First Scottish ParaSurf Team at 2022 ISA Worlds

Aim

We are fundraising to cover the cost of sending the first ever Scottish team to the 2022 ISA World Para Surfing Championships.

Who are we?

The Scottish Para Surf Team.

The first ever Scottish Para Surf Team consists of former Paralympian Karen Darke and junior surfing sensation Jay Edward. They have all qualified for the team through their results at select Adaptive Opens through 2022. In the forthcoming World Para Surf Games, Karen and Jay will launch a long term legacy for Para surfing by representing Scotland for the first time at an international event, showing the calibre of Scottish talent and the developments being made to develop a national pathway for adaptive surfing in Scotland.   

The team will travel to Pismo, California in December with their coaches and in water support crew from the amazing team at SurfABLE, who are doing so much to push para surfing in Scotland. The opening ceremony will be an amazing experience with a para surfing team waving the Scottish flag for the very first time! The competition starts on the 4th of December for the next 7 days where they will proudly represent Scotland. 

Karen recently described how she is "super excited to be doing something I love and representing my favourite country! It will be an honour and a privilege to represent Scotland for the first time ever in Para Surfing. As a relatively new sport, but progressing fast and likely to be a Paralympic sport soon, it feels important that Scotland has representation. Having had a fear of the sea and water to a degree, especially given I am paralysed from the chest down and more vulnerable being thrown around in waves, I remember just how incredible to be in the sea after my first go, especially taking it step by step with the help of qualified instructors at SurfABLE. Moving with the waves brings a feeling of freedom and connection with self and nature and the team involved. All the restrictions of being paralysed or physically limited in any way just disappear."

This will be an amazing and historic occasion for our first Scottish para surf team, but they need your help. There is limited funding available so all expenses need to be met through fundraising, donations, sponsors and family. Please support us by buying a reward or making a donation, every little helps. Thank you so much! 

Community impact

Surfing is widely recognised as being beneficial to physical and mental health as well as being a lot of fun. While surfing is becoming more and more popular in Scotland, para surfing remains limited in terms of participation. The Scottish Surfing Federation and pioneering partners like SurfABLE are seeking to change this ASAP. A valuable part of this is seeing Scots compete at the highest level of para surfing, bringing exposure to the sport and encouraging more people to give surfing a go, no matter the challenges they may face. Who knows, maybe a one day a Paralympic Surfing Champion will come from Scotland's balmy waters!

Jay summed the power of surfing up; "I don’t remember being in hospital, but I’m now a quadruple amputee. I use a power chair to get to and from school and a skateboard when I’m out playing.  At home I scoot around by shuffling on my bum. When I go surfing I feel so happy. I absolutely love it. My mum and dad say it’s my ‘Happy Place’. I’m not bothered what temperature the water is, as I still love it even when it’s freezing. When I was told I was going to be representing Scotland at surfing, I felt like I was going to burst! It’s an amazing opportunity that I’m really excited about."

Why are we crowdfunding?

We are fundraising to cover the cost of expenses to travel and stay in California for the duration of the competition.

How we’ll spend the money raised

The money raised will go towards the cost of flights, accommodation and other expenses related to sending a team to the 2022 ISA World Para Surfing Championships.

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

This project successfully funded on 29th November 2022