It should be a fairly straightforward exercise in manliness. The unwritten rules were obvious to all parties involved. However, to quote The Dude (or El Duderino if you’re not into that whole brevity thing) “New s&%# has come to light.” Read more.
Kayaker Jason Craig Appears in Sports Illustrated.
What’s next...Letterman? That could well be the case for 16-year-old kayaking phenom Jason Craig, who recently appeared in iconic sports mag Sports Illustrated. Read more.
The 2010 ICF Junior World Championships have just wrapped from Foix, France and the American women are finding themselves on the podium for the first time. The men, meanwhile, missed finishing in the top three by just two touches and four seconds… Read more.
Tragedy struck the Euro Rafting Championships June 4th on Italy's Noce River when a member of the Bosnian women's rafting team drowned while paddling the river's slalom course... Read more.
The International Whitewater Hall of Fame (IWHOF) Board of Governors has announced its 2010 Inductees. The eldest of this year’s class was born 100 years ago and the five individual hail from as many nations. A celebration of these individuals' contribution will be held at the 2010 IWHOF Induction Ceremony on September 25, 2010 outside of Washington, DC at the Bretton Woods Recreation Center... Read more.
Sea Kayaker magazine, Mountain to Sound Outfitters and the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce announce a new paddlesports event in Seattle, WA. Greg Whitaker, founder and CEO of Mountain to Sound Outfitters announced today a new world-class sea kayaking and stand up-paddling (SUP) event to be held June 25, and 26 of 2011 at West Seattles Alki Beach. Read more.
Last year he won FIBArk while nearing his 50th birthday. This year wildwater paddler Andy Corra, from Durango, Colo., set a new world 24 hour record by paddling a whopping 273.5 miles in 24 hours during the Yukon River Quest. While his mark is still awaiting certification by Guinness, it bested the old record of 261 miles set two years ago by Ian Adamson. PL caught up with the downriver don to get his take on the new record...
Read more.
Missoula MT played host to an old-west style shoot-out this weekend as the US Freestyle Kayak Team trials were held at Brennan’s Wave on the Clark Fork River. It wasn’t exactly high-noon at the OK corral and absent were the Hatfield-McCoy like bitter rivalries, but the “Young Guns” certainly came out with both barrels blazing.... Read more.
Chicago is known for its storied sports franchises, deep-dish pizza pies, and bone chilling wind. This August, however, the city and Lake Michigan play host to the fourth annual Chicago Shoreline Marathon. The event proudly claims to be “The only world-class race to paddle Lake Michigan and the shores of Chicago”. Read more.
The new film "Hotel Charley V" follows Jesse Coombs, Darin McQuoid, and Ben Stookesberry as they descend three never paddled waterfalls. Jesse talks with PL about the difference between adventure travel and promotional touring... Read more.
The grandstands and competitors' expectations are rising as the nation's best freestyle kayakers converge on Brennan's Wave on the Clark's Fork River in Missoula, Mont., this weekend to see who has what it takes to make the U.S. Freestyle Team and get a ticket to compete in the World Championships in Plattling, Germany, next June for the World Championships. Read more.
Danielle Molmenti (ITA) didn’t take many risks, but still took the top spot in Men’s K1 finals while Jasmin Schornberg (GER) followed suit in the Women’s K1 final. Both credit their middle starting positions as keeping the pressure off, and completing efficient low risk runs en route to positioning themselves atop the podium. Read more.
Next up, a Geritol sponsorship. Mike Freeburn turned on his own burners to win this year's 26-mile FIBArk race on the Arkansas, a whopping 20 years after first winning it in 1991. Meanwhile, Gary Lacy of Recreation Engineering & Planning took second, with Freeburn awarding him the title of "Legend" for competing in 36 straight events... Read more.
Home-field advantage isn't everything. Californian native Danny Ching takes 1st place in the two most important races at Battle of the Paddle in Waikiki, HI. Read more.
Lyons and wagers and galoshes Oh My! The 2010 Lyons Outdoor Games were by all accounts a soggy affair. The bike events were cancelled, and the raging waters of the St. Vrain river moved the paddle sport events upstream. Yet, nothing dampened the spirits of the spectators and competitors who braved the elements to participate in the 7th annual LOG. Read more.
SUPs seem to be all the rage, and inflatables are fast becoming the boards of choice for inland use, be it on lakes or rivers. Following are two new additions you'll find in the line-up, one from C4 Waterman and another from BoatstoGo. Read more.
Get yer’ game on. If Idaho's North Fork Payette has long been a badge of courage for the hair-boating set, now it's a full-on coat of arms. Heavy rains and flooding of the North Fork reservoir have led dam officials to open the gates, releasing a record 9,000 cfs into the raging waterway and luring the bravest of the big water dogs out of the whitewater woodwork to give it a go ... Read more.
