“If there is one thing I am proud of accomplishing with New River Academy it has been to attract and hire the best of the best instructors. For this year’s Parent Trip it was Clay Wright, Kurt Casey, Pablo Casey and myself. With this level of leadership, personality and Chile it’s easy to get excited.” – David Hughes
Meet Your Guides
Clay Wright
Clay is a living legend and ambassador in the whitewater world. You name it and Clay has done it: appearances in many kayak films including National Geographic, multi-time US Team Member, sponsored athlete for over 20 years, and youth programs coach. Whether it is competing, leading expeditions, developing freestyle score systems, or teaching safety Clay Wright is at the forefront of whitewater. Clay has been guest coaching with Huge Experiences’ New River Academy since our beginning in 2001. It is an honor to have Clay’s persona as part of this year’s Family Trip.
Kurt and Pablo Casey Leading as Father-son Team

Kurt Casey embraces his beautiful family in Chile. Pablo, Luna, Eva and Kurt at the beach.Kurt and Pablo Casey
Kurt Casey wrote the book on Chile and Peru whitewater. Well, he wrote the online guides and is the foremost expert on South American whitewater. That’s pretty cool and we’re a bit envious to be honest. If you are a paddler in Chile and really want the beta then there is no better person than Kurt.
Check out the fruits of Kurt’s lifetime exploration missions:
Kurt is Pucon locally respected for possibly the highest number of first descents of anyone in the world. Just last year Kurt notched an unprecedented 6 first D’s in just four days. Last week when Kurt invited Clay from the Pucon Kayak Hostel on a mission to the Futa we had a good ideal Kurt had been looking at the topos and sure enough Clay soon was texting about his most recent First D.
Kurt is married to Eva Luna and together they parent Pablo and Luna Casey. Kurt hails from Pittsburgh where he graduated from Carnegie Mellon University and still remotely works with the family mining equipment business as VP of Latin America Sales for Casey Equipment Corporation. Kurt will surely bring a cultural and geographical wealth of knowledge to the program.
Pablo Casey-
Eleven year old Pablo is Kurt’s son fluent in English and Spanish. For families bringing kids Pablo will serve as a helpful translator as you guys play on local rivers and lagunas. Pablo has already notched a few of his own cascades and New River Academy is excited for the day when Pablo is old enough to apply.
David Hughes-

David Hughes has been leading Chile based trips for 14 years is excited to share his favorite destinations with families.
David has led student and family international trips for over 15 years and may have more logged days of Chilean whitewater leadership than anyone in the past ten years. This year is special for David as Pucon Kayak Hostel hosts it’s largest group yet with the New River Academy families.
“Trip goals first and foremost would be to organize a medium that allows parents and children to optimize their Huge Experiences in this glorious country. It’s a priceless opportunity for everyone involved. Hiring the best guides in the world only further insures success.”
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