Sea Kayaking

Rafting season is literally heating up on the Ottawa as the Esprit base camp goes up in flames...and here's how you can help them get back on the water.

Swims, beat-downs and three live-bait rescues sun it up. Historic high water conditions (a whopping 550 cfs) on Thursday’s Coors Light Steep Creek Championship at the GoPro Games were summed up in two words by the experts monitoring river flows at American Whitewater: “Not Recommended.” But that didn’t stop 49 of the world’s top whitewater paddlers from jumping into their creek boats and taking on the raging torrent thundering through the steep, narrow gorge at water levels never before measured in GoPro Mountain Games history — or any history, for that matter.

You've heard of Kodak Courage. Call this one Playstation Bravery. A gig with PlayStation resulted in a big plunge for extreme kayak Pedro Olivia. While it resulted in a swim, Olivia--tasked with creating an "uncharted adventure" to mark the release of PlayStation’s 'Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End'—opted to run 82-foot-high Juruena falls in the Amazon rainforest, after turning away from the feat five years ago.

Is he just a glutton for punishment, Poseidon-style? Or maybe he just can’t figure out anything better to do? Whatever the reason, Polish adventurer Aleksander Doba just set out on his third solo trans-Atlantic crossing by sea kayak, this time going west to east from New York City to Portugal.

Call it a heck of a wake to trace. This summer, British explorers Olly Hicks and George Bullard will attempt the first documented crossing from Greenland to Scotland by kayak. The In the Wake of the Finnmen expedition follows a course likely traveled by Inuit tribes-people centuries ago...

Call it a Blackjack or Lucky 7. Whatever moniker you give it, Stephen Wright and Emily Jackson came up winners in spades at the Reno Whitewater Festival, kicking off what’s sure to be a raging kayak freestyle season…

Want to paddle the famed Northeast? Set your sights on the waterways around the Zoar Outdoor Center, which serves up some of New England’s finest floating, whether you’re rafting, stand-up paddleboarding or kayaking…

Call it a Festivus for the Restivus. Paddlers, that is. The second annual Paddlers Freshet Fest will take place June 10–11 in Saranac Lake, N.Y. Organized by the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, the festival celebrates the kickoff of the summer paddling season and provides a setting for thru-paddlers—those who have paddled the entire 740-mile trail—to gather...

Gore-Tex's Shipton-Tilman Grant has long awarded climbers, and a handful of paddlers, funds for their world-wide adventures. This year a team of climbers armed with packrafts and headed to Alaska will be part of that esteemed class...

Call it a harmonious convergence. Like waterways re-joining around an island, former Small World Adventures employee/co-owners Don Beveridge and Darcy Gaetcher, along with new co-owner and former guide and Liam Kirkham, have been reunited with the Ecuador kayak outfitter, taking over ownership in this April...

Like mystery reads with a little sea kayaking thrown into the mix? Settle into your armchair by the fire with "Cold Blood, Hot Sea (A Mara Tusconi Mystery)," by Charlene D’Avanzo. Plus: a PL Q&A with the author herself…

Southwestern river runners, rejoice! The venerable Tom Martin has made navigating the region’s myriad waterways easier than ever with the release (finally!) of the new quintessential Canyonlands RiverMap…

American Rivers released its annual list of the nation’s 10 Most Endangered Rivers, highlighting U.S. river systems threatened by drought, mismanagement, pollution and more. Who heads up this year’s nefarious title? The Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) Basin and San Joaquin River...

Kids have some help learning to SUP in Hawaii. SIC Global Team Athlete Andrea Moller hosted the 4th annual Imua Keiki o ke Kai event on April 3, at Maui's Hawaiian Canoe Club to provide children with special needs an opportunity to participate in ocean sports with a who’s who list of pro water sports athletes...

There goes the neighborhood. Combining supping and pedaling, Hobie has married its MirageDrive® pedal system with a sup to create the world’s first stand up pedal boards: the Mirage® Eclipse 10.5 and 12. ..

Rivers across North America reaped in big rewards recently, as The Conservation Alliance has announced grants totaling $790,000 to 20 organizations working to protect wild places. The donations mark The Conservation Alliance’s first funding disbursal for 2016...

Boat, paddle and paddlesports apparel companies aren’t the only ones using the imagery and solace of rivers to promote their products. Sock manufacturer Smartwool has also hopped on the water wagon, using Utah’s Ruby-Horsethief Canyons as the setting for its second original short film, Life on the River... 

Let there be water! That's the tune at the $45 million Oklahoma Whitewater Center, where the spigots have been turned on in preparation for its grand opening May 7. And who should be first in line to catch its first eddy and surf the world’s highest-volume, fully adjustable pumped freestyle feature but five-time World Slalom Kayak Champion and park designer Scott Shipley of S2O Design...

Like two rivers joining at a confluence to become even stronger together, two leading paddlesport retailers—Summit Sports and Austin Canoe and Kayak—recently announced a nine-store merger enabling all-season offers, immediate expansion and future growth

A man-made whitewater park on the Trinity River in Dallas is making waves, but not the kind it’s supposed to. The city is in an uproar over a $4 million kayaking playground built in 2011 that has never functioned as intended. Now the Army Corps of Engineers is giving the city an ultimatum: either repair it, or remove it...

Fish On! That's the battle cry from Confluence Watersports this year, as the company is going all-in with its fishing line-up for 2016. It's debuting new angling wares from Wilderness Systems, Perception and Boardworks, including the Tarpon 130x, Pescador Pro 12, and Tracker SUP. These join the tried-and-true favorites Thresher and A.T.A.K., and fishing accessories from Harmony Gear and fishing paddles from Adventure Technology, to cover any angler’s needs. Inside, we give you a quick rundown…

Attention Colorado (and other Rocky Mountain) suppers: This season you’ll see charismatic paddleboarder Ken “Hobie” Hoeve paddling the state’s rivers on a Surftech board. Hoeve, one of the biggest personalities in the paddlesports world who’s had stints with everyone from Dagger to Jackson, has signed on with the Surftech team. A local weatherman, kayaker, surfer, snowboarder and event announcer, execs says he’ll be a great fit with the Surftech global team...

Move over surfing world…you now have to share some space with paddlecraft. While that might not hold true on ocean waves, it does on the tradeshow floor. Emerald Exposition’s Surf Expo recently announced it will be adding kayaks, canoes and related gear and accessories to its Sept. 8-10, 2016, Orlando-based event.

Since the late 1980s, when McPhee Dam started diverting the water out of the Dolores River, it’s been a long haul to protect and restore this gem of the Southwest. Today a combination of new federal legislation and a state instream water right have conservation advocates and paddlers seeing the potential for permanent protections of the River canyon...