Guest Coaches at Body Boat Blade

We are both fortunate and honored that some of our closest friends and colleagues are internationally renowned coaches and instructors that like to travel and teach. Many of these great instructors have agreed to teach courses at Body Body Blade. In the past we have brought coaches from all over the world to teach at symposiums and workshops here in the Pacific Northwest, and we hope to continue this practice by offering courses led by some of the best coaches in paddlesport.

Keep an eye on the calendar for upcoming classes and special events that feature all of our amazing guest coaches!

STEVE JONES
ACA Open Water Costal Kayak Instructor

Steve's passion for paddling has led him to explore many different aspects of the sport from sea kayaking to canoeing to sprint racing. He's paddled throughout the Puget Sound, Washington and California coasts, the Sea of Cortez, and the Andaman Sea. He is an ACA Open Water Costal Kayak Instructor and has coached both youth and adult sprint racing programs. With sea kayaking as his focus, he feels the skills and efficiency practicied in sprint racing transfer directly across all kayaking diciplines leading to a more efficient and more powerful forward stroke.

ANDY STAMP
BCU Coach 5 Sea Kayak A5

Andy is a British Canoe Union Level 5 Sea Kayak Coach from Devon, SW England, and is also qualified as a coach for inland kayaking, surf kayaking and open canoeing. He has considerable paddling and coaching experience and when not at work at the University of Plymouth can be normally be found on the water. He has paddled the UK coastline extensively over the last thirty years. His first introduction to kayaking was at school, after leaving school as part of personal development at work he attended outdoor pursuits courses in 1972 and 1973, the latter being a 5 eek course at Outward Bound Sea School Aberdovey. These experiences and the process of gaining the Duke of Einburgh's Gold award confirmed a deep love of wild places climbing and kayaking. In the 1980's Andy became a very active recreational paddler and coach. In 1992, Andy and his friend and doubles partner Nigel Hingston, made a record breaking solo crossing in a double sea kayak from Start Bay in Devon to Guernsey and Jersey in the Channel Isles. The crossing to Guernsey is 65 nautical miles and has yet to be repeated; the total crossing is around 100 nautical miles.

STEVE MAYNARD
Coach Level 5 River, Coach Level 3 Sea

Plattsburgh University -Adirondack Experience (ADX) and Expeditionary Studies (EXP) full time faculty. Steve is originally from the UK, but now lives full time in the US. Steve has been sea kayaking in the UK, Europe, and North America for the last 15 years. He is one of the few people world wide to have qualified as a British Canoe Union (BCU) Level 5 Coach Sea and Level 5 Assessor Sea. This is generally regarded internationally as the highest level of qualification for teaching, guiding, and assessing skills in sea kayaking. He is also an ACA Open Water CK Instructor and qualified in a variety of other kayak and mountain sports.

PETE CATTERALL
Coach Level 5 River, Coach Level 3 Sea

Pete started kayaking at the age of 9 and was quickly bitten by the white water bug! 15 years of competitive slalom racing and many years of coach training in the UK set the stage for Pete's most recent accomplishments. He has paddled some of the world's best rivers in Corsica, Norway, North America, Africa, and India. Pete's Africa trip included the mighty White Nile and Zambezi rivers and his most recent trip was a first decent of the Siang River in India. Pete's main passion is coaching freestyle and he works closely with the Welsh national team. He is a full time instructor at the National Mountain Center Plas y Brenin in North Wales. Pete taught at the Kayak Skills Symposium in Peekskill, NY last summer where the some of the first BCU whitewater courses in the states were offered. Needless to say.he was awesome!

LOEL COLLINS
Coach Level 5 Inland, Coach Level 5 Surf, Coach Level 5 Canoe, Coach Level 3 Sea

Loel is widely known as one of the best paddling instructors in the UK. He is based in North Wales at the National Mountain Center Plas y Brenin. He was formally director of the National Whitewater Center, but found the job had become too desk bound and opted to return to his boat. A quality of life decision rather than financial! He is one of few level 5 coaches who have the level 5 award in inland, surf, and canoe! He has worked extensively throughout the UK, for the governing bodies and for the sports council, and has been actively involved with the BCU in the development and refinement of coach education. His passions lie in expedition boating and exploratory paddling and has 'notched up' many firsts around the world, including first descents in Papua New Guinea, Iran, Costa Rica and Pakistan. Loel was a member of the British freestyle team and competed at International level, achieving a ranking of 8th in the world for a while. He has been actively coaching freestyle for years and started when it was still just play boating and rodeo! A side line as an author has led to involvement in 4 books with 2 more soon to be published.

CHRIS DUFF
BCU 5 Star Sea, Coach 4 Sea

Chris Duff has traveled over 15,000 miles by sea kayak since 1983 when he paddled 8,000 miles around the eastern third of US and Canada. In 1996, he became the first person to solo circumnavigate England, Wales and Scotland. With the completion of the Irish expedition in 1996, he is the only person to have soloed the entire British Isles.

On April 16th, 2000 Chris completed his 1700-mile solo circumnavigation of New Zealand's South Island. In May of 2003, he plans to circumnavigate Iceland with Leon Somme' and Shawna Franklin. He is also a well-known author of "On Celtic Tides - One man's journey around Ireland by Sea kayak". His second memoir chronicling his solo circumnavigation around New Zealand will be available in 2003. Chris is also a highly certified and passionate kayak instructor, who infuses his love of the outdoors, knowledge of the sea, and his gentle and calming spirit into every course that he teaches.

Courses & events featuring Chris Duff in 2003:
Iceland Expedition 2003, May - September, 2003, Iceland

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