Born and raised in Scotland, Gordon Brown is well known by paddlers around the world for his charming accent, exceptional coaching and incredible coordination in a kayak. His many contributions to the sport include the award-winning DVD skills trilogy Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown, an indispensible book, Sea Kayak: A Manual for Intermediate and Advanced Kayakers and guest coaching at events from Chilé to Israel to San Francisco. When he’s at home on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, Brown balances family time and running Skyak Adventures with his wife, Morag, and studying for his Masters in Performance Coaching. Another book is also in the pipeline. But if these seem like the achievements of a lifelong paddlesports professional and natural academic, you don’t know Brown as well as you may think.
What’s your background: are you originally from Skye? How did you discover a passion for sea kayaking?
Although I live on Skye, and have done for sixteen years, it was not originally home for me. Born in Greenock on the Clyde coast on the west of Scotland and then spent the first few years of my life in Paisley which is attached to Glasgow. At six my parents moved to a small village in North Ayrshire called Beith and at the same time my dad bought a small row boat. As money was tight, all of our holidays were in Scotland, always camping and always next to water. My brother Kenny and I would have the boat in the water and we would always have to be shouted to come and get something to eat as we would be off somewhere having our own adventure. It was always me rowing and Kenny sitting waiting for something exciting to happen.
When I was nine, my dad saw an advert in the local newspaper classified ads where someone was selling a canoe, paddle and lifejacket. We went to have a look at it and it was bought for the princely sum of £10.00GBP, this money Kenny and I had to pay back in the form of chores around the house but I don’t remember these being too arduous. Anyway, it turned out the canoe was in fact a kayak and a home built sea kayak with a rudder. We spent many days working out what the thing did and safety was always the highest priority. Initially a length of line about thirty feet was tied to the kayak in order that should we fall in there was the means of getting back ashore. Capsizing was quickly followed with lots of fun exploring the boundaries of what was possible in this new boat. Kenny preferred to stay dry, while I was quite happy being as wet as it was possible to get. One thing that still remains in my memory were the leeches that lived in the mud on the loch we paddled on regularly.
When I went to high school at Garnock Academy, I never really fitted in with any of my classmates and quickly found my way to the technical studies department where I could hide. On one of my first visits there, I saw another kayak which was the same as my own in every way and asked the teachers about it. It turned out that one of the metalwork teachers, George Kerr, had built two identical kayaks and sold one in order that he could fund his own. So I now had a bit of history of the chined plywood hull and canvas deck kayak that was my pride and joy.
My dad had set up his own garage business and it was inevitable that I would go and work for him when I left school. At school, I was less inclined academically and much more interested in the practical things such as woodwork, metalwork and outdoor studies. I managed to get on the school trips to the island of Arran in the Clyde which were normally only open to fourteen years and upwards. I remember the first longish journey we did; starting from Corrie on the east coast of the island, the plan was to travel south and cross Brodick Bay then round past Hamilton Rock into Lamlash Bay where we would be collected by the Land Rover and trailer. Just as we passed Hamilton Rock, I was suddenly very tired and had to be towed the last mile and a half.
After this I was allowed to join the School based canoe club and found a group of people who had similar interests to my own. It was here that I met an old guy by the name of Duncan Winning. It turned out that Duncan had designed the kayak which I owned and now, some forty years down the water, he still paddles every week in a kayak which he designed himself.
Duncan has been to the fore in sea kayaking in Scotland for about sixty years and is responsible for the development of the sport in the UK to a huge amount. In 2004 I accompanied him to West Greenland to visit Ubekendt Island north of Disco Bay, it was here that the kayak that became known as Ken Taylors Kayak was built and which Duncan measured and made plans available to everyone. Anas Acuta, Nordkapp, Pintail, Avocet… all of these kayaks and more have come from this original kayak which is still held in the Huntarian Museum in Glasgow.
These early days were all spent in a sea kayak apart from once a year when the club would go to a race on the River Clyde and we would just bash down with very little knowledge or direction.
The structure of the club was such that the people who were able to progress were encouraged and became involved in helping those who were less able. It was also fairly early days in the BCU coaching scheme and seemed natural that I would do this and give something back.
