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/storage/Guide loading kayaks to a kayak trailer.
13th July 2020 / News

The Life of a Guide.

It’s not all glamour and the fun stuff! We work hard behind the scenes, throughout the season to ensure that our fleet is in ‘tip top’ condition for all of our courses and trips. The NOMAD Camera Fairy caught us carrying out some ongoing cleaning and maintenance on some of our fleet.

Cleaning, loading, carrying, rinsing, repairing......the life of a Guide.

An event of say three to four hours has another two to three hours before we even get started with trip planning, loading trailers and gear and driving to the launch venue. Then add the time needed to reload all the boats and gear, travel wash everything down, dry and pack away at the completion of every event and the days are very long indeed. Sometimes, we find ourselves rinsing a trailer and gear at 1am in the morning; thats not that unusual!

NOMAD Sea Kayaking guide seal colony trip
NOMAD Sea Kayaking guide Sea Shepherd.
Guide wearing DryRobe for warmth.
Coaching sea kayak skills in non tidal waters.
Guide cleaning maintaining servicing kayaks
Guide maintaining servicing sit-on-top kayaks

It's a fantastically rewarding job, taking people out to places they would never go on their own or even with friends. Guiding and keeping our 'flock' safe and seeing the twinkle in their eye, the inspiration and the big smiles when we finish. We are all just 'big kids' after all and love nothing more than forgetting about our day to day worries, just for a few wonderful hours of tranquility, fresh air and good company. And we make that happen! Yep, its a good way to make a living.

Coach & Lead Guide with NOMAD Sea Kayaking.
Kurt Finch

Since surfing with the pros as a kid in Durban South Africa on my hollow 12ft barge & getting absolutely trashed, I was hooked on sea paddling. Over a period of forty-two years I’ve surfed, white watered & sea kayaked in locations around the world. I've guided as a full-time professional for the past twenty years & my journey continues.