With each stroke into the cold sea, their hand felt the chill of the ocean’s salt water. The air was dense with thick fog, they said, making it hard to see what was ahead.
But the two Newport Beach paddlers knew they had what it took to cross the famed English Channel – and they finished the feat in record time.
Newport Beach prone paddlers Stuart Jeremias and Spencer Wadsworth went to the other side of the world in April to cross the channel, starting from England and finishing in France, a trek few prone paddlers have accomplished.
The English Channel is known as one of the major milestones for swimmers, and in recent years, plenty of stand-up paddleboarders have crossed the channel.
But fewer than a dozen have been recorded making the trek on a prone paddle, where racers lay flat or balanced on their knees and shins using their arms and hands to paddle.
The watersport, popular decades ago, saw a dip but is now enjoying more of a resurgence. Locally, there are popular races like the Ben Did Go from Catalina to Newport Beach, held in honor of fallen lifeguard Ben Carlson, and the Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race to Manhattan Beach, which has been happening since 1955.
Jeremias, a seasonal Newport Beach lifeguard, has years of experience prone paddling, starting when he was about 12. Wadsworth started just three years ago.
“It seems like you’re connected to the water, when you’re reaching into the water with each stroke,” Jeremias said.
Wadsworth also grew up surfing Newport Beach’s waters, a Wedge charger who spends summers guarding his hometown beaches.
“When the waves are flat, it’s something fun to do,” he said. “I love the long distance and endurance and to be able to push myself. I thought about doing marathons, but that’s not my thing. I’m more of an ocean guy and enjoy surfing, so paddleboarding is a no-brainer for me.”
Jeremias has done the Ben Did Go race for four years, a 30-mile trek from Catalina to the shores of his hometown. His first major race was at 16, the Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard race, a 32-mile crossing in warm waters.
His favorite race is the Catalina Classic, he said, and he’s done several other local races through the years.
“I like to focus on the bigger, long-distance ones,” Jeremias said. “I just feel like it’s a test, mostly mentally – can I get through this? You just have to put your head down. I just love being out there in the ocean, being in the water however I can. It’s always nice to just have a day where you’re out there racing with your friends.”
Wadsworth joked that his paddle partner sometimes comes up with crazy ideas, so he didn’t know if he was joking about the idea to cross the English Channel.
It wasn’t a race for them, but more of an “adventure paddle,” Jeremias said.
“That’s what me and Spencer have been doing, picking these bodies of water or channels and doing our own thing together and exploring that way, and seeing what else is out there,” Jeremias said.
“We took a lot of inspiration from the people who swim it. It’s the three big swims – Molokai, Catalina and the English Channel – it’s like the triple crown of swimming.”
It took a year of planning and figuring out logistics, like finding support crews on boats and a film crew that could document the journey, with hopes of showing a film at the Lido Theater in Newport Beach.
Still, there was one big problem when they landed – their Bark paddleboards didn’t show up.
“We didn’t find out until we got over there, three days before our paddle,” Jeremias said. “We drove 12 hours to this little town on the coast and we ended up finding the only two boards over there in the region.”
The person who directed them to the replacement boards was a friend from the tight-knit, prone paddle community, Mark Walton, of Ireland, who happened to be the record holder at 3 hours and 54 minutes from a paddle two years ago.
Breaking his record wasn’t the goal, Jeremias said, “We just wanted to do it for the heck of it.”
Wadsworth said they got “super lucky” with just the right conditions on April 21, waiting for a day that didn’t have howling winds and rough seas.
“If you know the channel, you know how gnarly it can get,” Wadsworth said, noting that it’s one of the busiest shipping channels in the world, making navigating the waters difficult.
“Everything went to plan during the actual paddle, which is not always the case,” Wadsworth said.
About halfway through, the pair realized they were going fast. The currents were in their favor and they got perfect, glassy conditions — unusual for the unpredictable, rough conditions the channel usually delivers.
“We knew we had a chance of breaking the record,” Jeremias said. “We just put our heads down and made good time getting over to France. We couldn’t see land until three-quarters of a mile out. When we saw the cliffs, we were really excited to have made it.”
Their time ended up being 3 hours, 27 minutes.
It was no easy feat. The water was way colder than the California climate they were used to, their hands purple by the end of the race.
“I guess we were lucky to not get hypothermia,” Jeremias said. “I guess it was just part of the experience.”
Now at home, the adventure is just starting to sink in.
“I honestly can’t believe it. I don’t think it’s registered quite yet, fully,” Jeremias said. “I think it’s something we will be proud of for the rest of our lives — that we got out there and did it.”
With the sport growing and more people joining the prone paddle community, Jeremias said he knows the next record breaker is right behind them.
“I can’t wait for the next young up-and-coming kid to go out and do it – and hopefully he gets the record some day,” he said. “That’s what’s cool about it. Someone will go out and do something, and it motivates the next person to do it.”
The duo have several events ahead coming up with the Molokai to Oahu in July, followed by the Catalina Classic and then the Ben Did Go paddle from Catalina to Newport Beach.
Then, they have their sights set on another record — to be the first to prone paddle 60 miles from San Clemente Island to Newport Beach later this year.
“No one has ever done that one,” Wadsworth said.