My admission during the Facetime interview had the endurance kayaker howling with laughter. Sarah Davis, who plans to become the first woman to paddle the Nile, roared when I confessed to a love of Aussie reality TV show, Bondi Rescue.
Sarah, a Brit who relocated to Australia, is now one of the team of those very lifeguards. Joining the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club was “life-changing”, not only in helping her to settle into her new country but putting her on the path to her current challenge.
So I chat to the Sydney resident about when waters feel “sharky”, the British TV presenter who inspired her challenge, and the irony about being a risk manager by day, adventurer by night.
After finishing up the interview with Sarah, in which I could have spoken to the adventure fiend for hours, I looked in horror at the recording. Had I just accidentally recorded myself for the 40-minute interview?
Paddle the Nile’s leaving date… gulp
Thankfully, that turned out not to be the case. But if I could almost make such a basic mistake sitting comfortably at home how does Sarah plan to minimise any errors on her planned trip down the length of the Nile, most of which could be life endangering?
Among other things, I’m doing Krav Maga, which is Israeli self-defence, which is quite interesting. We practised today and he was coming at me with rubber knives and even though it’s rubber, it’s still quite intimidating; I’ve been attacked with batons and goodness knows what else!
Paddle the Nile
The irony of being a Risk Manager for her day job is not lost on Sarah. We catch her in the early stages of planning the trip, where presumably every possible risk is planned for.
Sarah’s boat she’ll take down the Nile will be rather more hardwearing than her ocean kayak
Of course during epic adventures in the wild anything can happen but you can bet Sarah is the most prepared adventurer there can be.
Up a creek
The trip is not just about Sarah wanting to do a ‘first’, but also about encouraging other people, particularly women, to have the confidence to go for their own adventures. She’s even keen to have people join her on bits of the journey, kayaking with her on some of the flatter parts of the Nile.
She sets off on October 18 2018 so if you think this is your moment to do something different, head to her website and take a look. No harm in looking, right?
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