Paddler Profile – John Willacy
John started out on his paddling career in the early 1980’s. Along the way he has paddled whitewater in Norway, sea kayaks in the Falkland Islands and represented Great Britain in Wild Water Racing and Canoe Slalom. John has paddled across most of the canoesport disciplines and classes, and in many locations: France, Norway, Corsica, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Malta, Tasmania and the Falkland Islands. He is currently based on Anglesey in North Wales, from where he runs the PSK website when he isn't paddling.
2758: Menai Straits paddles
Sea Kayak
John has extensive experience as a sea kayaker. He holds a number of solo sea kayak records and has completed two solo circumnavigations of the UK, the only person to have done so.
2012 UK Circumnavigation - 72 days - Clockwise Kayak Blog.
2015 UK Circumnavigation - 83 days - Anti-Clockwise Kayak Blog.
In 2012 he was awarded the Chris Wheeler Adventure Paddler of the Year award by Canoe & Kayak UK magazine.
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Sea Paddling Achievements:
| Date | Type | Locn. | Elapsed |
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Competition
Since he began competing in 1984 John has raced in various disciplines, including: Slalom, Wild Water Racing and Long Distance/Sprint Racing. He has experience across the board: C1, C2, K1, K2 and K4 classes.
Slalom
- GB Intermediate Squad paddler: 1988-1990
- British Open C1 Champion: 1989(B), 1990(Slalom Sprint)
- English C1 Champion: 1990, 1994
- Welsh C2 Champion (with Geoff Forster)
- BCU Premier Division C1 Slalom: 1989 - 1997
Wild Water Racing
- Great Britain C1 Champion: 1992, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008
- British Open C1 Champion: 1992, 1999
- Welsh Open C1 Champion: 2005
- BCU Division A paddler 1991 - 2008
Great Britain Team:
- World Championships Team: 1993, 1995, 1996, 2006
- World Cup Team: 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997
- Bronze Medallist: Masters World Championships, 2006
Military Competition
John won his first Interservice Championship in 1987 and his last in 2008, taking 103 gold medals along the way. He also won over 70 Royal Air Force Championship titles, across various canoesport disciplines.
In 2007 he was awarded the British Forces Sportsman of the Year award.
Coaching
John has been involved with coaching for more than 30 years, delivering technical coaching and mentoring to paddlers ranging from club novice through to National Team paddlers. He has worked as a coach for the Wales Canoe Slalom Team.
John holds his BCU Level 4 Inland Kayak and Level 4 Sea Kayak qualifications, along with BCU competition coaching qualifications for Slalom, Wild Water Racing and Long Distance Racing.
Kayak Design
John designed, tested and developed a number of sea kayaks whilst working for Rockpool Kayaks:
- Taran 18
- Taran 16
- GT
- Isel (part design)