Courtney Kerin wasn’t born into kayaking, like many of the world-class paddlers she competes and hangs out with.

She was introduced to it at the age of 15 in a friend’s boat. She was pulled further into it by the challenge, the adrenaline and her deep love of the outdoors.

As a girl who grew up on a New Zealand sheep farm, the outdoors is in her veins.

Two years ago, seven years after her first ride, Kerin finished with a bronze in the World Cup of freestyle kayaking.

Her list of accomplishments is long, both nationally in New Zealand, and internationally, including a silver as a junior in the 2011 World Freestyle Kayak Championships.

This week she was in Whitehorse to provide 30 hours of instruction to local paddlers over five days, on an invitation from the Yukon Canoe and Kayak Club.

The Kiwi likes what she sees in kayakers here. They have skill. They have enthusiausm.

Almost as though she already has their back, Kerin notes there are a couple of locals heading to the national championships next week.

She’s glad to provide some tips, observations.

That’s all it takes sometimes to help a paddler improve, just a little pointer here and there, she says in an interview with the Star Wednesday

“Little bits of advice goes a long way with kayaking,” she says. “They are progressing very quickly through these clinics.”

Kerin has been providing instruction in freesytle playboating, and river running below the Whitehorse Rapids Dam.

As a pro-boater, the 24-year-old is a member of Jackson Kayaks White Water Global Team.

She’s travelling the world, kayaking, competing and teaching.

She’s getting familiar with the short stretch of the Yukon River, being on it six hours a day, in three two-hour sessions.

Kerin says it’s her first time in this part of the world, and she describes it as beautiful.

And she’s hoping to get to Skagway, because if you’re this close to Alaska, you might as well try and get there too, she says.

The Tutshi River – a whitewater treat – is on the way.

Kerin says kayaking still presents the challenge she seeks.

She may not get the same adrenaline rush from a class two river she used too, but she still gets a charge.

Paddling rivers around the world – the Nile has a place in her heart – still invigorates her love of the outdoors.

Kerin still sees the exurbance she loves to see in the eyes and on the faces of fellow kayakers, experienced or otherwise.

Kayakers, she insists, are a special lot.

“The challenge and the people, the community in whitewater is just terrific,” she says. “You never meet a bad soul. They are out there for the love of it.”

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Hunter Vincent, 15-year-old Luanda Pronovost and her brother, 17-year-old Mael Pronovost, are preparing for the Canadian Whitewater Canoe Kayak Championships in Kananaskis, Alta., next week.