How superhuman Chris Bertish conquered the Atlantic

Chris Bertish is as close to superhuman as you can get. Or barking mad. He’s the big wave surfer and motivational speaker who decided to do something no person has ever done before – cross the Atlantic Ocean standing up. Alone. And he did it after 93 days of energy-sapping paddling, treacherous seas, dangerously curious sea life and unforgiving exposure to the sun. He paddled between 10 and 14 hours a day, constantly trying to solve the myriad problems on board his specially designed paddleboard. He later said “everything that could go wrong, went wrong”. Even when he was being pushed off course by strong winds off the Sahara, even when his solar panels were unable to charge his equipment properly, even when he was being bashed by big sharks, even when rogue waves capsized his tiny craft, he kept going. His motivation was not only to become the first person to perform the near-impossible, it was also to raise money for three charities – the Signature of Hope Trust, the Lunchbox Fund and Operation Smile SA. Along with his partner Carrick Wealth, the fundraising initiative continues long after the 7 500km feat of endurance has ended. For more information about the charities and how to donate, go to his website chrisbertish.com or SMS “standup” to 42146 to donate R30. – David O’Sullivan.

Chris, in a number of the interviews you said if something could go wrong, it did go wrong. Is that your overriding memory of this trip that it was a continuous slog?

Well, I think you know with this sort of kind of project I don’t think there’s any way you can really prepare for it, over and above everything I did … I always just hope for the best and having a backup plan of every, single thing you do, both physically, mentally, and with your preparation and your planning. But there’s a yard in the ocean and the ocean is a place where deadly volatile and constantly influx and changing. You’ve got to be adaptable, flexible and be able to think literally and figuratively on your feet, and be prepared for anything and be able to come up with solutions to insurmountable problems and obstacles that are constantly coming your way, on an almost daily basis.

You would have gone into this trip expecting the worst and understanding what the ocean can throw at you. You are somebody who really does understand the ocean. Were you surprised at the extent of the elements against you?

I don’t think I was surprised. I sort of knew what I was going to get into on that sort of side of things but the local conditions in comparison to open ocean conditions are exponentially different and the open ocean swells and weather, when it gets really volatile and pretty violent out there. I don’t think there’s anything that can really prepare you for that, especially when you are on a craft which is my size, the size of the Impi Fish was so tiny. That’s is so vulnerable to all the elements that were battering me on a day-to-day basis. The free board of the craft tips of the water was only 3.5 inches, so I was constantly under water and constantly wet and being thrown around pretty dramatically and pretty violently a lot of the time.

I think there’s nothing that can really prepare you for that. You’ve just got to mentally know that I had an understanding that it was going to be really tough but I didn’t realise that it was going to be as tough as it was for as long as it ended up being. I think it was just about having the right mental state and attitude and gratitude and being trying to find the positive in the negative. And an opportunity in an obstacle and just keeping very positive from a purpose perspective and that’s what sort of to help drive me and be able to get me through the most difficult times.

Impi Fish, as you called your stand-up paddleboard, was the most remarkable craft. All the navigation tools and the little cabin as well. That was especially designed for you. Did it do the job that you anticipated because one of the interviews I read you were saying it leaked constantly.

This craft and designed and packed for this project and one goal only and that was to be able to get me across the Atlantic in one piece, to the other side, and we did achieve that but there were definitely some system failures, and design failures that I will definitely improve on for next time. I was just like a giant problem-solving crisis management project, on a dramatic survival scale, almost on a day-to-day basis. But I think it was about again, as I said, just having that mindset to be able to think on your feet and be creative and find solutions through every single insurmountable obstacle that came my way. Whether it was the … mainstream system failing, and finding a new solution to that and creating backups to really have resistance for everything that came my way through the power management problem of the solar panels not charging up the systems as quickly as it should have. Just due to also the elements.

The wind from the Sahara Desert that was blowing sand out that covered the entire sky for almost a 1.000kms, which was two weeks, which meant that I couldn’t charge my systems like they were meant too. So, I had to dramatically cut down from a hierarchy status of what was the main key systems that I needed to still charge and have running every day, in order to survive. That was my chart path and my navigation systems, my AIS system, which would mean that the ships could see me at night on their radar, and then my water maker, which would allow me to be able to make enough water to survive. I had to train myself to be able to operate on 5.3 litres a day, when I was still doing the equivalent of a marathon (an iron man) a day, for 93 days straight. Where most sport scientists will tell you that you need at least a minimum of 10 – 12 litres a day, if you’re going to be doing that kind of thing to survive and I just had to be able to train myself, mentally and physically, to be able to operate on different parameters in order to get to the other side in one piece.

