ABOUT US

PREMIER SEA KAYAKING EXPERIENCE IN TASMANIA

Established in 1996, Roaring 40ºs Kayaking is a locally-owned award-winning business, now widely regarded as Tasmania’s premier sea kayaking operator. We’re passionate about Tasmania and mad about kayaking, and it’s our privilege to share this pristine natural environment with you.

Our dedicated team of professional guides have grown up on the waterways around our special island and look forward to sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm with you.

Our acknowledgement at the Tasmanian Tourism Awards over the past years as one of the best Adventure Tourism providers in our state means you can be confident that when you book with Roaring 40ºs Kayaking you will receive an award-winning experience. We guarantee high-quality kayaks & equipment, gourmet Tasmanian meals and an impeccable safety record.

As part of our environmental commitment we support Wildcare, Friends of Melaleuca, Friends of the Orange Bellied Parrot and Save the (Tassie) Devil Program.

Acknowledgement of Country

Every trip we run incorporates an Acknowledgement of Country. Our tours travel through the land and sea Country of the palawa people, from nipaluna (Hobart) to the Tasman Peninsula, the Southwest and Flinders Island. Our guides complete cultural awareness training through NITA Education, and on Flinders Island our guests visit Wybalenna, where Traditional Owners share its history directly through interpretive materials. We are committed to learning, listening, and respecting the continuing connection of Tasmanian Aboriginal people to land, sea and sky.

Aboriginal culture and events in lutruwita

Our tours travel through palawa Country, and we encourage guests to learn more about Tasmanian Aboriginal culture by attending the community’s events and celebrations. Key events each year include:

putalina festival (usually the third Saturday in January, putalina / Oyster Cove). Hosted by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, the festival celebrates Aboriginal culture and community with music, cultural activities and a shared feed of muttonbird, and remembers the Old People who spent their last days at putalina.
NAIDOC Week (first week of July). A national celebration of the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, with events held across Tasmania. See naidoc.org.au.
Wybalenna, Flinders Island. Guests on our 7 Day Flinders Island Adventure visit this significant site and learn its history from Traditional Owners.

For more significant dates, see the Tasmanian Government’s Calendar of significant Aboriginal dates and events.

MEET OUR CREW

Roaring 40°s Kayaking has a dedicated team of professional staff and guides whom return each summer to share their passion for Tasmania. You can expect highly skilled and knowledgeable guides that are also, of course, friendly and approachable.

TORY STEWART

Owner | Operations Manager

Tory has been a lead expedition sea kayak guide for almost a decade. Her passion for sharing Tasmania’s wild places, facilitating experiences, her knowledge of place, its’ weather, and her ability to deal with complex outdoor adventure logistics is exceptional.
As a Paddle Australia Sea Kayaking Instructor, Tory has been involved for many years in Outdoor Education programs around Australia, as well as international guiding, including sea kayak guiding in Antarctica. Tory is thrilled to be continuing this journey as a Tourism Operator alongside her partner Luuk, and maintaining the company’s exceptional reputation as an Australian multi award-winning, sustainable adventure tourism business.

LUUK VELTKAMP

Owner | Business Manager

Luuk has made a career as a pilot in Tasmania, most recently as Chief Pilot for Par Avion Wilderness Tours. Luuk has been flying Roaring 40s guests in and out of Tasmania’s Southwest for over a decade. He has a great knowledge of tourism and business management, Tasmania’s wild places and weather extremes!
Luuk is also a passionate bushwalker and paddler, having completed many challenging walking and pack rafting routes in Tassie. He is a strong advocate for the conservation of Tasmanian Wilderness and is excited to operate this sustainable tourism business with his partner Tory.

TOM KEITH

Expedition Guide | Multi-dabbler

Tom has worked with Roaring 40s Kayaking since 2015, and has experienced “perfect” weather on every occasion. Tom loves the weather diversity in Tasmania and enjoys the challenge of crafting beautiful experiences and expeditions around the ever changing and sometimes testing weather conditions.
Tom is a self-confessed multi-dabbler with an abstract and varied work history, and in his free time he enjoys mountain biking, bushwalking, kayaking, surfing, building and tinkering, sometimes all in the one day!

