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World record breaker<br />
After losing his close friend in a tragic accident in <strong>Mar</strong>ch last year, followed by weeks of<br />
lockdown, <strong>Ballito</strong> surfski paddler Quinton Rutherford got into the ocean and paddled<br />
50km in one go. What he didn’t know was that this would be the catalyst towards him<br />
breaking a world record just a few months later.<br />
Text: Leah Shone | Photographs: CHRIS ALLAN PHOTO<br />
ery few people are as passionate about ocean paddling as<br />
50-year-old Guinness World Record holder Quinton. “I started<br />
surfski paddling when I was 20 years old and I haven’t stopped<br />
since,” he says. “It actually drives my wife crazy, because I’m<br />
literally always in the water!”<br />
Quinton secured himself a spot in the Guinness Book of Records<br />
for the longest ocean paddle in 24 hours when he paddled 227km<br />
from Cape Vidal to Salt Rock last November. His motivation to tackle this<br />
incredible feat was to honour his friend, former Olympic paddler <strong>Mar</strong>k<br />
Perrow, who died in an aircraft accident shortly before the first lockdown.<br />
Originally from Amanzimtoti, Quinton, who owns his own plumbing<br />
company, his wife Cindy and their three children relocated to the North<br />
Coast 10 years ago.<br />
As a former SA Navy diver, Quinton has always been exceptionally sporty.<br />
He loves running and triathlons and, of course, is passionate about<br />
paddling. He has completed 25 Duzi Canoe <strong>Mar</strong>athons and 15 Fish River<br />
Canoe <strong>Mar</strong>athons and 15 Umkomaas River Canoe <strong>Mar</strong>athons.<br />
08 Get It • <strong>Ballito</strong> <strong>Umhl</strong>anga <strong>Mar</strong>ch 20<strong>21</strong>