Welcome to another instalment of, “Better Know an Instructor”.

Marna Powel has been teaching kayaking for over 10 years as an ACA Open Water Coastal Kayak instructor with the Adaptive Paddling Endorsement. She is also owner of Kayak Zak’s which specializes in adaptive paddling instruction.

Marna was very kind to take the time to answer my questions and get her to open up about herself and what motivates her to get out teaching others.

Tell us about yourself. What do you do when you are not out paddling/teaching?
Actually on my days off I like to go paddle.  Winter and spring in this area has incredible whitewater runs.  My husband and I also have a small welding business www.gonewelding.com and since one of my degrees is in business administration with an accounting emphasis (gag me!) there really is a ton of paperwork involved in operating two businesses and a household.  On a more positive note, we have eight acres on the coast bordering Redwood National Park. It’s a lot of hard work and I love our goats, dogs and organic garden with greenhouse.  Michael and I have been together for 21 years.

Welcome to our third installment in our 276 part series, "Better know a paddling instructor". Last week, I sat down with Michael Pardy from Victoria, British Columbia.

Michael wears many hats in the paddlesports industry. He is one of the owners of SKILS (Sea Kayak Instruction Leadership Systems) as well the Executive Director of The Trade Association of Paddlesports. Michael is the past president of the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of BC.

Welcome to our second in a 276 part series, "Better know a Kayak Instructor". Today I sat down with Tim Dyer the owner of White Squall Paddling Centre in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada.

Tim has been a fixture in the kayaking/guiding scene in Canada wince the early 70's so I was excited to sit and talk with him.

This is the first in our series called "Better know a kayak instructor". We are going around interviewing influential instructors to find out about them and why they started teaching in the first place.

For our first interview, we talked to Richard Alexander from The Newfoundland Kayak Company in St. John's, Newfoundland. Not only is he a top notch paddler and instructor but he is also the current President of Paddle Canada.