• Cape Town documentary photographer, Joshua Rubin and his father paddled to Robben Island on a raft they made themselves.
• The pair used everyday items like plumbing pipes, wood and plastic chairs to make their raft.
• The father and son duo hope to create an event where fathers and sons or mothers and daughters build their own rafts and paddle to Robben Island, for charity.

Cape Town-based documentary photographer, Joshua Rubin and his father Tony decided to paddle the almost 8km to Robben Island as a fun way to pass time during the lockdown period. They did this on a home-made raft.

What initially started as a joke, soon became a reality when things started to slow down at work for both himself and his father. 

"I was covering the lockdown during alert Levels four and five, then I ran out of things to do and work started slowing down. My dad wasn't working as much anymore. I said to him one day as a joke that we should paddle to Robben Island and the joke turned into reality," the 24-year-old told News24. 

"My dad is very good with his hands and building things. So we decided to build a raft," Rubin added. 

The raft was made out of four thick plumbing pipes, wood, glue and plastic chairs.

The father and son built the raft over three weekends, before setting sail on Tony Rubin's 59th birthday in July. 

It took the pair roughly three hours to get to Robben Island, about 7.5km offshore from Cape Town. 

The duo had subsequently been approached by Derrick Frazer from Big Bay Events to possibly create an event in future, where two members of a family built a raft and paddled to Robben Island to raise money for charity. However, nothing had been set in stone and they were still in talks, ironing out the details of the event.  

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