David Haze: From Prison to Paddleboarding World Records (A Nomadic Paddler Journey Of Redemption & Purpose)

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Welcome to another episode of Adventure Diaries! In this inspiring conversation, we sit down with David Haze, also known as the Nomadic Paddler, to uncover his incredible journey from the confines of prison to becoming a world-record-setting paddleboarder and passionate advocate for adventure as a tool for personal transformation.

David shares how his life spiraled after losing his identity in the high-stakes world of finance. He speaks candidly about his struggles with addiction, mental health, and the dark moments that led him to serve two prison sentences. However, it was during this turbulent time that he discovered the profound healing power of nature and adventure.

Paddleboarding became David’s escape and his redemption. What started as a chance encounter on a beach turned into a life mission. Fueled by his mantra, “Through adventure we live,” David broke records by paddleboarding the four longest lakes in the UK and crossing the English Channel. He didn’t stop there, pursuing high-altitude lakes and carbon-neutral expeditions while advocating for sustainable practices.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How David turned failure into a catalyst for personal growth.
• The role of adventure in mental health and rehabilitation.
• His incredible feats, including the English Channel crossing and a 310 km paddle to the NEC.
• His charity, Freedom Through Adventure, which supports at-risk youth and young offenders.
• The importance of embracing failure and asking for help.
• His passion for promoting eco-conscious expeditions and mental health initiatives.

David’s story is a testament to the transformative power of adventure. From planting trees in prisons to organizing carbon-neutral expeditions, he uses his platform to inspire and give back.

Whether you're an adventurer, a seeker of second chances, or someone looking for motivation to overcome life's challenges, this episode is a must-listen.

Follow David Haze:

• Instagram: @nomadicpaddler

Call to Action:
Listen in and be inspired to create your own adventure. This weekend, take a step outside your comfort zone—whether it’s a paddleboard outing, a hike, or a simple walk in nature. Through adventure, we truly live!

For more inspiring stories, visit AdventureDiaries.com and subscribe to the podcast!

Transcript

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It was actually in between two prison centers that I turned to paddle boarding. I went down to Newquay surfing, I was sitting at Fischl beach, like the main beach down in Newquay.  And I was just having a drink and I saw this guy come around the corner and he was standing on a board propelling himself with a paddle.

I was like, what on earth is this? Like literally looked like he was Jesus walking across the water. Anyway, I ran down, I had a chat with him. He was like, it was, you know, paddle boarding. 

Never heard 

this. He said, do you want to have a go? And I was like, course, yeah, I'd love to have a go. Yeah, straight away I took to it and it was a nice flat day.

I was like, this is awesome. I just felt  so alive. I was like, I'm back. Like, this is me. Like, I'm just so happy. I remember crying. There was a lot of crying when I came back out to prison a second time, enjoying different experiences again. Like, and I was just so joyed to be out there. And then once I could start training on the water, that was it.

I was in beast mode. Beast mode was activated, training, training.  I think one of the It's one of the scariest things I ever did, and one of the bravest things,  and it's one of the hardest things you can ever do. It's just simply ask for help. Like, I know a lot of people, once you get into these dark places, the world's against  you.

You need to accept that you've hit that body, but just accept it. The moment you've accepted you need the help, there is help, there is support. Just reach out, don't be scared to reach out. Don't be scared to open up. 

Welcome to the Adventure Diaries podcast, where we share tales of adventure, connection, and exploration.

From the smallest of creators, to the larger than life adventurers, we hope their stories inspire you to go create your own extraordinary adventures. And now your host, 

Chris Watson. Welcome to another episode of the Adventure Diaries. Today we're joined by David Haze, also known as the Nomadic Paddler. A man whose story of redemption and self discovery has taken him from prison to world record paddles.  After serving two sentences, David found solace in a renewed sense of purpose through paddleboarding, ultimately using adventure to turn his life around. 

David has broken an ever increasing amount of records, including paddling the four longest lakes and locks in the UK across four days in record time. Including paddle boarding the English Channel and tackling some high altitude lake expeditions.  And David's passion goes beyond his own achievements.

He's a strong advocate for the power of adventure as a tool for rehabilitation and personal growth. Through his charity, Freedom Through Adventure. David's helping young offenders reconnect with nature and chart new paths. He's also making waves as an eco conscious adventurer too, promoting carbon neutral expeditions and supporting mental health initiatives like Dorset Mind. 

What a powerful story this is. So settle in and enjoy this fantastic conversation with David Haze, the nomadic paddler. David Haze, welcome to the Adventure Diaries. How are you? Good, good. Thank you very much for having me. No, it's a pleasure. Those that don't know, we bumped into each other down at National Outdoor Expo.

I listened to your talk then as well, so it's good to finally catch up and get this in the diary. Yeah, as a way, as a frame, David, so we really want to talk all about your paddleboarding. escapades your adventures, all your records that you've been breaking as well. So that's pretty much the frame for today.

We'll talk about some of your charity and advocacy work as well, touching obviously some of your life events, which is a big part of your story, but to roll back and maybe get us going a little bit, just to understand. a bit about your formative experiences where you grew up for how you got into water sports and stuff so maybe you can open up with that.

Yeah of course so I grew up on the south coast of England in Bournemouth so I've lived by the sea my whole life so I just love getting out water surfing sailing but I went to a military boarding school from the age of 6 to 12 and this is where my real sense of adventure started for me. But they really had a big emphasis on being outdoors and exploring the natural world.

And I remember a lot of my friends would get camo gear from their parents. So on the weekends, we would dress up, play army men, disappear into the woods. The school bell would go, we were meant to be going to bed. And then you've got the teachers looking for us. So we're just having a great time. I'm sure not to their delight, but I just loved that adventure.

I really enjoyed it. Then I went to my secondary school and I continued pushing it. I became a national champion sailor, I ended up surfing for my university  and I've just always loved the great outdoors and what it brings to me and the joy and everything. I moved to London when I was about 26 to work in the financial industry, and I stopped the sports, I stopped the adventure.

