Instructor Highlight – Emily Cohn

Hello Everyone, Meet Emily, one of our longtime instructors.  It has been great to see her progression as a paddler and instructor over the years and we are very lucky to have such a positive and well rounded instructor working with the students. She has a way of seeing where the students are coming from and putting what we are teaching into terms that are useful for the student.

 

 

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.

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.