Two men, from different backgrounds, became best of friends in 2008 when they undertook a challenge to raise money in aid of charity. Now, 13  years later, Dorian Vassallo and Albert Gambina will be undergoing a one-month challenge to raise funds for Inspire Foundation by paddling - a total of 554.47 nautical miles - from Malta to Sicily, which they will circle before heading back home in their two-seater kayak called VKV Anita.

It all started in 2005 when Dorian Vassallo, now 62, was introduced to canoeing by a friend. That same year his wife was diagnosed with cancer and, following a five-month illness, she passed away.

“A couple of weeks before she passed, I got this crazy idea of paddling from Malta to Sicily to raise funds for a cancer foundation…

On May 5, 2006, my wife, Tessa, passed away and, immediately, this crazy idea started eating away at my brain. I could think of nothing else,” he says. His first goal was to test the waters and paddle round Malta – which he did in June 2007. Sicily was next the following year.

With the help of his colleague’s father, Wilfred Sultana, they put together a team of escort boats and contacted the mayor of Pozzallo to make it happen. The aim was to raise funds for the Malta Cancer Foundation in an event called Kayak for Cancer.

After months of organising, a team of eight people set off from Marsalforn in Gozo, to Pozzallo. Amongst those eight people there was Albert Gambina.

“I knew Albert from our childhood days but, as often happens, we went our separate ways. It was kayaking which brought us together again. Now he is like a brother to me,” Dorian says.

The sea was always a part of Albert’s life. In fact, he made it his career when he entered Nautical School in 1976. Since then he worked as a ship’s captain, both locally and abroad. During his work travels he would visit many ports. This is how kayaking started.

“I would explore ports we would dock at with my mountain bike. But some ports were located on rivers, so the next logical step was to buy a folding kayak to satisfy my wanderlust and that is where it all began,” recalls Albert, 60.  

A friendship forged

Fast forward to 2006 – the year Dorian lost this wife to cancer – and Albert became a member of the Malta Canoe Federation. In July 2008 he joined the first kayak crossing to Sicily, organised by Dorian, during which around €32,000 were raised.

“Post-event we cemented our kayaking partnership and the rest, as they say, is history.  Dorian and I are the perfect paddling team.  Together we have covered quite a few nautical miles and think of ourselves more as brothers than friends,” Albert says. 

The plans to paddle together started to unfold after that first 2008 crossing to Pozzallo. While eating a pizza after completing the challenge, Dorian mentioned paddling from Tunisia to Malta. “After receiving a lot of comments and pizza thrown at me, Albert calmly said: ‘It is doable.

From Mahdia (on the Tunisian coast) to Lampedusa (Sicily) is only 75 nautical miles, 25 nautical miles to Linosa (an island in the Sicilian channel) and another 75 nautical miles to Malta’. We looked at each other and said: ‘Shall we go for it?’. We agreed and that was it,” Dorian recalls.

 In 2009, as part of their training, apart from paddling round Malta and also circumnavigated the Maltese archipelago, they made a night crossing from Pozzallo to Valletta.

That same year Albert and Dorian paddled solo, with no support boat, from Marfa to Punta Secca in Sicily.

A series of Maltese firsts for kayaking

This was a first for Maltese kayaking. Then, in July 2010, after paddling from Malta to Linosa in June as a training session, they set their plan in motion and crossed from Mahdia in Tunisia to Lampedusa, from Lampedusa to Linosa and from there to Malta. 

And again, they dreamt of an even bigger challenge. “We discussed, or rather dreamt, of undertaking a voyage by kayak following the footsteps of Saint Paul from Cesarea in Israel to Rome, with a similar itinerary,” Albert says adding that this was not possible due to the volatility in the Eastern Mediterranean. 

But in 2013 they completed another part of Saint Paul’s voyage when they paddled from Pozzallo to Rome stopping at the same places, amongst them Reggio Calabria and Pozzuoli – to raise funds for the Malta Community Chest Fund. 

“Our dream of a voyage from the Levant never faded and in 2017 we began searching for a suitable ocean rowing boat that would enable us to row from Crete to Malta,” says Albert. 

The original idea was to paddle from Crete to Malta via Greece, Corfu, cross the Adriatic to Italy, down the coast to Sicily and cross to Malta. However, in view of the coronavirus situation they had to choose a safer route. 

The two friends have now been training for this new challenge – another first.

Kayak for Charity 

Called Kayak for Charity they will be paddling together – in their two-seater kayak called VKV Anita – from Malta to Sicily, circumnavigate Sicily and then paddle back. Weather-permitting they will leave at the end of July.

The plan is to depart from Armier before daybreak and get to Sampieri or Punta Secca in Sicily just after night fall. The coastal part of the journey will be done unassisted, however, they will make use of an escort vessel for the crossing to and from Sicily. Depending on the weather, they plan to paddle an average of 25 nautical miles a day as they circle Sicily before heading back home.

As the Sicily to Malta crossing should take approximately 18 hours to conclude, a final stop overnight in Gozo is envisaged before they paddle to their final destination – the Valletta Waterfront – the following day. All this will last about a month which means they will be carrying lots of stuff with them.

“All our gear, such as food, clothes, safety, electronic and camping equipment will be carried with us inside the kayak. We will carry a three-to-four-days-worth of emergency supply of food in the kayak and buy fresh food along the way,” says Dorian stressing that they always put safety as a top priority. 

“We also always hold a meeting with the search and rescue arm of the Armed Forces of Malta where we give them details of our trip. Closer to the day we also speak with the MET office to get a detailed hour by hour weather forecast,” he says.

Asked how much they hope to collect after all this effort he says: “We never set a target. We always reasoned that whatever amount we collect is more than the NGO had yesterday. Every little helps.” 

Claire Galea, from Inspire Foundation, agrees: “These fundraising events are vital as a lifeline to our organisation to enable us to continue providing our very important services. During the past year, with COVID-19, our costs have shot through the roof as we have to work to ensure that our service users continue to receive the services they so require but are protected with additional measures that we have put in place to protect them.”

Inspire supports hundreds of people with disabilities by offering a range of services and therapies.

Inspire Foundation needs €4 million a year

Each year the foundation needs about €4 million, of which some 70% are government-funded, while the rest is collected through fundraising. It is thanks to these events, and the people who organise them, that the foundation manages to reach its financial targets.

And behind these people – like Dorian and Albert – there are so many encouraging them. Dorian says: “Two years ago I married Juanita Bonello who I had met after my first wife passed away… I would like to give special thanks to Juanita who supports me and pushes me all the way.”

Albert also thanks his wife, Astrid, and children Andrew and Carla. “They have been my greatest supporters in all the events that I have taken part in throughout the years.” And, of course, both men have one more person to thank – Kåre Ankervik, the man who built Anita, their kayak.