By Gill Berrow

I was lucky enough to have opportunities to paddle kayaks from my early teenage years, though only on a very occasional basis. From the age of 16 though, there have only been two periods of my life when I have not paddled on a regular basis. My son thought that these breaks might have been when I had his sister, and then him, but in fact there wasn’t much of a break from paddling then! The breaks from paddling were, firstly when I worked in Thailand, for a year between school and university, and the other was much later on when I had frozen shoulders. Other than that, I have paddled on a regular basis, and for many years paddling has been a central part of my life. 

I am active in a wide range of outdoor sports and, at times, one or another of them has risen to the fore, but my love of paddling has been pretty constant throughout. Having started off my regular paddling on the coast and surf beaches of South Wales, Devon and Cornwall, by far the most paddling has been done at home in Scotland, though I have paddled throughout Europe, as well as in Canada, USA, Norway, New Zealand, Iceland, South Africa and French Polynesia. I have enjoyed the wide range of craft and environments that paddling offers, and most of all I have enjoyed the friendships, companionship and fun that paddling offers. I never like to go too long without paddling, being happier to paddle several times a week when I can. Maybe the years of paddling at least once a day for most of the year, when I was involved in racing, have never really left me. 

My paddling timeline:

1968 Scripture Union Camp Kinlochard - I still remember the satisfaction and pleasure of managing to work out how to paddle and being really chuffed when I worked out how to make my kayak turn to get back to shore!

1969 Scripture Union Camp Loch Ard - more opportunities to work things out and improve.

1970 Adventures around the Forth - sea and river - with a folding Klepper Canoe that one of my mother’s (veterinary radiography) students had brought over with him from Germany.

1971-73 - An Edinburgh scholarship to United World College of the Atlantic. Beach rescue unit and sea kayaking twice a week and on some weekends. This was the start of my regular paddling. I made myself a long-john wetsuit, built a KW7 (that weighed a ton!) and learnt how to roll, surf, build up sea kayaking stamina and learnt about tides, wind and weather. I got my 4* sea kayak proficiency, competed in surf competitions, paddled my first river (River Usk), and was a Beach Rescue instructor in my second year. This was also my introduction to gender politics in sport.

Summer 1973 - working as a temporary instructor at Benmore, where I had been twice on sailing courses as an Edinburgh school pupil. Now I was assisting with instructing sailing and kayaking. I also had opportunities to paddle in the evenings and with other staff, and was loving gaining skills and experience of paddling on sea, lochs and rivers. 

1973-74  - A year away in Thailand teaching swimming, sailing and English in a school in Haadyai, Southern Thailand. I also helped with a bit of boat building, including using my fiberglassing skills to build a kayak, though I don’t remember paddling it.

1974-78 - Back to Edinburgh for a 4 year degree course at Dunfermline College of Physical Education. What a fantastic opportunity to grow my outdoor skills, with a great band of people in the outdoor education department! With college I got the opportunity to grow my skills hillwalking and rock-climbing, orienteering in forests, sailing and kayaking on rivers and sea. I also began competing in slalom – loving the fun, challenge and friendly, social atmosphere.

Summer 1975 - Back working at Benmore and now able to use my skills in both paddling and teaching, to take groups sailing and kayaking. Opportunities in my time off to do my first sea kayak expeditions on the west coast, and to paddle rivers. More friends to meet at slaloms after the summer was over too.

Summer 1976 - Branching out with a summer working at Outward Bound Loch Eil. Teaching sailing and kayaking as well as gaining lots of mountain experience and rock climbing in evenings and days off.  Now leading sea kayak expeditions with adult groups as well as running progressive skills courses.

Summer 1977 - Senior Instructor (sea) training completed and Senior Instructor Inland assessment done. First opportunities to paddle a (wooden) open canoe on lochs and rivers as well.

1978-1980 - Teaching P.E. and Outdoor Education at Firrhill High School in Edinburgh. Paddling lots myself and now taking pupils to slaloms as well. Life is beginning to evolve around paddling!

1979 - Alpine rivers tour with 4 friends in a home-converted VW transporter. 21 different rivers in 28 days!

1980-82 - M.Ed (Educational Research Methodologies) at Stirling University. Training with Central region Advanced Training Squad being an additional attraction. Still competing in slalom while adding the challenges of WW racing, sprint and marathon too. Oh, and a bit of Dragon Boating!

1981 - Selected to represent Scotland WW racing in Spain. Followed this with another few weeks of recreational WW kayak paddling in the Alps.

1982 - Selected to race (WWR) for GB in Europa Cup (France, Austria and Italy) Team medal. 

1983 – Back to teaching Outdoor Education in schools. Selected to race for GB in WW racing World Championships at Merano, Italy. Bronze team medal.

1984 - Change of jobs. Now working at Firbush, on Loch Tay.  Selected to represent Scotland in 4 disciplines - WW racing, Slalom, Sprint and Marathon. WWR for GB in Europa Cup. BCU Coach award (Inland Kayak) gained. Rafting and kayaking in Nepal that autumn.

1985 - Daughter Fiona born in June. Still training and racing though now focused on WW racing.

1986-89 - Working for University of Edinburgh at Firbush. Training and representing GB each year. Racing in Europe, USA, Norway and Scotland. Also racing in Tour de Corse, Corsica.

1989 - Son Andrew born in February. 3 days break from paddling! Represented GB at World Championships on the River Savage, Maryland.

1990 - Change of jobs. Now working at Whitehall, Derbyshire CC outdoor centre near Buxton. Final year of International racing but continuing to train /  paddle on a regular basis. Recreational WW kayaking, and a fair bit of WW canoeing as well. Some Welsh sea kayaking. Occasional alpine river paddling.

1993 - Back up to a Principal Teacher post at Benmore. Sea kayaking back into the mix, along with more and more canoeing. Level 3 WW Canoe coach. Lots of enjoyment paddling with my children, on lochs, rivers and sea. 

1996 - Lots of recreational paddling and coaching of others. Canoe 5*. 

1999 - SRA Level 2 Raft Guide, and the start of 18 months of having Frozen Shoulders. A very low part of my life. At its worst it was impossible to paddle. Eventually, I did recover, and paddling was possible again. 

So, by 2000, I had had to get used to life where paddling was no longer a central part. Everything (sleep, dressing, driving…) had been difficult for me during that time, and priorities changed. I managed that though. I gradually regained movement and became able to paddle again. I still loved teaching both children and adults in the outdoors, and continued to learn more about education and coaching. I added an Additional Teaching Qualification (Primary Education) to my other academic qualifications, and I gained more and more from helping others learn, improve, achieve their goals and make progress. I had always enjoyed working with, and training, other coaches and I was glad to be able to use my experience in a way that helped others progress.

I also continued to enjoy new challenges. In 2014, I had the opportunity to paddle a paddleboard while travelling in French Polynesia, and little did I know then that paddleboarding would provide me with another area of paddlesport to embrace and enjoy. I was happy to add the SUP module to my paddling qualifications in 2016, and from then on, I came to see that paddleboarding was in many ways a coming together of skills and enjoyment that I gained from paddling other craft, but also from all the other activities which had helped me develop my balance, agility and coordination. The lightness and portability of paddleboards gave increased flexibility about where and when I could paddle. It challenged skills that I already had, and added others. It allowed me to add even more variety, fun and friendships to my paddling. 

So, I continue to paddle, and to love paddling. I still love teaching others, and helping them enjoy and progress in their chosen paddlesport. I am also still learning myself, enjoying sharing adventures on the water with others, and hoping that I will continue to do so for a long while yet.