Latest news with #paddleboarding
BBC News
a day ago
- Science
- BBC News
Kayakers and paddleboarders 'unknowingly' disturbing sea life
Researchers have warned kayakers and paddleboarders may be unknowingly disturbing whales, dolphins and seals in Scottish waters. Heriot-Watt University, with support from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, has documented hundreds of interactions between vessels and marine study included more than 400 hours of land-based observations across five marine regions, including protected areas. Researchers said disturbances caused by kayaks and paddleboards were recorded in the Moray Firth, Clyde, Forth and Tay. The study suggested disturbances from fast-moving craft such as speedboats also occurred in every area. Dr Emily Hague, of Heriot-Watt University, said: "The truth is that all of Scotland's coastline is important habitat for marine mammals."Whether you're paddling off the coast of Fife or sailing around Skye, you're likely sharing the water with sensitive species."We want people to enjoy Scotland's waters, but to do so responsibly by keeping up to date on how best to respond should you spot marine wildlife."She added: "With a little more awareness and a few small changes, we can all help ensure that sharing the sea doesn't come at a cost to the animals that call it home." What is the advice? NatureScot's Scottish Marine Wildlife Watching Code advises people to:Keep a distance of at least 100m (328ft) from marine mammalsAvoid sudden changes in direction, speed or noise - especially in engine-powered boatsAvoid surrounding animalsLimit encounters to 15 minutes and move on if animals show any signs of disturbanceAvoid using fast moving craft for wildlife watching due to their speed, noise and collision riskGive seals on land a wide berth
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Gisele Bundchen shows off post-baby body in plunging white swimsuit FOUR months after giving birth
Gisele Bündchen flaunted her fit 5ft11in figure, four months after welcoming her third child, while paddleboarding not far from her reported three homes in South Florida on Saturday. The 44-year-old CAA Fashion model showcased her post-baby body in a plunging white one-piece swimsuit while perched atop a Starboard inflatable paddle board holding her trusty oar. Gisele also wore sunglasses and a brown visor to shield her famous face and she scraped her brunette mane into a messy ponytail for her watery excursion. Bündchen might have retired from the runway in 2016 - but she's still every bit the influencer with paid partnerships for brands like IWC Schaffhausen, Boss, Democrata, Gaia Herbs, and VAARA. On February 5, TMZ revealed the sixth-generation Brazilian bombshell gave birth 'recently' and People later confirmed it was a son with the middle name 'River.' 'Now that my little one is sleeping through the night, I'm back in control of my routine,' Gisele told Vogue France last month. Gisele Bündchen flaunted her fit 5ft11in figure, four months after welcoming her third child, while paddleboarding not far from her reported three homes in South Florida on Saturday 'As any new mom knows, it's incredible how much sleep — or lack of it — can change everything! But once again, I feel truly grateful: being able to be home with my kids and enjoy every moment with them is priceless.' Bündchen allegedly paid $11K for plastic surgery procedures at International Clinique du Parc Monceau in Paris a decade ago, according to Page Six. The Feed Your Soul author's diet is said to be mostly plant-based and she made a big change in 2020 when she decided to get sober after turning 40. Gisele was joined in Surfside by two swimsuit-clad gal pals who also used Starboard inflatable paddle boards. Missing from Bündchen's side Saturday was her babydaddy Joaquim Valente, whom she initially hired in December 2021 to instruct her children and herself in jiu-jitsu before things reportedly turned romantic in June 2023. The Marc O'Polo muse denied having an affair with the 35-year-old jiu-jitsu 'professor' despite being pictured traveling to Costa Rica together in November 2022 - two weeks after finalizing her divorce from seven-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady after 13 years of marriage. 'This is something that happens to a lot of women who get blamed when they have the courage to leave an unhealthy relationship and are labeled as being unfaithful,' Gisele scoffed to the New York Times. On Father's Day, the 47-year-old Raiders minority owner proudly shared a snap of their 15-year-old son Benjamin and 12-year-old daughter Vivian as well as his 17-year-old son Jack (with babymama Bridget Moynahan). The 44-year-old CAA Fashion model showcased her post-baby body in a plunging white one-piece swimsuit while perched atop a Starboard inflatable paddle board holding her trusty oar Bündchen might have retired from the runway in 2016 - but she's still every bit the influencer with paid partnerships for brands like IWC Schaffhausen, Boss, Democrata, Gaia Herbs, and VAARA Bündchen allegedly paid $11K for plastic surgery procedures at International Clinique du Parc Monceau in Paris a decade ago 'Happy Father's Day to my dad [Tom Sr.] who taught me everything about what it means to be a father. And to all the dads out there that who are great role models to their kids,' Tom gushed on Instagram Sunday. 'My dad has always been my biggest supporter, my best friend, and my number one teacher not just in sports but in life. The values he passed on to our family - hard work, integrity, compassion, and unconditional love, shaped me in every way.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Telegraph
The 10 best places to paddleboard in the UK
Paddleboarding is an incredible way to immerse yourself in nature and explore Britain's waterways, whether rivers, canals, lakes, estuaries or the more than 7,700 miles of coastline. Seeing our countryside from the water gives a whole different perspective, says Joanna Moseley, author of Stand Up Paddleboarding in Great Britain. 'We are so lucky to have a huge variety of beautiful places and bodies of water to paddle on, and access to all the joy, community and health benefits of blue spaces'. To safely explore an unfamiliar waterway, national governing body Paddle UK advises paddleboarders to join a SUP tour or club or hire an instructor to guide you around their local area. Find places to paddleboard in: England Lymington and Keyhaven, Hampshire At the southernmost tip of the New Forest National Park, the sailing town of Lymington is situated on the mouth of Lymington River, surrounded by nature reserves, salt marshes and mudflats that teem with wildlife. British Stand Up Paddleboarding Association instructor Jo Styles offers a range of paddleboard experiences from taster sessions to tours of the river and saltmarshes, SUP picnics and private lessons and fitness sessions. Prices start from £15. Where to stay: Stanwell House Hotel costs from £210 based on two sharing, including breakfast.
