About Us
Welcome…
Our mission is: To grow and support the sea kayaking community.
Sea Kayaking Wales was established in 2018.
We are based in North Wales, very near to the Snowdonia National Park, and are just a few meters from Bodorgan (Anglesey) railway station. Which is on the main line from London to the Holyhead-Dublin ferry. Our guests occasionally arrive by train. This adds to the enjoyment of a sea kayak course.
We provide quality sea kayak coaching mostly on Anglesey and the Llŷn Peninsula. We also offer courses in Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Scotland. Our aim is to help our clients to achieve their seafaring goals.
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 (Geth & Tal too)
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, stand up paddle boarding, bodyboarding and biking with our family.
Heidi, Taliesin & Tecwyn
Kathy
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.
Kathy will be leading our Slate Isles Expedition in 2023, amongst many other courses.
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.
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).
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.
Mirco
Kathy and Dave
Stuart
Helen
Sue
Pete
Jackie
Anita
Paul and Richard
Paul Williams
BC Advanced Sea Kayak Leader, BC Guide, ML (summer) and PGCE
Paul has lived in North Wales all his life and used to be Head of Physical and Outdoor Education at Coleg Menai.
Paul brings a calm and thoughtful ethos to SKW’s coaching. He is a practitioner of mindfulness and has a wealth of local cultural/historical knowledge. Paul used to ride motorcycles for adrenalin and represented Wales in Karate competitions. After a great day paddling Paul loves to enjoy: live music, nice restaurants and fine whiskey.
Paul provides British Canoeing: Sea Kayak Leader, Personal Performance Awards and various Guide Modules.
Richard Janes
BC Advanced Sea Kayak Leader, BC Guide and PGCE.
Richard loves to reconnaissance new coastal venues for their great sea kayaking journeys and hospitality. Following an inspiring guided kayaking holiday, in British Columbia, Canada, Richard returned to SKW to help design our Marine Biodiversity guided kayaking products. This also utilised his expertise as a former Head of Chemistry school teacher.
Richard also has a talent with words to capture experiences, often seafaring-related, in evocative poems and articles. He recently contributed an account of our Hebrides Adventure to The Paddler Magazine.
Richard provides British Canoeing: Sea Kayak Leader, Personal Performance Awards and various Guide Modules.
Wayne
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.
Wayne Sambrook
BC Level 4 Sea Kayak Leader
Wayne is very well known in the kayaking community, for his long career as an outdoor instructor. He spent most of this career, like Huw, at Plas Menai. His expeditioning adventures include: Alaska, Lofoten Islands, Sweden and all over the British Isles. The Slate Isles, Scotland and Connemara, Ireland have been two of his favourite expedition destinations.
He divides his time between living in North Wales and chasing the Alpine snow for ski fun…