What on earth drives two young blokes to cast away from sunny little England, great friends and cool beer gardens to spend three months working hard day in day out in the extreme heat with no shade during the day, enduring salt rashes, physical and mental exhaustion, large swells, reefs, sea sickness, sharks and large open water crossings?
Good question.
In fact, we have started to wonder the same thing!
Fortunately, we have a fantastic motivation that is pushing us forward with our planning, fundraising and ultimately the paddling. The Golden Arc Expedition is the launch pad for our fundraising to start the Get Exploring Trust (Charity reg number: 1166901).
GET aims to inspire young people from all backgrounds to get into the outdoors, to test themselves in different environments, and to push their limits. We want to help people develop their character through exposure to challenging, exciting and inspiring experiences. The Trust offers small to medium size grants to individuals who need financial support in order to achieve this aim.
Moreover, we want to support individuals who have engaged in outdoor pursuits in using them to enhance their CVs, have the confidence to discuss them in interviews and maximise their experiences to develop as characterful and employable individuals.
We passionately believe in this aim and hope that you will buy into the idea too. In an age when it may be most needed, adventurous training seems to be dropping further and further down the list of priorities. The potential for GET is vast, however it starts at a very basic level. It may be as simple as a grant to buy a pair of walking boots, train tickets to Scotland for a navigation course, or even a place on a British Exploring expedition to Greenland, the Himalayas or the Amazon.
More information about GET can be found here.
How can you help? I hear you cry!
Well thank you very much, I am glad you asked. We will be open to donations on our Virgin Giving page shortly. We are currently just waiting to receive our HMRC number from Mr Taxman so we can claim gift aid on generous donations. In the mean time, please put a couple of quid, or more, aside so that when we are up and running we can go full throttle and raise a bit of cash. If 3 months and over 2000 miles of pain and suffering in a kayak isn't worth a few bob then please let us know what is and we will see if we can fit it in next year!
