Interview with Josua Wechsler / 950km SUP Expedition from Switzerland to The Netherlands

In 2020, Josua Wechsler stand up paddled from Switzerland to the Netherlands, a journey that took 27 days and covered more than 950km. Beau sat down with Josua to speak about his adventure, the motivations behind it and to gain some insight into SUP touring.

Years ago I had the dream to paddle on a SUP from Switzerland to the Netherlands. Always when I was close to realize this idea, something came in between. Corona changed many plans, so it was time to pick up this old dream. In April 2020 I started building a wooden SUP in my workspace in the Netherlands. In the beginning of August 2020 my journey from Switzerland to the Netherlands could finally start. This film gives you an impression of the building process of my wood SUP and the 27 days of expedition trough Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands (950km).

The SUPboarder team found this video back in late 2021 and we were immediately amazed by the SUP expedition Josua had completed. After initially thinking an inflatable board will live up to the challenge, Josua realised he needed to upgrade his equipment. He ordered a Jarvis DIY SUP kit and got to work building his own SUP out of locally sourced wood. After the build, he took off to paddle through Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands covering an incredible 950km in just under a month.

Josua is an artist and sculptor whose work focuses on the relationship between man and nature. He creates work that blends these elements together and it seemed fitting he created his own board to be one with nature on this SUP expedition.