Now, when I look back on it, I sort of lost part of my identity and who I was. It's a big part of my life. And after losing that identity, everything went wrong for me. 

Yeah. And that's probably a perfect segue into what happened then. So you ended up in prison, didn't you? I think twice, is that right? So you had two stints.

What kind of happened then? If you don't mind sharing. No, no, 

of course. So I was a forex trader, so I was trading currency for corporate clients around the world. And I was good at it. I earned a lot of money and I was living that high life in London, the fast paced life. Like I was using drugs, recreationally drinking, and I lost my job.

And one of the great things about boarding school, It gave me so much possibilities and so much support that it never actually gave me the skills to fail. So when I first lost that job in London, a high powered job, I didn't have the right tools to deal with that failure and I didn't know what to do. So I kept that to myself.

I was too proud to go and ask for help, too proud to go and ask for support. And I remember the day after, I just got into my suit. I went to London and I turned to gambling and that just sort of spiraled and spiraled. The drug use got more and more. I ended up selling some stolen goods and I got arrested for that.

And I remember the police officer used to ring me every day, like saying, you're going to court, you're going to court. And I had, uh, so you're going to prison. I had a court date a year in advance and I got another job. It's doing really well. And I kept that secret of me going to court. Then when that court date came, I sort of had a mental breakdown.

I ended up trying to take my life twice. I remember writing the note to my parents, leaving it in a place that it'd be found by the police, which would go in to take my life. Thankfully I was unsuccessful, and in those five weeks that I was just roaming, disappearing, as a lost soul, I ended up turning to more serious crime, which led to my first prison sentence.

Yeah, we can say a lot about the kind of city life and how you can, like you said, lose a little bit of identity. And, you know, there's a lot of pretentiousness about certain aspects of that London or big city life that can be a bit insidious. But when you went to prison, I don't want to jump too much ahead in terms of where you got to be paddle boarding, but life in prison, how did you cope with that?

And is that where the ideas, because if you had this background in water sports to the degree, sailing and stuff like that, how do we go from, um, David, or four or five years ago, being imprisoned, coming out, going back to prison, and then getting today. How did you get through that journey? 

Yeah, so the first prison sentence, as you can imagine, it was just a completely different world.

I remember crying all the way from court to the prison, and I just had to wipe the tears off his face, and you're like, you've got a man up now, you can't show fear, you can't. And prison was horrendous, but that first prison sentence, I was just so focused on hitting the ground running. earning money again, getting my life back on track.

I didn't take any time or any opportunities to focus on myself. So when I came back out Prism, I started my own business. That went really well. Got a relationship. That relationship, we started using drugs again. It was all cocaine. We got that relationship, got toxic, we split up, I spent all the company's money and again still not dealing with failure or going to ask for help.

I looked for the wrong route and I turned back to crime and I got a five years, eight month prison sentence. And the judge said to me, if this happens once more, you're looking at 10 digits. And if I go back to prison, 10 years plus, who's going to be around for me? I've lost a lot of friends. Are my family going to stick by me?

A grandma probably passed away. I just remember for a good year in that prison, I was just completely broken mad, like, no idea what was going on. One day, somebody took me to do an eight hour circuit training and yoga day. And I remember doing that that day, and even though my body was in prison, my mind was somewhere else.

I just felt so good. And I spoke to the lady that ran it, Dr. Sarah Lewis at Penal Reform Solution. And she's all about creating this whole growth mindset for prisons, taking what Scandinavian prisons have done to bring it to the UK. And from that interaction, I started training more. I started getting into the gym more.

I organized a marathon in the prison for all the lads, and started reading all these self help books, Just start like this. journey of self discovery. And one of the things I realized that was missing from my life was adventure and the great outdoors. So I made a vow to myself to live through adventure.

And I came up with a motto, which is through adventure we live. So the idea is to try and treat every day as one giant adventure, because life is a giant adventure at the end of the day. And suddenly I just had this fire in my belly and my mum was sending me paddleboarding magazines and I'd read these amazing stuff these lads are doing and these girls are doing and I was like you know what when I leave prison I'm gonna go and paddleboard the four longest lakes in the UK and attempt four world records I can do this in four days.

And this suddenly gave me hope, it gave me determination, and it helped me see every day in prison through with a positive mindset. I met a personal trainer inside, he put a program together for me, and I was training inside. And I remember talking to some of the prison staff, and some of the other prisoners, and I'd tell them my dream of doing this, and they would turn to me and go, stop daydreaming, like you're a prison number, you'll always be a prison number.

And it was in that moment that I realized, yes, I failed, but I'm not a failure. Like, failure is such a powerful tool, now I realize this, is like, I'm gonna be much more than my prison sentence, I'm gonna be much more than my stakes, I'm not gonna let any of this define me. So I came out, straight into lockdown, which is like another prison sentence, but it was good, because it gave me where I failed that first time to hit the ground running.

I couldn't do this a second time, so it gave me an opportunity to rebuild my family relationship. And just sit down, have a breather, think about the journey I've just been on. And so I started training and eventually when I could go and paddle. So I came out in 2020. In 2021, I went paddleboarded those four longest lakes, set my first four world records.

And I just remember what I was learning about myself through the power of adventure was more powerful than any rehabilitation program that prisons put me on or the governments made me do. There is some real science through being outdoors and connecting yourself through adventure and I just wanted to keep pushing and pushing and pushing and that's what I'm trying to do.

Yeah, fantastic. So, rolling back, just to pick up on, so what is the penal system like in terms of rehabilitating? Because if you've shown an interest in adventure and fitness and everything else that goes with it, you spoke about prisoners helping you with programmes, but is there more that we should be doing or the government should be doing within the penal system?

What's your views on that? Because I know you're doing a bit of advocacy, aren't you, on that? 

Yeah, there is no rehabilitation. I mean, if anything in life, if you want any change in your life, if you want to rehabilitate. You've got to make that decision to do it yourself. Don't go into prison thinking they're going to rehabilitate them.