It’s that mental training that must have been so critical. You had to have your wits about you all the time and you can’t think clearly if you’re tired but, at the same time, you have to paddle what, as you the say, the equivalent distance of a marathon, an iron man, for 93 days. How physically taxing was it on you, as you now had to do all these mental calculations?

David, I think that’s what a lot of people don’t understand is that it was the physical aspect every, single day but then coupled with mental challenges that I was dealing with, every single day on top of that. Not only during the day but then even more so, during the night, which was mentally and emotionally draining just getting through each one of the nights, which seemed like they lasted forever. Then you’re still having to prep your nutrition and your hydration, your weather routing, your direction – still writing a captain’s log and trying to still sound positive to the rest of the world and hopefully it’s fine, and how people deal with their own obstacles and challenges in how I was writing it. Still film a video log and film for the project, which was for the documentary that we’re making. Then deal with the mental side of it as well, and I think that’s what was probably the most challenging.

On the other side of it, it actually helped me in a lot of ways because I just didn’t have the time to get lonely. I didn’t have time to think about all the extra challenges of how I was going to get through it because I was dealing with so much stuff that I just never had time to really process all the chapters that I was dealing with because I was just dealing with one obstacle, one challenge at a time. I think that, in a lot of ways, actually helped me because I was just focussing on getting through each day, each night. And each insurmountable challenge that I was having to deal with very swiftly in order to survive and not let them start stacking on top of each other and become completely overwhelming.

Were you able to get into a routine? Was it constant stress every single day or would there be patches where things worked well? Where you could get at least a good night’s sleep, where the systems were powering up and you could just get on with paddling and getting lost in your own thoughts?

No, I didn’t have times like that. I think my systems never really charged up the way that they should, so I just… You’ve got to learn to just be able to let your daily routine be flexible and change it around the elements and change it around the changing environment that you’ve got. Then whatever you allow it to become your new norm. I found it absolutely remarkable that I could just teach my body to be able to understand that that was what I was doing would become its new norm. It shouted and screamed at me and gave me aches and pains and everything else for the first 3 weeks and then I just learned to accept that that was going to be its normal life and that is what it was expected to do on a daily basis. Then I could actually start appreciating being out there in the ocean, and in the elements and in the environment, which was awe-inspiring and absolutely stunning.

There were times where the elements weren’t super challenging and I could actually just appreciate everything around me and adopted an attitude of gratitude for the elements of the environment and just being out in this incredible environment thing and be able to learn to be in sync and flow with it. The sooner I let go into that, and I could be more in tune then suddenly the world became an incredible place. When you’re in the elements in that sort of primal state and you’re in a slow and in sync with it, at the same speed then suddenly you start interacting with the elements and the environment. The creatures start inviting you into their world and you start interacting with them on a level that most human beings just never get to experience or even know is possible, which was an incredibly enlightening experience.

You make it sound so fabulous. For me it would be quite terrifying to be out there on such a little craft and probably one of the loneliest men on the planet. That’s not a thought that seems to cross your mind.

No, I think you’ve got to be comfortable with the elements and your environment when you’re doing something like this. I’ve been very fortunate growing up in a family of watermen and my dad was an incredibly inspiring person and two older brothers that I was always keeping up with and we were immersed in doing different sports in the ocean. From sailing, water skiing, stand-up paddle boarding, surfing – every sport, so the ocean just became my second home. For a lot of people it’s very intimidating and it’s very frightening but for me it became my second home and I still feel as comfortable in the ocean as I do on land, probably even more so.

I think it just goes to show that if you put yourself in an uncomfortable place, for an extended period of time, you keep on putting yourself in that place and then that becomes your new comfort zone. Your comfort zone shifts and you just become more comfortable with that experience, until you push your limits and extend yourself further and challenge yourself and then if you’re constantly doing that, then your comfort zone shifts and your frame of reference shifts. So, for a lot of people that don’t put themselves in the ocean, it is fearful but you can apply that to everything in life. The more you do it, the more comfortable you get, and it becomes your happy place.

