The original Paddle for Life started after lifeguards from Fistral Beach held a Joe Way memorial paddle to raise money for charity in 2008. Joe is the inspirational little boy who touched people’s lives around the country and beyond. His story of hope and fighting against all the odds with a cheeky smile has made what could have been the worse of times the best of times.
The Joe Way appeal and its supporters have raised over £119,000.00 in five years, of which £71,000.00 has gone towards building Cornwall’s first children’s hospice.
Joe’s small banner has now travelled the equivalent of 11 times around the world clocking up over 419,000km which is the equivalent of travelling from the earth to the moon and has been snapped with singer James Morrinson, boxer Frank Bruno and some of the worlds top surfers
Joe’s small light weight banner has been taken under water, up mountains, out to sea by surfers and strapped to Joe’s dad when he did a parachute jump.
One of the latest locations are from Rob Barber’s Bodyboard Coaching Holidays which have started in Ireland.
Rob Barber said “This was taken on my recent Bodyboard Coaching Holiday to Ireland. We surfed in the Bundoran and Easkey area and scored really good waves, there were riders from Ireland, England, German and beyond on the course. The waves ranged from 2 – 5 foot and were really fun and uncrowded all week. Everyone made huge improvements and enjoyed the huge variety of beach and reef breaks and the fantastic local Guinness”.
The bodyboarding tours carry on this winter to Morocco (November), Nicaragua (January), Costa Rica (January), Morocco (March) and Indonesia (March). All details are on bodyboard-holidays.com
Perranporth Signs who are a big sponsor of the appeal have just donated more banners which are ready to go global. If you are going away and would like to take part in this challenge, please call Matt Way on 07761079454 to get your banner on the global map. To see the global map click here
Matt Way said “This has been so much fun and was such a simple and unique idea. We still have lots of countries to add to the map so we may as well go for the equivalent of travelling to Mars”.
To learn more about the Joe Way Paddle for life and to check out the website go towww.joewaypaddle.co.uk next years paddle will be heald on Thursday 26th June from 4pm at Newquay harbour.