Richard Uren hands Penlee RNLI £500 raised by Cornwall kayakers

A weekend spent paddling around some of Cornwall’s toughest coastline has turned into a £500 boost for the volunteers who might one day be called out to rescue the paddlers themselves.

Richard Uren presented the cheque to Penlee RNLI on behalf of Penzance Canoe Club, the proceeds of the West Cornwall Sea Kayak Meet, the club’s annual gathering on the water off the far west of the county.

A meet that pulls paddlers from across the country

The West Cornwall Sea Kayak Meet is Penzance Canoe Club’s own event, held every year and now well established enough to attract sea kayakers from well beyond Cornwall’s borders. The stretch of coast around West Cornwall has built a reputation among paddlers as one of the best sea kayaking destinations in the country, with its exposed headlands, caves and swell drawing people back year after year.

This year’s meet raised enough for the club to hand over a cheque for £500, money that goes straight to supporting the crews at Penlee, the lifeboat station covering the waters the club paddles in.

Paddlers supporting their local station

For a club whose members spend their weekends out on the same sea that Penlee’s volunteers are trained to respond to, the donation carries a bit of extra weight. The area is a hugely popular one for sea kayaking, and the club says it’s glad to be in a position to support the station that watches over it.

Penzance Canoe Club runs the Sea Kayak Meet annually, and with the west Cornwall coastline showing no sign of losing its pull for paddlers, there’s every chance next year’s event raises another cheque for the lifeboat crews down the road.

📷Richard Uren (Penzance Canoe Club) presents a £500 cheque to Penlee RNLI, raised at the West Cornwall Sea Kayak Meet. Credit: Penlee Lifeboat