By Sarah Thornely
SUPJunkie

Photos:
Will Reddaway

www.thelongpaddle2021.com
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www.abovewater.org
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Brendon Prince – the Sovereign of the seas

As I finish writing this article, today marks a historic moment for the sport of Stand Up Paddleboarding – in September 2021, after over 140 days on the water, Brendon Prince has become the first person to circumnavigate Great Britain with his epic adventure challenge ‘The Long Paddle 2021’. 

Reading back on the last instalments of Brendon’s adventure, we realise how far he has travelled around the coastline of Great Britain and what he has achieved.

We have followed Brendon battling up the west coast of Scotland, around gnarly Cape Wrath and along the crazy waters at the top of Scotland, finally reaching John O’Groats safely. From there, it has seemed that in the blink of an eye, he had reached Norfolk.

BIG landmarks

Since the start, the team has focused on the BIG landmarks, the Bristol Channel, Cape Wrath, John O’Groats and seeing this last one as ‘halfway’, although it is more than that in miles. 

Brendon, Will and Harry saw the east coast as a much kinder and easier paddle, but it proved not to be the case. Three good days in with some good northerlies and then a very frustrating time as paddling ground to a halt.

Having not seen his family for ten weeks, Brendon’s wife and children flew up to Aberdeen to spend almost a week with him – the boost to them all was immeasurable.

The crossing near Edinburgh was a huge effort, and the Humber? In the words of Brendon, “No one should ever paddle that.” Three shipping lanes, dry firing where Brendon was landing, constantly talking to coastguards, harbour masters and military before and during the paddle – the word ‘eventful’ doesn’t seem to cover that day. Then on to the Wash for more of the same.

Lincolnshire to Norfolk was challenging and pretty emotional for Brendon and a real landmark in his eyes of returning to the south and, therefore, one paddle stroke closer to home. If you have been checking the Live Tracker, you will have seen the vast bodies of water he has had to cross and how far around the coastline he has paddled.

The joy of the east coast was civilisation, people and company, different faces which I am sure the whole team appreciated – a very different feeling from the isolation of Scotland.

Fast forward a few weeks, and after safely navigating the Thames Estuary and the Port of Dover, Brendon was paddling around the beaches of the South Coast, where he finally enjoyed the company of paddlers and supporters on the beach – the weather was kind for the most part. He could stop at any time if he wanted to chat and spread the word about his challenge and fundraising.

Meet up

Jordan Wylie (of The Great British Paddle) and I were lucky enough to meet up with Brendon at Southsea, near Portsmouth. He’d finished paddling and had been met by a big crowd. Once they had dispersed, we were able to chat with him and Harry about their exploits, and I was lucky enough to grab an interview on the beach. Brendon was everything, and more we hoped he would be and what a pleasure to spend time with him, Jordan, Harry, Mark Short, who has been supporting the challenge from day one, and Phil from Christian Surfers UK, one of the charities being supported by TLP2021. All decent men with big hearts.

Please check out my interview on our Supjunkie YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/A_nlChoVq48

There have been world records aplenty! On July 19th 2021, Brendon became the first person to SUP from Lands’ End to John O’Groats via only the coast. He achieved this in 74 days and 12 hours. One of the first people to congratulate him was Jordan, who fully supported Brendon’s adventure. 

The longest ever journey

In early August 2021, Brendon broke yet another world record, the longest ever journey by a stand up paddleboarder, surpassing Shilpika Gautam’s 2017 record. He is also the first person to SUP the entire mainland coast of Scotland from the English border to the English border.   

On August 23rd, Brendon ticked off paddling the four corners of mainland Britain by passing Lowestoft, the most easterly of those corners. 

NOW, he is the first person to circumnavigate mainland Britain by SUP! A pretty unbelievable feat, but there it is – an epic world record.   

This journey has not just about world records, but these do highlight the huge accomplishment from Brendon and will further raise awareness of the events over the last few months and the fundraising goals.

Other charities being supported are categorised into four different sections:

• Water safety with the RNLI, Above Water and Surf Life Saving GB.
• Helping children with The Wave Project.
• Men’s health and wellbeing with Christian Surfers and Andy’s Man Club.
• Coastal environments with Surfers Against Sewage. 

