We were thrilled to recently support Brendon Prince in his world-record attempt to live on a paddle board for the longest time! Brendon completed the challenge and broke the world record, living on his board for an unbelievable 8 days and 4 minutes! Brendon has now broken 9 paddle board world records. We were fortunate enough to ask Brendon a few questions about his challenge and paddle boarding.
- What was the inspiration behind the challenge?
Promoting water safety (putting a STOP to accidental drowning) and the use of our amazing coastline will always be my ‘why’.
Proving you can ‘live’ on a board for such a long time, if you have the skills and understand the conditions at sea was an important demonstration to show what can be done…safely. Smashing the previous, unofficial record of 5 days was cool too!
- How did you cope with making your meals on a paddleboard?
It was surprisingly easy! I’d made a custom build platform/vice for the gas burner and pot holder which made boiling water a 3-minute task and then adding water to a bag just took all the issues out of cooking at sea. There were times a little salt water got into my food due to the waves but it's all part of the adventure.
- What was your favourite meal during your challenge?
Real Turmat Pulled Pork with Rice was amazing! Loved that one, especially after a hard day's paddle.
- What was the hardest part of the challenge?
The night times are always the difficult times. Trying to sleep was limited, the weather on this adventure was worse every night and I also kept being joined by seals wanting to refuge on my board. I always rejoiced at the sunrise; the light makes everything easier at sea.
- How important was nutrition for you during the challenge?
It mentally gave me a boost at every meal. I played a game to ‘spice things up a bit’ (I know it can get very boring out to sea on your own) by putting my hand into my food dry bag and having the surprise that whatever I pulled out, was my meal. This sometimes meant I had curry for breakfast and banana porridge for supper but there was never a dull moment.
I was eating 3x meals a day with extras, it’s amazing how many calories you consume in such a small living space.
- How many calories did you need to consume each day?
Hitting the 4000 a day is very easy when paddling for 8 hours a day. I’ve reached 8000/10000 a day when paddling 20 hours daily for months on end.
- What future challenges do you want to do?
We have some very exciting adventures, big and small planned for the next few years and I’ll be letting you guys know the moment each one goes public. Doing 8 days at sea, living on a board was a test to see the reality of just how long I can be at sea paddling and the distances that can be achieved. The test went well!
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What advice do you have for people looking to start paddle boarding?
Getting a lesson should be priority number 1, even before you buy a board and paddle! The lesson will give you the skills and knowledge to start the sport off on a safe footing. Plus, they can help you to buy the ‘right board and paddle’ for you, I see so many people on the totally wrong board and they then wonder, why they can’t do it?
You can follow Brendon and keep up with his paddle boarding here @brendonprincesup and https://brendonprince.com/
