Paddleboarder who became first to make 100-mile Shetland to Orkney crossing describes 'nightmare' journey

Charlie Head, an explorationist and campaigner who lives on the Isle of Wight, set off from a marina on Shetland around 9pm on Monday night with his board, paddles, and some food and water.

After 25 hours at sea, the 46-year-old arrived on a sandy Orkney beach, making him the first person to make the crossing on a paddleboard.

But while Mr Head said he felt “great” to have completed the challenge, the journey was far from smooth sailing.

Just a short while into the challenge, after eating his first meal, the 46-year-old started to feel very unwell.

“I thought initially it was just nerves,” he said. “I thought ‘I’ll be alright, whatever’. Then I was like ‘oh, my God’.

“But I was committed. Because I was catching the wind as a conveyer belt, I couldn’t really just turn around and go back again. It was about three to four in the morning. It was crazy.

“Then, I just couldn’t eat anything. I could hardly keep my eyes open. I literally had one digestive biscuit.

“I was a bit worried to be honest, and I couldn’t pull in at Fair Isle because the wind had kicked up and I had no energy. My inner dialogue was just telling to be get on with it, just dig in.”

Mr Head tried to get some sleep, but could not balance on the board because the water was too rough. Exhausted and running on zero fuel, he pushed on.

“It’s amazing what the body can do,” he said. “Breathwork really helped me. I was just smashing 30 breaths every time it got too much, and that would give me a lift.”

As if things weren’t going badly enough, his sleeping bag got soaked, and he lost one of his paddles, too.

“Luckily, I had spare,” he said. “When you’re feeling like that, it makes other things go wrong. Every small task becomes hard to deal with, so you end up being a clumsy muppet.”

With his eyes “pinned” on the horizon looking for land, Mr Head eventually spotted a lighthouse.

“That became a beacon of hope, a target,” he said. “I didn’t even know which island it was.”

But as he approached, misfortune struck again, and the tide turned against him.

“It was too strong for me to fight against it,” he said. “Just when you start to think everything’s OK and you’re at the end of it, I was suddenly pushed away from the island.

“I had to just go with it. I slipped off to the left and went to the next island ahead, but that meant another couple of hours paddling. So it was a painful ending.”

To his great relief, the adventurer eventually made it to a beach on the island of Sanday.

“It was another level of test,” he said. “If you look at it like that, there were lots of lessons in there.”

Mr Head is raising money for the marine wildlife charity Sea Shepherd. He had originally planned a paddle crossing to the Faroe Islands, to raise awareness about the practice of hunting whales and dolphins, but had run into challenges.

“The idea for the crossings is to tell a story and support conservation work,” he said. “It’s back to the drawing board for the weather window for next summer, for the Faroes.

“I just love the islands up here. I love Shetland.”