While high water forced the cencellation of Sunday's whitewater events at the Teva Mtn. Games, Saturday went off without a hitch, with the melt-off spelling flushy conditions for freestyle and fast times for downriver kayak. Read more.
Noa Ginella, a 16-year-old from the North Shore of Oahu, HI, surpassed all other stand-up paddlers including the two favorites to win the Surf Sprint event over Dan Gavere by more than 16 seconds. Read more.
With warm temps surging the Colorado River in Glenwood Springs to 14,200 cfs, a new grandstand area, and nearly five times as many spectators as last year, the national River SUP Championships brought the country's best watermen to the Rockies to do single-bladed stand-up battle on Memorial Day. Who won? One guess... Read more.
It must be the Vegemite or something else from Down Under. Whatever the reason, kayakers from the Southern Hemisphere are the first heroes at the Teva Mtn. Games, with Kiwi Sam Sutton winning for the men and Australia's Tanya Faux for the women at the Bud Light Lime Steep Creep Championship on Homestake Creek.
Read more.
Sure, the weather is warming, the snow is melting, and the rivers are just about perfectly primed for paddling. It’s hard to think about anything other than getting out and getting wet. However, nobody spends 24 hours a day canoeing. (Though some have tried.) When it’s time to relax put down the paddle and pick up the 2010 edition of the ICF’s official magazine Planet Canoe. It’s out now and it’s chock-full of all things canoe related. Read more.
Barfing, Bullwinkle and big air. One contestant puked at the end of the extreme race on Fish Creek, two moose joined the spectators on the sidelines, and big air was the name of the game at the freestyle event. Read more.
From Canada to Scotland & Wales, and back the United States, the globe-trotting DVD features 3 hours of adventure and provides insight into the diversity of the sport and the influential people who tell its story. Read more.
A Paddling Life Special Report from the Nile River in Africa from Dr. Jesse Stone. The extreme kayaker gives Paddling Life a first-hand account of they mystery and wonder of the Nile as progress threatens to alter the course of the river forever. Read more.
Kayakers might soon be catching a whole lot more fish, thanks to a few Kiwis. After months of R&D, New Zealand's Fluid Kayaks has placed their dedicated fishing kayak into full production: La Bamba! Read more.
Heliconia releases sequel to award-winning kayak fishing documentary. The ExOfficio presents Kayak Fishing: Game On 2 follows Jim Sammons around the world on another fishing adventure of a lifetime. Read more.
Teva, the iconic adventure brand founded by a grand canyon river guide, is
pleased to announce its partnership with the U.S. Men's and Women's National
Whitewater Raft Teams. Teva will be the title sponsor of both teams and the
paddlers will play a critical role in Teva's ongoing technical product
testing and development as official Teva Life Agents. Read more.
The Teva Mountain Games are the nation’s largest celebration of mountain sport, lifestyle and music featuring top professional and amateur athletes from around the world. The environmentally-friendly adventure sporting event hosts approximately 2,000 adventure athletes, along with an estimated 40,000 spectators. Athletes converge on Vail’s mountains and rivers to compete in eight sports and 24 disciplines for over $100,000 in prize money. Events include kayaking, rafting, mountain biking, road cycling, World Cup Bouldering, amateur climbing, fly-fishing, trail and road running and stand up paddling. Read more.
A coalition of seven corporations and foundations driven by sustainability have united to raise funding and awareness for the environmentally threatened Colorado River. Read more.
Students at TRU earn college credits while exploring the rivers of Nepal and help Nepalese Sherpas with funding to continue their own education Read more.
May 31, 2010 Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Presented by the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association.
Sponsored by Steamboat In The Summertime, NRS, and
Canoe & Kayak
Magazine
Read more.
Virginia might be for lovers, but it’s also for lovers of adrenaline. Proof lies in this weekend’s hosting of the 2nd annual Dominion Riverrock outdoor adventure sports and river life fest in Richmond. Joining the likes of Tao Berman in the boatercross and aerial events are such athletes as pro freeride mountain bikers Jeff Lenosky and Aaron Chase and others of their Red Bull ilk.
Read more.
Johnson Outdoors, owner of such watercraft brands as Ocean Kayak, Necky and Old Town Canoe, recently announced that is has sold the Lendal paddles brand and all of its assets to Celtic Paddles LTD, owned and operated by Nigel Dennis, a renowned sea kayak adventurer and designer. Read more.
For a good view of the latest and greatest in paddlesports, head to, where else?, but Buena Vista, Colorado, for the 9th annual CKS Paddlefest, May 28-31. Read more.
We’re going back to Cali, to Cali, to Cali. At least that’s what boaters are saying as the Sierra’s are boasting some whopping snowpack for the current paddling season. Read on for an update from none other than Gregg Armstrong from All-Outdoors California...
