Jordan Wylie: We paddled further than anyone before, and raised nearly £100,000
Interview by Tom Warburton
Photography: James May Media
Jordan Wylie is an author, extreme adventurer and former soldier. Dure Magazine talked with Jordan about his recent challenge to paddleboard around the UK coastline and the amazing fundraising efforts that came from it.
Hi Jordan, thanks for catching up with us, can you tell us a little about yourself?
I love adventures around the world, often in the most remote and hostile environments on the planet. I’m not the fittest nor a professional athlete so I hope that it shows people you can achieve anything you want to do if you really believe in something and work hard.
I want to make a difference through fundraising, and inspiring young people. I’m a UK ambassador for Army Cadets and want to inspire young people through the spirit of adventure.
You’ve recently completed an epic SUP around the UK, what kind of planning did you undertake to complete this?
The planning was seven days it was pretty incredible! 2020 for me was mainly focused on my “Running Dangerously Polar Edition” attempt. I was planning to run ten marathons in the ten coldest places on the planet.
It tied on from my previous “Running Dangerously” challenge which was a series of marathons in some of the world’s most dangerous countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.
Then lockdown happened, as we couldn’t really do anything, I came up with running a marathon in a cryo chamber, bringing the North Pole to me!
Lockdown and COVID affected my plans massively. When we reached June/July lockdown restrictions were lifted slightly and we were allowed to paddleboard. I had never paddle boarded before, so yeah it seemed like a pretty cool thing to do!
It was great for my mental health and allowed us to engage with the public and raise money for charity. No one had successfully paddle boarded, around the UK so was a completely new challenge. Because I was a novice, a lot of people had written me off. That spurred me on even more!
I had an incredible team to support me, you don’t do anything incredible on your own, from filmmakers, physios, first aiders, a psychologist among others. If you want to do incredible things, surround yourself with incredible people. You’re a reflection of the people you surround yourself with. if you are surrounded by miserable people you will be, if you’re surrounded by positivity, you will be. You don’t necessarily have the best people, but the most driven and committed.
We had a lot of social media critics saying we failed. We never failed, we inspired young people. We paddled further than anyone before, and raised nearly £100,000 -for me it was a great success. We (as a team) learnt a lot about ourselves, we were constantly told we wouldn’t get past certain areas. We broke down barriers one day at a time.
Being exposed to open water for such a long period can do serious damage to your body, how did you find the SUP on your body?
Yes, of course, you suffer a lot of physical exhaustion. In July/August I was paddling 16- 17 hours a day, lots of physical fatigue, day on day, it was knackering!
As my attempt progressed, and we hit autumn, the paddle windows became shorter. Ironically the start of the paddle was much harder as I had to paddle for much longer.
As I got up to Scotland, because of the weather and the conditions there are much shorter windows to paddle. The second half of my attempt in the autumn and winter was much psychologically harder.
I learnt to know my body, I’m not someone greatly into sports science, I try and stretch off and try and recover. At the same time, I want a shower and a beer, I’m not a finely tuned athlete!
Unfortunately, you’re SUP record came to an abrupt end, can you tell us a little about that and do you have plans to carry on?
Unfortunately, 24 hours before Christmas Eve, we had to stop. COVID had been prominent throughout the attempt. We couldn’t go into a lot of marinas to refuel, no harbours to get fresh food, we struggled to engage with the land.
Logistically this was a nightmare as we made further progress the pandemic unfolded much worse. We got a warning from the Scottish government, that we were going into Tier 4 restrictions and we would be breaking restrictions.
I could have continued a further 23km to John O’Groats, we would than have been awarded the record for the first Land’s End to John O’Groats paddle via open water. However, we want to inspire people and make the right impression. As such we had been asked to stop, so we stopped, we’re not above the system, sometimes you have to do the right thing and not what you want to do.
Stopping also meant the whole support team could see their families just before Christmas, which to me was really important.
It was highly disappointing but the toughest part came about a week after we’d finished. A week later it kicked in, I had been at sea for six months, now I was on my own, in tier 4. I couldn’t go anywhere and my mental health really struggled.
You’re raising money for Frontline charity, why is raising money for this cause so important?
I think for me personally, I’m a former soldier. I’d seen the effects of war and conflict on a child first-hand. I had always been able to piece the experiences in my own time but for children it’s different.
The hardest things I had seen, was the children of war, they’re innocent. For the last five years, I’ve been trying to inspire hope for children in conflict zones. In conflict zones, something as simple as education can inspire hope of a brighter future.
You have talked about how you have struggled with your mental health, has paddling around the UK helped with your mental health. Do you have any advice to anyone struggling with their mental health during lockdown?
I think it’s a funny one, I didn’t take my medication with me. It was the first time I hadn’t taken my medication since I struggled with my mental health. For the 4 - 5 months, I was on the paddleboard it was the most therapeutical thing in the world.
The doctor recommended not taking my medication. I’d never felt so good mentally, but within a week of coming off the board, I’ve felt the lowest I’ve ever felt, its complex issue. There’s nothing wrong with medication, if medication helps you with life, there’s no shame.
If I had any tips for people struggling with their mental health, I’d say just getting outside. Just going walking for sixty minutes a day is good in life for mental health.
Talking about it works as well, a problem shared is a problem halved. Possibly the biggest things I had learnt on the paddleboard psychological was re-framing negative thoughts into positive or neutral thoughts. When I was on the boat and couldn’t paddle, at the start I would be frustrated. I then reframed it, (being off the board) I can get a decent meal, I can speak to young people, I can recover, it allowed me to step back and look at the situation differently, reframing negative thoughts.
What kind of kit set up did you have with you whilst on the paddleboard?
In terms of kit, safety was always my main priority, being a looked at as role model for army cadets, sending out a good positive message, to young people was really important.
In terms of safety, my PFD (personal flotation device), my comms, my iridium tracker, my personal location beacon, my flares.
I was carrying things for night-time paddles, head torch, spare batteries. I also had a leash that connected me to the board. I chose a waist belt for extra safety.
The right clothing is vitally important, avoiding things like hypothermia, and being able to regulate my temperature, through headwear and other items is essential.
I’d also carry stuff such as snacks and nutrition. Sun cream is vital, the sun is magnified at sea so it’s important to protect yourself. I was very lucky to have had a very good sponsor to support me throughout the attempt.
You have some pretty cool plans coming up in a pretty cold place, can you tell us a little about it?
Well, it was supposed to happen this year, but I’ve been just told a few days ago that this year’s North Pole season has been cancelled. I was supposed to be undertaking a marathon in the North Pole. It’s part of my “Running Dangerously: The Polar Edition”. I’ve still got a few marathons to complete in places such as North Pole, Antarctica, Mongolia, Greenland, Finland, and Svalbard in Norway.
If people want to catch up with you further, where can they find you?
You can find me on Instagram and other social media under @mrjordanwylie or visit my website: www.jordanwylie.org