You've got to want to rehabilitate. You've got to look for work. You've got to do the effort. And for me, it was just trying to reconnect myself. I did want to come back. But there isn't enough support. Like, I've always been quite proactive. For my financial days, I was a business development director. I've always been quite proactive.

And when I came out of prison, I've done a lot of research projects for the Ministry of Justice. I do all this work, I do all this research, I go into prisons, I talk to people who are in the prisons, I give the report to the Ministry of Justice and they don't do anything with all this research, they just tick boxes.

It's come to a point now that I try to help the people going down the wrong path. And I try and help those that come out of the prison. When you're inside, there isn't much you can do to support, like trying to get into the prison side. I am working on a project to slowly get inside. It is really hard, and there isn't much access for these people to change.

And it's something I'm trying to push, and Duke of Edinburgh's trying to push, and I know the Airborne Initiative. is using adventure and the great outdoors to help people. And I think it's something that we really need to 

push. Yeah, I mean, it's used as a therapy quite a bit in certain, you know, particularly in the US, I know it's got some bad connotations in certain ways that it's actually practiced in certain areas, but adventure as a therapy and as a rehabilitation tool, I think is fantastic because not everybody will have that despite what you've went through David, not everybody will have that kind of self determination and motivation to change.

Sometimes people just lack purpose, they lack a guiding hand, they might not have the family background and so no doubt there are people that are still imprisoned at the minute that probably could do with that guiding light. So  I wish you well with that. Yeah, thank 

you. No, I agree with what you just say though, like a lot of people being through the care system, being in and out of prison the whole life, always being told that they're worthless.

So they just have this self belief that we're worthless. I remember going into prisons again with Dr. Sarah Lewis and we're talking to a guy. And Dr. Sarah Lewis just tells everybody she loves everybody. She's just a really nice, positive person. And she just, we're speaking to this lad and she's like, I love you, man.

Thank you very much. And he's like, what did you say? I love you. Thank you. And he's like, I haven't heard anyone say that to me in ages. And suddenly something just changed in him. Like this guy, his whole life has been put down and put down. A bit of positive reinforcement just suddenly. Oh, okay. Maybe I'm not worthless.

Maybe I can go out and do stuff. But the thing is, well, we're bringing adventure into prisons. I think a lot of the public, especially certain papers, would have a filled day of that. Prisoners out in Dartmoor for a jolly. It's like, it's not that. It's an alternative therapy that we're trying to help people with. 

Yeah, tabloids will always be tabloids. They'll pick on anything to spin a story. Unfortunately, it's a world we live in. That's why media's like this. Hopefully we can actually cut through that, that noise and that bullshit a little bit. Well, that's, that's why I try and 

push what I'm doing. Like, you know, I've been to prison and adventure and everything to change my life.

And there's a few other guys that same happy for them. So we can be an advocate for it then. Awesome. 

And what I like about your story, just being brutally honest, I think you own it. You don't try and hide from it. You own that mistakes have been made, but you're trying to make change for the better personally, but also to bring others along on that journey, which is very honorable.

So 

thank you. And I think that's where one of the things where I felt the first time when I came out of prison, the first time I didn't own it, I hid away from it. And the second time it's like, it's a big part of my life. Like going to prison is massive. I'm not proud of it whatsoever. My biggest failure in life, I've turned around to become a bigot.

and I want to help others as I go along and do as much as I can, pay it forward, pay it back. 

Excellent. So jumping forward to paddle boarding, had you done paddle boarding as a youth or before you went to prison or was it all kind of sailing? What type of water sports were you involved with? 

Yeah, so sailing and water surfing have always been my main sports and it was actually in between two prison sentences that I turned to paddle boarding.

I went down to Newquay to go surfing, I was sitting on Fishville beach, like the main beach down in Newquay. And I was just having a drink and I saw this guy come around the corner and he was standing on a board propelling himself with a paddle and I was like, what on earth is this? Literally looked like he was Jesus walking across the water.

Anyway, I ran down and I had a chat with him and he's like, it was, you know, it's paddle boarding.  

Never 

heard of it. He said, do you want to have a go? And I was like, of course, yeah, I'd love to have a go. You know, straight away I took to it and it was a nice flat day and I was like, this is awesome. Like down where I live in Bournemouth, you can't surf when, well you can't really surf much of the time.

So I ended up getting a paddleboard, and the extra sense of freedom it brought me. You can do so much, there's so many different disciplines of paddleboarding as well, and I just loved the mindfulness aspect, and getting out there in Poole Harbour, we've got five islands and the second biggest natural harbour in the world, and you can go and explore these rivers, these lakes, these different areas of the harbour, and I just loved the extra sense of joy that it brought me.

But it wasn't until I was in prison reading those paddleboarding magazines that I thought, I want to have an epic adventure. I want to do something. Good with my life. When I came up with the idea, I didn't plan on continuing the journey to where I am today. I just thought, do the four lakes and that'd be awesome.

But I suddenly was feeling fantastic learning so much. I thought, let's just keep this going. 

Yeah. If you've come out of prison the second time. And lockdown. We had a ban on outdoor activity, didn't we? And we couldn't madness thinking back about that. Now I, I just bought a new kayak as well, and I couldn't get out on it.

There was all these restrictions. Did that affect you then, because we were all locked down, weren't we? Yeah. 

Yeah. So I remember the water sports ban, so I just started running eight miles every day. So that was it. And then the day the ban was lifted, I went straight down to Port Harbour, I think it was like 5 in the morning, 6 in the morning, with the paddleboard, got out to Port Harbour and there was literally nobody on the water.

It was a warm day and I remember it so clearly. I was just paddling out there on my own. And I just felt so alive. I was like, I'm back. This is me. I'm just so happy. I remember crying. There was a lot of crying when I came back out of prison a second time. Enjoying different experiences again. It's just so joy to be out there.

And then once I could start training on the water, that was it. I was in beast mode. Beast mode was activated.  Training, training.  

