Little Compton Paddle Boarders: 'We're OK!'

Little Compton paddle boarder Will Rich was sitting in Murrell’s Inlet, SC, on Thursday afternoon after a shortened day of traveling roughly 20 miles north on the Atlantic Ocean. He and his paddle board journeyman, Mike Simpson, were waiting for their ride so they could go camp for the night before heading to the Myrtle Beach area on Friday.

Rich said their , to paddle board from Key West, FL to Portland, ME by June or July, is on track, and they have finished about a third of their journey.

“We want to be done within 90 to 100 days of paddling,” he said over the phone. “We’re near day 36. Some days we only go about 10 miles, [and] others we go 34. We feel good and take one day at a time.”

The paddlers hope to raise $25,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project through their trip, as well as funds for SUP Clean-Up (Stand Up For a Cleaner Ocean).

Their journey is dubbed SUP the Coast, as in stand-up paddle.

Using Facebook, Twitter and their blog, Simpson and Rich have been organizing coastal cleanups with other SUP groups along the trip in advance of their next stop. Each day, Facebook users can view the paddler’s longitude and latitude location, always posted with a message of “we’re ok.”

They haven’t had as much time to keep up on their blog, but Rich said they hope to update it soon.

He said the clean-up efforts have gone well and the shores appear to be cleaner as they head north, saying he’s not sure if it has something to do with the tide.

They’ve had some tough weather on a couple of occasions, he said.

“Down in the Keys before Key Largo, we hunkered down in a mangrove for a half hour to 45 minutes when a storm passed over,” said Rich.

Just outside of St. Augustine, FL, two weeks ago Rich said they had to take shelter from tornados.

With the destruction from tornados that ravaged the midwest and southern U.S. states last week, Rich said they were reached Hunting Island State Park in South Carolina and heard about the tornado warnings over their weather radio.

“The guy we stayed with in Hilton Head said to call him if there were any problems, so we did,” said Rich. “He picked us up and we stayed with him.”

One challenge the paddlers are experiencing is the wind whipping them in the face nearly every single day.

“We’ve only had five or less days with the wind at our backs,” said Rich. “We’re constantly fighting the wind.”

He added that the Intracoastal Waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts presented a tiring mix of wind, water current and boat wake.

“With those mixed together, they can create some really rough conditions for paddling,” he said. “It gets pretty wild.”

Simpson and Rich have seen dolphins and manatees on their trip so far. Rich said one group of manatees than saw in Florida were docile, but later came across another gathering in a more desolate area of the wilderness.

“The manatees there were a lot more territorial and made themselves known,” said Rich, “flapping their tails. We were probably four to five yards away. One flap of their tails would send you off your board.”

Food and supplies are doing fine, he added.

“We’re making each day worth it,” said Rich. “We’re eating a lot of Spam.”

SUP team member Mimi Whitmarsh, of Little Compton, has served as a lifeline and public relations conduit for Rich and Simpson.

“Mimi has been the best she’s been doing an amazing job,” said Rich. “We can’t thank her enough for what she’s been doing.”

To follow their journey, start at www.supthecoast.com. View their introduction video here and their SPOT Tracking website here.