Its my first time posting here so forgive me if I'm going beyond forum boundaries but it is all for a good cause.
In 2011 South-East Queensland experienced the worst flooding it has seen in over 35 years. Three months after the floods, 2 local Brisbane lads (Adam Scott and Nick O'Keefe) paddled the length of the Brisbane River on Stand-Up Paddleboards. This 3 day epic adventure covered over 130km and is believed to be the first time this has been done on SUPs. This paddle was in preparation to compete in the 2011 M2O in Hawaii.
In one week's time (26, 27, 28 October 2012), Adam and Nick will be paddling the river again but this time they will be paddling to raise awareness and funds for the White Cloud Foundation (and this time they'll be bringing some mates).
The White Cloud Foundation is a Brisbane based charity that was created in 2011 to provide opportunities for survivors of Depression to enhance their recovery, regenerate themselves, and rehabilitate their lives in an attempt to reduce the chance of suffering from depression again.
www.whitecloudfoundation.org
Day 1 Friday 26/10: Wivenhoe to Kholo Bridge (start 6am, finish 3pm) - 50km
Day 2 Saturday 27/10: Colleges Crossing to Fig Tree Pocket boat ramp (start 9am, finish 3pm) - 40km
Day 3 Sunday 28/10: Fig Tree Pocket boat ramp to Gateway Bridge (start 9am, finish 3pm) - 35km
We'd welcome anyone to join us at anytime (Day 1 requires short fins and acceptance that your board will get dinged in rapids. Day 2 & 3 are deep water tidal assisted days (no rapids)).
Welcome to Seabreeze mate. We love this stuff.
Make sure you post some pics of the race. Good luck.
Sounds like a great idea. Personally would love to do the whole trip but will be away for the first two days but would love to paddle the last day. I would like to support the charity, give me a buzz tomorrow to discuss.
Thx Mark 
0418878806
Sounds great guys and I wish u all the wind behind your backs for a nice paddle. X
The guys are starting to log some km's in preparation for this Fri/Sat/Sun. The picture is from Sunday morning (Moggill Ferry to Jindalee Boat Ramp) - 20km. Average speed was 7.5km/hr (tide assisted!!!). Nearly paddled over a snake that was swimming from one side to the other.
Hi, how's it going? I was thinking of coming down to Fig Tree Pocket tomorrow morning to see you off. I've been looking for somewhere near me to paddle. The river hasn't looked very appealing but those photos you have up look really nice.
Day 1 and Day 2 are now complete.
Day 1: What a cracking day!!! We completed Day 1 of the Wivenhoe to Gateway Stand Up Paddleboard Adventure yesterday. 43km completed over 8 hours. Average speed was 6.8km/hr with plenty of shallow rapids which gave some special attention to the underside of our boards and fins. Overall, no injuries, saw dozens of wedgetail eagles, a platypus and an 8 ft carpet snake sunning itself on the river bank.
We were joined for the final 7km by the Cruice family with young Will (10 yr old
paddling by himself the whole 7km. Well done, thanks for making the end of our paddle so enjoyable.
Day 2: Colleges Crossing to Fig Tree Pocket Boat ramp. Started out as a beautiful sunny, blue sky morning until we turned the first river bend and the dreaded SE wind which gusted up to 37km/hr blasted us for the rest of the day. This gave us about 38km of headwinds with 2 glorious kms of tailwind. Possibly the hardest 8 hours of paddling I've ever done. We saw a kangaroo swimming in the river today, don't know if he was cooling off or trawling for sharks. He got out safely and bounded away.
Day 3 tomorrow departs from Fig Tree Pocket Boat Ramp at 9am (come on down iSUP), we've got a great gang who use the river regularly and will give you a chance to meet some SUP minded Brisbanites. I'll post some pics soon. So far we have raised just over $5000 for the White Cloud Foundation. I'm off to get one of the kids to walk on my back for an hour!!!!
I didn't make it - got in very late after a wedding last night and was too late getting up. Oops
I'd love to meet some locals. I don't have my own board but currently looking... Hopefully soon.
Done and dusted!!! Here's the story:
Day 1: Nick and Adam started with beautiful blue skies and tailwinds.
Plenty of junk still in the trees, check out the plastic up this gum tree!!!
Day 2: we were joined by a few mates with some support from Endura. This was one of the hardest days paddling we've ever had. 40km took just under 8 hours with about 90% paddling done into a headwind which gusted up to 37km/hr.
Skippy joined us for a paddle
Day 3: a few more mates joined us for the 35 km from Fig Tree Pocket to the Gateway Bridge. We had some great headwinds and a few solid tailwinds which had speeds up to 10.8km/hr. The final 5km to the Gateway was sheer headwind hell, made us feel like we earnt the cold beer at the end.
Storey Bridge: Check out the homemade board that Nick made: it was as fast as the new SIC X12!!!!
Adam pointing out a major supporter of the White Cloud Foundation: Stamford Plaza - Brisbane
Paddling through the city
Some of the boys did some fundraising the month before and raised $7500 for the White Cloud Foundation. Well done lads, it was a fantastic 3 days and we are looking forward to increasing numbers next year.
