(Simon wears a mosquito net on the Magpie River, Quebec.)

Like many of you, Simon first discovered kayaking in a recreational boat. He learned to paddle with his father and later, with Tom at Liquid Adventures. Simon was drawn to whitewater because of the “The thrill, the places it takes you, and the people you meet.” More recently he has become passionate about steep creek racing. Last year he placed 9th at the Upper Yough Race and made the finals in the short boat division of the Great Falls Race. When he is home in Maryland, you can most likely find him at Great Falls or surfing Rocky.

For the last few years, Simon has instructed Liquid Adventures’ youth camps.  He often leads Lower Yough trips for Intermediate students and he teaches beginners, too! His goals as an instructor are to “make sure everyone has fun, learns something, and mentally pushes themselves while kayaking.”

Simon is also student at CU Boulder where he can indulge another passion- skiing.

(Simon enters the Back Canyon of the Fish Ladder)Photo: Amaury Laporte

Age when began paddling: 12

Best level on the Potomac: 4.1 (High center lines on the falls and Rocky is almost perfect!)

Favorite Rivers: Blackwater, Malbaie, Alseseca, Red Creek

Boats: Remix, Response

Favorite Tom McEwan story: When we had to start a fire at the put-in to the Lower Big Sandy to thaw our frozen gear!

Sandrine with student working on rolling

Once upon a time, when she was just a teenager, Sandrine saw some kayakers coming down a creek of the French Alps and swore she would NEVER try such a scary sport.  Who in their right mind would trap themselves in a tiny plastic boat to navigate whitewater?!

Never say never…

Years later, after moving to Colorado, Sandrine embarked on a few rafting trips, where she experienced the beauty and the dynamics of rivers.  She also discovered that rivers can sometimes lead to the most gorgeous, remote and inaccessible places.  This realization was so powerful that Sandrine sought a way to know, explore and understand rivers more intimately.  What better way to do this than learning how to kayak?

In 2007, after spending three seasons paddling the wonderful Colorado rivers, Sandrine moved to the DC area and started paddling with LAKS.  She started teaching kayaking in 2009 and enjoys every minute of it.  Sharing her passion with beginner and more advanced paddlers alike is one of the most rewarding experiences she has had.  There is nothing like seeing her students taking on every challenge she proposes to them and giving it their best try.

Sandrine on one of the falls of the Alseseca River in Mexico

Sandrine has now adopted the Potomac as her home river but she paddled on a variety of rivers in the US, Mexico, Canada and Chile.  She has a “soft spot” for creeks over big volume rivers but in truth… she lov’em all! Give her a river and a boat and she will be happy.

When she does not paddle, Sandrine studies Kung Fu.  She also enjoys road biking, telemark skiing and backpacking to remote places.

For Sandrine, kayaking is much more than just a fun sport: paddling a river is a privilege and an ever enriching experience. Why? What does this mean? THAT is what YOU have to figure out for yourself; but here is a hint:

The river knows everything; one can learn everything from it.

Herman Hesse



Taking a Walk

Growing up in DC, Emily sought dirt, trees, and water.  Attending local summer camps, she quickly discovered the magic of the river and the joy of whitewater kayaking and, occasionally, whitewater swimming.

Emily believes there’s no better place to spend DC summers than on the river. She began teaching kayaking with Tom McEwan in 2000.  Some of you may remember her days in the Calleva Paddling office in 2002, scheduling classes and organizing trips.  She followed Tom when he opened Liquid Adventures Kayak School and has continued teaching whitewater paddling since. She enjoys working with paddlers of all skill levels as they discover more and more ways to have fun on the water. Whether with tentative beginners on day one or seasoned paddlers on more advanced moves, she loves seeing that bright-eyed look of excitement and satisfaction as they accomplish something new. And Emily’s most recent students are pleased to report that they could never lose her on the river because of her new blindingly-sparkly helmet.

Emily has paddled in many regions across the US and enjoyed several LAKS trips to Canada and Mexico. Recently she’s had the pleasure of discovering some lovely west coast boating traditions such as: multi-day trips, dutch oven baking, drag bags, and bootie beers.

Smiling Down Meat Cleaver- Upper Yough

Still, some of her favorite rivers are just next door in West Virginia & western Maryland, notably the Upper Yough & the Big Sandy.

When not searching for the next perfect boof, Emily enjoys wrestling with puppies, cooking tasty meals, monitoring river gauges, and planning her next trip.

Hélène (pronounced Ay-len with a silent H) began her whitewater career in spring 2005 after moving to Washington DC from beautiful southern California.  She was desperate to find a water sport that would fulfill her need for both fitness and spiritual contentment – and boy, is she glad she had the sense to Google “whitewater Washington DC”!

It wasn’t obvious at first that whitewater kayaking was a good fit for her, as she spent much of her first class alternating between feeling frustrated at her lack of control and terrified of being upside down in her boat.  But there is something so magical about floating on water that she continued to come to the river (that, and she had paid for a bundle of classes in advance).  Soon, she was hooked!  Her favorite paddling experiences involve discovering new rivers with good friends, but summer evenings on the Potomac have their own charm that surpasses even her favorite ice cream flavor (ultimate moose tracks, or anything chocolate-based with chunks of goodness in it).  So you could say that Google changed her life.

In 2009 she became an instructor with LAKS.   Her favorite part of teaching is witnessing the spontaneous apparition of a gigantic grin on a student’s face after running their first rapid.  Here second favorite is when a student brings her homebaked chocolate peanut butter chip cookies – ok, this has never happened, but it’s worth a try.  Be the first!  Hélène has taken part in LAKS Cheat Training four out of the last five years and thinks this is the best spring paddling program around, and a great way to make close river friends too.  Go Team LAKS!

I hope you all have enjoyed meeting Helene.  She is a wonderfully positive person and fun to be on the river with.  We are glad to have her with us for a great season of paddling.