Instructor Highlight – Hélène Scalliet
April 14, 2010 by admin
Filed under Blog, Instructors
Here is a series we will try to complete this spring highlighting the great paddlers and instructors here at Liquid Adventures. Everyone, meet Helene…….
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.
I’m Helen’s dad. You forgot to say that her first love was in parachute jumping (over 1000?). If her daily activity doen’t offer any opportunity to break her own neck, she will turn it down immediately.
I was christened last year in whitewater surfing with her, her husband-to-come and her father-in-law to come, a well experienced rafting specialist. What an experience!
It’s always a joy to be on the river with Helene. Her positive nature is contagious. She’s truly at home in the backcountry and, with Helene around, you know there must be chocolate somewhere nearby.
And I’m Helen’s mum. All what I read is true, She’s a marvelous person, so she must be a marvelous instructor too. She’ll get married in July, and will give us or first kayaking lesson. I trust her, but I’m a bit scared all the same !-)