On Wednesday 27th June 2012 John Harvey and Andre Le Geyt became the first people to Stand Up Paddle around the island. It took them 7.34 hours and they covered a distance of 33.34 miles.
Andre ” We had been planning this for a few months but the weather had been so up and down it had been hard to find the right day”
It all came together on Tuesday night when John and Andre were having a quick beer at Portlet after a boat trip to Le Minquiers.
John “We had been keeping an eye on the weather and at 11pm on Tuesday we decided that Wednesday would be the best day as the conditions were perfect. Light winds until late afternoon.”
Andre ” We left St Brelades at 10:45 and headed East, pretty much the whole way the wind was light and the sea dead calm. It was only when we got past Plemont that the wind picked up and there was a lot of water moving around the rocks at Grosnez which made it hard to paddle. That sections there was probably the only low point on the whole trip.
John ” Totally agree Grosnez was cold and dark but once past there we could see Corbiere and knew we were on the homeward leg, so we put how heads down and went for it.”
John and Andre both agreed that the hardest part of the paddle was as they came in to St Brelades bay as the wind had really picked up and was blowing straight in to them.
Once back on the beach the boys headed to the pub for a well deserved pint.
Click on the link for a short vid of the trip
Awesome, sounds like the boys had their work cut out for them…awesome!!! Stoked they enjoyed some brews after their ride! Great Job!!!!! : )