Come see the blind
Words and photos: Dean Dunbar
Blind SUP part 2
Come see the blind man wet
himself more like! My personal
best in downwind had just
increased six fold and the blind
man was a tad uncomfortable.
For those of you who missed
the last issue of SUPM, my
name is Dean Dunbar and I’m a
registered blind adventurer. I
recently got into SUP and have
had a great few months
learning the sport.
ll of my previous
SUP adventures
had been in
training for the ‘Big One’:
an attempt to become
the first registered blind
person to SUP the
Caledonian Canal, a.k.a.
the Great Glen. A 96km
paddle from Fort William to
Inverness, taking in lochs Lochy,
Oich, and Ness, as well as multiple
canals and locks. All of this was to be
done over three days.
A
As well as Carl Sawyer and I, we also had
three others with us; Jason Sawyer (Carl’s
brother), Dave Butt and Dave Robson. Jason,
who is an extreme sportsman, would be on
the water with Carl and I, and the two Daves
would be following us on land, documenting
the trip. (Dave Robson is currently editing the
footage and hopes to get the film out soon.)
The forecast for the trip was looking tricky.
There was going to be a bit of rain and some
wind. There wasn’t going to be much
sunshine, but a lot of wind. And, oh yes, did I
mention the wind?
We started the trip at lunchtime on Thursday
October 2 at Fort William. We paddled the first
few kilometres through the canals before
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