ROB Curtis the Surfers Against Sewage Rep for Trowbridge Wiltshire and Youth Worker at Holt Youth Club was planning to stand up paddleboard the length of the Kennet and Avon canal this year on midsummers day. He was going to attempt to paddle the 140km nonstop but with the virus lockdown this has been put on the back burner for this year.
Instead, Rob plans to paddle to the sea from his home in Holt, Wiltshire as soon as the travel restrictions have been lifted. This will mean he will carry his board and kit from Holt to Staverton where he will be able to get on the Kennet and Avon Canal. He will pass through Bradford on Avon and Bath on the canal before getting onto the river Avon. Once he gets to Bristol the river is affected by the tide, so timing will be everything to get to Avonmouth and the sea. Rob aims to land at Portishead probably one of the first beaches he ever went to as a child. The trip is 45 miles and Rob will do the paddle in one day which will be his longest trip to date. Rob is hoping to use sponsorship money to support Surfers Against Sewage and Holt Youth Club.
Throughout the trip Rob will be recording the plastic pollution along the way. Although on this trip he will not be able to remove the plastic, he will return to the worst affected places to organise river cleans working with the local communities. The plastic pollution that Rob records with his camera will be used to send messages on social media to the makers of the single use plastic as part of a scheme called Return to Offender ran by SAS. He will use the trip to engage with people along the way and discuss the need to give up single use plastic as well as talk about his trip afterwards with the Youth Club and local schools.
Rob works as a part time youth Worker running Holt Youth Club and over the last few years has organised sponsored micro adventures for the members to take part in, this time he’s the one having the adventure and doing the fundraising. The Youth Club relies on fund raising to keep delivering services for Holt and Broughton Gifford. The youth club is the lead organisation in Holt working towards Holt’s plastic free status aiming to get the village to give up single use plastic which will help protect the local environment and the planet. The group takes part in the SAS Summit to Sea Spring and Autumn cleans as it is important to realise that the most of the plastic that ends up in our oceans doesn’t start on the coast but comes from inland blown by the wind into rivers where they float out to sea.
If you would like to support Rob please go to his just giving page ‘Rob’s Paddle to the Sea’ or just drop him a good luck message at plasticfreepaddler@gmail.com you can follow him on Facebook and Instagram just search for plastic free paddler. At the moment there is no start date, could be in three weeks or three months who knows? Like everyone else he is at the moment he is staying at home helping to protect the NHS.
