About Us
Welcome…
Sea Kayaking Wales provide quality sea kayak coaching & guiding through courses and tailor made adventures. This is mainly on Anglesey.
We also offer courses, holidays and expeditions in Pembrokeshire, Scotland, Norway and Croatia.
Our sea kayaking business is enthusiastically run by Kirsty & Geth. We also have an awesome team of coaches who we work with: Stuart, Mirco, Kathy, Dave, Pete, Helen, Anita, Steve and Kelly.
We are based in Holyhead, on Anglesey in North Wales.
Sea Kayaking Wales was established in 2018.
Our mission is: To grow and support the sea kayaking community.
The SKW Team
Our team members don’t just bring very competent paddling skills and a range of high level qualifications to SKW. They are far more notable for being very personable, enthusiastic and fun. All are proponents of excellent participant experience through kayak play, humour and exploration.
The SKW team have amassed many decades of teaching experience in both the classroom and outdoor education environments. Their combined love of learning and exploration is now largely focussed on the maritime and wild terrestrial environments.
Find out more about the SKW Team below…
Geth taking the Zegul Arrow Play HV out for surf….
Geth Roberts
British Canoeing Advanced Performance Sea Kayak Coach, BC White Water Kayak Coach, Mountain Leader (summer), Rock Climbing Instructor and PGCE
I’m SKW’s Mission Director. Mountain adventures first drew me into enjoying wild places. I was lucky to study at Bangor University and share Snowdonia with like-minded people. The highlands and white water of Norfolk then attracted me to doctoral and post-doctoral work at the John Innes Centre for Plant and Microbial Sciences, Norwich.
On returning to North Wales, I enjoyed 12 fantastic years teaching Science and Outdoor Education, mostly at Rydal Penrhos School, Colwyn Bay. This included many opportunities to lead youth expeditions abroad.
I provide British Canoeing Advanced Sea Kayak Leader, Sea Kayak Coach and Personal Performance Awards.
Kirsty and I have 3 awesome children, who love being part of SKW too!
Such a fun day out!
Kirsty Roberts
BA (Languages), PGCE, UKCC Level 1 Kayak Coach, ML (summer)
Kirsty leads our administration and customer care.
She grew up exploring the wilderness on regular weekend family adventures and holidays. Her love of the hills and European travels brought her to Bangor University to study French, German and Spanish. Following her degree course, Kirsty embarked on teacher training and became a primary school teacher. She has lived in North Wales ever since.
Kirsty has paddled on the sea and in rivers widely in Europe and led youth expedition groups in SE Asia, North Africa and Central America. She now really loves running, kayaking and biking with our family.
Stuart Leslie
BC Advanced Sea Kayak Leader, Aspirant Performance Coach (level 3)
Stuart began paddling at 15, exploring sea kayaking, canoeing, and wave skiing. His passion turned professional when he pursued Outdoor Education studies for his career.
Stuart, a friend, and his brother left Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in May 2012 in sea kayaks. They paddled 2,500 miles, around the British coast of returning 96 days later. This gave him the accolade of being the youngest sea kayaker to have circumnavigated Great Britain.
Stuart is a highly skilled coach is technical water and very often coaches on our Dynamic Water Courses (Advanced).
Steve Mattock
BC Advanced Sea Kayak Leader, Aspirant Sea Kayak Coach
Steve has been working in outdoor education for more years than he cares to admit. He has spent his career working with diverse audiences and particularly young people in all manner of adventurous outdoor and environmental activities, but his true love lies with all things water, ever since he got in a kayak aged six. He started out as a teenage trainee kayak instructor and progressed to coach and guide inland kayak and canoe, has competed for Wales in surf kayaking and spent recent summers paddling and coasteering in Cornwall. He loves surfing tide races and has undertaken and led many multiday expeditions in Wales and Scotland. Having gained qualifications in sea kayaking, he is now really looking forward to sharing his passion for the sea.
Kathy Webb
BC Advanced Sea Kayak Leader, BC Guide, UKCC Level 2 Coach, ML (summer)
Kathy is one of our busiest and most popular sea kayak coaches (check out her reviews on Tripadvisor!). She is also super enthusiastic about sea kayaking, finding time to go boating even on her days off during the height of our summer season.
Kathy has been a Scouts volunteer for many years and has led youth expeditions to fantastic destinations abroad. Before joining SKW she worked at Plas Y Brenin Mountain Training Centre.
