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.
My wife and I have a pact. I fully enjoy visiting her relatives in her home state of Alaska, but I need some Me Time to get in touch with my inner Thoreau. I get it on the talkeetna, big time...
Read more.
The Paddling Life Archive
January 6th, 2010
Computers by Kayak 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.
January 6th, 2009
Finding the Spirit of the Olympics I’ve officially lost my touch. After drinking $.75 Tsingtao beers with the Russian women’s volleyball team while watching Rafael Nadal whip-up on Novac Djokovic in the men’s tennis semi-finals at the Beijing Olympics, I end up sharing a hot tub back at the NBC hotel with super-heavyweight wrestler Rulon Garder, any amorous thoughts I had of the Russians sinking with the rising water...
Read more.
December 23rd, 2008
Paddler's Christmas Wishlist with pro Kim Russell Christmas is here. And we’ve got a few tips for all of you last minute shoppers scrambling to get the right gifts for your paddling partners. We asked Bend, OR pro Kim Russell, 19, what she uses for gear, and what she’d give to the whitewater junkie in your life. Read more.
The Epicocity Crew Blogs From Tibet Trip Jennings, Andy Maser and the rest of the Epicocity film crew are in the middle of an "epic" around-the-world river awareness tour. They blog in secret as violence erupts around them. Read more.
The Paddling Life PGA golfer Will Mackenzie, a longtime kayaker and former Gauley River guide, has made more than $2.2 million by trying to get into holes rather than staying out of them. A PL look at his dirtbag kayaking background... Read more.
September 4th, 2007
The Paddling Life: Let My Children Raft! Call my wife and I hippy home-schoolers if you will, but with apologies to my daughter’s second-grade teacher, Mrs. Stoddard, there’s no better instructor than the Great Outdoors. Which is why it's odd that board members from Meredith, N.H.’s Inter-Lake School District objected to an Outing Club-sponsored rafting trip for students on the Dead River... Read more.
August 23rd, 2007
The Paddling Life--Mayhem on the Front Range A book-signing tour turns into a raging sampling of Front Range whitewater parks with the South Platte cresting at a near-high 3,500 cfs. Plus: a behind-the-scenes look at the hosting of this year's Paddling Life Invitational... Read more.
May 21st, 2007
The Paddling Life! 20 Things to Remember When Floating the San Juan with Kids. Bonus: A Fun 1.5 Mother’s Day Personal First Descent, Chinese foot torture and all! Read more.
March 27th, 2007
The Paddling Life Early-season kayaking, a packraft/ski combo, rock gardening in sea kayaks, kayak fishing and more... Read more.
February 6th, 2007
The Paddling Life--February Update! Ramblings on the state of paddling mags (complete with forum thread), sea kayaking in the SuperBowl and Robert Kennedy Jr.'s paddling prowess... Read more.
December 6th, 2006
What Is Paddling Life? What is Paddling Life?
It’s not what you run, or the boat you use, but the feeling you get when you’re on the water. It’s raft camping with your kids, shouldering a canoe, dropping your sea kayak skeg, running your first waterfall and feeling your Read more.
Forum Partners:
Heard in the Eddy
"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.
