Whitewater Kayaking
Whitewater kayaking’s latest news and product reviews. Paddling Life keeps you informed on what’s new in whitewater kayaks, kayak competitions, kayak industry news, and much more.
Events
Curtailed by COVID: AW Fall Event Roundup
It’s been a wild, wooly and wet year as far as events hosted by venerable river conservation organization American Whitewater. But it’s still finding...
Events
Great Gore! (Kids Rule, Hilleke Swims, and More!)
Even with pandemic restrictions in place (i.e. no rager blowout party at nearby Rancho del Rio this year), AW’s classic downriver race through Gore...
Athlete Stories
“The River Runner” Now on Netflix: PL Checks in with Director Rush Sturges
Any kayaker who’s worth his or her weight in noseplugs knows of Rush Sturges, an accomplished filmmaker and expedition kayaker who grew up on...
Athlete Stories
Paris Olympics Here We Come: Switzerland Sweeps Extreme Canoe Slalom
Forget slalom and sprint at this year’s Olympics…after the final day of this year’s 2021 ICF junior and U23 canoe slalom world championships in...
Canoeing
Germany’s Funk Wins Women’s Slalom Kayak Gold, Australia’s Fox Nabs Inaugural Women’s C-1 Honors
Germany’s Ricarda Funk buried the heartbreak of missing selection for the Rio Olympics with an error-free run to win gold in the women’s kayak...
Athlete Stories
Tokyo Sneak Peak: The Top 5 Women Slalom Kayakers to Keep an Eye On
From oldest to youngest, the inside skinny on the top female slalom paddlers at this year’s Olympics. Spain’s Maialen Chourraut is the only Olympic male and female...
Athlete Stories
Cool Running: Jamaica’s Solomon Maragh Makes Slalom History
Call it Cool Paddling. In the 1993 movie "Cool Running," a group of Jamaicans created history by qualifying for the bobsled competition at the...
Athlete Stories
Holy Beatdown! Level6 King of Alps Comp Goes Awwwfff!
25 Nations – 250 Paddlers – 100% Fun. That sums up Italy’s King of the Alps kayak contest, which organizers held with COVID protocols...
Athlete Stories
Tokyo Here We Come: Meet the 3 Whitewater Paddlers Representing the USA at the Olympics
All eyes were on US racers at the 2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup in Prague, Czech Republic, on June 11–13, as berths at...
Paddling Industry News
Kayaker Dies on Meatgrinder Rapid on Colorado’s Crystal River
A kayaker drowned on June 17 while kayaking the Crystal River, according to the Pitkin County Coroner’s Office. According to reports, Chason P. Russell, a...
Events
4X Champ: Jackson Takes North Fork Crown (Plus, POV of Winning Run)
Don’t think that a year off from racing because of COVID-19 slowed extreme kayakers down at all. Especially phenom Dane Jackson, who won again...
Destinations
Montgomery (ALA) Whitewater Park Breaks Ground
Make me an angel, that flies from Montgomery... Those words by John Prine come in the form of a new recirculating whitewater park coming to...
Athlete Stories
PL Q&A: Catching Up With “From the River” Author Joe Booth
Longtime kayaker and author Joe Booth recently released his new book “From the River: A Guidebook to Sobriety from a Lifetime of Lessons Paddling”...
Events
Jackson Wins Little White Extreme Race (Bonus: Watch Vid of Top 4 Racers Side-by-Side!)
Dane Jackson came out swinging at one of the first extreme kayak races of the season, winning the 2021 Little White Salmon Race on...
Paddling Life Exclusives
Social Campaign of the Month!
In one of the better examples we’ve seen of a company in the paddling space using social media to spread their word, S20 Designs,...
Athlete Stories
PL Founder Buchanan Featured on HammerFactor Podcast
Any boater worth the salt on his crusted-over polypro innerlayers has tuned into the HammerFactor, a paddling-centric podcast run by industry veterans John Grace,...
Athlete Stories
Catching Up (And Life lessons) With Big Water Dave
Recently, Paddling Life staffers had the chance to kayak Colorado's Cross Mountain of the Yampa with none other than Big Water Dave, a 65-year-old...
Paddles
Hard Core Paddles: A Three-month Review and Why I Made the Switch (By Chris Baer)
(By Chris Baer) Let me be blunt: Hard Core Paddles are awesome. Their durability is solid, they have a ton of power, and the company...
Athlete Stories
Muggridge, Marr, Macewan Bag CN’s Flier Creek in New Redbull Film
Curtailed by a lack of international travel last year, Redbull kayaker Ed Muggridge came up with the idea to tackle something closer to home,...
Whitewater Kayaking
Bryson City’s Evy Leibfarth Sweeps K1W and C1W for Tokyo Olympic Debut
Evy Leibfarth came up on the Nantahala River as a Bryson City, N.C., local, and last week cemented her place in Western North Carolina...
Accessories
Exclusive Review and Video: New Stohlquist Descent Rescue PFD
Stohlquist adds second generation Descent Rescue PFD to its line, whets paddlers' appetite for new products.
With the help of Nick Hinds and Luke Spencer,...
Destinations
Bad News for Black Canyon Boaters in Colo: Road Closed for 2021
Hoping to up your game and kayak the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado this year? You’ll have to wait another year. As reported...
Accessories
When was the last time you practiced setting up a Z-Drag?
So you've got your Z-Drag kit prepped with rescue rope, webbing, pulleys, carabiners, and cordage. But when was the last time you actually took...
Whitewater Kayaking
Red Bull Athlete Aniol Serrasolses Hits 60 MPH on Snow Before Waterfall Double Kick Flip Launch
Red Bull athlete and Spanish whitewater paddler Aniol Serrasolse landed a world-first waterfall double kickflip on Chile's Captren river. The footage has just been...
Latest news
New Rush Sturges Film Release! Paddle Tribal Waters
In 2024, the largest dam removal project in history will be completed on the Klamath River (Oregon/California). It will...
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Inside the Pyranha “Thigh Hooker” (Plus Vid from 16-year-old sensation Judah Harms)
With shorter to medium sized paddlers wanting a more aggressive thigh hook in many Pyranha boats, the company has...
Plastic Tides: Using Sea Kayaks to Help Rid the Ocean of Waste
(By Ken Campbell) My name is Ken Campbell and in addition to being a long-time kayak guide and instructor, I...
Must read
Dane Jackson Breaks 4-Minute Mark on Green: Special PL Q&A! Plus: NPR Interviews Co-Winner Adriene Levknecht
Well, he did it…finally. Living up to this year’s...
Guitar Paddle the S. Fork Payette, Anyone?
Now that strikes a chord. The sound of running...
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