We are stoked to have Will Copestake as our next paddler to take part in the Unsponsored Q&A Series. Will was named UK Adventurer of the Year in 2015 (also Scottish Adventurer of the Year) for his “Machair to Munro” challenge, where he spent 364 days solo-circumnavigating Scotland by sea kayak and cycling to climb all 282 Munro mountains in a single year. He is a renowned explorer, guide, and photographer based in Scotland. [
Could you tell us a little bit about you and your paddling journey?
I learnt to kayak in my hometown of Ullapool, in north west Scotland initially with a keen interest as a river paddler with friends. My sea kayaking journey really began when I left university when, relying heavily on river paddling skill, I set off on a solo paddle around mainland Scotland as part of a larger year long adventure. This sparked a love of sea kayaking and directed me into pursuing a career in it.
I first guided in Patagonia, reliant upon the skills I’d picked up on personal adventures and a small amount of formal training, it proved an excellent honing ground to learn. They say in Patagonia if you eat the local Calafate berries you are destined to return, perhaps I had a few too many as I have been coming back ever since for over a decade, both to work as a kayak guide on the Rio Serrano in Torres Del Paine and also to pursue personal expeditions in the Chilean west fjords.
At home in Scotland I progressed through formal guiding certifications over the coming years and moved from freelancing to now owning and running my own business Kayak Summer Isles. With this I and our great team offer coaching, guiding adventures from day trips to longer overnight adventures, sharing what I am most passionate about as a sport and an environment.
As a river paddler I’m enjoying a fair bit of stoke by pursuing new-to-me rivers around the north west coast of Scotland and beyond.
Where are you from and where do you live?
I am from Ullapool in northwest Scotland and I haven’t strayed too far from my roots.
What does a regular week at this time of the year look like?
As of writing this at the beginning of May my year is in the process of changing gears into the guiding season. During winter, if not in Patagonia, I do short contracts guiding from ships in Antarctica and at home focus on friends, family, woodwork projects and more river paddling. Now in May the busy season is well underway and my time is spent prepping, promoting and paddling with my business. I’m trying harder to limit my time working on the water to 5 days a week these days, although am not very good at saying no to eager paddlers, so is often more. I have a great team who work with me to share the fun too.
The last couple of years I have found a huge amount of rekindled stoke for whitewater so many evenings and days off are spent seeking something to huck a kayak over at the moment.
What did you focus on to become comfortable running big or complex rapids? What allowed you to progress your skills?
Maybe it’s my way of protecting my ego but I’m fairly convinced no one is truly comfortable running big or complex rapids, so let’s say when I felt ‘sharp enough’ to really start enjoying them.
Growing up I didn’t have much formal coaching in whitewater, it was two or three skilled friends who were willing to guide good decision making then giving me the room t push my skill set and back me up when I inevitably disconnected the vision with the outcome.
A little further down the line I feel fortunate to still have some extremely competent friends and peers on the river, you are only as strong as your team. Their experience is often far beyond my own so more often than not I feel like I’m the person with the most room to learn amongst them, which is a great place to be.
I think the biggest thing I’ve learnt of late is to be able to visualise a break down of a particular line or move into more achievable objectives. It’s amazing how often a grade IV or V sequence can be broken down into a few grade II moves to make the outcome work. This is backed up by trusting my ability to hit those moves in the right places comes with experience and mistakes with reflections.
I think another thing I have come to learn is when to recognise when I’m having a good or bad performance day and adjusting my decision making to fit that.
Do you have any pre-paddling rituals to help calm your nerves or get you into the zone?
Yes. I always listen to the same playlist of random songs we used to listen to as teenagers whenever we drove to a paddle, most of this songs came from those early grainy YouTube videos, remember those ones that were like a slideshow of pixillated stoke. It takes me back to that young energy and helps me build myself into a great psychological zone.
The other weird one I do is I always run my tongue over my teeth right before I put my skirt on at the top of a big move. Maybe it’s my way of checking they are still there before I loose one, but I’ve noticed I almost always do it without really consciously meaning to.
