(WaterFront is the official student newspaper at Swansea University, South Wales)
HE WAS A SKATER BOY
An intrepid Swansea graduate is set to break a world distance record along 5,000 miles of Australian coastline next year – on a skateboard.
Dave Cornthwaite, a freelance graphic designer who lives in St Thomas, has given up his day job to plan the 5,000 mile journey from Perth to Sydney, in aid of three children’s charities, in the project he’s dubbed ‘BoardFree’.
Dave cooked up the madcap scheme in bed: “One morning in May I woke up early with the cat tapping my head, nagging for food.
I started thinking about how I wanted to travel, and how much I’d become restless with the nine to five routine,” says Dave. “Almost two months earlier I had taken up
skating longboards, which I loved because it had the stoke of snowboarding in a town without snow. I started longboarding everywhere and decided to combine my new hobby, skating, with my oldest passion, travelling - and BoardFree was born.”
Dave had originally hoped to travel from Swansea to the far east, a distance of around 12,000 miles, until he hit a snag: “I researched the route for a month and eventually found there were no road surveys for about 2,000 km through Siberia,” says Dave. “Without guaranteed tarmac, there was just no way I could complete the distance on the longboard, so I started looking at a few other routes.”
Australia soon presented itself as a viable option. “I knew the roads would be good although it would be very hot – but then I’m not doing this to make life easy on myself. That’s pretty much why I settled on Oz.”
Swansea’s very own skater boy has had tips from the current world record holder, Jack Smith, who has done the 3,000 mile trip from the east to the west coast of the US three times. Dave got in touch with the skating pro for advice – and discovered that Smith had taken up the challenge in aid of the Lowe Syndrome Trust after his son had died of the disease. This, along with Sailability Australia and Link Community Development, has now become one of BoardFree’s chosen charities.
Dave has now started a gruelling training programme to strengthen his legs before the 4-month record breaking attempt: “I’m going to be averaging 40 miles a day over 4 months in Australia. I’m aiming for a stage where I’m doing that distance and not feeling the pressure too much.”
The enterprising skater is currently averaging twenty five miles a day training on the cycle paths around Swansea Bay, and says he has been boosted by locals who recognise him after the flurry of media coverage he’s received in the last few months. He is now planning a number of longer journeys as part of his training, including a 950-mile skate from Lands End to John O’Groats in May.
“I think the biggest problem I’m going to face is arthritis in my standing leg. I’m training on cycle paths so the vibrations coming through the board aren’t that bad, but in Oz the roads won’t be as smooth. Ultimately that’s going to affect the leg I stand on. I’m having a special board made which incorporates a lot of foam to weaken the impact, so hopefully I won’t come out of it too badly. I’d still like to be able to play football when it’s over!”
There are a number of differences between a regular skateboard or longboard and Dave’s rolls rolls board, nicknamed Elsa. Traditional longboards are made of wood or wood composite. Elsa is made of carbon fibre and is an unusual shape, with a low deck and high wheels arches, which Dave says will help him on rougher terrain to reduce resistance as he rolls along. The raised ends also mean the deck is just over two inches above the ground, making it more stable and giving each leg push more power. “It does reduce ‘speed wobble’ but, most importantly, I get a lot more power from each push and it lessens the stress on my standing leg,” he says.
Anyone inspired by Dave’s Australian adventure will be pleased to know that he is currently looking for a team of people to travel with his support vehicle.
“I’m looking for a driver, a camera person and a photographer,” he confirms. “I’m targeting students in film and media because it’ll be a great year-out project for them - they’ll get to travel and learn how to take their jobs on the road and they’ll get a lot of press coverage from it. The photographers will have their stuff in newspapers and magazines, and ultimately the footage taken will be part of a documentary. I’m also looking for roadies to drive, plan the route and keep track of distance and speed averages. At the very least they’ve got to have a sense of humour and be committed to BoardFree. I can’t have anyone bailing out in the middle because that would tear the project apart. They’ve got to be easy to get on with, adventurous, intuitive, and realise that this is going to be the experience of a lifetime.”
For more information, visit: www.boardfree.co.uk