Kayak and Water Safety Workshops Free for the Community in Memory of Jack Skellett

Jack Skellett lost his life after becoming separated from his Kayak in the Wellington harbour on the 21st of December 2021, days after turning 23.

Since then, we have raised over $6000 from incredibly generous people and we couldn’t be more grateful for the support.

This generosity has ensured that 4 Kayak safety workshops were successfully delivered to the Wellington community, with no charge to any of the participants. All thanks to the hard work of Jack's parents Karen & Adam for getting it off the ground, and to Wildfinder NZ for putting them on.

Having attended one of the workshops (not as a participant), it is clear how beneficial the lessons are for people who want to get involved in Kayaking. I'm confident that those who attended the courses will now have the tools to make safer choices around water sports and will be able to share what they have learned with loved ones. If even one life is saved as a result of these workshops, then it has been a great success in the wake of Jack's tragic loss.

Since these workshops have all had a waiting list of people wanting to secure a spot, it is clear that this is something that people want to participate in and will take up if it is on offer.

So we decided to create this page as a place to raise funds for more workshops. There is one scheduled to take place on 13th of February 2026 and every dollar will go towards funding this.

Please share this page around and leave a donation if you can.

Dreams and love, as Jack would say <3