Ian was bought up – or rather largely left to bring himself up – deep in the countryside and had an affinity with the forest deeply rooted from an early age. From a childhood spent playing and chasing rabbits around the Sussex woods, through early working years as a woodsman, gamekeeper and deer manager to years working on conservation projects […]

Matt is Head Coach at Wokingham Waterside Centre. Following early days in racing, Matt has worked his way through the disciplines – and he’s now one of a very few coaches who are truly comfortable in anything from a high-kneeling sprint boat to a specialist WW canoe. He’s already a 5* trained and Moderate Water Endorsed […]

Lizzie has an extensive background in “Development Training” having worked for Fairbridge, The Prince’s Trust and Endeavour – all national charities working with the most difficult to reach young people, using paddlesport as a means for them to work on their personal development. As a UKCC L3 Coach in WW with an Advanced Water Endorsement […]

Matt Mandrell is founder of Adventure 7, a canoeing and bushcraft company based on River Severn in Worcester. Matt’s personal expedition experience and expedition leadership experience ranges from Scotland and Sweden to Nepal and New Zealand.  He’s also a Level 3 Forest School Practitioner with a passion for camp cooking, and has the distinction of having been the first UKCC […]

Nickname: The Minnow (this was a while ago – I try not to swim so much these days) Hometown: York, England (UK) Current City: Tidworth, England (UK) Favourite Paddle: AB Edge Canoe Paddle Favourite Paddling Location: Upper Fium Orbo- Corsica Biography: OC1 WW is my life! Seriously ask my wife…. The hit of running “Extreme […]

Dave has lived and paddled all over the UK but now calls North Wales home. He started paddling when he was at school and began coaching whilst at University. He has worked coaching and guiding all over the UK, Europe and in Chile. Starting from his first paddling trip abroad in Spain, Dave developed a passion for […]

Andy Oughton has been quietly impressing for years as a pioneering Coach Educator. For an example of Andy’s pioneering Coach Education read his discussion of “An Integrated Approach to L2 Paddlesport Coach Education” – although if a picture tells a 1,000 words, you might just take in this photo from the Open Canoe Festival at the Drôme…

How do you introduce Manzo Alejandro Cordero?  He’s an ACA certified maestro in / on whatever floats… and a dive master & cave diver when he sinks. Oh – and he’s got rescue-instructor certifications for everything from “high angle wizardry” through “Swiftwater” to scary sounding stuff linked to plunging the deeps. First and foremost though, Alex is Stand Up Paddleboard ambassador.  He’s […]

Caroline is director of Outdoor Learning Consultancy – a company that’s passionate about outdoor learning. She has developed & facilitated training programmes to support CPD for outdoor educators and teachers nationally & internationally. Through her experience in the outdoors she has an understanding of a wide range of teaching and learning pedagogies and is passionate about innovative […]

Those who know Ray Goodwin’s book will have heard tales of Tim Bird: he’s the one on page 36 – with the photo and story of a long portage across Rannoch Moor to Rannoch Station. Aside from being an SRT and Rope Rescue Instructor, Tim Bird has been a member of the Ogwen Valley Mountain […]