I'm the same, I just love the water, it's just, it just does something to like, green space and blue space, but there's just something about being on that big expanse of like, it just frees your mind and I can imagine after being locked up and doing that it must have been some natural high, fantastic.

That's it, and I think being on the water as well, I always put my phone in the bag. So I can't access my phone. When I'm out in nature, it's in my pocket and any slight vibration, I have got that temptation to pick it up. And you know, it might be an email or a text message I'll reply to, but on the board, I'm not seeing that phone again till, you know, there's no temptation.

I don't know if my phone's ringing or not. It's on silent. 

I need to take some of that advice as well, because I'm, I'm too snap happy a lot of the time when I'm out and I tend to put my phone in my, I've got the GoPro for all of that. Yeah. So did you ever do any training for pattern to learn the skills of paddle boarding?

And the reason I ask, I'm a kayaker paddle boarded twice, fell off twice. I can't stand up in a paddle board. I don't know what, I don't know what it is, but I'm just more prone to sitting down, I suppose. But did you just take two or did you go on any sort of courses?  

I did just take the paddle boarding, and I think that's through the surfing background.

I've been surfing since I was 14 years old, used to surfing teams, so I think the balance aspect of being on the board really helped, but I was watching YouTube videos to develop my actual paddling skills to make sure I can paddle faster.  Just naturally, I wasn't paddling to the best of my ability. So I did watch YouTube videos just to hone those skills.

And I wasn't far off, but it was just good to learn it. And then I became an instructor as well now.  

Excellent. So let's talk about your world records of paddling the four biggest locks, lakes, mix of both in the UK. It's an interesting one in Scotland. Is it Loch Ness, Loch Orr? 

I can't remember. Loch Orr.

It's the longest lake. So it's the biggest, yeah. So it's got by the longest. And like, some people get confused between longest and largest, so this is the longest. So then from there we went down to Lake Windermere. As we went down, our van broke down. Luckily it got fixed, but it was looking a bit iffy. So then from Lake Windermere, got the ferry over to Northern Ireland.

We did Loch Ney, which was just a completely different beast. And then from there came back and then went to Ballar Lake in North Wales, which was just amazing. And I was quite fortunate really for the weather in all of them. 

Was that all in the same, was that all like a time trial then? Four of them at the same time or what?

I did them all, so I 

did like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, but the world record is on, yeah, the world record is just the longest time. I mean, you might be able to do it quicker, like, originally I wanted to do it like the three piece and try and do that in 24 hours, but then I was like, let's just do four legs, let's make it harder.

I have to go to Northern Ireland as well and then come back 

again. 

But luckily with the ferry, I think it was eight hours, I got to sleep on 

the 

ferry. 

So what's the, I mean I'm jumping around a little bit because you've done, I'm struggling to keep up with all the records that you're breaking and all the plans that you've got.

It's fantastic. So you just done the English Channel as well, didn't you? Yes, we went 

from, so did the English Channel. We weren't allowed to go from Dover to Calais because it's got three shipping lanes going left to right, then you've got the shipping lanes going front. So we could only go from Dungeness to Boulogne, which is even further, 50 kilometers.

So we're still in Kent, and that was a tandem suck. We did that in four hours, 48 minutes and 13 seconds. We beat the time by 42 minutes. 

Wow. Congratulations.  

And that was amazing, that one. Like, look, cruise ships. The ships out there are ginormous. Like, you can feel the rumbling of the water, just these massive metallic beasts in the distance.

I remember the support boat, he came up next to us. And he said, see the boat, it's about 8 miles away. It's like, you've either got to paddle faster or you're going to have to stop. We're like, well, we're putting a good speed in. But it's so far away. Anyway, we, you know, we hammer it, paddle faster, as fast as we can.

And then these boats just catch up with you so quickly. It's amazing how quickly they move. 

What's it like crossing that? What was the fetch like, and the wind and stuff? Was that quite difficult crossing the channel at all? Or how do you? 

Yeah, the wind didn't get too bad until we got near the coast of France.

But we were meant to paddle on a Wednesday with pushback. We meant to paddle on the Thursday, but it was pushed back. We got on the boat on the Friday, and we went out into the channel, and the fog was just so heavy. The visibility was about 40 meters in front of us, and there was no calls coming on the radio.

So, the support boat drove out further into the channel, and the fog lifted. So, it was going to clear, so he brought us back. So, we just had to get through the first bit of fog paddling, and then just, bang, right into the open. We saw a couple of dolphins and two immigrant boats coming across. 

Oh, really? Wow.

Yeah, yeah, that was an eye 

opener, yeah. It's right in the middle of the channel, there's no land anywhere, and usually the paddle boarder, you don't ever have that experience, or any, or a kayaker really, there's just no land, and it's quite a surreal experience. It was pretty calm for most of it, and it's quite weird to be out there in the middle of calm waters, but I absolutely loved it.

Yeah, was the water calm then, or did you have any waves, or? 

I mean, it rolled a little bit, nothing too drastic, but it wasn't right until the end that the winds really turned against us. And then it made it a struggle because we were quite tired at this point, but we managed to get through, did it, found a bar, and had a couple of French beers.

It was great.  

So, what is it like when you arrive in France then? Because you're not at border control, are you? No. 

Yeah, so it was quite weird. Yeah, so, to do the English channel, you have to have a support vote by law, like the French won't allow you.  Okay. And it's just good to have a support vote there anyway.

So we had to give the company the passports, they Fax them over or scan them over. When we came up, we didn't show our passports, but our support boat, he just went into customs because we had to come to a port.  And he just went to the customs at the port and just showed him the passports. They never see our faces, but that was it, it was so easy.

Yeah. 

Yeah. 

That's fantastic. 

Yeah. 

So rolling back a little bit then. Was it last year? You stand up Paddleboard Man of the Year, Ocean Activists. as well. So not only breaking records, but what being recognized in the industry for some of these efforts as well. 

How does that make you feel? That was, it was amazing.

