Campaigners 'heading to Parliament' as they call for more water safety focus and awareness
Campaigner Sam Foyle is raising funds for charity as he paddleboards the length of the Thames
Last updated 7th Jul 2026
As a heat health alert comes into force, campaigners are paddleboarding down the Thames as they call on Parliament to do more to stop drownings.
Last year more than 200 people died accidentally in the water across the UK and a decade-long water safety strategy ends this year - with no agreement about what will replace it for 2027 and onwards.
A review of the National Water Safety Forum's drowning Prevention Strategy, 2016-2026, found that whilst there had been progress there was still work to do. All four UK nations are currently developing new drowning prevention strategies.
Leading the challenge on the Thames is Sam Foyle, who lost his best friend Simon Flynn in a paddleboarding accident on Cornwall's Camel Estuary in August 2020.
Sam has continued to campaign for safety changes within Stand Up Paddleboarding after Simon's death, as a result of ankle entrapment. A Simon Flynn Foundation has since created in the Gloucestershire teacher's memory 'to help remove obstacles that may prevent children having the opportunity to learn and thrive'
Sam has so far raised more than £40,000 for the Simon Flynn Foundation and Devon based charity Above Water, which was founded by Torbay lifeguard and multiple paddleboarding world record holder Brendon Prince.
Mr Prince said: "My email box goes mad when tragically a child dies - and that is the tragedy - it needs that (death) to say 'we need to do something about this'."
"From the charity's perspective over 50 per cent of the schools we visit do not teach swimming and do not teach water safety. That is an accumulation of issues with funding, Covid and lack of swimming pools."
Mr Prince is also a mutiple paddleboard world record holder - who's the first person to circumnavigate mainland Britain on a paddleboard - as part of his water safety work.
Stuart McLean is also joining the challenge on the Thames after he lost wife Julia Hamilton through leash entrapment in 2024.
The group will also be joined by other paddleboarding figures and members of the newly recognised sports governing body Paddle UK.
Sam has also been working with the Office for Product Safety and Standards, showing how positive change can result from tragic circumstances (see video)
Paddleboarding is the UK's fastest growing sport and a new national Governing Body - called PADDLE UK - has been created to oversee both the competitive side of the sport and also encourage people to join in and be safe on the water. It now leads on safety messaging and advice
The latest figures, for 2025, show the number of RNLI related call outs to rescue paddleboarders was 133 in 2024 and 160 in 2025.