West Coast Packrafting was started in 2025 by partners Sandra Hyslop and Troy Watson.  They live in Hokitika and are passionate about the West Coast Rivers and Wilderness and are excited to share it with visitors.

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Sandra has been paddling for over 25 years and has paddled on 6 out of 7 continents.  She learnt to paddle with her family on the River Tyne in North East England and quickly got involved in racing on whitewater.  Her achievements include being Junior World and European Champion (2007 and 2008 respectively) as well as Senior European Silver Medallist (2009) and World Champion in team racing (2010).

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Whilst at University in Durham, UK Sandra got more into extreme whitewater paddling and creek boating and this lead to employment teaching whitewater kayaking with World Class Academy (2012-2014), Ottawa Kayak School (2015) and the National Outdoor Leadership School (2023-Present).  In 2016 Sandra won the Adidas Sickline Extreme Kayaking World Championships.  

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Sandra got in to packrafting in order to save money by being able to access many of the stunning heli-kayaking runs on the West Coast of New Zealand on foot.  Her background in whitewater kayaking was very transferable and she enjoys the full-body workout that hiking in and paddling out provides.

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Troy, an avid caver and canyoneer with first descents around NZ and Papua New Guinea, got in to packrafting via the famous GodZone adventure race.  He and his 'Team Turiwhate' teammates won the pursuit section of the 2018 race in Fiordland.  Troy was also involved in the design of the Koaro double packraft they raced in 2019.

 

Troy got into outdoor guiding after growing up underground in Waitomo where he worked for Blackwater Rafting before heading to Hong Kong to work at an adventure activities camp.  He now also works for the National Outdoor Leadership school leading on hiking and river trips.  Attending University of Canterbury Troy studied freshwater ecology and has a keen interest in the health and care of the waterways we work on.​​