So when I did lock or the first ever paddleboard adventure, I remember passing the side and you know, it was really dense woods and I was just looking a bit at the land. I was just thinking to myself, I bet nobody in human history has ever stepped foot in there. It's just so dense, like, why would anyone go there?

Pad along two meters later, there's a Coke bottle. I was like, how? I mean, there's such idyllic, beautiful location. I can not see anything man made, no humans, and there's a Coke bottle. And that always stuck with me. So I decided to do an adventure, doing the world's first carbon neutral, environmentally friendly expedition.

First to surface against sewage. And from the back of that, I didn't mean to become an ocean activist. Suddenly, I was on this journey to become an ocean activist and do these net zero adventures.  That I was suddenly nominated for Ocean Activist of the Year. And it was such an unexpected award. And especially with the journey I've been on, like, I was just amazed.

It was just such a great feeling. And then, same with, uh, SUP Awards. When I won the SUP Man of the Year. Somebody text messaged me saying, I voted for you for the SUP Man of the Year. And I was like, what do you mean? And they showed me. My name was up for about two weeks until I noticed that I was being nominated for Suckman of the Year.

It was just so great that I was being recognized for the work that I've been doing. And then I've had a film come out this year, which is also won an award as well. 

Yeah, actually, I was going to come on. I watched that a couple of weeks ago. That's brilliant.  

Who filmed all that with you? A company called Creative ProAction. 

Yeah, Angus Peele's done a bit of work for me before, and we had another film coming out, and it's all paid for, and Angus is going to be the director, but the production company went bust, and because I love Angus's work, and he had so much content for me, we were like, we've got to do something together, and it's the first award he's won, it's the first film award I've won.

We're still in need to take people's choice awards, which is, 

yeah, it's fine. Ah, excellent. Can you take us through that then, David? What that movie's called, what it's about? And, because you had a few challenges in that as well, didn't you? With your board coming towards,  coming towards the end of that challenge.

Yeah, so if you go onto YouTube  and put Nomadic Padlet, a film will come up. So it's David Haze, prisoner, world record holder, ocean activist. And it's just basically about my whole journey from coming through prison to making, to achieving the world records. And we go into this whole journey I did, this whole net zero environmentally friendly expedition.

So we created a board that was made from materials found in a skip, and I did a five day expedition around the Isle of Wight. Now the whole reason I did five days was to show that you can survive on environmental equipment, and you can have a net zero adventure. Now, all the equipment I had that companies made was fantastic.

The board was just horrendous. It was hideous. I had a few challenges with that board, but it did the job and it got me to the end, even though I had to walk the last five kilometers. Um, I won't say too much. I watched the film and you can learn about it in there, but it presents a lot of challenges. But in my mind, I was expecting five days of calm waters and sunshine, and it was.

Far from that. I think it just makes it a more exciting challenge. I like a little bit of jeopardy in these adventures with challenges. It's great for storytelling, it's great for myself and but off the back of that I realized that through changing some little habits you can do so much more to have net zero adventures.

So after that, I flew to Iceland to go and set the world record in their longest day. And to offset my carbon footprints, I had to plant 75 trees. So I decided to get 105 trees. I went to a prison. I planted those inside. I had a chat with the lads inside and the whole idea was to create this whole green space within a prison for them just to get away and sit in this green space.

It helped me when I was inside. The prison can be a really toxic environment and I went and met them, spent the day with them, we planted the trees. It was just a great experience for me to go back in and give something back, and the lads, I hope the lads enjoyed it, and it was just great to do that.

That's fantastic. Again, planting the seed of adventure and trees in St. Prezent, it's fantastic. What's been your most rewarding paddleboarding challenger experience? Because Iceland sounds pretty epic, actually. And I think you might have got a touch of frostbite or something. Yeah, so I got 

first stage frostbite, which is basically called trauma nerve damage.

And I didn't get the feeling back of my fingertips for about five, six months. But now anytime it gets cold, I just get this searing pain in my fingers. It's horrible. But to be honest, I think the first four lakes was like the biggest achievement because I came up from prison. I think ultimately, I remember when I was in Ballar Lake, that was the biggest achievement.

Because I did it, and there must have been a police conference in town because there was about 20 police officers. On the side of the lake, having their lunch. And I didn't speak to them or anything, but for me it was quite symbolic. It's this ex former prisoner. Gonna achieve this with 20 police officers just sitting there.

And I remember just looking at them in my mind. I sort of wanted to speak to them, just have a chat and conversation. Like, you know, tell them my journey. For me, it was just a great achievement. I've set this task while I was inside. I didn't let anything tell me otherwise that I couldn't do it. I wasn't certain I was going to set four world records, but just sitting on the side of that, sun was shining, the mountains, I'd been in police officers,  yeah. 

I haven't heard you say that before, that's,  that's wilder life. Can be quite funny at times, quite curious. What's the longest you've ever been on the water through some of these? Quite interested to understand how you go 

about that. So the longest I've ever paddled was 310 kilometers. from the south coast to the NEC where I met you.

That's the longest I've ever paddled where I was paddling 20 hours a day. It took me three and a half days to get to the NEC to talk at the National Outdoor Expo. But the longest I've paddled without stopping is 33 hours. I think it was 180 kilometers I did in 33 hours, which was on the River Thames.  So literally paddling without sleeping?

Without sleeping, yeah, and I remember I was just starting to get really delirious and I was paddling I was getting these black spots in my eyes and I was blacking out standing up And I wasn't falling over just blanked out and I remember coming to him in a bush and I call it This is just dangerous now.

So I rang my support crew I said I'm gonna find somewhere and they put my head down and just get an hour's kit Which I did and thing end up being about two hours kit and some was coming up and that little kit just revitalized me the end Sun coming up just gave me the energy I needed, and I went and did it.

I think I broke the world record by eight hours on that, which was great. 

Amazing. See, in terms of the record breaking, how does that work then? Guinness Book of World Records, how do they qualify you and validate all of 

that? There's about eight governing bodies. for world records. So if people try and do stuff with Guinness, Guinness are quite hard sometimes, but there are other guppy bodies.

