunch so much under our feet. Unfortunately, the bugs, while not yet a terrible nuisance, are also beginning to emerge. A pair of swans flew overhead and circled back low for a closer look at us before gliding onwards to another landing spot. On this day, a single Canada goose was making a fuss at our arrival, squawking and flapping about. We found out why when a perfect little nest of goose eggs was discovered tucked into a thick clump of grass. Everyone crept over carefully to take a look at the mother goose’s pride she was protecting before hopping back on our boards.
It was so nice to be outside and on the water that the group decided to continue on to another island. On the second island, so much trash was accumulated in so little time that we had to stop and call for a second boat to assist us in hauling our collection back to shore. All told, we gathered enough litter to fill dozens of heavy trash bags, tied-up tight, and several large objects like Styrofoam blocks, metal pipes and wire panels, plus, one generously used bicycle.

View all of the images from this cleanup by clicking: HERE

PLYMOUTH UK (Thursday 25^th March 2010) The National Marine Aquarium has joined The Blue Mile as an official support partner to encourage people to walk The Blue Mile around Plymouth's historical waterfront on Saturday 3^rd and Sunday 4^th July.

For those who want to take part in the 'Race for the Environment', but don’t fancy getting wet, the National Marine Aquarium are sponsoring The Blue Mile Walk and you can register for free at www.national-aquarium.co.uk. The one mile walk will start at the Aquarium and finishes at West Hoe taking in some spectacular views of The Sound and the opportunity to catch not only the water-based activity below but also to take in some stunning scenery as well.

Everyone who takes part will receive a map with a guide on what possible marine life you could spot and a certificate once the walk is complete.  So if there’s someone you know taking part in the water you can do your bit on foot!   The walk is suitable for families – so get the children involved.  The mile walk is unsupervised so start when you want and take as long as you’d like.

The National Marine Aquarium will also be running workshops for children throughout the two days in the Blue Mile Event Village.

Paul Cox, Head of Science and Learning

‘’We’re very excited to be part of the Blue Mile – Race for the Environment and to give the opportunity for more people to take part through Walking.  We are passionate that as many people as possible spend as much time as possible in, on or by the sea.  This event is a great chance to get people engaged and hopefully feel the benefits of spending time in the natural environment.”

Conrad Humphreys, Sport Environment

“It’s great that the UK’s largest Aquarium has teamed up with the Blue Mile to sponsor the Walk. I hope everyone that takes part in the Event will visit the National Marine Aquarium to understand a little bit more about our undersea world and what they can do to look after it.”

Free registration for the National Marine Aquarium Blue Mile Walk is at www.national-aquarium.co.uk and for more information about The Blue Mile, please go to www.thebluemile.org.