JOSH MORETON

Expedition Guide | Kayak Instructor

Josh is a semi-converted Kiwi who is now calls Tasmania home. Kayaking, bushwalking and biking have always been high on his agenda, leading to a career in outdoor guiding, instruction and education. A deep appreciation for the natural environment developed with professional and personal immersion into wild places. He confesses he is rapidly falling in love with 'the adventure playground that is Tasmania'. Josh holds a degree in outdoor education and is working towards a post-grad qualification in conservation land management.

KEVIN UCCI

Expedition Guide | Traveller

DAMIAN (DAMO) CRUISE

Sea Kayak Guide | Outdoor Educator | Frother

Damo is a Tassie local who finds it difficult to be contained indoors. This coming season will be Damo's 8th guiding for Roaring 40s; he reckons his office is hard to beat! He also works as an Outdoor Education Instructor for local schools; he loves teaching skills but more importantly sharing his froth for the amazing places Tassie has. His favourite kayaking destination is the Tasman Peninsula. "It's world class paddling and it's pretty close to home. There's heaps of amazing wildlife, massive sea caves and huge cliffs! We are very lucky."

JEN COOPER

She’s happiest when she is outside and since moving to tassie nearly five years ago she has probably explored more of this wild state than her home island of the UK. She has been sea kayak guiding for nearly four years, works in outdoor Ed and also as a ranger in Tasmania’s south west world heritage area. Alpine flowers have become a recent passion of hers and when she’s not sniffing around the mountains she loves to have her face as close to kelp as she can get it. One of her favourite places in the world is the Bathurst harbour/port Davey area. She wishes one day to paddle off from melaleuca and live like the Tasmania First Nations people did. For now though, guiding tours down there and the occasional bush walk will have to do. A lover of the natural environment and all its creatures, Jen is a real believer in being a human animal, living with seasons, thriving in the outdoors and embracing what nature has to offer. Laugh into the wind, dance in the rain and embrace the darkness of the night. All really useful tips for a multi day adventure in tassie too!

MISCHA CUSHING

Expedition Guide | Outdoor Educator

Having grown up exploring the wilderness of Tasmania, Mischa is most at home on the water, in a forest or in the mountains. Mischa has been paddling with us since 2017 and he is currently in his final year of an Outdoor Education and Environmental Science degree. When he is not studying or paddling, Mischa loves a good bushwalk or a bike ride through the forest. Mischa is passionate about his home state of Tasmania and its natural places and loves sharing any knowledge he picks up about the state's wild places and its flora and fauna.

JAI MCKAY

Kayak Guide | Sydney to Hobart yacht racer

Jai is another Tassie water baby and grew up in Huon Channel area. He has been guiding in Tasmania for over 5 years and is a keen kayaker, bushwalker, skier and sailor. Recent achievements include completing the Sydney to Hobart yacht race and skiing down Mt Ossa (Tassie’s highest mountain). In his spare time he is studying Marine and Antarctic Science at UTAS.

Arron Slack

Arron grew up in Canada ,After graduating from North Island College with a certificate in adventure guiding in 2016, he then applied his paddling skills to the complex waterways of the north pacific and New Zealand. Arron is coming into his 10th season as a guide still in love with his job, never wanting to be anywhere else than in the present. Arron has made a name for himself as a calm, capable navigator, with the best interests of his group at heart. In his spare time, he enjoys surfing, fishing, and working on his van.

JONAH WILTSHIRE

Kayak Guide | Maatsyker Island Volunteer | Author

Growing up in Tassie Jonah has spent his time bushwalking and mountain biking and has recently discovered life on the water. As a 7 year old he had an amazing adventure living on remote Maatsuyker Island! Together with his sister and mum he published a book called "The lighthouse kids of Maatsuker Island : a true Tasmanian Adventure". He still loves spending time on Maatsuker and is involved in the weed eradication program on the island. From his time on Maatsuyker and other remote locations around lutruwita (Tasmania), Jonah’s built an appreciation and amazement for the natural environment. With his creative and physical thinking, Jonah likes to make and fix a few things in his spare time too - and is the one to call for any kayak repairs. After completing the TasTAFE Guiding course and meeting Reg and Tom in early 2021 he’s keen to get paddling!

