Let's Go Paddle!

I have been lucky to spend the past eight years and countless hours of water time with paddle students from a unique spectrum of backgrounds and abilities that only a city as big and diverse as Los Angeles could manage to bring together. From that, and my background in professional development and team management, a learning methodology emerged that has become the core of Paddle Method instruction. Designed to build core strength and confidence in paddlers at every skill level, our mission is to strengthen the bonds of the paddling community by engaging more paddlers with the life sustaining power and serenity of the Stand Up Paddle Boarding, (SUP) way of life.

Paddle Method stand up paddleboard instruction focuses on three core areas of SUP – Lessons, Workouts and Excursions (tours). Build your knowledge of paddle boarding with intro through advanced flat water lessons or join us and a group of paddling enthusiasts for one of our signature stroke technique clinics and workout sessions designed to build your strength and confidence so you can paddle faster, burn more calories and paddle confidently in a variety of conditions.

Let's Go Paddle! A guided, paddleboard tour or excursion is where you can see, first hand, all of your hard work and practice come together.

All of our paddle board lessons and workouts focus on building muscle memory along with your strength and paddle skills so your confidence grows with every stroke while allowing you to progress at their natural pace.

My goal is to build a skilled and knowledgeable SUP community so all who have felt the pull of the Ocean, Bay, Lake or River can explore the world from a SUP point of view.

Paddle on! Tim

Like anyone who is lucky enough to find their passion in life, I look back and see how all roads led me to a career as a professional SUP instructor, personal coach, and guide. The ones that stand out the most are both professional and personal and while too many to list here in full, here are some the highlights:

• Childhood summers, spent sailing up and down the New England coast.
• 15 years in the hospitality industry from Edinburgh, Scotland to Seattle, WA to Los Angeles, CA.
• 3 years working in the professional development and teacher training for LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District).
• 4 years as a sales manager for a Los Angeles based financial services company. Training a sales team and coaching paddlers really isn’t all that different. What gets me excited about both is working with different types of learning styles in the hopes of providing a fun and enjoyable opportunity to learn something new and say, “Aha!”

• Owner and operator of LA’s first accredited SUP school from the Academy of Surf and Stand Up Paddle Board Instructors (A.S.I).
• Certified World Paddle Association (WPA) and Paddle Fit Instructor.
• 3 years on Board of Directors on both the Santa Monica Pier Paddleboard Race and Ocean Festival and Los Angeles’s Waterkeeper’s Alliances Stand Up for clean water SUP race.
• Completed 2001 ARC Rally Europe – Transatlantic Ocean Rally (32 days on the open ocean and you’ll learn a thing or two!).
• Numerous SUP race finishes 2010-to present including: Winner of the 2013 Men’s Surf Class, SM Pier Paddle Board and Ocean festival.
• Steve West (author of the SUP Bible) and Will Anido – ASI Instructor Training (I learned more about paddling in 45 minutes on the water with Steve than I’ve learned from everyone else combined! And Will is simply inspiring; he placed first in his class during last year’s Molakai Challenge a.k.a.The hardest SU race on the planet.
• Kalama Klinic – Dave Kalama is a premier performance paddle instructor and one of the founders of SUP – 2011.
• Over 5 years and 1000+ hours of teaching experience: private lessons to large groups from back bay estuaries to the open ocean adventure tours.
• Avid SUP racer and SUP surfer.