About the Founders:

Michelle Shortis

Michelle was born in Edmonton and raised in Calgary, Canada. She studied engineering at the University of Calgary and worked in the telecom industry in Montreal and later in Hong Kong. It was in Hong Kong that Michelle discovered paddling when her sister Charlene brought her to Hong Kong Island Paddle Club (HKIPC) for a practice. She instantly fell in love with the sport and went on to co-found Typhoon8.

Michelle, her husband James and their baby Sofia now call the beautiful beach village of Shek-O in Hong Kong home.

Lister Woo

Lister hails from Hong Kong and calls WanChai his "hood". He studied in Canada for High School and University. Though Lister and Michelle both went to the University of Calgary, they did not meet until years later in Hong Kong through paddling.

The loves of Lister's life are his wife Doris, his 2 year old daughter Tanya, paddling and basketball.

Current Club: Lister is a member of HKIPC. He served as the 2005 HKIPC novice outrigger coach and has coached numerous competitive and corporate dragonboat teams throughout the years.

Years Paddling: over 10 years

Race Experience & Highlights:
Lister has represented Hong Kong at various international races including countries such as Africa, Malaysia, Micronesia, U.S.A., China and Hong Kong.

Our Typhoon8 Family:

Australian Typhoon8 Dealer - Daniel Kong

Lister met Daniel in Hong Kong while Daniel was working for PwC. They met through a mutual friend while Lister was training for the Action Asia adventure race where one of the disciplines was mountain biking.

Daniel was only a recreational paddler at the time and was more interested in mountain biking than dragonboating. Despite the fact that Lister discovered his intense disinclination towards mountain biking, the two became close friends. Over the following couple of years, Daniel quickly caught the dragon boating bug and when he left Hong Kong for Sydney in 2003, he took one of Typhoon8's first paddles with him to continue the sport in his home town.

The rest they say is history as Daniel continues to work with Michelle & Lister to distribute Typhoon8 products throughout the land down under!