Dave Taylor (Instructor)

Position:: Instructor
Length of service:: Spring 2008
Favourite trips:: Banks Penninsula, Durville Island, Maori Gully
Courses and trips you could take with Dave:: Rolling Course (3 sessions), Sea Kayaking: Indoor Rescue Practice, Sea Kayaking: Little Port Cooper, Sea Kayaking: Full Day Introduction
Favourite boats:: Mission Kayaks Eco-Bezhig 540: A great boat for all occasions, loves the rough stuff, and you can take the kitchen sink on those long trips.; Dagger Mamba 8.0: Keeps me above the water line most of the time
Favourite paddles:: Carlisle/Canoe Sports Arctic 160, Originz Nevis Bluff
Countries paddled:: New Zealand, Australia, Malawi
Qualifications:: NZOIA Rock Climbing and NZOIA Sea Kayaking, PHEC (Pre-Hospital Emergency Care), Australian Canoe Board Kayaking Instructor, ACB Sea Kayaking proficiency.

Dave was inspired to start kayaking during a rafting trip on the Zambezi. The idea of being in grade 5 water did something to his soul. On his return to NZ he took a course with CPIT that covered white water and sea kayaking and then headed off to work as a Sea Kayaking guide with Capricorn Kayaks at Rottnest Island, WA. After that he guided in Milford and Doubtful sounds and paddled white water in the area in his spare time.

If you’d like to know some of the best spots to paddle around the South Island, Dave is your man. He’s covered a lot of it including Nelson to Picton, Durville Island, Doubtful, Milford & Marlborough sounds and has paddled around Bank’s Peninsula.

His dream trips are Alaska’s Inside Passage and a circumnavigation of Stewart Island.