Interview Simon Westgarth One of the early fi gures in freestyle kayaking, Simon Westgarth has turned his love for kayaking into a full-time profession. Through owning a company, KS: Your main gig now is teaching kayaking and run- KS: Your approach to teaching is very personal, but KS: Are there any paddlers in particular who you ning guided paddling tours. How did this evolve? surely you can’t run all your programmes single-han- look up to for inspiration? making kayaking fi lms, and SW: Running Gene17kayaking is now my main job, dedly. Who are the people you work most closely SW: I am very lucky in that I have paddled with most although I shoot and edit video for Westgarth TV, with? of the player’s of my generation and with the old teaching, Simon is all about but the time spent on this is becoming increasingly SW: Gene17’s top team are Deb Pinniger and Dave Car- guard. Mick Hopkinson is iconic, a new school paddler squeezed. roll, both of whom are amazing individuals and great in his late 50’s, always moving forward. I enjoy time introducing more and more paddlers. As the business has expanded, Olli Grau and with Olli Grau for the straight talking and plain ac- Matt Tidy have joined us for specifi c programmes. tion, a long time friend Cody ‘the outlaw’ Boger from people to paddling. With KS: So what is Gene17kayaking? Starting next year, Leo Hoare, a highly regarded UK Canada, who is a pure lifestyler and Dan Gavere for SW: Gene17kayaking, is a high end whitewater kaya- coach trainer will head up our Instructor Training Pro- showing that you can always keep learning no matter a main operation on the king trip and paddling adventure provider, where we gramme (D4DR WW) based in Slovenia. what you’re doing. offer paddling at some of the best destinations, at Soca River in Slovenia, he their prime times, with the programmes being taught by some of the best kayakers and teachers around. KS: Let’s go back in time a little…What are your still manages to get away It’s a low ratio, high quality, maximum added value memories of when you were learning? and take paddlers on trips concept that has proved highly successful over the SW: After not having so many coaches at the club I last 5 years. was in, I remember reading all the available books on throughout Europe and to technique at the time, and when I fi rst got on a WW river, some of the self taught techniques worked and many exotic locations all KS: You have developed Gene17 into a solid project. other parts lead to some fi ne swimming action. During What inspired you to do your own thing? this time there were a few leading coaches around, around the globe. He’s a SW: During my time competing, I also had a job as the yet most of them were coaching slalom, so unless you Technical Representative for Dagger Europe and Palm raced you were not going to get coached. So racing hard man to track down, Equipment. This meant whilst traveling to events I went, and even though I still did not get a coach, across Europe, I got to see many new places and meet I learnt from others and my mistakes, to eventually but somewhere between numerous paddlers. I soon realized that there were climb the Slalom ranking to Div 1. numerous paddling locations beyond the famed French paddling and editing Alps for so many UK paddlers to venture to. After some years, I saw the possibility and market for a high-end KS: Do you think now that kayak instruction was sessions we managed to coaching provider, where staff, location and product good back in the day? were at the core of the paddlers experience. SW: There are always good coaches within any genera- have a chat with the man on tion of paddling. These days there is far wider acces- sibility of ideas and techniques that has moved the the move! KS: Why Gene17? Where does the name come from? sport forward and the general quality of coaching is SW: I had been looking for a name for the kayak trip improving all the time. An observation of coaching concept for sometime. I wanted a neutral name that im- is there is a certain amount of power play for some plied an inquiry, so something like White Water Europe coaches to be in a leader’s role, where infl ated ego or Westgarth Kayaking was a no go. One morning after a projection of being in charge is all about keeping the party, I was making breakfast with a friend, Jack Russell, learner in their perceived place. When confronted with one of the UK’s leading Personal Development Coaches this situation I was motivated to learn from obser- and motivational speakers, and we were talking about vation and not the instructions of the ego coach. I the discovery of the D4DR gene, that had been dubbed remember these instructors busy telling me to perform the ‘adventure’ gene, and it was found on Chromosome to very fi