Simon Bassett, owner of 2XS and X-Train is crossing the English Channel on a paddle board to raise money for Surfers Against Sewage (SAS).
The crossing is from Dover to Calais (dodging the ferries) and is set to be on the day between 18th and 25th June that has the best tide and weather conditions in which to make the 21-mile crossing. The crossing should take around 5 hours and if the paddlers are successful they will be the first ever SUP team to have ever crossed the English Channel.

Simon will be joined by 4 other paddlers: Elliot Dudley (UK longboard champ), who is going for the outright distance world record, his team mate, Matt Argyle (BSUPA chairman and ranked no 2 BSUPA WAVE champ), Jock Patterson (UK BSUPA overall champ) and Claire Blacklock (BSUPA ladies champ). Both relay teams are going for the relay distance record.
They could also potentially break the record for the fastest channel crossing too:

The Guinness World Record™ for crossing the English Channel by  prone paddleboard currently stands at five hours and nine minutes, and was set by US paddler by Michael O’Shaughnessy in 2006.

Simon will be using a 14 ft Bark expedition board with support from www.2xs.co.uk, X-train, Prosport Sunscreen, Dakine, NPX westuits and Kialoa paddles – you will be able to see updates on www.supglobal.com and the 2xs site. Bigsalty.co.uk will also be supporting the crossing.
The event has been put together by SAS with the support of BSUPA, and the paddlers aim to raise at least £10,000 in sponsorship money to support SAS’s campaigns to protect surfers and waveriders, waves and beaches around the UK.

Simon is currently beasting himself with plenty of gym work and a personal trainer. He has also, just returned from Maui, where Laird Hamilton gave him some advice.
Simon:

After my recent trip to maui extented by the volcano and cancelled flights had a month of windsurfing every day and downwinders on a SUP.training for the channel crossing is still on target the new bark 14 ft expedition has just arrived and have been out testing the beast. Have been checking out some fin options for the board to see what the fastest combination will be.
While I was on Maui-Hawaii we met up with Laird Hamilton at the Oxbow clothing launch in Neil Prydes store .We had a chat about the channel
crossing- and he told me he took 7 hours to do the crossing after he ran from london- then cycled to Paris-  his parting comments was to watch out for the tankers and ferries.Laird seems a real nice guy and had plenty of time to talk loads of people at the Oxbow launch in maui.

Da kine have delivered me a whole pile of new sup leashes paddle covers rashies will get the go pro attached to the board soon so look out for the video footage.

Please support Simon’s cause by sponsoring him at his Just Giving page.

If you fancy turning up to perfect beach set up with all the facilities- rescue, beach webcam, broadband, showers, changing rooms, great coaching and the full rental deal (like you find when you go abroad the 2XS RRD EZZY Test centre in West Wittering is the place to come.

We just have had delivered some of the new 2010 RRD and Ezzy gear for our windsurf test centre on the beach at West Wittering .We have the new RRDS in ltd freestyle waves, x-rides, wave twins, Cults, Evo and Easy riders.We also a have a full stack of RRD kitesurf gear including 2010 Passions, Obsession kites and placebo twin tips. This year we have kids boards from Fanatic and sails Hotsails Maui we also have some 2010 Fanatic New waves single fins on test. On the sail front we have 3.7 to 6.3 wave panther 2 and 7.5 Ezzy free rides.All our sails have all Ezzy carbon skinny’s and the 2010 Chinook booms and bases. We also have a full rack of Dakine harness on site as well surfboard from NSP, SUPS from Drops Gong and NSP.

West Wittering Windsurf Club opens from the begining of March until 30 October and is manned 7 days per week -membership is available for windsurfing and kitesurfing which starts from £260 for annual membership. We have a full hire package so you can switch between windsurf ,SUP and Kite surf gear all for £510 on top of your membership and you can use this every day through the season .We have a beach web so you can check the weather tides wave heights and temps here. The club has great facilities including showers changing rooms ,free tea and coffee ,broadband we have jet ski rescue and beach has lifeguard cover in the summer .West Wittering is also blue flag beach so the water quality is good.

X-train our tuition centre based at the club has been running for more than 10 years we are a full RYA,BKSA and BSUPA school and we teach windsurfing from 5 years upwards to advanced coaching ,we teach kitesurfing from 12 upwards to advanced levels ,as well as surfing and SUP where we were the first centre to paddle surfing on the south coast .We offer courses ,private lessons ,clinics and video coaching -we run a very successful kids program called Rippers from 5 upwards and have RYA Team 15 and the RYA Onboard school program for this season .We also work with top coaches including- Jem Hall ,Pete Hart ,Jim Collis ,Jock Patterson ,Andy Gratwick ,Neal Gent ,Emile Kott and Jamie Hawkins.

If you need to buy gear, the online warehouse is near by – so beach deliveries are easy to arrange and we stock all the small spares at the windsurf club.

The privately owned beach has been is very rural with a sandy beach and grassy car park ,cafe -great for all the family and has superb condition from waves at high tide and flat water chest deep lagoons at low tide .Car parking is cheaper than a day in Poole or day in most town centre car parks.
For more information please contact Simon Bassett or Chris rainbow on 01243 513077 or check out the website or email sales@2xs.co.uk