Mirco Goldhausen
BC Advanced Sea Kayak Coach, BC Advanced Sea Kayak Leader, ISKGA Advanced Guide
Mirco is an awesome tiderace and advanced conditions sea kayak coach. We love paddling with him for his enthusiasm and support in the gnarlier conditions.
Previously Mirco worked as a professional restaurant chef and is still very much a foodie. He is also a highly skilled laminator, producing high quality SKUK sea kayaks, with Nigel Dennis, in Holyhead. He also recently sea kayak guided/coached in Antarctica with the Cruise Ship company Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.
Mirco will be leading our Dynamic Pembrokeshire Course in 2024, Hebrides Expedition and lots of our Anglesey courses, including most of our Dynamic Water Courses.
He is a brand ambassador for: Sea Kayaking UK and Celtic Paddles and may well encourage you to explore one of these products…
Dave Cutts
BC Advanced Sea Kayak Leader, BC Sea Kayak Coach, ML (summer)
Dave used to coach sea kayaking, in between his Information Technology work for Conwy Council. However, having recently retired he now coaches in between youth expeditions, as well as his work for the Conway Outdoor Centre
He is also a scout leader and has a wealth of experience leading young people on paddling and land-based expeditions to: the European Alps, Mediterranean, South America, South East Asia, Finland and within the UK.
Dave will be coaching on our Pembrokeshire Away Trip in 2024, amongst many other courses.
Helen Pickett -
BC Sea Kayak Leader, PGCE
Helen throws herself fully into everything she does. After deciding to move on from her career as a Maths Teacher and Assistant Head in Surrey, she embraced North Wales life and everything it has to offer with gusto. As a GBR Triathlete she has enjoyed great successes, coming 5th & 6th in Bilbao 2022 & 2023. Her teaching background makes her a fantastic coach and she has a brilliant way of getting people to achieve things on the water, they didn’t think possible. Helen regularly coaches on our ShePaddles courses, as well as on Explorer & Intermediate courses.
From Andy Hind Intro 27 & 28th July “Helen was a fantastic instructor and took on board our desire to build confidence, adapting plans to give just the right stretch to push us both at different levels. Her coaching was helpful and encouraging. The two days took us into water that we would never have considered paddling and some amazing scenery. A fabulous two days.”
Sue Couling
BC Advanced Water Sea Leader, Advanced Performance Coach, Sea Kayak Leader Moderate water trainer, Coaching award trainer and assessor (core, sheltered and sea kayak coach)
Sue has a wealth of experience spanning over three decades, navigating various types of watercraft. Her exploratory ventures have taken her across the globe, with the Grand Canyon expedition being a notable highlight. This years sea kayaking expedition takes her to Greenland!
Sue is a truly inspiring coach, dedicated to empowering paddlers to build their confidence out on the sea.
Pete Jones
BC Advanced Sea Leader, Level 4 Coach, MLTB Summer Award, RYA Instructor
Peter Jones served as the chief kayak instructor at the Anglesey Sea & Surf Centre in Anglesey. Currently, he operates as a freelance professional in North Wales.
Pete has participated in numerous significant sea kayak expeditions spanning West Coast Canada, Nova Scotia, Israel, Holland, Spain, Ireland, Outer Hebrides, St. Kilda, Orkney, and Greenland. Pete will be running our Slate Isles Expedition in 2024
Pete is a great coach who makes you feel comfortable in whatever conditions you might be bouncing around in.
Jackie Jones
BC Advanced Sea Kayak Leader, Level 2 Coach
Jackie adores the sea, hanging out in it or on it whenever she can.
She currently calls West Cornwall home, but has also lived in Dorset & Devon. Jackie enjoys all aspects of kayaking but is particularly passionate about multi-day camping trips. In 2023 she co-led our Hebrides expedition. This year she is leading on our Pembrokeshire Away Trip.
Anita Daimond
BC Advanced Sea Kayak Leader, Advanced Coach
Anita enjoys the outdoors, especially wildlife. She has 25 years of experience in outdoor settings connecting people with nature, landscape, and heritage. Interested in pedagogy, Anita pursued an MA in education, which has been very helpful in her kayak coaching.
She frequently enjoys kayaking in the tidal seas around Anglesey and the Llŷn Peninsula and has enjoyed expeditions in Scotland, Norway, Iceland, and Sweden.
