Sarasota brothers paddleboard from Bimini to Florida for cystic fibrosis

For even the most ardent of paddleboarders, no amount of training in Phillippi Creek, Sarasota Bay or even off the shore of Lido Beach can provide complete preparation for paddling 80 miles over more than 13 hours in the open ocean. 

But it’s still easier than battling cystic fibrosis.

The latter is the cause that prompted Sarasota resident brothers Brandon and Travis Taaffe to take the challenge in 2024, the annual event called The Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis, which was cancelled because of unsafe weather conditions. 

Still, they got to take a boat ride from Sarasota to Bimini in The Bahamas, meet the organizers and other competitors and, in the process, become motivated to try it again this year.

Adding two members to the team — fellow Sarasota resident James Brearley and his friend, Michael Barron of Georgia — they entered the four-person relay team division for the event held June 21-22. Four days later, they found out they won their group title with a time of 13 hours and 20 minutes to paddle from Bimini to Lake Worth Beach just south of West Palm.

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“Last year it got canceled, but we met all the people, including Travis Suit who is the head of it, and really learned what a great organization it is, the great things it does for people with cystic fibrosis and what a positive organization it is,” Brandon Taaffe said. “On top of that, what a cool adventure and serious paddleboard race it is. So we said, ‘OK, we’ve got to come and try again this year.’”

Travis Suit, who lives on the east coast of Florida, founded The Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis in 2013, two years after his daughter, Piper, was diagnosed with the condition. That first crossing involved Suit and three others in an effort to raise awareness for CF, an endeavor that has grown to include 975 paddlers over the years, raising more than $3.9 million.

Funds raised from the annual event benefits Piper's Angels Foundation, which helps empower individuals and families battling cystic fibrosis by providing resources such as urgent financial assistance, scholarships and peer-to-peer support,

For placing first in its division, Team Taaffe members won a total of $8,000. They donated the prize money back to the foundation.

“It's all just to raise money for their organization, so we felt that we didn't want to keep that and wanted to donate it back to the charity,” Taaffe said.

Training days

Some teams in The Crossing have a dedicated crew on their support boat, while others opt to crew their own. 

Their father, Michael, would have crewed his 38-foot boat if they were to compete last year. This year, the foursome decided to crew themselves, taking on that responsibility while not on their paddling shift.

Upon leaving Bimini shortly after midnight Sunday morning, they pulled longer shifts, Brandon’s first one lasting more than an hour. Those shifts would grow gradually shorter throughout the night and into the next day.

There are no rules regarding length of shifts, only that someone must be on the board at all times.

“I ended up going for like an hour and 40 minutes on my first paddle, and then it just kept decreasing,” Taaffe said. “At the very end, you're on 15 minutes or 20 minutes, you're exhausted, and you're just trying to hang on and keep going fast. It was so rough that Travis and James did their whole time paddling on their knees because it was truly challenging to be standing. This year there were 3- to 5-foot seas.”

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Training for The Crossing involved hours on the paddleboard, heading out into Sarasota Bay from the Hudson Bayou three or four mornings per week before work. Both Taaffe brothers and their father are attorneys with the Sarasota law firm of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick. 

They would navigate the bay beneath the Ringling Bridge and back, getting in 3 to 4 miles per session. To practice in higher waves, they paddled off Lido Beach on a few occasions. Both living along Phillippi Creek, they would also paddle closer to home.

“We trained all around town for a couple months to get in shape and to get ready for the effort because it's definitely a big, a big effort,” Taaffe said. “It is definitely something you have to train for.”

All that training, though, doesn’t prepare you for that last 10 miles, when the shoreline is visible after paddling for 70 miles and, no matter how fast you go, the beach doesn’t seem to get any closer.

A veteran of ironman competitions, Taaffe said he was prepared for that sensation of the finishing seeming so close yet so far away.

“It seems like you're so close, but 10 miles is still two hours, and those are the hardest for sure,” he said. “But once you're really in close, in the last mile or two, it really gets fun and you get your energy back.”

Now fully immersed in the camaraderie and the cause, Taaffe said he is already looking forward to next year’s The Crossing. He has had thoughts about trying it solo, but said he is having second thoughts after this year’s experience. The winning solo time this year was more than 15 hours.

“It was very hard, but the team aspect of it was really fun,” he said. “Maybe someday I'd still like to try and do the whole thing by myself, but it was really fun doing it as a team. Fifteen hours by yourself, that’s a lot.”