If any of these are dear to your heart, you may wish to donate through The Long Paddle website.

There has been wildlife aplenty on this trip, huge pods of dolphins, gulls of all kinds swooping so close to Brendon’s board as if to knock him off, and a large colony of seals being playful in the shallows and almost blocking his way into the ocean! In 100 days, Brendon has only actually fallen off his board ten times (not that we are counting!) Testament to his paddling prowess and awareness of only paddling when conditions allow him to with his ‘Surf Life Saving’ safety awareness hat on. 

Brendon and the team are now looking at the LEGACY of this trip, and plans have been underway for a few weeks for their return and hopefully the build of that app. 

We hope you have enjoyed following Brendon’s journey; we certainly have! We were never in any doubt that this challenge could be achieved, and we wish The Long Paddle every success in building the app – if there is any way you can help, however small, please do visit the website. We want to thank Brendon and his team for having us on board and providing us with all the help we needed to write these articles.

That’s a wrap

Can you imagine paddling into the finish with over 100 paddlers, back to your beloved home town of Torquay with hundreds of other supporters and press waiting for you on the beach? This was the day when Brendon Prince entered into that small band of incredible people, raising awareness for something close to his heart by doing something that no one had ever done before.

The emotion, tears and happiness was felt by all followed by pizza and beers at the local rugby club! Family, friends and supporters all felt the joy and love radiating from Brendon’s family. As always, he had copious amounts of time for all – so many hugs!

What was Brendon looking forward to? His family, his own bed, popping the kettle on for a cuppa and paddling with no route or destination.

We feel blessed to have shared this special day with everyone who was there – it was a truly beautiful day. Well done Brendon (and of course your wonderful team), your name is now etched in the SUP history books.

Official press release from The Long Paddle

Former Devon school teacher becomes first to stand up paddleboard (SUP) around mainland Britain. Brendon Prince, 48, has crossed the finish line at the end of his circumnavigation of mainland Britain on a SUP after 141 days, becoming the first person to complete this epic feat. To claim four world records (two of which are world firsts), Brendon started his epic adventure on April 27th from Torquay and headed clockwise around Britain. He battled the UK’s unpredictable summer weather, busy shipping lanes and treacherous tidal flows in the world record attempt and has now completed what many before him failed to do. 

Brendon took on this mammoth challenge all in aid of water safety. As an off-duty lifeguard, Brendon took part in a rescue attempt at Morgan Porth Beach, where the sad downing of three holidaymakers changed his life. From that day onwards, he has made it his life’s mission to teach drowning prevention, going on to found the charity ‘Above Water’. In completing this world-first, Brendon aims to raise £200,000 to develop the world’s first gamified water safety app free for all schools. 

In Brendon’s 141-day challenge, there were only 22 days when he did not paddle due to the weather conditions.

A father of three, Brendon says leaving his wife and children at home during this challenge has, “Been so, so tough, but they have been such a huge support in this journey the whole way through.” 

Being a father and a lifeguard, Brendon knows first-hand the importance of teaching children water safety. He hopes that schools will be better equipped to educate children on how to use the sea and inland waterways more safely in developing this app.  

“This paddle and the world records I have achieved are awesome, but the most important part of this whole adventure has been and will remain to be to spread the important message of water safety and drowning prevention.”
Brendon Prince

The challenges Brendon faced during his SUP adventure were numerous, and paddling from beach to beach with no boat support meant that he faced the perils of making it into shore after each gruelling day too. Brendon’s longest distance in a single day was 76km, and his shortest was 2km having to navigate the tidal flow around the UK coastline to aid him in his journey. 

“I am so pleased to have completed what many before me have attempted. Without those pathfinders, though, this would not have been possible. I am also incredibly thankful for the support from my family, support crew, friends and the whole Long Paddle family who have followed my journey the whole way,” said Brendon.  

Brendon paddled for 141 days to complete the 4000km (official mileage to be confirmed in the coming days) circumnavigation of mainland Britain.