Blairgowrie's blind adventurer undeterred by brush with death

Dean Dunbar tried wing foil boarding for the first time on the Adventure Show

Caught in the middle of a loch in a sudden winter storm, freezing waves crashing over his head, blind adventurer Dean Dunbar thought he was "a goner."

"It was one of those situations that I kind of came to terms [with the fact that] that I probably wasn't going to survive this one," he said.

Dean admits the thought of his recent prone boarding incident on Loch Tummel still "gets the blood pumping."

But the recent close call has not deterred the 52-year-old from Blairgowrie from planning another year of challenges and "firsts."

Dean is lining up a fresh set of extreme challenges after Covid curtailed his 2020 plans.

His almost 150 challenges and activities to date include wing walking, white-water sledging, and power-boating.

Dean has been registered blind since his mid-20s

Dean's latest adventures, including prone boarding, can be seen on the BBC Scotland Adventure Show winter sports special on Thursday.

Prone boarding is a fast-growing water sport in which participants lie on a board and use their arms to propel it forward.

A regular visitor to Loch Tummel, Dean had no idea what was in store before his solo trip at the end of last year.

He said: "The forecast said it was going to be in the range of 8mph to 15mph, and I can handle up to 20mph relatively comfortably.

"I'm heading up Loch Tummel and it's getting stronger and stronger, and I'm thinking I'll have to turn around soon.

"The next thing I knew everything had gotten dark and a storm had come in."

The waves started to batter Dean and his board.

He said: "If I stayed in that position I was likely to get rolled over, and in the cold water in the loch at that time of year it's going to get pretty harsh.

"The waves were getting bigger and bigger and it was getting really scary."

Dean will take part in a number of prone boarding challenges this year

Realising he had to turn his board to get back, Dean did not know whether he had enough time to spin the board 180 degrees.

He said: "If I didn't get it round in time, the board would be flipped over, I was going in the water.

"It was a dangerous position and I thought I could probably drown."

Dean managed to spin the board just in time, but spent the next 15 minutes fighting the waves and trying not to crash into rocks, before making it back to shore.

He said: "I've been on Tummel for the last five years, playing on there, and I've never seen conditions like that before, it was extremely scary."

Dean travelled to St Kilda from North Uist on a paddleboard in 2017

Dean is keeping this year's planned firsts under wraps as he "doesn't want to jinx them."

But, he is no stranger to them, setting more than 25 so far.

In 2017, he became the first person to "paddle" a stand-up paddleboard from North Uist to St Kilda and he was the first registered blind person to bungee jump from a helicopter.

Dean was originally registered as partially sighted when he was nine after being unable read the blackboard at school.

He was told that the cause of his sight degeneration was unknown, but was advised his sight would likely return by the time he was 20. But it didn't.

In 1996, aged 27, his sight took a "major downturn" and he was advised to begin learning Braille and to get a guide dog.

He said at that point he had two choices - "sit at home and moan a lot, or get out there and do something."

Dean's challenges included this wing walk in 2002

He said: "In 1998 I did a tandem skydive and that was the first adrenaline-pumping thing I'd ever done.

"By the time my feet touched the ground I was already thinking that was an amazing feeling, how do I get my next fix of adrenaline?"

Dean geared up for his 2021 challenges on the Adventure Show by trying out wing foil boarding, a new water sport where participants ride a board while holding an inflatable sail which propels them above the water.

Dean said: "It was absolutely amazing. Visually it was very hard work

"(Host) Patrick Winterton had started doing this wing foil and he told me about it.

"Then he said he'd been speaking to the Adventure Show and they wanted to do a challenge with me and this is what they've come up with."

Dean has completed almost 150 challenges and 'firsts'

Dean said his "active mind" was always thinking of his next adventure.

"Before I landed at St Kilda, I was already planning my next adventure," he said. "My mind's thinking, what's next?

"I'm naturally very lazy and I could quite easily take a year off and watch telly, but I know that wouldn't be good for me.

"So I'm always thinking of the next challenge, that's what keeps me motivated."

The Adventure Show winter sports special will be broadcast on the BBC Scotland channel at 19:00 on Thursday 11 March.