Sea Kayaking

River guides rejoice: finally a book you can all relate to. Former river guide Tom Mahony’s Flooding Granite (Casperian Books) details the plight of river guide Zack Pruitt, a college drop-out who abandoned his girlfriend and young son when things got tough and headed back to the Sierra Nevada to guide. But he gets more than he bargained for. PL catches up with the author for a quick Q&A, and gives it a thumbs-up for those jonesing for whitewater action this winter...

The poach-fest continues. On Nov. 28, Southeast kayakers Pat Keller, Isaac Levinson and Chris Gragtmans dropped previously unrun 90-foot Noccalula Falls in Alabama's city-owned Noccalula Falls Park, causing park officials to scratch their heads and re-evaluate city ordinances. Bonus: Steve Fisher chimes in on a local news outlet's blog...

Finally, some accolades for all those walrus attacks, kayak-dragging, freezing temps and kidney failures. After completing the first successful circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island this summer, kayakers Jon Turk and Erik Boomer have been recognized as National Geographic Adventurers of the Year for 2012. And you, as paddlers, can vote to help them win the coveted People’s Choice award...

Proud of your summer paddling feat? That’s peanuts compared to Nepal's Sano Babu Sunuwar and Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa’s Ultimate Descent, going from the highest place on earth to the sea in one continuous non-motorized descent, with kayaks playing the final role...

In the latest merger news in paddlesports, Emotion Kayaks of Pennsylvania has been sold to Lifetime Products of Clearfield, Utah. PL checks in with Emotion founder Tom Strauss for the lowdown...

Worried about tipping over on your SUP in whitewater? Boardworks and partner company Badfish of Salida, Colo., recently unveiled a new inflatable paddleboard that will do wonders to keep you on the surface where you belong.

Holy tie-fest. Marking an event with the most ties in its 16-year history, this year’s 16th annual Green Race on North Carolina’s Green River was once again as carnage- and competition-filled as ever, with Isaac Levinson winning the crown and coveted “Glass” trophy for the first time ever. And for the women, Adriene Levknecht three-peats with a new women’s course record of 4:57...

The adidas Group announced that it has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire Five Ten, a leading performance brand in outdoor action sports, with the move possibly meaning increased attention directed toward the watersports division...

Ann Raiho and Natalie Warren have some blisters and a place in the record books, just becoming the first all-female team to ever paddle from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay...

The Cuban Team finished on top of the medals table with nine medals, including four Golds, while the Canadians grabbed seven medals at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. Led by Carrie Johnson with two golds, Team USA claimed the third position on the medals table, earning two starting positions at the London 2012 Olympic Games...

The U.S. might be slaying it in the stand-up surf scene with the likes of Slater Trout, but when it comes to surf kayaking, Basque Country and the UK are barreling to the top of the line-up -- and podium. That’s how things played out, at least, at this year’s World Surf kayaking Championships, which recently wrapped up at North Carolina’s Outer Banks....

In a sign that the paddlesports retail world is, if not riding a wave at least creating ripples, on October 22 the Nantahala Outdoor Center opened the doors of its groundbreaking experiential retail and outdoor activity concept shop, NOC Asheville, inside Asheville, N.C.'s The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa....

After nearly a century, Washington's White Salmon River in south central Washington is flowing freely again. Earlier today, a hole was blasted in the base of Condit Dam, and its reservoir - Northwestern Lake - began to pour through it. The reservoir is expected to be fully drained by sundown...

The International Whitewater Hall of Fame (IWHOF) moved to the banks of the South Fork American River Oct. 14-16 to honor members of the Class of 2011, including this year’s inductees: Explorer - Richard Bangs (USA); Champion - JP Burny (Belgium); and Advocate - Oliver Cock (UK)...

The Adventure Travel Trade Association World Summit provided a fitting background for today's announcement of a groundbreaking partnership between an American kayak manufacturer, the Mexican tourism industry and the adventure travel industry...

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...

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.

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)...