People

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The New Zealand Kayak School is run by Mick Hopkinson and Pam Weiss.  

Mick with some kayaksMick is originally from Britain where he raced kayak slalom for ten years before putting his energies into exploratory boating. Mick was a member of a small team that made first descents of the river Inn in Switzerland and Austria, the Blue Nile in Ethiopia and the Dudh Khosi in Nepal. He was also a member of the Karakorum Kayak expedition, The Karnali expedition and the "Taming the Lion" team which made the first descent of many of the huge rapids on the river Indus in Baltistan. More recently he has been getting his thrills in the backblocks of Wyoming and on the heli trips on the West coast of New Zealand.  
 
Pam is a native of Jackson Hole, Wyoming and for many years was a member of the US Cross country and Biathlon ski team. When she retired from competition she took up kayaking and climbing as therapy and has paddled the Grand Canyon, much to her satisfaction. But a far greater challenge for both Pam and Mick has been the advent of Liam.  
 
Liam is the blond headed kid, now nine years old. He is just going through the Lego phase but has paddled the Middle Matakitaki river a couple of times!
 

The Instructors

New Zealand has a professional instructors association... The New Zealand Outdoor Instructors Association. This governing body sets very high standards and all our staff hold NZOIA kayak Two instructor awards. Mick and Peter Kettering  have worked as national assessors for NZOIA. They also both commute to the USA each year - Mick to Wyoming, and Peter to California, where he works for Otterbar Lodge and Tarkio Kayak School out of Missoula, Montana. Both Mick and Peter are ACA (American Canoe Association) Qualified.  
 
Jess Brown  has finally “settled down” and now is resident in only two places:- Murchison, where she is a house owner and Coloma,  California where she works for Current Adventures.  Jesse has not seen a winter for six years!  
 
Ben Jackson is no longer the team "youth" and rodeo head.  Both he and Jesse have obtained their NZOIA Kayak Two Award.  And Ben has converted to the trans pacific lifestyle and is commuting to California in our off season.

Sooty (aka Craig Love) is still our best qualified instructor:- engineer, blacksmith, thespian, personal developer and Microsoft engineer! He is still trying to decide on his real career and is currently thinking of moving from Napier to Auckland, a white water desert!   But in the meantime we might have his services for part of the season!

Josh Burrell another “Kayak Two” is a teacher at Motueka High School and enjoys teaching so much that he is working for us during the school holidays.  Josh also designs boats and helmets in his “spare” time.

Ashley Cheeseman (aka Cheese) is currently on loan from Christchurch Polytechnic for the summer whilst training for his NZOIA level 2.

Zak Shaw is also a Kayak Two and just back from an two month expedition in Tibet which involved lots of hard, big water class 5 kayaking including a first descent of the Parlung Tsangpo. Throw in his trips to Bolivia and Africa and his role in the first circumnavigation of South Georgia and voila..Zak is our expedition man!

This season’s “boatslaves”, aspiring to become operations managers are Leeann Leadbetter from Rotoiti Lodge and Matt Shearer who has come back for another season.  Trying to keep tabs on this motley crew is Janette Kear. Janette lives in Christchurch and takes all our mail and telephone bookings and provides the organization that makes it all happen!