David "Dave" Cornthwaite (born 1979) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

adventurer An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and filmmaker. He is best known for his Expedition1000 project, a plan to undertake 25 separate journeys of 1000 miles or more, each using a different form of non-motorised transport.

Early life and education

Cornthwaite was born in England and attende
Duke of Kent School
in Surrey and then

Stamford School Stamford School is an independent school for boys in Stamford, Lincolnshire in the English public school tradition. Founded in 1532, it has been a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference since 1920. With the girls-only Sta ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. After finishing his high school education, he travelled to

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

as a volunteer in a

gap year A gap year, also known as a sabbatical year, is typically a year-long break before or after college/university during which students engage in various educational and developmental activities, such as travel or some type of regular work. Gap yea ...

teaching scheme organised by Africa & Asia Venture. Cornthwaite called this "his first taste of adventure".

BoardFree

In May and June 2006, Cornthwaite skateboarded along Britain's

End-to-end End-to-end or End to End may refer to: * End-to-end auditable voting systems, a voting system * End-to-end delay, the time for a packet to be transmitted across a network from source to destination * End-to-end encryption, a cryptographic paradigm ...

route from John O' Groats to

Lands End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

, a distance of . The journey took 34 days. Three rest days were required when Cornthwaite developed severe

blisters A blister is a small pocket of body fluid (lymph Lymph (from Latin, , meaning "water") is the fluid that flows through the lymphatic system, a system composed of lymph vessels (channels) and intervening lymph nodes whose function, like the ...

. On 2 June 2006, Cornthwaite completed the journey, becoming the first person to do so on a skateboard. This journey and another in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

were made in association with charities including The Lowe Syndrome Trust, Link Community Development and Sailability Australia.

Expedition1000

Expedition1000 is Cornthwaite's 12-year career project to make twenty-five journeys of or more, each using a different form of non-motorised transport. From 3 to 16 April 2011, Cornthwaite and Sebastian Terry journeyed from

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Canada, to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

tandem bicycle A tandem bicycle or twin is a form of bicycle (occasionally a tricycle) designed to be ridden by more than one person. The term tandem refers to the seating arrangement (fore to aft, not side by side), not the number of riders. Patents relat ...

. Neither had previously ridden a tandem bike. On 19 June 2011, Cornthwaite began a ,

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

-setting journey down the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

from source to sea on a

stand up paddleboard Standup paddleboarding (SUP) is a water sport born from surfing with modern roots in Hawaii. Stand up paddleboarders stand on boards that are floating on the water, and use a paddle to propel themselves through the water. The sport was doc ...

. The journey started at Elk Lake, just south of

Lake Itasca Lake Itasca is a small glacial lake, approximately in area. Located in southeastern Clearwater County, in the Headwaters area of north central Minnesota, it is notable for being the headwater of the Mississippi River. The lake is in Itasca Sta ...

, in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. The descent of the Mississippi River took 68 days including passage through falls, dams and locks. Hurricane Lee caused Cornthwaite to leave the water for a time, lengthening the trip to a total of 82 days. Cornthwaite carried all of his provisions by securing them in waterproof bags strapped to the deck of his paddleboard. Cornthwaite's speed depended on that of the

current Currents, Current or The Current may refer to: Science and technology * Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas ** Air current, a flow of air ** Ocean current, a current in the ocean *** Rip current, a kind of water current ** Current (stre ...

. The greatest distance covered in one day was , just upstream of St. Louis. In March 2012, in a fifth adventure for Expedition1000, Cornthwaite and a crew of ten sailed from

Cabo San Lucas Cabo San Lucas (, "Saint Luke Cape"), or simply just Cabo, is a resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. As at the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 202,694 inhabitan ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, to

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. The journey took 17 days. During this time, Cornthwaite and Emily Penn (the program director of Pangaea Explorations) conducted a series of workshops on topics ranging from ocean science to social media to diagnosis of personal happiness and purpose. During August and September 2012, Cornthwaite swam down the Missouri River, from

Chamberlain, South Dakota Chamberlain is a city in Brule County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Missouri River, at the dammed section of the Lake Francis Case, close to where it is crossed by Interstate 90. The population of Chambe ...

towards

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. He had a support crew of six but pulled his provisions along behind him on a raft. The swim raised funds for CoppaFeel!, a breast cancer awareness organization.

Other expeditions

In April 2010, Cornthwaite and Sebastian Terry became the first people to cross

Lake Geneva , image = Lake Geneva by Sentinel-2.jpg , caption = Satellite image , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Switzerland, France , coords = , lake_type = Glacial lak ...

on stand up paddleboards. They made the journey in less than two days. Cornthwaite produced a documentary

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

of the expedition entitled ''Lake Geneva Crossing''. In June 2010, Cornthwaite and

Sarah Outen Sarah Dilys Outen (born 26 May 1985) is a British athlete and adventurer. She is also a motivational speaker in the UK and internationally. Outen was the first woman and the youngest person to row solo across the Indian Ocean and also the Pa ...

paddled from

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

to beneath the

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule and Suspended-deck suspension bridge, suspension bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones (architect), Horace Jones and e ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The five-day journey, which finished on 8 June 2010,

World Oceans Day World Oceans Day is an international day that takes place annually on 8 June. The concept was originally proposed in 1992 by Canada's International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) and the Ocean Institute of Canada (OIC) at the Earth Summit ...

, was a celebration of Britain's inland waterways.

Writing

Cornthwaite writes about his journeys in a personal

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

, in

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

magazine contributions and books. Cornthwaite's first book, based on his world-record-breaking skate across Australia was published in 2008. It was entitled ''BoardFree: The Story of an Incredible Skateboard Journey Across Australia''. In 2008, Cornthwaite wrote a book about dating entitled ''Date: Confessions of a Temporary Serial Dater''.

Other work

Cornthwaite works as a

motivational speaker A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers ca ...

at corporations, schools and other organizations. In 2011, Cornthwaite gave a speech for the TEDx Youth event in

. Cornthwaite makes documentaries about his expeditions and those of other British adventurers. Cornthwaite is an ambassador for The Blue Project, a climate and oceans project that brings together elite sports men and women to promote sport, healthy living and a clean environment.

Personal life

Cornthwaite married fellow adventurer and expedition leader Emma Karembo Taylor in September 2018.

References

Sailworld coverage of Mississippi Expedition 2011

Talking Technology with Dave Cornthwaite

Dave Cornthwaite Feature in Wide World Magazine

Interview with Dave Cornthwaite in Beyond Limits Magazine

Dave Cornthwaite on the SUP Radio Show

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornthwaite, David Living people English explorers English non-fiction writers English motivational speakers Survivalists 1979 births English male non-fiction writers People educated at Stamford School