Surfski Knowledge Base

(Whatcom Paddlers had only a bit of description of the deed on their blog, maybe because so many of the local paddlers were already so familiar with the effort - read the next post also from Brandon. For a little more adventure read about Brandon and Heather's circumnavigation of Lake Baikal in 2003)

2nd video (from the very end of the monumental paddle)

From the beginning of Joe Glickman's¹⁾ article published in Canoe & Kayak²⁾ :

“Brandon Nelson has officially set a new world record for distance paddled in 24 hours. His tally: 151.87 miles . That according to Guinness, which certified the record Sept. 5. Nelson set the record August 21 and 22 on Lake Padden near Seattle, paddling his Epic surfski at an average speed of more than 6.27 miles per hour. The course, as specified by Guinness, was a 1.73-mile circuit on a lake without current.

The record was a long time coming. Nelson’s first attempt came in May, 2006. Seven hours into that effort, his custom-built, 23-foot carbon sea kayak cracked behind the seat. He had to paddle a heavy spare kayak for the next 10 hours while his crew worked on repairs – and still he notched 146.9 miles, eclipsing the previous record by nearly 10 miles. The triumph was a tribute to his mother, a former hospice worker who had died of ovarian cancer just weeks earlier….”

and at the end of this 2013 feat -

“ I was loaded into a waiting van, then shuttled just a minute or so to an ambulance before being taken to the hospital. I would be treated for 3 days with “Rhabdo” – a spike in large molecules entering the bloodstream from broken down muscles, that can lead to kidney failure if not treated with IV fluids.”