Andrew

Australian Kayak instructor:

“I made a kayak at school when I was about 12. I’ve just always loved the water. And I love a bit of adrenaline. Back home in Australia If you head out on an outgoing tide toward the ocean, or if you’re coming back in on an outgoing tide, you have to really work hard to get back home. You really have to dig deep and keep it going beyond the comfort zone. And the mouth of the river is notorious for great white sharks and the conditions are quite rough, so you always have that tension that you don’t want to fall in and it’s touch and go. I kind of like that. I still get scared. But I love the independence of it, too. And I love teaching as well. I love seeing people enjoy it. My best client that I ever had was a guy that I thought was going to be my worst client. He was Korean, and when he first rang up I asked if he’d done much kayaking, and he said ‘kayaking is my favorite sport.’ Then I asked where are you from, and he said ‘a small village a long way from the water.’ So I said have you been kayaking? No. Can you swim? No. But the smile on his face once I got him going was just priceless. To get people doing that sort of thing is just amazing.”

(Leiden, Netherlands)