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Think your waterway is crowded? On April 26, more than 1,300 paddlers descended upon Massachusetts’ Charles River for the 28th Annual Run of the Charles Canoe & Kayak Race, the signature event of the Charles River Watershed Association. Bonus: a new Guinness World Record for most people throwing rubber chuickens. You do the math...
Read more.
You might know Nick Offerman as the star of NBC's Parks & Recreation. But the Hollywood mainstay also has a place in his heart for paddling and woodworking. Want proof? In addition to acting, Offerman released a DVD April 21 on how to make canoes. PL caught up with him to get his take on building canoes and, of course, the paddling life...
Read more.
There was a time when every boater you met on the river was your friend. To a large extent this is still the case. However, as our sport has grown in popularity, so too have some upsetting trends. Read more.
Call it Row vs. Wade. However you describe it, Colorado House Bill 1188, which would allow rafters to float through private property and have incidental contact without being accused of trespass, is now in murkier waters than ever... Read more.
Tasty waves and tasty wipe-outs, brah. That seems to be the theme of this years 24th annual Santa Cruz Surf kayak Festival, which has kicked stand-up surfers off the beach at Steamer Lane for nearly a quarter of a year to let kayakers enjoy a day in the limelight. PL checks in...
Read more.
The Madawaska Kanu Centre has long had a coveted stamp of approval when it comes to kayak instruction. Learn or teach there and your status rises like the Ottawa in spring. Now the paddling school is taking its paddling pedigree nationwide...
Read more.
In the April issue of Outside magazine (“The Adventure Issue”), long-time kayaker Doug Ammons was listed as one of the “ten greatest adventurers since 1900.” The editors mentioned Ammons’ descents of the Stikine, especially his solo descent in 1992, as being a “game changer in adventure.” PL checks in... Read more.
On a cold spring day in Montana, a group of rafters prepares for a float. It becomes clear looking at their horseshoe PFD's, T-shirts, and shorts that they are not ready for the class IV rapids below and the 35 degree temperature. This article explores a problem all boaters face at one point or another, "should we stop these people from making this mistake or let them choose their own adventure?" Read more.
Recession, what recession? Going against the current economic currents, the Nantahala Outdoor Center is opening its new $4 million experiential retail environment in Gatlinburg, Tenn., on Easter weekend, April 2–4...
Read more.
Want to help your local waterway? MillerCoors and River Network have joined together for the second year to award $50,000 in grants to support watershed protection programs. And all you have to do is register your program online.
Read more.
Now there’s some solid subjectivity to who gets crowned the national freestyle champion. USA Freestyle Kayaking (USAFK) recently created a national point series tour for 2010, in partnership with six events across the U.S. Read more.
Leave it to the folks at LVM to launch a contest of this semi-naked nature. In putting together its first issue of the year (#33), it’s hosting, what else, but a bikini boat carrying contest (note to pervs: don’t look too closely at the attached model’s masculine face). Here’s the bikini-boat beta on how to enter, and vie for the 100-buck prize... Read more.
Raise funds for a great cause, while raising your hackles and adrenaline level. That’s the premise behind the fourth annual EddyFlower Vertical Challenge, which kicks off March 15 with a brand new – and earlier-- competition for those on the East Coast.
Read more.
While an 8.8 earthquake wreaked havoc on northern Chile, several groups of paddlers from the U.S. were in the country running the goods. Following is an update from New River Academy's David Hughes... Read more.
The 8.8 earthquake that rocked Chile outside Santiago might have wreaked havoc on the BioBio and other paddling haunts, but the majority of paddling areas down south near Pucon and the Futaleufu were spared the brunt of beating. Here's an update from Cascade Raft & Kayak... Read more.
Want to get primed for paddling season? Check out this baby, First Descents: In Search Of Wild Rivers, fresh out from Menasha Ridge Press, in an expanded and revised edition... Read more.
Tired of having its downstream neighbors in Golden, Colo., have all the fun, Clear Creek is getting a new whitewater park upstream at the town of Lawson. Years in the making and designed by Boulder’s Recreation Engineering and Planning, the park should create a notehr great playspot for local boaters, with several waves and holes throughout its course, all reaping the full benefit of Clear Creek’s spring runoff.
Read more.
St. Paddy’s Day is around the corner, but who needs the Luck o’ the Irish when you have Paddling Life? That’s the sentiment shared by the lucky winners of PL’s 2009’s sweepstakes, a Schwagfeat O’rama including drytops from NRS and Kokotat, river sandals from Teva, a two-day raft trip down Costa Rica’s Pacuare River from Rios Tropicales, and more! Read on to see who won (and bios and photos of the lucky winners). Enter this year’s contest HERE.