Guinness is just the main brand, but Guinness is what I use the most. So basically what you do is you research, you try and find out if there's a world record. Most of the time there is a world record, so you apply for it. So if you're just going to do an A to B paddle, so if I'm going to paddle from A to B on an A, I have to get two witness statements to start, I have to be filmed going in and then every hour I have to switch my camera on and then have it on for two minutes and when I get to the end I've got to be filmed coming off and again two witness statements.

And then, once I'm off, I've got to logbook about that journey. If there is no world record, and you want to set a world record, then you apply for your world record. And then Guinness will look at a good time. Now, it's not just an easy time. They will usually 6 to 7 kilometre non stop paddle. Kilometre an hour paddle.

And then they will give you that time to beat. And then you can go and set the world record. But obviously, if people have done the world record already, not a world record, but they've paddled that area, it's the fastest known time, then that's what you want to beat. I've only had one of my records broken, which was Loch Ness.

It was broken by 45 minutes.  

Yeah, 

I know, I know. How does 

that make you feel? Do you want to correct it? I'm really 

trying not to do it. There's so much more I want to do, I just can't. But I've come up with a challenge, so my challenge is the Untamed Beast. There's a guy that's run a marathon in every country in the world, and I think to myself, he can run a marathon in every country in the world.

Why can't I paddleboard the longest lake in every country in the world? So I've done England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales. I've done Iceland, so it's mainland Europe. So hopefully September I'm going to go across Europe to do 33 lakes, set 33 world records in 66 days. Now in the meantime, I can't have anyone break that England, Ireland, Scotland world.

It just ruins the chain. I end up getting New York as well.  

Yeah, so don't give anyone any ideas. Yeah. So how many records do you currently hold then? 

So at the moment we've got eight. I've got nine pending, which is the English channel, but there should be no issues with that. We've got all this stuff that we need.

I've heard you talk about trying to do high altitude stuff. Was Iceland high altitude? 

No, Iceland  wasn't. So, I came up with an idea to paddleboard the highest lakes in the world. I love trekking as well as hiking. It's something I love. And this is what I'm trying to show you. Like, you can literally do anything.

It's not just about the paddleboard. It's not just about going down to the beach and poodling along. You can go and explore these amazing locations. I was living in France for a little while and I end up going to the Pyrenees and being the first to paddleboard to these high altitude lakes and suddenly I have magazines calling me the pioneer of high altitude paddling and I'm like, I'll take that 100%.

So I've done the highest lake in Spain, I've done the highest lake in England and Scotland, I've done the highest lake in the Pyrenees.  Next month, I'm about to go and do the highest lake in Europe, and then a couple of months, I'm going to fly back to Morocco a couple of weeks ago. And I'm going to do the highest lake in North Africa, which is Morocco, in the Atlas Mountains.

But whilst I'm there, I might attempt the world record on their longest stick as well. And then, just after that, I want to keep pushing it, like, let's go out into Asia, like, running out of those things to do. Go to Asia, go into Nepal, I've seen some lakes there, there's lakes down in South America, some of the highest in the world, and just, yeah. 

Yeah, out of it because I've got a hardshell kayak but I've also got an inflatable that's got a semi rigid hull on it and I've had ideas about and I've tried it, well I haven't actually, I've tried to create the backpack and that with it but it's just too darn heavy to climb up some of these Munros and then go for a paddle.

How heavy was the paddleboard then when you get that up to some of these, did you hike up with it or? Yeah. How did that? 

So the first high lake was only 600 meters up but it was a good long walk, it was in Wales. And I just used my standard paddleboard, which I think is about 16 kilos, which was heavy. And when I came back, I was like, I can't be packing up 2000, 3000 meter mountains.

So I wrote to a company in America called Coco Peli, who do the world's lightest paddleboards that come in at eight kilograms, I think it is. And they sent me a couple of those. And I'll tell you what, these boards are amazing. They're just so fantastic that you can put it into the overhead locker on Ryanair as well.

And that in itself, yeah, it's a huge achievement. Yeah, you know, you can't get anything with Ryanair, but these you do. And they do packrafts as well, which are lightweight. So I've got one of their packrafts. I haven't used it yet, but they're super lightweight as well. If you really want to get into hiking and paddleboarding,  Tokapelli are a great brand for that.

They're not that expensive and they are super light and you can literally take them anywhere. 

Oh yeah, fantastic. So what kind of kit do you own then? How many paddleboards have you got and is there any recommended? Because I'm not a paddleboarder and for anyone that might be listening, what would you say about the kit that you have and any suggestions or recommendations for people to get involved and started with it?

Yes, I've got I must say I've got about 12 paddle boards in there now at the moment. I've got a couple more coming soon as well. I've got ridges, I've got inflatables, I've got ultralights. For me, the only good thing about ridges is, if you're really serious about boarding, and you want to get into the racing aspect, that's really why you would want to get a rigid board.

And they are great, they are a bit more stable, but Practicality of owning a rigid isn't that great, like most of them are about 14 foot. You've got to put that on top of your car, you've got to get roof racks, it's just, it is a bit of a palaver. But if you're just looking to be a leisurely recreational paddaboarder, then Fatstick for me is one of the best ones you can do.

Not only are they fantastic boards, but their customer service, Andy and Ruben, who own the company, will always be there. They'll always answer your questions. They were the guys that supported my journey from day one. They still support my journey to this day. And I couldn't recommend them higher. And it's when you're going to buy a pad of boards.

The more money you pay, the better quality. I strongly say to people, don't go to Lidl's, Midlife, or Tesco Clubcast. Like, do not do that. They're not very good boards, and there's no one there to look after you. If you want to do this a lot, then spend a little bit more money. 300 to 450.  really good board, it will last a long time and get really good warranty. 

And I would echo that for anyone that's listening, regardless of whether it's paddleboard or kind of my sport kayaking. Cause I also see a lot of these, I'm going to call it a brand tier, but things like the Intex little inflatable things that do the rounds at Argos and on the shelves at Aldi and Lidl and places like  that.

