Sea Kayaking

It seems that wherever there is a Battle for the Paddle, Danny Ching emerges victorious. In June Ching won both the SUP 10-mile distance race and 5-mile elite race in Waikiki, HI. Now back in his home state of California Ching made it a clean sweep. This past Sunday Ching once again won both the SUP10 mile and 5 mile contests…

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. That's how a few river conservation organizations are feeling after the Conservation Alliance awarded grants totaling $500,000 to 17 conservation throughout North America, many of whom are working to protect our waterways. PL checks in...

A group of Class V kayakers is certainly hoping so as they follow the wake of two other failed expeditions by attempting the first-ever complete descent of the last major un-run tributary of the Amazon River, the Pongo De Aguirre Gorge on Peru's Rio Huallaga...

Giant splats on Pillow Rock; striders, C-1ers and kayakers sharing eddies with rafts; and the biggest party in paddlesports. Yep...American Whitewater's biggest fundraising event -- and the largest boater festival in the world – went off without a hitch as paddlers of all walks converged on the Woodstock-like Gauley Fest at the Nicholas County Veteran's Memorial Park in Summersville, W.V., for a weekend of debauchery and sinus-douching. PL checks in...

Canoe and Kayak magazine has set message boards across the paddling industry on fire with their first ever Reader’s Choice Awards. Although the full results aren't available just yet, PL has a sneak preview just for our readers...

Ah Slovenia, land of babushkas, borscht, and…boats. That’s right, boats. Lots of ‘em. Most of the western world wouldn’t consider the former Soviet Republic a hotbed of paddling action. However, here in the PL office we know better. The 2010 edition of the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships just wrapped up from the Tacen Whitewater Course on the Sava River, keep reading for highlights of all the action and results…

Pack some popcorn in your paddlecraft. Raven Fork, the newest full-length whitewater film to hit the silver screen since The River Wild, will have its world premiere in Athens, Ga., Oct. 2, at the Dixie Film Festival. PL caught up with producer Tom Oliver for his take a film that explores everything from friendship to death on the river...

The River Management Society has a good guide steering it to the future. Its Board of Directors recently hired Risa Shimoda as its new Executive Director beginning October 1, 2010...

Not doing anything the weekend of Sept. 25? In the region anyways for Gauley season? Head on over to Germantown, Maryland, to support your local river stud-mo’s at the induction ceremony for the International Whitewater Hall of Fame Class of 2010. Read on to find out how to attend and make a donation...

Canoeists and sea kayakers planning flatwater fall trips on Labyrinth/Stillwater Canyons of the Green River in Canyonlands National Park might want to start making a change of plans. On Aug. 20, a huge flash flood caused severe damage to the switchbacks on the road leading to Mineral Bottom, making the road impassable as a put-in or take-out....

It’s got a capital G, Class V and the same season. But it’s not Gauley Fest. It’s Gore Fest in Colorado, drawing the Class V racing set to Gore Canyon of the Colorado River the last weekend in August every year. The event, put on by Timberline Rafting of Vail, promises debauchery, death ferries and dunkings, and once again delivered a few surprises...

Current Designs s getting more current. At least, that'sthe premise behind a new brand identity, logo and boat graphics...

Kokatat, the 39-year-old independent watersports apparel and accessories company, is proud to welcome Jeff Turner to the Arcata, Cali. Headquarters, as the new Sales and Marketing Manager, effective immediately.

Usually the heat associated with “the dog days of August” keeps the dogs on the porch makes the rest of us lazy. Extreme heat didn’t keep the athletes or spectators away from the banks of the Warta river and the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. The event wrapped over the weekend in Poznan, Poland. PL checks in with the results. No dog-paddlers allowed.

There must be chumthing in the water. In the past two weeks, two reports of shark attacks on sea kayakers have surfaced like the culprits' dorsals in California. PL caught up with one of them, Duane Strosaker, for his take on nearly getting shredded ...

Turns out you can also make rapids out of kayak plastic. Proof lies in the new whitewater slalom course for the London Olympics, which just saw water for the first time....flowing over plastic features designed by Scott Shipley. Read on for beta and a video glimpse...

Expedition kayaker and filmmaker Bryan Smith is back from Russia with love…for salmon, first descents and wild places that still remain. We caught up with him at the Outdoor Retailer show to get his take on all things Siberia and salmon...

The Outdoor Summer Market Retailer Tradeshow is in full swing this week in Salt Lake City, Utah. PL is on the scene, and yesterday witnessed the open-air demo from Jordanelle Sate Park. Stand-up paddleboards were all the rate at the on-water demo, with appearances by gurus Laird Hamilton, Chuck Patterson and Slater Trout among others.

Paddling Life is on hand at this year’s Outdoor Retailer Summer Market tradeshow, to bring you not-in-the-industry folk up to speed on what’s going down. First installment: a look at products for the stockier set. Turns out that Morgan Spurlock, whose 30-day McDonald's diet documented the fast-food industry, isn’t the only one going super size. Paddlesport exhibitors are also banking on beefier consumers by churning out products that excel for XLs. Following are a few tipping the scales.

It should be a fairly straightforward exercise in manliness. The unwritten rules were obvious to all parties involved. However, to quote The Dude (or El Duderino if you’re not into that whole brevity thing) “New s&%# has come to light.”

Chicago is known for its storied sports franchises, deep-dish pizza pies, and bone chilling wind. This August, however, the city and Lake Michigan play host to the fourth annual Chicago Shoreline Marathon. The event proudly claims to be “The only world-class race to paddle Lake Michigan and the shores of Chicago”.

Heliconia releases sequel to award-winning kayak fishing documentary. The ExOfficio presents Kayak Fishing: Game On 2 follows Jim Sammons around the world on another fishing adventure of a lifetime.