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Coach Biographies:
Danny Mongno
Werner Paddles is more than a career to Danny Mongno; it offers a lifestyle and a family. Traveling in his house on wheels and paddling most every day in the US and around the world has allowed him to add a constant flow of new thinking to over 19 years of experience. Coaching from event to event it is helping paddlers develop a love for the sport that keeps him coming back year in and year out. “I’m not picky, simply being on the water makes me happy. However not to type cast myself, but nothing gets me more excited that playing in the surf in a sea kayak. Figure out how to control a kayak that long, it silly conditions, and you can’t help but become a better boater.” Danny is 35 years old and resides in the mountains of Asheville NC when he is not in the house on wheels. Keep an eye out for him in your town on the running trail, white water take out, lake, local surf spot or any where else the paddlers gather. Bar stools not excluded.
Paul Kuthe
Alder Creek Programs Director Paul Kuthe started his career on the water paddling with his father in a Grumman Canoe. At the age of ten, he took his first whitewater class and for the next 10 years, paddled the Class III and IV rivers of his home state of Missouri. As a kid, Paul always felt an equal on the water, crediting paddling with bolstering motivation, self-esteem and maturity, as well as keeping him out of trouble. Paul came to Alder Creek in 2004 as an ACA/BCU certified instructor and has recently taken on the busy job of Program Director, overseeing the lessons, trips and classes. He brings 12 years of teaching whitewater kayaking and myriad experience with open canoeing, sea kayaking and long boat surfing to the diversified job of planning, organizing and directing the educational part of Alder Creek. Building and nurturing the paddling community through multiple disciplines and safety awareness has been a career goal for Paul. Whether squirt boating, slalom racing or solo sea kayaking, he feels a kinship to those who share his passion for a safe and quality experience. Paul can be found at the Janzten Beach store, teaching a class or paddling his favorite runs – the Little White Salmon and Opal Creek. More info about Paul Kuthe on aldercreek.com
Dave White
Alder Creek’s Dave White started canoeing with his parents before he can remember. Growing up in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, Dave started sea kayaking nine years ago, honing his skills at Sea Kayak Georgia based out of Savannah. He attended college in up state New York, and three years ago moved to Portland to take up his post at Alder Creek. He received his first coaching certification in 2000 and has since collected six different certifications through BCU and ACA. He has taken sea kayaking excursions from Vancouver Island to Patagonia. You can find Dave surfing waves at the mouth of the Salmon River, teaching a class, guiding a trip, or working the floor of the Jantzen Beach store. More info about Dave on aldercreek.com
Jeffrey Briley
Jeffrey enjoys sharing his love and understanding of our connections with the natural world with others through exciting adventures. He has been an environmental educator for the Peace Corp in Paraguay and has coached most paddling desciplines on the east and west coasts of the US. Jeffrey is a trilingual (English, Spanish, and Guarani) surfer, kayaker, and climber with a passion for teaching. You can usually find him doing his thing instructing sea and white water kayaking classes or on the retail floor for Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe. You can also find him immersing himself and others in the jungles and waves of the world where he owns and operates the adventure travel company, Natural Elements International.
Shawn McClure
Waterman Shawn McClure has years of water play, rescue and training under his PFD. He started his water ways as a US Navy Rescue Swimmer and paramedic. After a career with the Marine Coprs and the US coast guard he was able to “retire” and persue some of his long time life goals. Always an avid surf chaser, Shawn started squirt boating in the mid-80’s and began competing in surf kayaking and wave skiing competitions. Although he started working at the Alder Creek Portland in 2006, he has been associated with Alder Creek since it’s inception in a Sandy, OR garage over 20 years ago. A native of Oregon, you can find Shawn anywhere there is great surf, cheap beer and good food or helping fellow boaters at the Janzten Beach Alder Creek Kayak & Canoe.