Don't want to throw rocks at it, but these are borderline pool toys and they shouldn't be really used in open water, in my opinion, because they don't seem very safe or stable. So, you know, just spend a little bit if you're serious about it or want to test it, go to an outdoor centre and try it first.

Rent one and if you're serious, spend a little bit more money because I've seen these things blow away in the wind. I've seen kids getting put into these down at Loch Lomond and the wind catching up and stuff like that and it can be troublesome. 

There's a lot of the local suck clubs around here at the end of the season they do tend to sell their their ex demos as well and if you have a chat with them they will help you out as much as they can because they usually got good connections with the locals.

Even on Facebook and stuff there's lots of fantastic groups that on Facebook that resell all sorts of kayaks and paddleboards and stuff so people should check that out as well on Gumtree and things so there's loads of bargains to be had. So rolling back a little bit in terms of some of your experiences we spoke about how long you had paddled for.

How often do you fall in? Quite brutally, when you're on someone you're just interested. 

Not very often these days, however, I think Loch Ness is where I fell in the most. And I remember BBC Scotland came to film me, and I could not stand on that board, I was wrong with me, I just couldn't do it. It was a strong wind coming in, I think, the wind was coming this way, and about where the river flows into Loch Ness, I was just being hit.

I was trying to convince the presenter, like, I really am, I'm a paddleboarder. I don't think on any of the challenges, apart from Loch Ness.  There's been a few close calls, but no, I don't tend to fall in anymore. But unless it's a nice sunny day, I like to jump in. I do enjoy getting in, but I think as well, anyone that's starting out paddle boarding, I'd always strongly recommend just fall in.

There's a lot of people just get too scared to fall in that they don't just relax on the board and that's where the issues cause. Get on the board, fall in, get wet, and then you'll be fine and then you'll get to grips with it a lot. 

I mean, Loch Ness is a bit of a beast in its own right. I mean, some of the conditions that you can experience on Loch Ness, even though it's landlocked, are borderline light open ocean type experiences, aren't they?

You know, like you can get six, seven foot waves, white horses, all the rest of it on. Oh yeah, 

the wind was quite bad about halfway through it and it even didn't cross my mind. When I did it, uh, it was the end of February and  Snow was mounting off the mountains. It wasn't until my girlfriend pointed that. I was like, oh yeah.

And it was cold, but it  

wasn't Iceland. Not worried about the Loch Ness 

Monster? Well, that's why I fell in. It was the Loch Ness Monster knocking me 

off. So rolling back again a little bit, you spoke about inflatable boards, rigid boards and stuff. So what did you do the channel crossing on? Was that a rigid board or?

That was a rigid board, yes. That was a 14 foot tandem suck that one, which was really good. So it's got dual air chambers. So where a normal inflatable will have one air chamber, this has got dual to give that more stability. And I'd always recommend as well to have a quick release leash that goes around your waist.

I just prefer them because they're out of my way, but they are really good, especially in flowing waters. Like, just pull it off your waist and you're good. Attached from your board. If it's on your leash and you get wrapped around a buoy or you're on a river and you get wrapped around something, there is a high possibility of death if the water's flowing.

So for me, quick release. I think most boards are trying to make sure they're part of the equipment.  

Yeah, fantastic. In terms of paddles, tell us about what type of paddles do you use and what would you recommend for people that are getting into the sport? 

Yeah, go fiberglass because they've been so good to me.

Oscar propulsion paddles are the best paddles there with their slitted blade technology but there are loads of good ones. I know Oscar paddles are quite expensive. It's not like boards. You can get a good paddle for a good hundred quid. Yeah, there's loads of good brands out there. Starboard are great.

Spurs are good. I just prefer a lighter paddle and I'd go two piece is usually your best. Well, you can get one piece, but when you have a one piece paddle, that's custom made for you. Again, you can find them on Facebook, but somebody's got custom made themselves at the height. Yeah, a nice two piece, but a three piece breaks down a lot easier as well.

Yeah, the reason I'm asking these questions, I think it's just in case anyone does listen to this that hasn't tried this sport, because I think it's one of the fastest growing water sports, and probably the fastest growing water sport, so more that we can do to enlighten people, give them a little nod of encouragement, better.

Well, and 

if anyone's listened to this, and you know, if they've got any questions, then they can obviously just reach out to me and I'll  

Fantastic, David. Thank you for that. Navigational skills, tidal systems, all that good stuff, because there's a big difference being on the open ocean from some of the locks and lakes.

Obviously with sailing back, I'd imagine you had some of those skills and stuff, but any recommendations or things that you would give to people about paddling on open water? 

Yeah, just first of all, always know the conditions of where you're paddling. So you've come to a new area, but just know where the tide is, which way the winds are going.

If you're on the sea.  If you're on the river, just be aware of the tidal flows and if there are locks, most of the times you've got walk around locks. Just do a little bit of research before you go somewhere. There are some really good apps. InRay is a really good app to give you tidal flow. That's what I use quite a lot.

So it'll literally tell you which, what time the tide's pointing and how strong it is. So if you're coming down to Bournemouth Beach, for instance, you can plan a route to paddle further down, let the tide take you a little bit, knowing that it's going to change and take you back again. Know if there's any rip tides, anything dangerous, hidden rocks, just always research the area before you get in.

Especially with rivers, you might need to get permits to go on the river, so just double check. 

Yeah. What was the name of that app? I didn't catch 

it. Imray. I M R A Y. It's been an amazing app. I, it's recommended to me.  I just use it loads now. 

Fantastic. Is it right that you're now a full time adventurer? So you're dedicating your time and energy to this?

Yeah, so since 2020 I've come out, I've been working hard and hard and it was becoming a hard to juggle job and this and suddenly I just managed to get a full time sponsor this year. So every month I'm undertaking one big challenge to celebrate that every month this year and it's just, yeah, it's been fascinating.