xed forms, and making rigid statements about 17, a location of our DNA where numerous genes occur- technique, most of which proved counter productive red that had an effect on our personality development. on the river. Although my early learning was a long time ago, I think that these scenarios are still not Well, D4DR was too complicated for a company name, Personal instruction on the clear waters of the Soca. and Chromosome17 sounded like a medical research out- Photo - Deb Pinniger uncommon. fi t, so Gene17 it was, plus it had a certain ring to it and was certainly neutral. Words - Stan Ricketts Cup of tea I say! photos - Courtesy of Simon Westgarth Photo - Satu Vänskä-Westgarth 30 INTERVIEW 31 KS: What are the primary differences between ins- ferent countries’ teaching methods? is moving even faster. It is clear that what the very truction or coaching then and the way kayaking is SW: Any paddling communities that have learnt in best paddlers are doing right now needs to be accessi- “After some years, I saw the possibility and taught these days? isolation are likely to have some gaps in technical ble in terms of concepts and resulting technique, and SW: Modern coaching is about added valued for the development, thankfully this is less and less likely to not wait for a generation. market for a high-end coaching learner, where specifi c learning is targeted for an in- happen as globalization of coaching ideas, traveling dividual, so the experience is productive and persona- coaches and paddlers, plus the wider distribution of KS: There seems to be a massive industry trend to provider, where staff, location and product ble. The current trend in modern paddling is towards DVDs, heightens excellence and avoids the promotion introduce the masses to this sport we love. What is a more dynamic style. This style is best summed up as of poor coaching. your recipe to bring more people to kayaking? were at the core of the paddlers experience.” the paddler using the river’s energy to maximise their charging arcs, mirroring the downhill terrain by dy- SW: For the recreation market it’s all about lifestyle, namically adjusting their body tension and retaining KS: How do the levels of certifi cation compare to accessibility and easy of use. The paddlesports indus- pressure on the paddle’s blade face to have dynamic other organizations, and is there an international try is light years ahead of the national federations standard that is accepted universally? with getting a wider range of people onboard and into are popping up everywhere for the promotion of KS: How do you feel about the trend towards Boater- ples of the subject, animated overlays, text boxes and stability and instant feedback. Gone are the days of the sport, don’t you think? Look at the incredible cross and extreme racing? very little audio commentary. The focus is addressing boof ‘n’ brace or drifting to the lip of the drop for the SW: Within kayak coaching, there are several highly boats. Still there is huge scope to really getting very high participation numbers, especially as recreational amount of parks – in Colorado, in France, in Char- SW: Bluntly put, not too unlike rodeo in its early different leading styles through a wide range of vi- glory stroke; a passive style in a dynamic situation regarded national level awards, with the British Canoe lotte, North Carolina... They may be pricy, but then sual and conceptual tools, rather than talking to the often means the energy demands of the environment Union and the American and NZ Canoe Association’s, paddling is a low impact sport with little demand for days, the lifestylers create a scene and then comes high levels of fi tness or ability. Education of where to so are ski passes. Do you still think that these parks the competitive heads with all it’s mixed outcomes. camera. are not balanced, meaning upside down and out of plus the French Federation, all having instructor cer- are over-rated? control paddling!! Lastly a greater comprehension of tifi cation with reputations beyond their national bor- go and how to paddle safely is needed, and it’s pe- Boater-cross is certainly way more TV friendly than the river’s shapes and forms and how a paddler can ders. The only whitewater standard that is fully reco- rhaps where the industry needs to focus some efforts, SW: Increased accessibility on any form is welcomed, freestyle, but once you have seen a few races its all KS: You run kayaking camps across Europe and use these has taken us a long way forward in a short gnized international is Rescue 3, a Californian based or perhaps the national federations need to partner and the low scale and low priced regional develop- a bit the same and, unlike straight racing, there is a around the world, but you are based in Slovenia.