Thursday, a group of determined paddleboarders will pack up in West Palm Beach and head to the Bahamas.
They’re preparing to paddle back, more than 70 miles to raise money and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis.
Nick Ganster traveled from Tampa to take part in the event. He says he’s been training for six months to make the 75-mile paddle journey. “There’s always that point where you want to stop but you just gotta keep moving, telling yourself you’re OK, and you’re going to make it,” he says.
Travis Suit is the founder of the event and the executive director of Piper’s Angels Foundation.He says: “the depth of people’s purpose, with what they’re doing definitely is a big part of what elevates the passion and heightens the awareness.”
He started the event in honor of his 10-year-old daughter Piper, who was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at age 4. He says there are a few people participating in the paddle that also suffer from the disease. To have other people with CF participating in this event shows that CF may be a diagnosis but it is not what defines your life,” he says.
Paddlers range in age from 18 to 62. The event has raised more than $250,000. Saturday’s event at the Lake Worth Pier will begin at 10 a.m. as paddle boarders begin to arrive. They are leaving Bimini at 1 a.m. on Saturday.
