Imagine being on a river or lake – the sun is shining, the wind is calm, the water is still. You enjoy and appreciate all the beauty that nature offers, as you gently cruise along, using the increasingly popular medium of a stand-up paddleboard (SUP). It sounds idyllic, yes?
Yet we increasingly notice our waterways are polluted by the same mismanaged waste we see dumped on land, much of which finds its way into our rivers and seas. We also see more stories from around the world describing waterway cleanups organized by people using SUPs, kayaks, surfboards, etc.
Manufacturers of such leisure equipment have noticed the same trend – and are now helping address the same issue their customers are noticing. During this year’s live broadcast from our New York Call & Media Center, World Cleanup Day met up with Marc-Antoine Benglia, the Founder of one such company, the inflatable SUP maker Wavellon.
Marc-Antoine was introduced to World Cleanup Day by our very own Stephan Senghor, best known to us as the Country Leader for Senegal’s World Cleanup Day team. What you might not know is that Stephan is a celebrated artist, whose creation now appears on a limited edition version of Wavellon’s SUP!
When Stephan was invited by Marc-Antoine to design the artwork, he of course took the opportunity to explain World Cleanup Day’s objectives. Marc-Antoine explained, “Our uniqueness in the SUP market is the theme of the board and the message it gives. We paddle on waterways and witness first hand lots of waste. Stephan explained World Cleanup Day to us and it triggered something in us, so we created the ‘Paddle for the Planet’ range for the 2024 season. We believe in World Cleanup Day’s mandate, so every board sold next year will see a donation made in support of Let’s Do It World’s initiatives.”
Stephan’s design is one-of-a-kind and synchronizes well with the movement. It also speaks of his strong connection to Senegal, carrying deep meaning for him. “The design is called “Sunu Gaal”, meaning, “Our boat”, the origin of the country's name. Destiny brought us together – because we are all in the same boat, on the same planet. My design showcases the beauty of nature and also people coming together. The sea creature depicted is the experience and feeling of the beauty of nature at the point of unity.
Sustainability is a word we hear a lot of nowadays, so the fact that Wavellon’s product is extremely high quality matters a great deal to both Stephan and Marc-Antoine. “You cannot talk about sustainability and start making products that only last a few years. It’s a high-quality product with continuity in the thinking, to make sure it doesn’t quickly become waste,” concluded Stephan.
Using SUPs for sport, recreation, etc. gives us a chance to raise awareness of the need to keep clean the waterways we all want to enjoy. All this makes Wavellon’s SUPs the ideal platform (pun intended!) from which to carry out a river cleanup. If you are using a Wavellon board to do just that, please send us your pictures and stories, so we can share them with the world.
And the board you see pictured now sits proudly in our Tallinn HQ. If you want to use it for a cleanup on the local Pirita river, or along the Baltic Sea coastline, drop us a line and we’ll sort it out!
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