Staff

G17 was born out of the ideal of adventure paddling; new places, new cultures & new rivers

  • We don’t choose our staff from their paper qualifications or how many books or articles they’ve written.
  • We don’t care how many videos they’ve starred in or how many first descents they’ve bagged. Sponsored or not, it doesn’t make any difference to us. There are only three things that are important.
  • First, they have to be fantastic instructors. Second, they need to be fantastic fun. Third, they need to be getting out there and doing it.
  • One look through our list of instructors and you’ll see that they all meet our qualifications and then some.
Simon Westgarth, Cert Ed & BCU Level 5 Coach >>>Kayak Session Interview PDF 0.7Mb
Simon’s Gene17’s founder and mission director. Don’t take that to mean he’s a desk-jockey, though, as Simon’s happiest when he’s out on the water teaching our pioneering dynamic paddling style.

Hailing from Devon, Simon’s travelled the world and visited every continent (except Antarctica!) in the search of the perfect river. Freestyler, adventure paddler and one of Europe’s most progressive coaches, he’s also made a number of critically acclaimed paddling videos. And, of course, he makes a top notch Tortiglionoi del pomodori.

Accomplishments & Notables; Former Winner of European Title & Euro Cup, a few first descents, Producer of a few highly successful kayaking films and instructional DVDs & the author of Sjoa Map Guide

Visit Simon Westgarth for details & his Blog
Deb Pinniger, BCU Level 4 Coach, EMT Wilderness & Author >>>Playboating Interview PDF 0.9Mb
Former freestyle work champion, Deb’s one of the world’s best paddlers. Her compact frame and quiet manner belie an inner strength and enthusiasm that’s helped her stay at the front of expedition river paddling for the past decade.

As the head of our Slovenia programmes, Deb’s leaves an enduring impression on everyone she paddles with.

Accomplishments & Notables; Former World Champion, numerous winner of European Title & Series, Expeditions Worldwide & Author of acclaimed L’Eau Vive, a kayaking photo lifestyle book

Deb also runs a small jewellery business Looner
Matt Tidy   National Youth Development Advisor, EMT Wilderness & BCU Level 4 Coach
Matt’s one of the few whitewater paddlers to emerge from a prestigious freestyle career to make a firm impression on the adventure paddling scene, including pioneering trips to Northern Norway and Tibet.

Kayaking wasn’t Matt’s first love, though: a youth spent as a gymnast gives Matt a natural balance and form on the steeps that’s a real joy to watch. Of course, it’s not just about pulling the moves: Matt’s real gift is being able to coach the skills and feel the love.

Accomplishments & Notables; Some of Matt’s credits include developing the BCU national youth freestyle programme, various podium finishes in international freestyle competitions and various technical articles for the paddling press. And, of course, a real dab hand in the kitchen (or on the camp-stove)
Jakub Šedivý
Jakub, has been on a gap year from Med School for a while now. Summer’s in Norway and Winter’s in Chile. Fitting in raft guiding where he needs, Jakub is part of the current crop of the very finest paddlers, who are shaping the sport and finding new frontiers. Only last Summer, Jakub joined Rush Struges and the crew cutting new ground in the far North of Norway.

Accomplishments & Notables: First descents in North Norway and Chile, an accomplished Extreme Race competitor, and fine photographer.
Nick Horwood
Nick graduated from a stellar University club of paddlers and has gone on to hit Norway every Summer since. He’s young yet highly experienced, sharp as mustard yet smooth as you like in the kayak.

Accomplishments & Notables: Star of the MOP DVD series, organiser of the GB Student Rodeo Event, an accomplished Extreme Race competitor plus a good writer and fine photographer.
Spyros Barbaresos
Deep from the mountains of Greece, where some of the purest water allows all manner of things to grow comes Spyros, our new addition for 2011. Spyros has over the year’s been on many of Gene17′s programmes, including the D4DR Class V, where we’ve been able to help form and shape the kind of coach, paddler and river guide he has become and the kind of paddler we need on the river. Spyros represents our next generation at Gene17.

Accomplishments & Notables; Greece World Cup Slalom paddler, and long established Safety Boater, Raft Guide and Kayak Coach for one of Greece’s oldest white water outfitters.
Dave Carroll, EMT Wilderness & ICU Level 4 Coach >>>Playboating Interview PDF 4.1Mb
If you’ve met Dave, you’ll remember him! He’s so lively and brimming with energy that it’s easy to overlook just how good he is at paddling.

Dave’s on-the-water instructional skills will make the difference to anyone’s trip where Valsesia is a favourite spot of his.  In the early years of Gene17, Dave was on most trips, these days, he is more a guest instructor, parachuting in on occasion.

Accomplishments & Notables; Former Irish Ranked Number One Freestyler, Featured segments in numerous kayaking movies, Contributor to Cutting edge Technique Production “Genes” & Total Lifestyler. Dave’s web contribution Davetec
Leo Hoare   Leadering UK Coach Educator, REC First Aid Provider & BCU Level 5 Coach
Leo’s the Course Director of our Intensive Instructor Training Programme, D4DR WW & our UK based Coach Education Courses. He’s been paddling since the age of nine and as a junior he raced slalom for Great Britain, winning numerous junior internationals and paddling in the Barcelona Olympic squad. He also featured on UK TV’s ‘Paddles up’, before moving on to coaching various national squads.

Now he’s one of Britain’s top paddle sport professionals. He’s worked at the National Mountaineering Centre, and the National Whitewater Centre, Canolfan Tryweryn. He’s got a slew of qualifications and he’s spent the last 15 years working as a whitewater coach, guide and instructor.
Olli Grau   Author, Adventurer & National Coach
If you want to find out what Olli’s like, all you need to do is pick up one of his books.

It’s all there for you: an unfathomed depth of experience, a passionate enthusiasm on (and off) the river, clear and concise explanations of complex moves and an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of paddling. There are a few things you might miss on a casual read, though.  Olli is again one of our guest instructors, thankfully we have paddlers of this calibre to call on.

Accomplishments & Notables; Ollie’s modesty often hides his achievements as former world freestyle champion and an adventure paddler with first descents in Europe, North America and South America.