Pascale Honore, an Australian woman who has been wheelchair-bound for 18 years, recently went ‘duct tape surfing‘ on the back of her friend and experienced surfer, Ty Swan. To ride the waves, Honore first slips into a simple Kmart backpack (with leg holes cut out), then straps onto Swan’s back with duct tape, and then goes tandem surfing off the South Australia’s west coast. This was the first time she had ever gone surfing but had wanted to for a long time. Donations are being taken for the Duct Tape Surfing Foundation.

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Pascale says she loved watching her boys – Tom and Morgan – surf the waves that break on the reefs outside of town, but couldn’t help but feel frustrated that she couldn’t ride them herself. That’s when Ty, a professional diver and good friend of her sons, came up with a plan.

“We were just sitting around one night having a few beers when I thought, `yeah, I reckon I could surf with Pascale on my back’,” Ty says.

Eventually that seed of an idea took root, and the pair began to seriously look at the logistics of surfing together.

Pascal Honore rides a wave near Elliston, on the Eyre Peninsula, duct-taped to the back of local surfer Tyron Swan.

“Everyone said we were crazy,” Ty says. “Even the loosest people I know said we were crazy.