Explorers Connect

Polar Bears and Paddleboards!

CommunityBelinda KirkComment

Imagine skirting around icebergs and taking in the stunning scenery of a Greenland from a stand-up paddleboard! It all started when Justin Miles and Paul Hymanabout 18 months ago. They hatched a plan to demonstrate the versatility of paddleboarding by paddling to the face of a glacier. The team grew, they gave the project some structure, and now they're about to head off to take paddleboarding to the Arctic.

Please take a look at this short video, with an introduction from Bear Grylls, to find out more Polar Bears and Paddleboards Video! One of the aims of the project is to encourage people to get out and try paddleboarding as a really easy and accessible watersport, so the ten man (or 'person' including Julez in South Africa!) team are running loads of trial sessions around the UK. You can find out more by visiting the 'events' page on the Polar Bears and Paddleboards websiteor please feel free to contact me if you'd like to 'have a go' 'Polar Bears and Paddleboards' is all about inclusion; the more people that the team can get involved, the more benefit the whole project will be to their charities, to promoting paddleboarding, to encouraging people to get outdoors and get active and for Justin's own personal passion - education. To get people involved, as well as running a series of events throughout the year and the members of the team dashing all over the place to talk with school and sports groups, the whole project is being filmed to create a documentary. Justin 'The Impostor' Hankinson will be with the team, not just as a paddling team member, but also as film-maker. Justin's resume is brilliant and lists involvement in lot's of TV programmes as well as, more recently, the latest Superman movie.

The documentary will be shown at film festivals around the world, the team will hold their own screenings at some rather 'interesting' venues in the UK and they have been speaking with TV channels about turning the film in to an hour-long documentary. There will also be creating a bespoke version of the film for DVD's to go in to schools with a large educational focus. The 'Polar Bears and Paddlebaords' team are now asking people to help them fund the creation of the documentary by getting involved through Kickstarter. You can invest any amount from just 1 upwards, but the 'rewards' on Kickstarter begin with investments of 10 or more (and some of them are really cool!). Please take a look at the Kickstarter page below, read through the rewards structure and get involved if you can KICKSTARTER! The more they raise, the more they can do!

Thanks for reading this post and please do get in touch if you'd like to try paddleboarding.

http://www.polarbearsandpaddleboards.com