Dean Dunbar’s paddleboarding journey

Please tell us more about your paddling experience

Please tell us more about your paddling experience
I had paddled in my late teens, often as one day out experiences. When my wife, Rhona, and I moved to Scotland in 2002, we bought a kayak, and I mainly paddled on lochs. In 2014, a friend suggested I try SUP. Six months later, we spent three days paddling the 92km Caledonian Canal. I was hooked and spent the next five years taking on various challenges, sometimes solo and sometimes with friends. In 2018, I injured my foot during the 11-city non-stop race, so now I do prone paddleboarding, which I absolutely love.

What has helped or supported you the most to continue paddling?
Being blind, it isn’t always safe for me to take on some challenges alone, so having Rhona or friends as sighted guides has made my bigger adventures possible. I also started racing, and the support I get from the organisers is invaluable. When I started doing extreme sports back in 1998, I would regularly encounter issues when I mentioned the “blind thing”. GBSUP, SSF, and other UK event organisers have always been very positive and inclusive, for which I am very grateful.

Trust in your guide is a major factor and can take some time to build. I have a really good friend, Patrick, who has been my guide on several adventures. During a trip to St Kilda, we arrived at an island called Haskier to spend the night. Patrick told me that the only way to get onto the island was to leap up from my SUP, grab a narrow ledge that I couldn’t see, and then pull myself up onto it. I leapt at the cliff from my SUP, and as my hands hit the rock face, it was flat, and I began to slide down it. Just as I’d come to terms with the fact I was about to take an early bath, my fingertips felt the ledge. I grabbed onto it and was then able to pull myself up.

What should people consider when supporting blind or visually impaired paddlers on the water?
When I’m paddling with friends, I appreciate people describing the trees on the hill or the old castle. I also like it when they tell me about the state of the water, whether it’s lumpy or if there are boat wakes. For guidance, I work best with clock-face directions, such as “Go to 11 o’clock” instead of “Go left a little bit.” 

I have one friend who has used my blindness to our advantage when we were in a kayak race. He would tell me that a boat was catching us up and I needed to pick it up a gear. I later discovered that there was no boat, but he knew what motivated me. 

Find out more about Dean’s story over on the Paddler UK website. https://paddleuk.org.uk/https://paddleuk.org.uk/