Our Team

 

Izadora Paixão - Lead Guide/Coach

Iza is a graduate of the Outdoor Adventure program at Algonquin College and an accomplished climber.  In her offseason you can find her instructing at the Guelph Grotto gym.

Iza is our lead guide for Eastern and Northern Georgian Bay. She holds a certificate in Advanced Wilderness First aid, is a first responder as well and numerous other coaching certificates in canoeing and climbing. She is a Sea Kayak Skills L3, Level 2 instructor and IT candidate.

Kelly Park - Coach

 

Brandon Lo - Coach

BrandonEmoji Muffinis an avid paddler and bodybuilder. He spends his free time preparing for competitions. You can find Brandon at his other passion woodworking, he has been known to bring paddles he makes himself from time to time.

Brandon holds his Wilderness First Aid, has his Sea Kayak level 2 and is a Level 1 instructor.

Aaron Gascoyne - Instructor Trainer

Shannon King - Coach

Shannon is a Jill of all trades, master of many. She is an EMT, scuba diver, acupuncturist, and even drives a Harley. An avid sea kayaker, she spends her time surfing the East Coast, specifically, Democrat Point in New York.

Shannon is a skilled kayak roller and a Paddle Canada Level 1 Instructor.

Paul Bannon - Lead Guide/Coach

Santiago Berrueta - Instructor Trainer

Santiago lives in Montreal where he paddles, raises -with Patricia- a little guy named Salvador and runs Kayak Latitude North. He lived in Baja, Mexico for several years during which he guided multi-day kayak trips. He graduated from the National Outdoor Leadership School as a sea kayak instructor and owes most of his early kayak skills to the BCU system. A BCU coach since 2009, he also became a Paddle Canada instructor in 2012 and loves teaching kayaking from coast to coast and internationally.

Santiago teaches at various events in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New York, California, Mexico and Chile for which being fluent in Spanish, French and English really helps. Santiago loves exploring the world by sea kayak, he paddled for 42 days the -almost- entire length of the Baja peninsula, he has kayaked the remote Newfoundland south coast and the coastline of British Columbia.

Amber Champion - Instructor Trainer

Amber has been drawn to the water and outdoors from an early age. She loves discovering beautiful places and sharing that experience with others. Her passion and enthusiasm for kayaking is evident when meeting her.

A graduate from Laurentian University in Outdoor Leadership Amber now works as the operations director and lead Instructor for Blue Dog Kayaking the country’s number one provider of Paddle Canada Sea Kayaking program, SKUK distributor and expedition center for North West America .

She is a Paddle Canada Level 4 Skills Instructor and is a Paddle Canada Level 3 Instructor Trainer.

Amber is a great inspiration for all female paddlers who want to progress in the world of Sea Kayaking Instruction.

Kristin Kelly - Coach

Dave Nichols - Instructor Trainer

David is the owner of Blue Dog Kayaking, the country’s number one provider of Paddle Canada Sea Kayaking program, SKUK distributor and expedition center for North West America .

After moving to BC in 2008 with his partner Alison, David discovered kayaking (initially as a way to access difficult hiking routes) however, paddling soon became his passion.

As a senior Instructor and Instructor trainer with Paddle Canada.David holds; Paddle Canada Level 3 Instructor Trainer, Level 4 Instructor and Level 4 skills certification. As a professional kayak instructor he has taught hundreds courses and as a result has been instrumental in the delivery of the Paddle Canada Sea Kayaking Program on Vancouver Island.

"I feel very privileged to have worked with so many wonderful people helping them to achieve their individual goals in the quest to become confident, competent and safe paddlers"