When was your last swim?
Silverbridge falls on the River Blackwater on a winters day (picture included). I’d like to say it was the new paddles, but really I just hit a poor line and a poorer attempt at a few rolls before my head starting hitting riverbed a little more than I liked. I also very nearly had a stupid swim on a grade II feature right at the top of a larger drop on the Rappach recently, a lapse in concentration resulted in loosing my paddle on the riverbed right at the top of the rock slide and thankfully a hand roll took me up with the paddle right beside me, saving a big dent in my body and ego.
What has been your luckiest escape?
When I was in my younger paddling days I was paddling everything in a Dagger G-force and getting munched all the time by features my friends seemed to skip through in their creek boats. One such munching I was rolled and pinned upside down around a rock, my deck release on one side my body on the other. I remember fighting to try get myself off the boulder, and then for my deck, but I couldn’t get off or out. I don’t know exactly how long I was under, although was told it wasn’t that long, but I remember the panic rising before calming into darkness, then being jolted back to reality right as I was dropping out of consciousness as a friend managed to knock my kayak off the rock by ramming it hard with their own kayak. The following swim was just as savage until they got me out of the shore. It wasn’t a hard river, maybe grade III or so. It was a lucky escape brought through by fast and effective decision making with my friends but in hindsight I don’t think any of us paddling that day really appreciated how close a call it had really been. It put me off for paddling for a wee while after that though.
Where would you go if you could travel anywhere in the world to paddle?
I’d love to continue more adventures in Chilean Patagonia. I’ve not done any real river kayaking down there yet apart from sending big volume features in a sea kayak once or twice, so a trip to the classics with a creek boat would be high on my list.
Some big journeys in Scandinavia by open canoe would also be high on my hitlist.
If you could put a team together for a multi day first descent, who would make the team and why?
Honestly it would be the people I paddle with now as there is no substituting a good group you know how they work and where their comfort zones are and how they are at setting safety. I was part of the original ‘dream team’ of four friends which were Sam Plantarose, Matt Dawson, Alistair Boyce and Seumas Nairn. That has now added Tim Hamlet, Andy Gill and Ben Squires into the mix too. If it was something super hard, I’d want any and all of the following friends along with me too, along with most of the paddlers in the “Inverness Area Whitewater” WhatsApp group.
Liam Green (Greenwave Guiding), Matt Haydock (Matt Haydock Coaching), Georgina Maxwell, Duncan Stewart, Kirsten Cronie, Cameron Forry and so many more local strong paddlers.
All of the people I’d pick on my team I’d choose because I can spend time with them for a long time with a smile on my face, and people I can hopefully put a smile back on theirs. All of whom I’d trust in an event where focused attention was needed. Every member of a good team knows the goal and has their own tools and skills to achieve that outcome, if we can work together to make that work smoothly and with stoke then the dream is achieved.
What message or top tip would you give to a young paddler who wants to progress in the sport?
When I was a starry eyed teenager filled with hopes and dreams of falling off waterfalls with the grace and style of a ballet dancers I took some advice from a young sales assistant from a now closed well-known Scottish kayak store. I wanted to learn to creek boat with my friends I was told to ‘Get a playboat, it will improve your roll.’ Whilst this was not entirely untrue it did mean a lot more swimming while my friends were having more stoke and translated quite well to ‘if you’re going to be dumb then you better be tough’. Consider who gives you advice and the quality of that advice.
Overall: Experience comes just after you needed it, surround yourself with people who can help you make good decision making and allow mistakes to happen with a safe outcome. Remember to reflect on the positive outcomes as well as the ‘what ifs and should have’s’ of a bad line – both are important.
What paddling gear are you currently using?
I’m onboard with the great team at P&H and Pyranha who have been exceptionally good to work with over the years. On the river I’m currently paddling a Firecracker 152 and a ReactR Small. Both are superb kayaks which have been consistently putting a large smile on my face.
Many thanks Will!
To keep up to date with Will’s adventures give him a follow on Instagram.
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