Archive

Who’s the paddler to beat in the extreme kayaking world? Twenty-three-year-old Sam Sutton from Rotorua, New Zealand, who once again demonstrated his dominance by winning the fifth annual adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championship in Tirol, Italy, for the second year in a row (and getting to soak in a hot tub with Miss Tirol 2009)...

After three days of tight competition at the World Rafting Championships on Costa Rica’s Pacuare River, the Teva US men's and women's teams nab 7th, while Japan strokes to its first-ever world title. And PL was there for every dip of the blade...

On one of the toughest slalom, courses in recent memory, the Teva US women's team took 4th and the men 8th in the slalom event at the world rafting champs in Costa Rica, with the spoils going to the Czechs. PL reports from the field...

Don’t think rafting is international? Don’t tell that to the 48 men’s and women’s teams from 32 different countries gathered in Turrialba, Costa Rica, for the 2011 World Rafting Championships on the Pacuare River. PL reports direct from the scene...

The fear of being trapped in a closed-hull boat with a spray skirt is a barrier for may entry-level whitewater paddlers. Fluid hopes to eliminate that fear with their new sit-on-top whitewater kayak. Designed with hull characteristics similar to their top end whitewater kayaks, while providing superb stability and confidence, this new boat may make the difference for whitewater enthusiasts interested in learning to kayak.

If anyone's used to getting wet, it's Eric and Dane Jackson. So it's a natural that apparel-maker Kokatat has tapped them to team up for the 2013 kayak season to create a Jackson Signature Line of boating gear.

With a new conversational format designed to get more participants into more discussions, organizers heralded the 2012 Whitewater Symposium Oct. 12-14 in Jackson Kayaks' back yard of Rock Island, Tenn., as a resounding success...

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison has long been a badge of multi-day courage for top-level Class V kayakers. For good reason...the 12-mile, Class V-VI stretch within the national monument drops up to 230 feet per mile beginning just three miles in at The Narrows, includes one mile-long portage and countless others, and has taken the lives of such world-class boaters as Chuck Kern. A few kayakers, however, are slowly chipping away at its puzzle by running rapids never run before. PL checks in Tom Janney for the Black Canyon lowdown...

The removal of two dams on the Elwha River in Washington State began September 17th and will restore roughly 70 miles of pristine wild rivers. The project is held as the largest dam removal project in the region, and the nation and is expected to benefit the Native Elwha Klallam Tribe as well as paddlers and fishermen as well as the natural environment.

What kind of schwag do you bring on a 60-mile canoe trip in the Canyonlands? Whatever is up to the task. PL (in company of 12 kids and eight “grown-ups," if you can call us that) whiled away the dog days of August canoeing Canyonlands National Park. And while we tested out a slew of canoes and paddles, we also put an array of accessories to the task, from newschool firestarters and firepans to SUPs and sleeping bags. Here’s the rundown...

Who’s the world’s best kayaker? At the moment, in timed whitewater slalom at least, it’s Peter Kauzer of Slovenia. While that's great for Kauzer, the U.S. is psyched to have used the event to secure one Olympic spot in men's and women's kayak for next summer in London....

After setting a record by sea kayaking around Australia in 332 days, Herr Hofffmeister (Germany’s Freya Hoffmeister) is at it again, this time taking off Aug. 30 from Buenos Aires to be the first person to paddle all the way around South America. In all, the glutton for paddling punishment is planning to do the trip in three stages of 4,800 miles each over the next 3 years)...

Wind might have delayed the World Slalom Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia, but it's done nothing to ruffle the marriage of Dana Benusova (SVK) and Scott Mann (USA), about to celebrate their one-year anniversary of slaloming down the aisle...

Boaters heading to the Gauley this season have reason to celebrate: for the first time in recent memory, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently announced that 2011’s release schedule will feature 29 days instead of the normal 22, with most of the later release days pumping out 3,200 cfs vs. versus the normal 2,800...

Hurricane Irene rocked the Deerfield river valley largetime with historic, 100,000 cfs flooding when it passed over the Northeast at tropical storm force. Local businesses are continuing to recover from the damage as boaters size up new challenges on and off the river.

Paddling into Grise Bay on Aug. 19, once-strangers Erik Boomer and Jon Turk managed to travel 1,485 miles in 104 days, skiing on ice, jumping from flow to flow on moving pack ice and finally paddling through ice-choked water to complete the first-ever circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island. PL checks in with the ragged, haggard tandem...

With the 2012 Olympic Games drawing near athletes battle for the podium in Slovakia. As a qualifier for the Games many competitors are hoping to make their move.

One of whitewater's leading pioneers, John Berry, passed away Aug. 11 at age 86, but not before helping change the sport as we know it today. A tribute by Charlie Walbridge...

Rock/Creek Outfitters is opening a new, improved retail paddling store, outlet and distribution center at 1530 Riverside Drive in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Wilderness Systems remains king with third consecutive "Boat Brand of the Year" award. The entire outdoor retail community descended on Salt Lake City, Utah to celebrate at this year's Outdoor Retailer Summer Market.

Idaho’s notorious Class IV-V North Fork of the Payette struck again this summer, this time on Aug. 14 when Fidelity Investments executive and Liquidlogic lead investor Boyce Greer, 55, died while kayaking Jacob’s Ladder. The death, which happened just after the rock drop on Jacob’s, occurred just a month and a half after the drown ing death of 19-year-old pro paddler Stephen Forster of Connecticut, marking the North Fork’s second fatality in two months...

Nil, nunca, nada. That’s how many sprint paddling spots the U.S. team has earned for the 2012 London Olympics after the recent ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, where perennial powerhouses Germany and Russia took home 11 medals each. But there’s still one more chance to secure a berth. PL checks in with U.S. Sprint National Senior Team Coach Guy Wilding for the state of sprint in the states...

Icing on the cake for an already stellar Colorado whitewater season, more than 200 people showed up to paddle and party at the 2nd Annual Bailey Fest in Bailey, Colorado, August 13-14, with PL on scene to revel in the river running mayhem...

Don't be surprised if your local eddy starts to get a little more crowded. Okay, not really. But the Paddle Council, a volunteer advisory group providing input to the Outdoor Industry Association to help grow the industry and expand participation, recently received a $30,000 grant from Nielsen Expositions to help grow participation in water sports. That's a lot of enchilada plates...