The Team
About Us
Who are Tenby Adventure? Coasteerers, kayakers, climbers, surfers, scientists, free-divers, eaters of cake, investigators of weird caves, explorers of the sea and sky, friends of crabs and seals, owners of many carabiners.
We’re passionate about the environment we work in. Since we began we’ve been active supporters of Pembrokeshire’s Marine Code – created to safeguard our amazing coastal environment. We’ve worked with ecologists, marine biologists and our local authorities to ensure we leave the place we work in better than we found it. Tenby Adventure’s office is situated in a ‘passive’ building that is heated and powered entirely by the sun. Our co2 footprint is currently mostly made up of vehicle use – we log and offset this but our aim is to be carbon neutral and we’re saving up for an electric van!
Lots of people come adventuring with us for the excitement, but we try to send everyone on their way with an appreciation for the place where we play that they might not have had before.
We’re very lucky to get to do cool stuff with great people – non-standard stuff in special places that is sometimes challenging and never run-of-the-mill. We’ve found that the people who seek us out aren’t run-of-the-mill either, they’re adventurous and looking for something different. They’re great! Our job is therefore a delight and leads us to constantly find more awesome stuff to do with YOU
Mark
Benevolent Dictator
Mark began adventuring aged 8, when he completed a semi-accidental solo crossing of Carmarthen Bay on a catamaran made out of scaffolding and optimism. Next came a solo ascent of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) aged 10 (his mum thought he’d gone to the Butlins arcade). He made several attempts on the land-yacht speed record from the age of 12, ending in an unfortunate incident on Pendine Sands. A successful-ish home-made hang-glider flight aged 13 lead to a more succesful glider pilot’s license aged 16.
Since then Mark has surfed all over the world, climbed many Alps, free-dived on shipwrecks in the Caribbean, sailed across the Atlantic on a boat he built in a potato shed and learnt to fly paragliders across the Welsh coast and mountains.
Mark has been instructing all kinds of outdoor pursuits, from climbing to archery to surfing and coasteering, since 2007. Early on he realised that not only is coasteering pretty much the best of them all, but Pembrokeshire is probably the best place in the world to do it.
Tom
Head of Training, Vintner
Tom likes kayaks. A lot. He first sat in one aged 6 and despite the sanitary practicalities, didn’t get out ’til he was well into his teens. During that time he represented Wales in kayak polo and paddled/fell down many of the biggest waterfalls in Wales. He still sleeps in a ‘yak but now also operates on land and has climbed all over the world from the Caucasus Mountains to the slopes of Mont Blanc. Tom is the proprietor of the only vineyard in Sageston.
Tom now leads expeditions all over the world and is the holder of the almost mythical 5 Star kayak award as well as a wealth of qualifications in pretty much all of the outdoor pursuits. Tom is a wild sea-food expert and you’re likely to find yourself munching on some unexpectedly tasty seaweed on one of his coasteers.
When not adventuring, Tom likes to hide in his workshop and build hand-made paddles from locally-sourced windfall timber.
Myrdd
Guide, Gumpian cyclist
Myrdd (pronounced ‘merv’) brings a flavour of calm to coasteering sessions, because of his accent – he’s Irish, so sounds all mellow and reassuring. It’s deceptive because Myrdd is nearly always bouncing of the walls with almost disturbing levels of enthusiasm.
Myrdd is a cyclist but not for him a quick spin down the shops, no – Myrdd cycles a LONG way when he pops out for a ride. In 2019 he hopped on his bike, set off down the road and came back 15,000km later having toured across Europe.
Charles
Guide, cape-wearer, 2015 New Zealand Sand-castle champion
Charles is an experienced coasteering guide, accomplished climber and legendary route-setter.
He’s the creator of the world-famous Spotify playlist ‘What is Techno? And Why?’ and a toe model for absolutely no-one. Charles lives in a yurt near a remote waterfall in which he takes daily dawn-swims and drives a Passat that in the event of any kind of apocalypse has enough stuff in it to rebuild civilisation.
Meg
COASTEERING GUIDE, Neuroscientist, Frisbee Champion
Meg grew up in Pembrokeshire and after spending a while abroad learning to surf and perfecting the art of hanging around at the beach, came back to the UK to study Natural Sciences. Meg is a quietly calming presence in the water and having joined us during the ridiculously rough 2024 summer season is now an expert in keeping people safe on choppier days.
Meg really likes Hermit Crabs. Meg can not operate our wetsuit hanging device
Henry
Rock Maestro
When he’s not guiding people for his business Climb Pembroke on cliffs and mountains all over the UK, Henry likes to relax by climbing the cliffs and mountains of the UK. He’s equally at home running a beginner session on a mellow Pembrokeshire sea-cliff as he is persuading clients up vertical ice-bound gulleys in the Scottish Highlands.
A climbing instructor with almost 20 years of experience and holder of the WMCI, Henry REALLY likes climbing.
Rich
Guide, 90s throwback, occasional nude-surfer
An absolute coasteering fanatic, Rich is the inventor of the Twisted Penguin jump and is a veteran of many, many coasteers. Outside of coasteering season Rich is a farmer.
Rich tries to surf every single day (even if the surf is rubbish) and can often be found out back at Manorbier on winter days with his signature Mississippi Mud Flap (mullet) blowing in the howling onshore wind.
Rich likes planes and sports a selection of aviation-themed tattoos.
Rachel
Coasteering Guide, Philosopher, Brother to Alpaca
Rachel is a new assistant guide for 2025. Sister to T.A. alumnus Alpaca Zac, Rachel shares Zac’s calm in the face of gnarliness—a valuable trait in a guide. Rachel is a 3rd year Philosophy student and can often be seen staring off across the rolling hills of deep thought. We’d see Zac staring into the distance too, but he was probably just thinking about surfboards.
Sam
Kayak Guide, Coastal Troglodyte
Sam inhabits a cave (former fisherman’s shed) overlooking Tenby harbour. He shares the cave with his kayak – and so has some things in common with his kayak-mentor Tom (who also cohabited with his boat for many years until he learnt the art of punching way above his weight and met Sarah).
Sam is on his way to study music, sings bass in several choirs and his favourite piece of music is St John Passion
Along with the above, we have a squad of eager lead and assistant guides who help us keep you safe. All are finely tuned adventure machines, highly qualified and trained to our particular ways. They’re ready to feed you some seaweed, gently encourage you to jump off something, climb a thing, embark on a voyage, make friends with a jellyfish or give you a tow.