Jason Self
Jason Self began sea kayaking in 2001 when he relocated from Austin, Texas to the beautiful coast of far Northern California. Since then, Jason has relocated to Portland where he has been guiding and teaching sea kayaking for the last several years. Jason is a recent addition to Alder Creek, where he acts as Assistant Product Manager, Basic Skills Kayak Instructor, Guide, and our in house kayak fishing specialist. Jason currently holds the BCU 3 Star Sea award, and is currently working towards the 4 Star and Coach 2 awards. Aside from paddling, Jason is earning a degree in Environmental Science, with specializations in Fishery and Wildlife Science, and Ecology and Resource Management, and expects to graduate in 2009. If you can’t find Jason at the Jantzen Beach shop or teaching a kayak class, he’s probably out at the Oregon Coast surfing long boats, or attempting to land a salmon or steelhead in a Pacific Northwest coastal river.
Steve and Cindy Scherrer
Paddling a canoe at age 10 got Steve hooked on watersports and he has been an enthusiast ever since. Cindy started paddling when she met Steve in 1983 which launched a love affair with paddling that continues to evolve. Whitewater, flatwater, kayaks, canoes, creekin’, squirt boats, competition, cata-rafting, sailing, kayak surfing, sea boating… it’s ALL good. They were co-founders of Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe in Portland, OR and worked the retail/ instruction/ guide scene for nearly 20 years. They sold the shop in 2004 and now work as an integral part of the Confluence Watersports team. Working closely with R and D fine tuning and testing the design of boats and gear allows them plenty of opportunity to paddle. Steve is an ACA Instructor Trainer Educator in Advanced Open Water and Cindy is an Open Water Instructor and is excited to share her experiences of the mental and physical challenges women face. Making their home in Ocean Park, Washington allows them to paddle year ‘round in one of the countries finest paddling environments.
Sean Morley
Originating from the UK and now a resident of Marin Co. CA, Sean began kayaking at the age of ten with the Boy Scouts and often paddled alone, exploring the relatively sheltered waters of St Austell Bay on the south coast of Cornwall, England. He was always curious to see what he would find beyond the horizon and dreamt of a continuous journey around every headland and across every bay until eventually he had paddled all the way around Great Britain.
Sean took part in his first kayak race in 1978 and has competed in many disciplines of paddle sport since then including white water slalom and downriver racing, marathon, sprint, wave ski, surf life saving and surf kayaking with success at national and international level.
He began expedition sea kayaking in 1996 and in 1998 set a record for the fastest crossing of the Irish Sea in 11 hours 6 minutes. In 2004 he achieved his childhood dream by completing the first solo circumnavigation of the UK and Ireland by sea kayak; the first ever to include all of the inhabited islands. The 4500 mile expedition took 183 days and is the longest kayak journey ever undertaken in British waters. Sean raised over £10,000 for charity and was nominated as the Royal National Lifeboat Institute’s ‘Individual Supporter of the Year’. His achievement was featured in the DVD ‘This is the Sea 2’ by Justine Curgenven (Cackle TV).
In 2005 Sean assisted British kayak manufacturer Valley Sea Kayaks with the design of a new High Performance surf kayak called the ‘Rush’. He began participating in kayak surfing competitions in 2006 as a way of promoting the new kayak and in 2007 became the World Masters Champion and gained 2nd place in the Open category of the High Performance Class at the World Surf Kayak Championships.
In September 2008 Sean attempted to break the record for the fastest circumnavigation of Vancouver Island. He completed the 700mile (1000km) circumnavigation in 17 days, 4 hours and 49 minutes taking over 6 days off the previous record.
Rob Avery
Rob Avery has been messing around in kayaks for over 40 years! Starting in the UK as a boy scout then a K1 racer, Rob now enjoys paddling with his wife Kris, expeditions, kayak surfing and coaching for both open canoe and kayak. Rob loves to share his passion for sea kayaking and our natural environment; he is a BCU Coach, ACA Coastal Instructor, Wilderness First Responder and Leave No Trace Trainer. In 2003 he left the corporate world and jumped head-first into the big wide world. He owns and operates Kayak Kraft (www.KayakKraft.com) from Bainbridge Island, WA.
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