Whitewater Kayaking

A new program launched by American Rivers, the nation’s leading river conservation organization, is helping local businesses and outfitters connect with customers and join the effort to protect rivers and clean water...

While last year’s flooding in New England had area rivers at near-record highs, a pentathlon did so to heart rates this year at the Zoar Outdoor Center in late March...

You want this guy on your canoe team. On March 12, Hungarian Gabor Rakonczay became the first person to single-handedly canoe (yes, with a single blade) across the Atlantic, taking 76 days to paddle from Portugal to Antigua...

Yvon Chouinard can have his Let My People Go Surfing book. Thanks to longtime paddler, author and wilderness adventurer Alan Kesselheim, paddlers now have Let Them Paddle, his latest book on revisiting rivers with his three children that they unknowingly floated a decade and a half earlier as fetuses. PL checks in with the author...

A few more kids might be getting wet than normal this paddling season, thanks to a new series of grants offered by Outdoor Nation. The group recently announced the 13 winners of its Paddle Nation Project, aimed at connecting young Americans with their waterways through recreational paddling...

Paddlers give up water? A tall order, perhaps, but that’s what Teva is asking paddlers to do on the eve of the 19th annual World Water Day...

Talk about throwing down when you need to. At this past weekend’s Pan American Championships in Foz do Iguassu, Brazil, with the U.S.’s sole C-1 and C-2 London Olympic spots on the line, U.S. paddlers Eric Hurdand and Jeff Larimer took first in the Men’s C-2 final, and Benn Fraker took home the Gold medal in Men’s C-1, ensuring the U.S. will have Olympians in both the C-1 and C-2 categories at the London 2012 Summer Games.

A trio of paddlers is banding together to raise money for global peace through competitive endurance paddling. PL checks in with founder Dwanye VanHoose...

The Green River's whitewater canyon Gates of Lodore and the popular fishing stretches upstream in Brown's Park have at least had a water flow stay of execution with FERC recently dismissing the initial permit application for pipeline project that would pull water out of the Flaming Gorge Dam upstream...

The extreme sea kayaking world lost one of its most ardent pioneers with the recent passing of Eric Soares, a founding member of California’s Tsunami Rangers, a kayaking club specializing in big-wave feats along the rocky California coast. Soares died unexpectedly on Feb. 1 at age 58...

Pelican International is adding 12 new models to its line-up this year, including six new kayaks and three SUPs...

In this installment, USACK member Benn Fraker arrives in Australia to begin his training for the London Games. Who knew the training involved cliff jumping?

First Descents, a non-profit founded by Brad Ludden that provides free outdoor adventure experiences for young adults battling cancer, is taking its programs international with new offerings from Peru to Costa Rica...

Okay, all you free-loading dirtbags. No more free lunch. It's permit season. So get off your duff and send in your applications for your favorite river trip instead of waiting to get asked along. Plus, that way you can invite who you want (which hopefully will include us). Here's all the info you need...

It’s blog time here at PL, with who else chiming in but PL friend and mono-blader Benn Fraker, at sixth the highest-placing U.S. finisher at the Beijing Olympics who just took off to the land of Aus for a two-month training stint in preparation for the Games in London this summer. Tune in for his semi-monthly reports from the field. But first, this primer so you can get to know him...

Crossing Canada from the Pacific Ocean to the Hudson Bay under your own power would be a gruel no matter how you slice it, never mind trying it in a canoe. But that’s what Pete Marshall, Winchell Delano and Steve Keaveny are planning with their Trans-Territorial Canoe Expedition from May through to September 2012. PL checks in to see how their planning is going...

More paddlers will name be able to claim they’re Okies, if not from Muskogee, at least from Oklahoma City. USA Canoe/Kayak, the national governing body for sprint and slalom, just moved its headquarters from Charlotte, N.C., to Oklahoma City. PL reports on the move, with a special Q&A with CEO Joe Jacobi...

Finally, the Nantahala River has a sweet play wave. The Nantahala Gorge Organizing Committee (NGOC) will celebrate the grand opening of its new 2013 Wave on Friday, December 16 with a ceremony, reception and paddling exhibition starting at 12pm.

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...

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 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.