One of the great perks of working at 360 Digital Starters is the company subsidized membership with Urban Sports Club – providing our team with access to more than 50 types of sport at over 2,000 sports venues across Germany.
Most recently, we decided to try our hand at Stand Up Paddling.
Finding our balance
The Badeshiff venue is well-known in Berlin for its sandy beach and iconic swimming pool that floats in the Spree River. Opened in 2004 as part of the Stadtkunstprojekte (City Art Project Society), it was created by local artist Susanne Lorenz, with Spanish architects AMP and Gil Wilk, to enliven the area. Aside from swimming, relaxing, and listening to great local DJs, Badeschiff offers unparalleled views of Berlin – from the Oberbaumbrücke bridge to the city’s historic TV tower – and, without a doubt, there was no better backdrop than here for our paddle boarding adventure.
We were naively confident that boarding would be easy, but soon realized that it wasn’t as effortless as the pros made it look – especially when the river picked up some waves.
“While paddling you have to stay focused all the time – it's very easy to lose your balance. The current is strong, huge ships are passing by, and if you get distracted, you are swimming in no time.” - Ekaterina
Indeed, 50% of us ended up swimming in Spree (and yes, taking selfies is a tricky thing on water).
This didn’t break our spirit however and soon everyone was back on the boards, paddling more confidently and further than before. The drinks in the beach bar afterwards were definitely deserved.
“There is no failure except in no longer trying”
We’ll certainly be taking up more challenges like this in the future and a trip to the lake for some calmer water paddle boarding is already in the planning.
So, watch this space.