Paddling Industry News

Zoar Outdoor will be hosting the 6th Annual DemoFest, June 26 - 28th, 2009 on the Deerfield River in western, Massachusetts.

It’s happened to the best of us. It’s the first boating day of the season and as you’re getting your gear on you hear a loud pop. Not from your elbow joint or shoulder, but your dry top. You find it on, but your gasket is sitting on your head. Looks like you’re out of a gasket, and relegated to a cold day kayaking.

Palm USA has launched a Shopatron-powered online store for Palm Equipment, Europe’s leading paddlesports apparel brand, to make it easier for customers to order product through regional paddlesport retailers.

According to SNEWS®, early on the morning of March 2 a shakeup transpired at Johnson Outdoors' paddlesports division. SNEWS reports that a memo was...

With solo runs of Alaska’s Susitna and Canada’s Grand Canyon of the Stikine under his belt, you'd think Idaho's Doug Ammons has a thought or two to share about whitewater. Look for that and more in his recently released “Whitewater Philosophy.” A PL look at the man and his manuscript, complete with excerpts...

Al Gore is not the only global warming crusader. Three sea kayakers are in the middle of a mission to the world’s most desolate place, Antarctica, to call attention to rising-thermometers as well as Antarctica's first self-supported kayak expedition...

In one of the best paddlesports employment pairings PL can remember to date, Teva Mountain Games founder Joel Heath is packing his bags for Santa Barbara, Calif., to take a job as Teva's global marketing director. While he's likely to miss the powder days at Vail, Colo., we hear the surf's not too bad. Plus, Heath gives PL a special Q&A...

Bending Branches paddles has been crafting canoe and kayak paddles out of Osceola, WI since 1982. This December, the privately-held company grew to encompass Aqua-Bound Technology out of Surrey, BC, Canada. The acquisition will move Aqua Bound, and some of its staff, to Wisconsin. Find out what this means for these paddles.

Need to land a river permit this year? We'll tell you how, but just make sure to invite us along. Every winter comes permit season, and if you don’t play the game--or aren't a cook, good looking or own a raft or set of horseshoes--you won’t get invited along. Thanks to PL, here's all the info you need...

You can surf their boats on a wave, and now you can surf better on line, as AIRE recently unveiled a new Web site that you can navigate easier than a river...

Easley, S.C. – Confluence Watersports has recently appointed Montbell Co., Ltd. as the exclusive distributor in Japan for Wilderness Systems and Wave Sport kayaks,...

The president of the world's largest trade association for paddlesports stepped out this week. CEO of the Paddlesports Industry Association Matt Menashes will be heading an environmental association based in Washington DC. But, according to the organization, we can expect more work to help unify the paddlesports industry.

The Outdoor Retailer Trade Show showcases new adventure products of all types, from the eminently practical to the downright esoteric, and the expo this August was no exception. PL sifted through the maw of hardware and came up with a list of schwag paddlers will be going ga-ga over from the upcoming fall sales through the end of the next season.

National Geographic Maps & Adventure has recognized Sam Drevo, founder of eNRG Kayaking, for his work organizing last year’s Paddling Life College Tour by awarding him The Outdoor Geographic Awareness Award. The next tour will focus on the Northwest, running through the spring of 2009.

The list of legends just got longer as the International Whitewater Hall of Fame announced its newest honorees. Coming from the world over these six heroes defined whitewater paddlesports and have made an indelible impact on its future.

After acquiring Lotus Designs in 1998, Patagonia seemed to be sinking its teeth full-bore into paddlesports. All that's changed now as the apparel giant is officially saying sayonarra to the paddling industry. Plus: a PL Exclusive with Lotus founder and Astral Buoyancy head Philip Curry ..

On July 1st, 2008 Birgit Ryningen and Anders Levoll of Trondheim, Norway will attempt to circumnavigate Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard Archipelago....

Holy pilfering paddle peddlers, Bat Man! They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Werner Paddles says it can do without. The company recently unearthed a Chinese manufacturer that's using Werner's images and even product names to peddle their own watersports wares...

NEW COMPANY GIVES BACK – DONATES ALL PROFITS In May 2009, Todd Toledo and Matt Solomon will launch on the Colorado River in Rocky Mountain...

A non-commercial river runner flipped his raft in Hance Rapid on the afternoon of March 16, 2008, on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon...

The recent heavy rains on top of the late winter snow fall have added greatly to the river and reservoir levels in southern...

The McLaughlin Whitewater Design Group (MWDG) has announced that Nick Turner has joined their experienced team to develop and oversee construction of in-river recreation...

Kelley Woolsey has always been a surfer at heart. That’s why it was almost surprising to find him riding one wave for so long as the director of sales and marketing for Confluence Watersports, where he nearly single-handedly kept the company going through good times and bad. Paddling Life caught up with him between sabbatical surf sessions in Hawaii, Long Island, California and Florida to get his take on Confluence, the paddling industry and where the next wave might take him...

<!----> In early March, Tanya Faux will lead a team into Australia’s Kimberley Range to explore the uncharted water of the Moran and Mitchell Rivers....