Develop your skills

For those wishing to develop their skills coaching can be provided. I am qualified to coach the following activities:

• Sea Kayaking
• Open Canoeing
• River Kayaking

My main aim would be to teach you to be safe and to chose appropriate water for your level of experience.

I specialise in developing the necessary skills required to get you out and about safely. I also feel it is important whilst enjoying the environment to ensure we cause no damage as far as is possible. Part of the fun is choosing the correct medium and this could be Open Canoeing on the rivers Tweed, Till or Teviot or Sea Kayaking trips along the fantastic Northumberland and Scottish borders coast.

I offer bespoke coaching courses to those who have specific needs rather than running BC syllabus based courses – there are already plenty of providers that offer the BC courses and we are happy to recommend someone if you want a syllabus based leadership course. I can provide training towards any of the awards and specialise in personal development where we can nail down on specific skills you need to work on be that support strokes, rolling etc. 

I recommend a teacher to learner ratio of no more than 4:1 and ideally 2 – 3:1 for beginners. The price for coaching sessions is a little bit more than the guided trip costs (15%) due to the preparation and more involved nature of them.

The environment is a big part of what we do and so its role and an understanding of how we can adversely affect it is fundamental to the teaching.

Are you looking to get your own boat?

If you are thinking about getting some sort of craft for your own adventures I have a huge range of boats from racing ski to surf kayaks to specialist sea kayaks and general purpose kayaks both single and double. I also have a wide range of open canoes to use on a course with me or indeed on a guided trip so you can see if that particular craft suits you? I can show you how to line and track your canoe, pole or snub it up and down the River and indeed sail it – all the skills required for effective journeying.

Testimonial from Oct 2021:

‘Ollie
Just wanted to send a note of thanks for the kayaking this morning. Maxwell and I both really enjoyed it and learnt a massive amount. Thought you’d like to know that the first thing Maxwell said in the car on the way home is ‘he’s a good teacher’ – sure you appreciate that from a teenager that’s massively high praise!’