Read more.
You never know when your 15 minutes of fame will come. Take mild-mannered kayak fisherman Drew Gregory, for instance, whose YouTube video of him getting embarrassed and pummeled by rabid geese has topped 100,000 views and aired on Jay Leno on Friday, Feb. 5. PL caught up with him between pecks for the low-down... Read more.
Let’s see Ponce de Leon tackle this. At 7 a.m. on March 6, seven intrepid paddlers and sailors will take off on a 1,200-mile, round-the-clock paddle/sailing adventure race called the Ultimate Florida Challenge. Starting near the entrance to Tampa Bay, the blister-inducing course will take them on a 1,200-mile counter-clockwise circumnavigation of Florida in 30 days or less... Read more.
After a more than 25-year run, the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium is no more.
In another sign of the economic times, and beleaguered trade association picture, the Trade Association of Paddlesports (TAPS) recently announced the cancellation of the marquee West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium, held annually in September in Port Townsend, Wash. Read more.
In November, the Epicocity Project teamed up with National Geographic for a descent down Brazil’s River of Doubt. Their mission was to document the species that inhabit this Amazonian evolutionary hotspot before proposed dam projects become a reality. Read more.
When it comes to paddling in the Olympics, you have to like having it in a city named after a river. Such is the case with Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro winning the bid to host the 2016 Olympics, putting the Games in South America for the first time in history. PL checks in with those in the know to see how it might affect the U.S. chances to medal... Read more.
Holy saltwater blisters, batman. She did it. On Dec. 15, Freya Hoffmeister completed her 9,400-mile circumnavigation of Australia in 332 days (245 paddling days), ending one of the most challenging sea kayaking trips in the world. The feat makes her the first woman to ever complete the journey and only the second person to do so since friend and mentor Paul Caffyn completed it in 1982. PL chimes in...
Read more.
Bud ambassador. It’s a title we’d all covet, and one that now belongs to one of the best and most iconic paddlers on the planet. And with Budweiser signing four-time world freestyle kayaking champion Eric Jackson as a brand ambassador it means that Jackson workers will never have a shortage of libations in their beer fridge or shuttle.
Read more.
So you ran the gnar, canoed up to a bear, and sea kayaked under a whale spout. Where’s the proof? Without it, it’s just another tall boating tale. Luckily, there’s a new crop of Point of View (POV) cameras that make capturing these moments easier. Here’s some PL guidelines to help you make an informed buying decision to back up your abducted-by-UFOs claim...
Read more.
So SUPping is getting off the ground. To go about it correctly, PL cornered SUP-convert and 2003 US National Freestyle Kayak Champion and ACA-certified instructor Jimmy Blakeney to offer his tips, from beginner to advanced. A SUP rep and athlete in New England for Jimmy Lewis Boards, Blakeney has developed a full SUP curriculum based on his kayak and surfing experience, and launched his new SUP school, New England Paddlesurf, this summer to get people stroking in the right direction…
Read more.
Got Memorial Day plans? Steamboat Springs, Colo. is the place to be (Monday, May 31) for the fifth annual Paddling Life Pro Invitational to watch the best men and women kayakers in the world compete in a one-day, two-event competition for a cash purse and year-long bragging rights. Read more.
Kayaks have been used to deliver a lot of things. Whales come to mind, as do fish. Computers don’t usually top the list.
But that’s what Richard Smith -- a former elite special-forces officer from Scotland’s Royal Marines, now turned IT manager for Oracle -- did on his Northern Lights Expedition to Greenland this summer. As part of his missive to raise awareness about global warming, he used his sea kayak to deliver laptop computers to Inuit children. Read more.
"To leave a patient on the side of a river while you get your gear out of the car and set up a rescue system you read about in a book is simply not good policy"
--Duke Bradford, owner of Arkansas Valley Adventures on the rescue of a 13 yr. old girl from Clear Creek on 6/17/10. A rafting guide employed by Bradford was arrested for interfering (read=assisting) with the rescue.
I was a god-damned poster child for bad judgment...dumb, but what can you do when you're hypnotized by a force of nature?"
--North Fork Payette pioneer Doug Ammons on being lured in by record high water to come out of Class V retirement and paddle the Lower Five at a record 9,000 cfs (and subsequently swim).
"My initial goal was to not embarrass myself."
--Tao Berman, after winning his first-ever ramp competition, at the Red Bull Canal Crashers Big Air Contest during Richmond, Va.'s Dominion Riverrock Festival.
If you don't sit in the right place, you'll sink." --72-year-old Leo Swinimer (as told to the Wall Street Journal) on paddling his 600-lb. pumpkin in Nova Scotia's annual Windsor-West Hants Pumpkin Regatta.
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