Peter Bray

iiI first started paddling at the age of 11, my first kayak was a canvas double sea kayak, which I paddled from Torpoint to Cawsands and back, this was not an auspicious start to my sea kayaking as it resulted in me being arrested by the MOD police in Plymouth Navy dockyards for being a threat to H.M.S Ark Royal, but things have improved since then.

I am a BCU Level 4 coach, in both inland and sea disciplines and I have been teaching and guiding professionally for the last 25 years. This has been in Nepal, New Zealand, Europe, North America to name just a few of the places where I have been lucky enough to dip my paddle blade.

Personal expeditions: In 1996 I circumnavigated Great Britain in a double sea kayak which was a first around the main land of Britain, this was leading a partially sighted man on a journey of a life time, many said this would not be possible, but just those very words, were like a red rag to a bull. This led me to another challenge, which many of my fellow paddlers, also said could not be done, when in 2001 I became the first person to kayak across the North Atlantic – this was from Newfoundland to the Republic of Ireland. My first attempt was a failure and became a bit of a survival epic, when my kayaks bilge pumps, reversed the flow of water and left me stranded in the Labrador Current, clinging to a life raft for 32 hours, tethered to a navigational buoy, undeterred I set about building the ‘Newt’ and set off again. This time the crossing was successful and 76 days later, alone and unsupported I landed on a beach on the west coast of Ireland.

In 2003 I circumnavigated Newfoundland, once more, solo and unsupported, living from my kayak.

In 2004 I led a group of military paddlers in crossing the English Channel in Kleppers and in 2005, Captained the first British team to circumnavigate the remote Antarctic Island of South Georgia, setting a record time of 13 days and ten hours.