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Coaching Team 2025
Meet The Coaches
Alice McInnes
Alice’s home waters are in Edinburgh, Scotland where she runs her coaching and guiding business seakayakalice.co.uk. She holds Advanced Sea Kayak Leader and Advanced Coach (BCAB), and is an aspirant SK Leader assessor. Her favourite paddles include the iconic bridges of the Firth of Forth, Bass Rock, Skye, Bute, Shetland, Orkney and the North Coast of Scotland. She also works as a kayak guide in Antartica. When not kayaking, Alice can be found testing her skills at winter mountaineering and sailing.
Ann Merryweather
Ann is a Sea Leader, level 2 coach and guide from Norfolk who still doesn’t know what she wants to do when she’s a grown up. Journeying, nature connection, confidence building and generally messing around on the water are about my favourite things to do, and I love being able to help other people to enjoy these activities too. I love coaching at women only events (especially this one!) because of the friendly and supportive environment. I set up and run a This Girl Can group at my local canoe club. This year I have been running SUP sessions as part of the Health and Wellbeing provision of my local NHS trust.
Rachel Kehoe
My biggest passion is greenland rolling. For me, greenland rolling is a great joy in itself, both as a relaxation as well as a challenge. However, I also love that it enables me to play in dynamic water conditions, safe in the knowledge that I will be able to come up again! It will be great to work with you at the festival, and I’m looking forward to introducing you to the techniques to develop a roll of your own!
Rachel coaches at various events, and runs her own greenland rolling focused events through https://howwerollkayaking.co.uk/.
Anita Daimond
Anita Daimond enjoys being outdoors, she particularly delights in spending time with wildlife but is generally interested in everything about the places she visits. She has 25 years of experience working with people in various outdoor environments promoting connection with nature, landscape and heritage. Anita is also interested in how we learn, this led her to do an MA in Education and influences her approaches to coaching kayaking.
She offers guided sea kayak trips and coaching through her company Sea Môr Kayaking based in North Wales www.seamorkayaking.wales and has worked on a number of women only events. She likes the supportive atmosphere and enjoys helping other women to grow in confidence.
She is an Advanced Sea Kayak Leader and Advanced Sea Kayak coach. She regularly kayaks in the tidal seas around Anglesey and the LlÅ·n Peninsula and has undertaken expeditions in Scotland, Norway, Iceland and Sweden.
Sue Couling
I have been passionate about paddling for years and paddle most things that float. I particularly love being out on the sea and helping others build their confidence to enjoy dynamic environments. I am also fascinated by the coaching process and coach development.
I have been paddling for over thirty years in most types of boats and have had lots of adventures exploring many parts of the world by boat.
More recently I have developed my passion for sea kayaking and I am now an Advanced Water Sea Leader and Performance Coach, and advance water coach.
I have worked on a number of women only sea kayak events and enjoy the atmosphere and dynamics of these events. I particularly like helping people to develop their confidence in the sea environment.
Lyndsay McPhee
Marathon paddling is where is all started for me, many successful competitive years before injury forced a change and resulted in becoming a multi-discipline Paddlesport coach and guide volunteering in the local club and paddling throughout Ireland, the UK and Europe.
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Years later I discovered you could get paid to paddle, talk about a dream come true. I ditched my full-time bus driving job, packed up and left Ireland for the Southwest of England, where my company LM Coaching (www.lm-coaching.co.uk) was born, 5 years later here we are, with Salcombe as my local stomping group. 
 

My coaching heart beats for all things Paddlesport, even on my days off you will find me paddling, I really do eat, sleep, and breathe Paddlesport, Sea Kayaking, Canoeing and all things Whitewater. 
 
I specialise in bespoke Paddlesport coaching for smaller paddlers, female paddlers and those paddlers suffering with confidence issues.
I am firm believer of 'Just because you’re not the biggest or strongest, it doesn't mean you can't be as good, if not better'.Performance Coach, BCAB Provider and National Trainer for Paddles Up Training and the youngest most qualified female coach in the UK, (Not often I share this).
Caoimhe Connor
Caoimhe is from Ireland Co. Down where the mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea. Caoimhe’s passion is all things water from white water tidal races in a sea kayak to rivers in an open canoe.
She is an advanced sea leader and advanced water coach. There is no better way to see the world than from a sea kayak in Caoimhe’s opinion. She has travelled far and wide in her sea kayak, exploring, leading and coaching along the way.
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She is looking forward to her first Women’s Sea Kayaking Festival and exploring the coasts of South Devon!!
Helen Bartlett
Helen fell in love with kayaking when she realised it fulfilled her need for exploration, escapism and time outdoors. However, the fact it also meant being active, getting a shot of adrenaline AND meeting amazing people, really sealed the deal!
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Kayaking has been a major part of her life for the past 11 years and has taken her all over the UK as well as Sweden, Norway, Slovenia and Nepal. There is nothing Helen loves more than a multi-day expedition, living out of her kayak, wild camping in remote places and immersing herself in nature.
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Having coached for a number of years on the side of her day job in marketing, Helen now spends her Summers coaching full-time and enjoys sharing her love of sea kayaking with the wider paddling community.
Julie Perren
Julie discovered sea kayaking after moving to the South West 20 years ago. Now living in Falmouth, Cornwall she enjoys guiding, coaching around the diverse coastlines of the UK and further afield in Jersey, France, Norway and most recently taking a group to Western Greenland this summer. She also enjoys white water kayaking, canoeing, surf skiing and kayak racing and is a British Canoeing Advanced Sea Kayak Leader, Performance Coach, a Sea Kayak Coach and SK Award Provider.
Julie is a sponsored paddler for the Echo from Sea Kayak UK.
An essential item found in her kayak would be a sketchbook to record the journey which has inspired paintings capturing the energy of the sea!
Natalie Maderova
Natalie lives in London and considers the Tidal Thames to be her home water. Natalie started as an expedition sea paddler having accomplished many journeys and several
circumnavigations, around Britain (2012), Iceland (2017), Ireland (2019).
In the recent years Natalie is happy to paddle any craft, SUP, open canoe, white water, or surf kayak.
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She is an advance water leader and coach, performance coach, provider of many personal sea kayak and stand up paddle boarding awards, coastal and tidal navigation award, and provider of paddlesport leader and SUP leader awards.
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What Natalie likes best is to share blue space and paddling with others. She has done so in many places within the UK, France, Spain, Corsica, Alaska, and most recently in Antarctica.