Globe and Mail
7 days ago
- Globe and Mail
Make space in your life for ‘blue space'
Dan Rubinstein's latest book is Water Borne: A 1,200-Mile Paddleboarding Pilgrimage, from which this essay has been partly adapted. 'Hey! What's the rush? Take a break! Have a beer.' I'm paddling hard, head down, at the tail end of another sweltering, stormy day of voyaging west along the Erie Canal. The waterside campground I'm aiming for, on the outskirts of Weedsport in upstate New York, is less than a kilometre away. Knackered, all I want is a shower and food, not to hang out with some dude hollering at me from shore. Looking over my right shoulder, I see a small group on the back of a boat docked at a marina. A man with a big grin is waving me over. Despite what seems like a genuine invitation to join their party, it's not always wise to approach strangers who may be well into happy hour. But one of the main reasons I embarked on this journey – a 2,000-km circumnavigation from my home in Ottawa back to Ottawa via Montreal, New York City and Toronto – was to meet people. So I pivot my paddleboard and beeline to the boat. Matt Donahue helps me climb aboard and introduces his wife, son and friends. 'Where the hell are you going?' he asks, handing me an icy can of beer. Leaning back on a bench, I provide a précis. I'm a writer and love stand-up paddleboarding (a.k.a. SUP), and I'm curious about the curative properties of 'blue space,' about what happens when we spend time in, on, or around water. The aquatic equivalent of green space has received increasing attention in recent years from researchers who are interested in its impact on our psychological and physiological health, as well as the health of the planet. Concerned about these things myself, both the world's well-being and my own, I hopped on a 14-foot-long inflatable SUP with a couple drybags of camping gear and some notepads and started paddling down the Ottawa River toward Montreal. That departure took place early in the summer of 2023, which turned out to be one of the hottest ever on the continent (at least for now). Now it's late July, and nearly two months of immersion journalism, and about 40 self-propelled kilometres every day, are draining my energy and resolve. But Mr. Donahue and his crew are inquisitive and enthusiastic. They are happy for me. That somebody on an offbeat expedition is passing through their part of the state. There is teasing and laughing, high-fiving and rib-digging. Their joy makes me joyous. Mr. Donahue gives me another beer for later and we hug. Not awkward, one-armed back-patting. A real hug. 'Where else,' I ponder while paddling away, 'do two middle-aged men who've just met hug like that?' My obsession with blue space was sparked when I got my first paddleboard a decade ago. I had lived in half a dozen cities across Canada, all on either a river, lake or ocean, but never owned a watercraft of any kind. With a SUP, which can be carried under one arm, or in an oversized backpack if it's inflatable, I suddenly had intimate access to aquatic environments. When paddling, I could gaze at shoreline forests or the shimmering horizon, or down into the water at fish and plants, the primordial soup our ancestors clambered out of. When it was hot, it was easy to jump in for a swim. Whether in urban or rural areas, being perched atop a SUP always made me feel better. And while we interact with blue space in individual ways, I'm far from the only person for whom water is an elixir. The science is clear that being in nature is generally good for our bodies and brains. We tend to be more active and less anxious. Although it's difficult to differentiate between green and blue spaces, according to Mat White, an environmental psychologist at the University of Vienna and arguably the world's leading authority on this subject, water seems to uncork a multiplier effect. Dr. White explores what happens when we do anything (paddle, swim, surf, walk, sit) in, on or near just about any type of water, from vast seas to downtown fountains. After leading several research projects and crunching the data, he believes that blue space has a mostly positive and, compared to other outdoor environments, a more pronounced impact on our mental and physical health. 'The crucial point about that research was that it was the poorest communities and individuals who got the benefits,' Dr. White told me. 'If you're rich, it doesn't matter how often you spend time in blue space. You're healthy and happy anyway. But if you're poor, it matters hugely.' Water is a double-edged sword, Dr. White cautions. Drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death around the world. Around two billion people don't have access to clean drinking water. Rising seas, intensifying storms, widespread flooding and water-borne diseases are among the deadliest consequences of global warming, and they tend to displace and kill those with the least capacity to escape or adapt. These realities notwithstanding, people are happiest in marine and coastal margins, a pair of British environmental economists determined, gathering more than a million pings on their 'Mappiness' app. Blue neighbourhoods are 'associated with lower psychological distress,' reports a paper out of New Zealand. And taking the sea air – breathing in 'bioactive compounds that may originate from