Vale Paddle Sports

I enjoyed (an unexpected) one-to-one kayaking taster session this past Saturday, with Chris Evans of Vale Paddle Sports.As a relative kayaking novice, Chris was more than happy to start from scratch and take me through the basics before venturing out on to the water. We then spent approx an hour (accompanied by his canine SUP-enthusiast Layla) kayaking around a surprisingly quiet Barry Dock, practising paddle and manoeuvring techniques. At the end of the session I was also able to try a SUP for comparison.Chris is an experienced instructor - very knowledgeable and personable. At the end of the session, which ran over to almost 2.5 hours rather than 2, Chris was happy enough to answer any questions I had and to give follow-up advice on equipment including buying tips, and also offering a discount at a local dealer when ready to purchase.Highly recommended.

Absolutely amazing experience, will be going back again!

I bought my (adult) son and his friend a voucher for water sports training with Chris, for his birthday, and yesterday they took off for the five hour exercise, a little trepidatiously, and chose to do kayaking. I watched from a distance for a while and it was clear from the outset that the whole process was highly professional but at the same time great fun. Speaking to my son today he was full of enthusiasm and talking about booking some more lessons very soon, and bringing more friends. He remarked on Chris’s style which was friendly and encouraging and patient, with lots of laughter and a generally relaxed atmosphere and he certainly seems to have learnt a lot in one day. He was impressed that it didn’t feel like a lesson, after a quickIntroduction they were straight in the water, safely and confidently. The whole exercise from booking onwards was so easy, nothing was too much trouble, access was straightforward. No complaints whatsoever. Highly recommended. Two happy 41 year olds. Thanks Chris. And Layla, sea dog par excellence

Had a fantastic 2 hour taster session with Chris and Layla ( the four legged sailor) this weekend. Chris tailored the session to suit our needs perfectly, I will be booking in again and would highly recommend.

I had a wonderful first session with Chris at Barry docks last night. I’ve never done anything like it and was a little nervous about it, but thought what the hell and go for it. On arrival Chris went through all the safety aspects of what to do on the water, how to carry the SUP and get into the water with it. I felt very reassured and Chris is an excellent instructor. We spent 2 amazing hours paddling around and I can’t begin to say how relaxing and fun it was to do. The water was rather warm considering and only went overboard 3 times. I felt confident by the end of the session and Will definitely be doing again. Thanks Chris!! (And Layla the dog!!)