I’m reading an article that talks about you being in the middle of the ocean and a rogue wave knocked you off your paddle-board, completely capsizing you. Take me through what happened?

What a funny experience. I mean, that was happening on a regular basis, especially when the conditions were pretty wild. I was going at that speed and as soon as you start taking off on waves and the craft becomes a lot less controllable when you’re going from travelling at 3.5 to 4 knots, to 14 and to 15 knots – that’s as fast as someone skis behind a ski boat, so the craft would take off and start plaining and then it became very uncontrollable, so I actually had to slow the craft down at many points, and create a drove system or a rope system that I’d have these ropes that I’d lay out the back of the craft, to be able to slow it down and to be able to make it more controllable and more manageable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nQr-Gs4Mp4&t=7s

Every now and again, I did get knocked off the craft but I was tethered to the craft at all times, with an emergency harness system that was connected around my waste and I had one of my big wave leashes, which was attached to myself around my ankle. That was just connected to another point of the craft and I actually developed my own system, to be able to connect myself to the steering system as well, so if I fell overboard the craft would turn itself into the wind and stop next to me. So, I was always very mindful of the fact that safety first and keeping connected to the craft, even if I got thrown overboard because if you’re out there and you get disconnected from the craft, it was simple that the chances of survival were borderline zero, instantly. So getting separated from the craft wasn’t something that I allowed to happen at any particular time.

Well, you had a lot of failsafe systems in place there. Were there any occasions though, as you got capsized that you feared this was going to be calamitous?

You know, I think that the ocean, every now and again when I was recording a couple of really big storms it got pretty violent. When it gets to that state my autopilot wouldn’t work, so I’d actually get pushed along sideways at about 35 – 40 degrees to the conditions and they made it pretty trying because I was getting hit by waves side on and there were times when it sounded like the craft was just going to disintegrate around me but it was really well, structurally built and I knew it could take most sort of conditions that we got given, besides a full blown hurricane when it might get to 8 – 10 metre waves but I knew it could take pretty much most of the waves that were hitting from the side.

I think it was just a mental thing, when you hear a wave hitting the craft so loudly that it sounds like it’s going to disintegrate around you. I think it was more of a mental thing than anything else and I just had to be able to process the fact that the craft was built very solidly and it would survive pretty much anything that the ocean could throw to you. But I think immediately it just sounded like it was so terrifying regarding the sound it would make, when you got hit by a wave and the craft got semi-inverted at 90 degrees. Emotionally that was quite challenging because every wave that I could hear breaking around the craft during the night, which would happen every 3 to 10 minutes, when it was in a storm. It sounded like it was going to hit the craft, so emotionally you were just dealing with that.

Recalibrating mentally the sounds of the waves around you and bracing for what you thought was going to be the impact of a wave happening all the time. I think when you’re dealing with that all the way through the day, you’re paddling and then you’re dealing with that at night. By the time you get to daylight the following morning you’re so emotionally and mentally drained – that was really challenging to then get up and do a full iron man, equivalent a day of another 12 to 15 hours a day, and that was happening on a pretty regular basis. So, that was the hardest thing to just stay mentally focused and strong and make sure the purpose was so powerful to be able to get you through those difficult times.

Did you get much interest from curious marine life, sharks that thought you might be a tasty morsel, whales that wanted to know who you were?

No, I saw pretty much every single creature that you want to see and all the creatures that you didn’t want to see as well, so I got to experience a little bit of everything. [One particular shark] would come and visit me, which was quite frightening because the one that came to see me about a month and a half into the journey was quite aggressive and it was hungry and it was coming at me at a speed and that was very intimidating but I’m very glad he didn’t attack the craft. He realised at the last minute that I wasn’t what he thought he was coming up to, to come and try to taste. Thank goodness, right at the last minute as he was going to attack my rudder, he obviously realised that I wasn’t what he anticipated and violently turned away right at the last second, slapping the side of the craft and then coming right underneath me and then coming around, circling at another time, and then disappearing off.