marine algae,' in the parlance of Belgian biologist Jana Asselman – appears to give our immune systems a boost. These settings also offer opportunities for social interaction, suggests a Scottish literature review, kindling 'a sense of community [and] mutual support between people.' Moreover, hanging out in blue space promotes 'pro-environmental behavior,' especially among children. In other words, we pay more attention to others and take better care of the planet. To decipher the mechanisms at play, I contacted another environmental psychologist, Jenny Roe at the University of Virginia. Blue space triggers our parasympathetic nervous system, Dr. Roe said to me before I left home, which basically tells the brain what our bodies are doing and then acts like a brake, dampening the stress response. Water can instill a sense of being away and boundless possibilities, she added, yet also a feeling of compatibility with our location, of comfort and belonging. Evolutionarily, this makes sense. Our bodies are mostly water and, like all living things, we need it to survive. Even looking at a creek or pool is enough to lower blood pressure and heart rates, a pair of University of California, Davis, psychology researchers concluded, attributing this link, in part, to our forebears successfully detecting drinking water in arid environments. I was thirsty throughout my trip. Lukewarm electrolytes don't cut in when you're paddling for hours in hot, humid conditions. But the kindness of strangers kept me hydrated. People in boats and on shore offered me cold water and sports drinks; they shared snacks, stories, local intel about guerrilla campsites and, on several occasions, let me tent on their lawns. Poor and rich and every socioeconomic status in between, Black and brown and white and every blended colour on the spectrum, they welcomed me and looked out for me. The interviews I had set up in advance were validating my holistic health thesis: in Kahnawake, Que., a Mohawk reserve near Montreal, I saw young leaders re-establishing their community's relationship to the river decades after the St. Lawrence Seaway was bulldozed through their front yard; I met kayakers on the Lower Hudson whose non-profits fight for free access to the river, so everybody can take advantage of its healing power. But it was serendipitous encounters that buoyed me the most. And even academics like Howard University's Lemir Teron affirmed that despite long histories of injustice, waterways such as the Erie Canal hold promise as public realms where a cross-section of people can gather. Why does blue space seem to encourage connections between strangers? There's no peer-reviewed paper on this topic, but I think it's because of the impact of aquatic places on our well-being, coupled with a latent danger that compels us to watch out for one another, and the fact that we tend to slow down around water, creating opportunities for face-to-face conversation. Much of my paddle took place in upstate New York, which leans Republican. One muggy morning on the Erie Canal, I pull over and chat with a man sitting on a staircase that descends into the water, feet submerged, below his Trump-flag-adorned RV. We discuss whether the dark clouds gathering to the northeast will blow this way. He thinks I'll be fine. Soon, I'm out of sight upriver and it's pouring, but there's no thunder and the rain feels like the best kind of shower. Had lightning struck, my new friend would probably have granted me refuge.
BBC News
12-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Wimborne wheelchair user wants to make UK water accessible
A wheelchair user is calling for more to be done to make the UK's beaches and waters accessible to Behenna, from Wimborne, wants people with medical and mental health conditions and disabilities to share their blue space experiences in an online 53-year-old paddleboard instructor said his own desire to get out on the water independently inspired him to set up the Beach Access Project."I know how powerful it is for me to be on the water and to be connected with other people on the water," he said Mr Behenna was seriously injured when he road his bike into a car while training for a triathlon aged broke his back and was left paralysed from the chest 2021 he began thinking of ways that he could get out on the water without built a seat for his paddleboard and in 2023 he began teaching others with medical conditions and disabilities to paddleboard. He described being out at sea as his "emotional therapy"."Being in blue space reduces anxiety and depression and improves emotional wellbeing," he said."It then has connections with physical wellbeing as well and that's what I want to be able to give people the opportunity to experience."Mr Behenna said after doing research he found that the UK does not have any beach access guidelines and noticed coastal facilities across Europe, Australia and America were much better equipped for people who need support."We've got accessible parking and accessible toilet facilities and then it pretty much stops there," he said. After one week he said the Beach Access Project survey had received more than 140 said he had reached out to local authorities and the next phase of the project was to look at what solutions can be put in place. You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
