Team Paddle International:
Dave Janes and Matt Haydock
Dave and Matt are the founders, owners and lead coaches/guides for Paddle International. As well as being best friends, they are two highly experienced and qualified paddlesport professionals, who have both worked in the industry for nearly 20 years.
They are multi-disciplined paddlers and coaches - working and playing in a whole host of different craft: open canoes, white water kayaks, packrafts, SUPs and sea kayaks.
They also both work as National Trainers for Paddle UK - not only working as highly experienced leadership and coach educators, but also regularly involved in training/assessing other providers.
​
Matt and Dave are also experienced and practiced expeditioners, passionate about, and driven by adventure. They have undertaken expeditions and worked as guides in the far corners of the world, from the Nepalese Himalaya, to the European Alps, Scandanavia, North and South America, and extensively throughout the UK.
​
Paddling adventures is something we both have a deep passion for, because of the huge variety of inspiring and challenging environments you can explore and experience from a boat. We love everything from: open water journeys in awe inspiring scenery, to big volume white water rivers in wilderness corners of the world, to exposed coastlines with fast tides and big swells - and everything in between.
We are deeply passionate about wilderness adventures, and arming people with the personal paddling and expedition skills they need to go become a confident expedition paddler.
This goes hand in hand with our passion for paddlesport coaching and edcuation - inspiring the next generation of leaders, paddlers, coaches and guides.
​
Read more about each of us below.
​
​
Dave Janes
BCAB Advanced Leader and Coach provider in
Sea Kayak, Open Canoe & White Water
Paddle UK National Trainer ​
Paddle UK Endorsed Guide
Dave grew up in the undisputed centre of the white water universe - Llangollen, North Wales, and began paddling boats around a similar time he learned to walk. After competing in kayak slalom in his school years, Dave left school to journey around the world, white water paddling and guiding - with stints in Nepal, Zambia, India, Chile, Patagonia and Norway - as well as racking up an impressive list of rivers and adventures.
Dave honed his guiding and leadership skills on hundreds of multi-day expeditions in a variety of environments. On settling back in the UK and North Wales, his skills and passion for white water diversified into the disciplines of sea kayaking and open canoeing (with guiding stints in the Mediterranean, Adriatic and the significant parts of the coast of Norway.) He also developed his skills as a coach and educator to an advanced level, across these disciplines - working at both National Outdoor Training centres and a wide range of organisations.
​
Dave now lives in the Conwy Valley in North Wales with his family - wife Lizzie and two boys Jack and Rhys, working full time for Paddle International.
​
​
​
Matt Haydock
BCAB Advanced Leader and Coach provider in
Sea Kayak, Open Canoe, SUP & White Water
Paddle Scotland National Trainer ​
​
Paddling all started for Matt at school when on Wednesday afternoon's there was an option to go white water kayaking instead of playing football, rugby or cricket. Not really knowing what kayaking involved, it was definitely the better option for him compared to team sports!
After much time falling in the urban River Irwell in North Manchester, he then realised his skills were beginning to improve, when he successfully rescued his teacher!
​
Time at the University of Leeds studying Sport and Exercise Science (but in reality, mostly on rivers with the uni paddling club!), then led to a career in the outdoors working as an instructor, residing mostly in the Scottish Highlands - mountaineering, biking, caving, rock climbing and of course coaching paddlesports.
​
He quickly realised being on the water was where he was happiest, for work and play. Work as a coach and educator ran alongside trips and adventures across the European Alps in white water kayak, sea kayak expeditions to Norway and across the Mediterranean and exploring every corner of Scotland in all types of boat. He developed a huge passion for coach and leadership education, providing the full range of British Canoeing Awarding Body awards, to an advanced level.
​
Matt has been an accomplished, highly experienced paddlesport coach for many years now, previously running his own business, as well as being part of the paddlesport department at the National Outdoor Training Centre, Glenmore Lodge.​ He now lives in Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands, co-running Paddle International.
​​​​​​
