Shayne checking in after the “Quiksilveredition Paddle 4 Humanity” fundraiser held this Sept. 13th in New York, paddling from Montauk to Block Island,18 miles.
15 paddlers made the crossing over a steel gray sea to raise $45,000 for the “Miracle House,” as well as other worthy charities based here in NY. The morning started off with choppy shoals and a daunting dense fog, turning into a golden shroud of cloud cover and glassy seas for the remainder. As it was not a race we stuck together covering the distance in about 6.5 hours and upon arriving at the picturesque Block Island we were greeted by orange banners, an excellent lunch, and Bart Hopkins – happy to see we had all made it alive.
I want to thank everyone at Quiksilver who gave this project the green light and gave me the opportunity to be a part of it. I have roots here in NY, my Dad being a pioneering surfer on the Long Island coast and it was great to connect with a hardy bunch of salts willing to swim over the same waters the world record 4,500lb. Great White shark was harpooned. Bart Hopkins did an outstanding and thorough job through the whole event, and along with Dan & Anita Hopkins, took great care of me during my stay.
Other highlights:
*Ran into Izzy Paskowitz and crew throwing a “Surfer’s for Healing” event at Ditch Plains, Montauk the day before the paddle. I jumped in to help out and spent my pre-paddle warm up day taking children with Autism on the waves.
*Visited Stuart & family at “Air & Speed” along with Bart and connected with Lars from “Main Beach”