But I think the fact that most people don’t realise is that these kinds of creatures that you see, I’ve got utmost respect for sharks and especially great white sharks, but the kind of large fish that you’re seeing out there, at that particular time and then in a grace of state he was quite hungry, and it was inquisitive but he wasn’t as wide as my craft was wide and almost as long. When you’re out in the middle of the ocean, a 1500 nautical miles from any human being and land it’s incredibly a humbling experience when you see the size of these kind of creatures that are very inquisitive. It’s quite terrifying and it probably took me about 35 minutes for me to put my … mast down because I was so fearful.

Chris, what kept you motivated to keep going? Was it because this was going to be a rather remarkable feat, a world first? There’s also the issue of the fundraising that was involved. You were partnering with Carrick Wealth and the three charities, Signature of Hope Trust, the Lunchbox Fund, and Operation Smile. I’m sure that the idea of changing children’s lives was also uppermost on your mind but what was it that kept you going through all the hardship that prevented you from saying ‘enough is enough?’

No, I think I put so much on the line with this project and I’ve been working on it for so long that once I pushed off and took that first stroke from Morocco. For me, there was never any turning back or quitting at all. My responsibility and duty to raise millions of Rand and inspire people to believe in themselves and what was possible was the driving force of this project and I had this massive weight on my shoulders of… I just felt like it was all those 100’s and 1000’s and millions of little kids that was stacked on my shoulders and I had to get to the other side, in order for them to be able to step off and know that my duty and responsibility to them was fulfilled in changing the lives of millions of little kids, and that was a huge driving force for me. It helped me get through almost all the really, difficult times, and iron man – I think I was the greatest driving force and when you are powered by passion and driven by a force like that, which helps you get through those really difficult times.

From Left to Right: Kieron McRae, Chris Bertish, Craig Featherby

It helps you more than you could possibly imagine and I had to tap into those emotional layers of going up and spending time with Operation Smile a couple of weeks before I left – when they were doing their anniversary. All those operations for the little kids and just watching mothers bringing their kids in that have spent every, last cent just to get them to that hospital that day. And watching their emotions as they get their little kids back with their little cleft-faced pallets that have been fixed and remedied and it’s only a 30 – 45-minute operation that changes that little life and that little face. It puts a smile back on their faces forever and to be able to know that you’re making that dramatic, positive impact and you’re changing the lives of kids that you will probably never even get to see or know, is a really powerful passion and a powerful purpose that I had to tap into all the time.

When times got really, tough I drew on that emotion and that purpose. Knowing that every, single time, when I was sitting in my cabin I was like you know what, siting in this cabin is not going to get you to the other side. It’s not going to change the lives of little kids, so get up, stand up, take action. Be the change and make the change and take that stroke because every, single stroke you take is putting another smile on a kid’s face. It’s paying for another lunchbox and building schools, to be able to inspire and educate the next generation of future leaders, doctors, lawyers, and changing the lives of millions of kids in South Africa and, also inspiring people to believe in themselves and overcome whatever obstacles they have in life – and believe in themselves and what’s possible.

Not only is your family born on the water. Your father was quite the waterman, your brothers as well, and your brothers have also been very involved in philanthropy as well. I’ve been reading about your brother, Greg, who battled heart issues. He had heart surgery and he’s got a little dinghy called the Little Optimist to inspire sick children. Your brother, Con, who fought cancer has created the cancer dojo – a cancer fighting platform, so clearly this issue of philanthropy is strong in the Bertish family.

Yes, I think my brothers are both super inspiring to me. They’ve also inspired me to be a better person and I think my dad was the driving force in just telling us that attitude of gratitude and being thankful and grateful for everything we have in life. I think that’s something that every South African needs to be mindful of. We were inspired by incredible leaders. Madiba, who inspired me to believe that nothing is impossible and that you believe it to be, and nothing is impossible until it’s done. I think there’re a lot of achievements I’ve done and I’ve inspired people to believe in that and I’ve inspired people to believe that take nothing for granted in life. We all have a lot to be grateful and thankful for.

We live in the most beautiful country in the world and that in itself is enough to be grateful for. I think we all have more than we need and it gives us an opportunity to be able to look and reflect on that and give back, and make a difference in other peoples’ lives wherever possible. I think my brothers and myself reflect that principle and hopefully, we inspire other people to think about that. Reflect back on themselves, be better as human beings, and give back and make a positive difference in our world and a positive difference in other peoples’ lives as well.