BEN DRIESSEN

Kayak Guide | Surfer | Outdoor Educator Assistant

Ben grew up in Tassie at Kingston Beach, spending his holidays surfing up in the Bay of Fires area. Slowly through different Outdoor Education programs, which he thoroughly enjoyed at school, he became interested in a variety of adventure outdoor activities, most recently White Water Kayaking. Ben spreads his time working in retailer Mountain Creek Outdoors, across multiple Tasmanian Outdoor Ed Programs as well as kayaking with Roaring 40s Kayaking. When he’s not working, you can find him out Surfing, Climbing, Trail running, Mountain biking or Kayaking.

DAN PATMAN

Kayak Guide |Expecting Dad

When Daniel’s not out exploring the rivers and coastlines of Southern Tassie, you'll find him walking or running in the mountains. He loves gardening and lives in an old apple orchard in the Huon Valley with his partner and son - and there’s another baby on the way! This is Daniel’s fourth season guiding with Roaring 40s Kayaking after spending many years working in Tasmania's conservation movement. There are a few past/present engineers in the team and this is also another of his skills.

CATHERINE CHUNG

Kayak Guide | Yoga Teacher | Nursing Student

Catherine has loved the water since she was young, whether it be racing in the pool or to the bathtub. At school she participated on a kayaking trip guided by the Roaring 40s team and that’s where her passion for paddling began. Since then she has completed the TasTAFE guiding course and is now studying nursing at UTAS. On her days off you’ll find her tinkering on the piano, holding child’s pose, or somewhere amongst the cushion plants and misty mountains.

JON LANGFORD

Kayak Guide | Bushwalking Guide

Jon grew up in London’s suburbia dreaming of a life on the water and exotic lands far, far away. Never one to rush a decision, it was 30 years, a young family and a career in design management later, before he finally emigrated to Tasmania. A chance meeting with Reg led to the TasTAFE Guiding course where he was taught by Roaring 40s own Reg, Tom, Pip and Josh in what he now describes as 'the longest job interview ever’! Jon is a passionate advocate for Tasmania’s wild places and is living the dream in his first season as a qualified Tasmanian bush walking and sea kayak guide.

GRACE FURNESS

Operations Assistant | Outdoor Educator Assistant

Grace grew up in Tassie next to the ocean, and has been in and around the water since she was young. She loves being in wild places, and is a keen bushwalker, kayaker, skier and mountain biker. Time spent observing the natural world has fostered Grace’s interest in botany and ecology, and led her to complete a Bachelor of Marine & Antarctic Science at UTAS. Grace has 3 years’ experience as an assistant guide with school Outdoor Ed programs, and is keen to translate her knowledge to the Roaring 40s team.

MAD

Kayak Guide | Bushwalking Guide

Originally from Melbourne, Madeleine (Mads) was first inspired to become a tour guide when she walked Tasmania’s Overland Track in 2005. Instead, she became an Architect. No experience is wasted and she is now delighted to show you Hobart’s cityscape from the water. Mads has a Cert IV in Outdoor Recreation and has guided multi-day bushwalks on Tasmania’s Central Plateau and in the Northern Territory. She has kayaked off the coasts of Martinique and New Caledonia and was an enthusiastic member of the Central Desert Canoe Polo Club while living in Alice Springs.

ARE YOU NEXT?

WHY ROARING 40°S KAYAKING?

People who aren’t from Tasmania often ask why we’re called Roaring 40°s Kayaking and we’re proud to explain that it’s the name of our winds associated with southern latitudes of 40º.

Consistent westerly airstreams are fueled by the continuous passage of low-pressure systems off the southern ocean. They blow strongest in spring and are caused by the combination of air being displaced from the Equator to the South Pole as the Earth rotates.

These Roaring Forties winds were a major assistance to trade ships sailing from Europe to the East Indies or Australasia and these days are still harnessed by yachts on round-the-world voyages.

Although influencing our entire island, it’s the mountainous western region of Tasmania that was shaped most by these winds and still receive the full force with gusts up to 200 km/hr.

During summer the Roaring Forties move towards the South Pole where they become stronger and are known as the Furious Fifties and then Screaming Sixties!