At school, I spent all of my time in the technical department building kayaks and sailing boats, maintaining the school minibus and trailers as well as running a business repairing the teachers cars, so it was no surprise when I left at fifteen having completed no academic qualifications whatsoever. I did have my BCU Sea Proficiency though. At this time I started competing in motorsport and by eighteen was the Scottish road rally champion as well as the Scottish Autotest champion. I was still kayaking and the motorsport was using all of my money so I decided not to continue with driving fast. Instructor award and then Senior Instructor awards followed before I was nineteen and then the Advanced Proficiency was soon afterwards.
I decided to go and undertake the Coach training course not knowing how I would fare along with all the professional coaches who typically went on these courses. It turned out that I did okay and after some twenty years working in the motor trade, I left and started to develop sea kayaking freelance work around the UK. This led to some other developments and in 2000 I spent three months working on the rivers in Nepal.
Sea kayaking was where my heart was though and it was after my return to the UK that I seriously thought about setting up a sea kayak coaching company, the result is Skyak Adventures which I run with huge support from Morag, my wife.
What has kept sea kayaking fresh and exciting for you for all these years?
I think the fact that there is always something new to learn and something new to discover keeps it fresh. Also being in the privileged position as a coach, I can allow others to see some of what I have seen and hopefully make it easier for them as I’ve made most of the mistakes it is possible to.
Seeing the coastline through my students eyes is an amazing, exciting and very rewarding experience and I just keep getting a real buzz from it.
What is you favourite part of coaching?
My favourite part of coaching is seeing people develop way beyond what they thought was possible for them. Currently, I am coaching a client who is a wheelchair user and the amount of cerebral effort I am having to put in is matched by her determination to succeed. There are so many challenges to overcome and so far we are developing some interesting results by working together.
Your coaching skills are both applied and academic; what’s the most fascinating nugget that’s come out of your Masters work?
I think that the most fascinating thing to have come out of my academic studies is that what I have done intuitively and because it feels the right thing to do has been studied and written about by clever people with letters after their names. That I am now able to engage with this writing, and understand it has really added to my knowledge about coaching.
Who do people think you are, versus who you really are?
I’m not really sure who people think I am, but it is very strange when people nudge each other and whisper such things as “that’s him…”. I think that I often come across as brash and loud but that is just a front as I really am quite shy. I think that would surprise most people who think that they know me.
I am really just a normal guy who tries hard to be a good dad to my kids, honest to my beliefs and generous with my time. I love music and have recently been singing at the local folk club which is fun and scary at the same time. I think that coaching is a bit like this too – it is a performance. I remember the late Derek Hutchinson saying to me, “ShowTime, young Brown.” That has stuck with me and if it is a performance I hope that I will be able to perform for a long time to come.
Where does a guy like you get such amazing balance?
The good balance comes from falling in lots and lots and lots. I have fallen in more times than I can remember by trying things that I’ve been told are impossible. If you are not prepared to fail at something then you will never reach your potential. I also have huge feet.
Have you ever been in over your head in a kayak?
I can’t think of a time when I have personally been in too deep, but with groups it is too often an occurrence. Having four people capsize at the same time when a strong gust hits keeps me busy and checking to make sure my VHF radio is on CH16.
Why don’t many UK paddlers wear helmets in rough water?
I don’t think that this is actually the case. I choose whether I wear a helmet or not based on where, what and who I’m coaching and what the context of the session is. For example, if it is about landing in rough water in the context of journeying, then if a helmet is not a normal part of expeditioning equipment, paddlers have to be able to make decisions about the outcome. So, for me, this comes to the fore as decision-making, which is what my MSc is investigating.
What are some other projects that you are working on?
Adventures in the pipeline include spending five months this coming October 2016 on Vancouver Island, writing another book and having some quality family time while we are there. There are always dream trips bouncing around inside my head but being so busy usually means not making the dreams come true too often.
This article appears in the Late Summer 2016 issue of Adventure Kayak. To discover more great stories and fascinating paddlers, get the full issue here.
