To book a 1:1 lesson with Nicky, please contact her direct at coachstimpson@gmail.com

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Nicky Stimpson found her passion for the water as a young girl rowing a dinghy up and down her grandparents’ lagoon in Forked River, NJ. Years later she went on to become a 4-year rower & swimmer at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. After falling in love with the sport of rowing she went on to coach rowing for the next 17 years. The bulk of her career was an 11–year stint as the Women’s Assistant Rowing Coach at the US Naval Academy. 

 

2013 was the first time Nicky stepped onto a Stand Up Paddle Board and her enthusiasm for SUP only grew from there. After joining her local SUP weekly race league in the summer of 2016, Nicky has become a regular on the Mid-Atlantic SUP race scene.

 

In 2018 Nicky became a certified instructor with the Professional Stand Up Paddle Association PSUPA and began teaching stand up paddle classes and race performance clinics in the Annapolis area in 2019 after meeting Carleen, who brought her into the fold with her paddleboard business. Not long after, Nicky also took on the role of PSUPA Master Trainer thanks to her extensive background as a rowing coach. 

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Nicky and Carleen became fast friends when they decided to train together for their longest individual endurance challenge yet — a 25 mile paddle around the island of Manhattan called SEAPaddle. That friendship grew into a business partnership to form CHESUPEAKE, where they revived a race points series in the Mid-Atlantic Region, and grow the sport of stand up paddle racing and recreational paddling. 

 

In the summer of 2021, Nicky learned about Bay Paddle and undertook an incredible feat to stand up paddle 150 miles — the entire length of the Chesapeake Bay. She battled intense heat, tides, swell, and a hurricane to prevail, becoming the first woman in history to paddle the Chesapeake Bay on a 14 ft. stand up paddleboard she built herself. 

 

When she’s not playing on the water, Nicky can be found at Chesapeake Light Craft helping others enjoy the water in her role as Sales Manager, where she gets to test drive rowing shells, kayaks, paddleboards, skiffs, and camp in their popular Teardrop Camper. 

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COACHING EXPERIENCE 

• 3 Years SUP Race Performance Coach - Chesupeake, Severna Park, MD

• 4 Years Director of Rowing - The Gunston School, Centreville, MD

• 11 Years Women’s Assistant Rowing Coach - US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD

• 4 Year Collegiate Rower - Washington College, MD

• 2 Years Women’s Assistant Rowing Coach - Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT

• PSUPA Level 1 Flat Water Certified Instructor

• PSUPA Instructor Trainer

• American Red Cross CPR & First Aid Certified