It's just given me the opportunity to really focus on the adventuring career and it's surprising how much of a full time job it is. It's not all just adventuring, adventuring. It's all the background stuff. I do a lot of writing. Writing a book as well and emailing. It's logistics. I've started planning 2025 adventures.

Even though I've got a sponsor, that just pays my salary. I've then got to get sponsored. Then achieve these inventions as well to get other people to convince them that my stupid idea is worth their money  

Fantastic, so when is your book Expected to come out 

so I've done about half of it Which is about my journey to this point and then the second half  is about that Europe challenge that I'm talking about it's called untamed beast the book It's about taming my own beast imprisoning my demons and then the beast be in the lake So And then, hopefully, if it's a success, I'd like to continue to do adventure travel writing.

I really like Leveson Woods, love his books. He's always been an inspiration. That's why I like to start doing these high altitude lakes and all these different adventures.  

Fantastic. Look at Al Humphreys as well. You know,  he's got book after book, which is fantastic. It's a constant source of inspiration.

Switching lanes a little bit about your charity work, David. So we spoke about, you know, reform and stuff like that, but you're doing some other stuff, aren't you? With charity or different charities. Can you share a little bit about that? 

Yeah. So Obviously, adventure and sports have a massive impact on my life, and I want to try and help, as I say, like, I love trying to help people that are going down the wrong path.

So, with a friend of mine, who's also adventurous, had a big part of his life as well, we decided to start a charity, or a CIC, called Freedom Through Adventure. And the whole idea is to take young people from inner cities and young offenders. And we'll take them out into the outdoors and give them a weekend of adventure to try and just show them different ways that they can connect themselves and learn a lot about themselves.

And those that really take to it, we can then try and get some sponsorship in or scholarship in place, then train them up to be outdoor instructors. They can go back to their communities in London to then pass that love of sport and adventure on. And then we'll keep pushing it and pushing it. And it's just to hopefully show these guys, like, different avenues.

Give them stuff that they've never experienced before. Take them out of London, like, you know, London in that state. Take them away from those gangs they might be in. And even though you've had one weekend with us, when you've had that weekend, you're now part of our family. We're always checking with you and make sure you help and we'll try and do as much as we can to support them going forward.

That's very noble. That's fantastic. Yeah, thank you. Fantastic. Brilliant. This has been such a wonderful chat, David. Loving everything about you. What you're doing, all these adventures, it's also a great source of inspiration. Thank you. Might give you a challenge one day, maybe kayak versus paddleboard somewhere.

I'll use a single blades maybe. Oh yeah. Maybe a race from somewhere to the next expedition or next expo or something.  

Like a Top Gear style race. 

Yeah, exactly. Do that in some crazy location. I'd be up for that. So almost coming up to the two closing traditions, but one thing I just wanted to ask, considering your journey and where you've got to, if there's anybody that's listening, that has been affected directly or indirectly, or may know of anyone that may be struggling with any, whether it's addiction, gambling, drug, just bad crowd, whatever it is, considering where you've got to now, is there any advice that you would give for anyone that might be impacted by the earlier part of your journey that could maybe seek help?

I think one of the scariest things I ever did, one of the bravest things I did, and it's one of the hardest things you can ever do, is just simply ask for help. There will always be somebody there to help you. Like, I know a lot of people, once you get into these dark places, you put the world against you. 

You need to accept that you've hit that bottom, and I know that sounds easy. But it really is a hard thing to do. But just accept it. The moment you've accepted you need the help, there is help, there is support. And just reach out. Don't be scared to reach out. Don't be scared to open up and even if it's just your best mate, like if you are secretly struggling with mental health, just go for a beer with your best mate and just open up.

He's your best mate. He's going to listen. He's going to support you. There's so many people around you who don't 

realize it and can help. Yeah. Thank you for that. Excellent. So stepping into the two closing traditions then. One which is a call to adventure and the other is a pay it forward suggestion.

What would you give as a call to adventure, David? 

A call to adventure, remember, through adventure we live. Every day is one giant adventure. And it needs to be treated like that. Even if you think you're working nine to five, you come home, you think you're stuck in a rut. This weekend, go and have an adventure.

Go outdoors, even if it's for a 5k walk this Saturday, just do something that you're not usually going to do. Step out of your comfort zone a little bit. Go and have an adventure and just see how great you feel 

afterwards. Fantastic. Get outdoors. It's that simple. Yeah. Fantastic. 

Fifth Saturday. Do it. 

This Saturday, yeah.

So you'll be listening to this on a Thursday at some point when it goes live. So take action after this. Call a friend, call a loved one, call an old acquaintance or not, and just put something in the calendar and go and do it on Saturday.  Excellent. And finally, the pay it forward suggestion. So were they cause charity projects, something that's important to you that we can spread awareness of?

Yeah, I think with my charity still up and coming, but uh, Dorset Mind is a charity that I do a lot of work for. They do a lot of work for mental health. And I think especially in men, we still struggle with mental health and open up. And I've been given the honor to become one of their ambassadors. So, you know, through a lot of my social media, you can see what I'm doing for Dorset Mind.

I'll be doing a challenge next month, paddling the Dorset Coast for Dorset Mind.  If you want to see what they do or support in any way, then there'll be a link on all my 

socials. Excellent. Fantastic. Dorset Mind. Brilliant. We're almost at the end. So where can everyone find out everything about Dorset Mind?

David Haze, the Nomadic Paddler, and all your escapades. 

Yes. So on Instagram I'm at Nomadic Paddler. If you go onto YouTube, again, it's Nomadic Paddler and LinkedIn. You should put David Haze and also have a website, nomadic paddler.co. 

Excellent. Thank you. We'll get all that listed in the show notes.

Brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed this, David. It's fantastic. Yeah, 

thank you very much having me. 

Ah, you're welcome. 

Thanks for tuning in to today's episode. For the show notes and further information, please visit adventure diaries.com/podcast. And finally, we hope to have inspired you to take action and plan your next adventure, big or small, because sometimes we all need a little adventure to cleanse that bitter taste of life from the soul.

Until next time, have fun and keep paying it forward.