Richmond man says he set new record for crossing Georgia Strait on SUP

A Richmond man says he set a new world record this week — stand up paddle boarding over 80 kilometres from Victoria all the way to Tsawwassen’s Causeway Beach in less than 14 hours.

Jerry Zhang — who left his career in architecture a year ago to pursue teaching watersports — says he decided to cross the Georgia Strait to inspire others. After training for months, he set off around 6:40 a.m. on Wednesday, he says he faced whirlpool conditions for the first two hours of his journey.

“Multiple times I tried to get up on my board, that cost a lot of energy, I was tired, I was exhausted two hours in — that was the low point.”

Zhang says he faced another challenge along the way when he realized he was going in circles because of the wind and waves.

“I was stuck at a spot at almost 10 [kilometres] not going anywhere,” he said. “That’s when I felt oh no, how am I ever going to make it back in time.”

But Zhang didn’t give up, he tells CityNews that he said a prayer and thought of his parents and friends waiting for him at the finish line, and that helped him keep paddling.

“Then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, I’m supposed to be the ambassador of determination on this trip. I can’t just give up halfway in.'”

He wasn’t alone in the ocean, he had a safety boat with a support crew that cheered him on, gave him food and water, and helped him navigate the seas.

Support crew member Aaron Pierce says everyone went from discouraged to excited when the tide suddenly turned and Zhang was able to make up for lost time until he got to shore, beating the current record by 15 minutes.

“I definitely had the feeling at times, ‘Is that even possible?'” he said.

“When he got there it was like a big sigh of relief that, ‘Okay this is going to happen!'”

Zhang says he was greeted by up to 50 people and, although he has blisters, scrapes and can’t feel his left big toe, he’s grateful for his support crew and proud of his accomplishment.

“If you just put enough determination, put enough faith in yourself, you can probably do anything.”

Zhang says he is submitting proof of his feat to Guinness World Records for verification.