I’m looking a photograph of you as you came into the harbour at the end of this remarkable journey. You’ve got your paddle aloft. You’re holding a red flare aloft. There’s a massive grin on a very bearded face. I can see your ribcage. Your arms look particularly strong. What was that moment like? Relief or elation or a mixture of both, Chris?

I think that’s a great question. I think there’s a combination of everything and I think even more so for me, I knew that I had fulfilled a huge obligation to millions of little kids. The greatest thing for me was just knowing that that huge weight and responsibility and duty that I fulfilled for myself and to all those little kids in South Africa and it had been such an enormous burden for me and I think just having that burden be able to come off my shoulders was a huge, emotional weight and responsibility for me, that I had fulfilled. That meant the world to me really, and a lot of people thought that this was an amazing project and set 3 or 4 numerous world records and becoming the first person to paddle across the Atlantic, but for me, that was just details.

As long as I was inspiring people to believe in themselves and what was possible and overcoming whatever insurmountable obstacles and challenges that they have. I think it just reminds people you know, I took 2.5 million strokes in 93 days to be able to cross an ocean. But everybody has got their own challenges and their own ocean to cross and mountain to climb and if you just focus on what’s in front of you and take one stroke at a time, you will eventually get to overcome whatever goals that you want to achieve. If you believe in yourself and you stay focussed, stay determined and you persevere and you never give up then you can achieve anything. That’s where the ordinary becomes extraordinary and impossible suddenly becomes possible.

Knowing that you’ve done that, I’m sure would counter any mental toll that this trip might have taken out on your mind. What about a physical toll? Where did you physically suffer the most?

I’ve got definitely – I’ve got a major problem in my one shoulder now, which I need to go back and have surgery. I did have surgery on my other one about 6 months before I started the SUB Crossing and the surgeon did say to me that my other one wasn’t looking great but I probably had about another 6 – 8 years before I was going to need surgery for that but I don’t think he was counting on the fact that I was going to do 2.5 million rotations in the space of about four months, which is apparently someone’s lifetime of rotations, and I did it in 4.5 months, so I think my surgeon is going to be quite surprised when I see him in about a months’ time.

What happens next, Chris? As I said, the trip is over but the fund raising continues. There are obviously motivational talks to be done. How do you now maximise this incredible achievement and spread the word?

Yes, we are going to continue and I really appreciate you putting that SMS line up and we’ll continue to carry-on building on this, what we’ve already achieved and the money we’ve already raised, which is just under R6m. We want to get to over R15m over the next couple of months. We also have two big fund raising gala dinners, which I’ll go speak at, and tell people about this incredible journey and hopefully inspire people to want to donate more and inspire people to believe in their own goals and dreams and hopefully change some lives. I’ve got to work on the next book and the next film, ‘Ocean Driven’ is a film that I’ve done in the past, which will hopefully go on TV over the next couple of months. Or even take me to SuperSport and then I’ll work on the next one, which will hopefully inspire people, in regarding everything in life. I think for me, what is important is that I’ve realised what my focus is and I’ve done my one book and my one film, which has inspired a lot of people around the world.

You get to a point in your life, where I’ve realised with this kind of project that I have the ability with what I do to be able to make a really dramatic impact on millions of people in our county. For me, that’s a huge responsibility and duty to myself now that I realise that if I have that ability to be able to impact on millions then that’s the duty that I’ve got to fulfil and now it makes me realise that I’ve got to take this to the next level and my next project, which is for 2020/21. It will not only change the lives of 3-million people but hopefully it will change the lives of 300-milllion people in South Africa and inspire millions for generations to follow. That’s my goal. That’s my why, and I think that’s why I’ve been put on this planet to be able to hopefully leave a positive impact and a legacy of believing in what’s possible and be able to inspire people to follow their passions, live their dreams, and live to their greatest potential.

Chris, many congratulations on what you’ve achieved. It’s fabulously inspirational. I do think you’re barking mad but I intend that as a compliment.

Thank you very much. I’ll take it as a compliment, so thank you very much and thanks very much for having me on the show and thanks very much Cape Town and South Africa for all the support and I’m very proudly South African and inspired by our country and our followers and our fans and our people.

Visited 150 times, 1 visit(s) today