international
Baja Sea Kayak Festival
05.16.2013
Around 50 sea kayakers ventured down to Baja, Mexico for the first annual Baja Sea Kayaking Festival hosted by Aqua Adventures and Baja Adventures on April 11-14. Curious to see how the first ever festival was going to be, C&K’s online editor ventured down the crew. Here’s what she experienced:
Rivers Be Dammed: Somos del Rio By the Numbers
05.03.2013
The end of our time in Chile for most of us was a mere four days and 40 some odd hours of bus rides away. The mission was still on, as we were heading straight into the lion’s den, so we pressed onwards, back to Coyhaique, to confront HidroAysén.
Plan “C” is for Chopper
04.30.2013
This story featured in the 2013 Buyer’s Guide issue. Uganda-based river explorer Pete Meredith was responsible for the team’s last line of defense. Whenever the paddlers were in the crux, Meredith was waiting in the door of the A350 B3 helicopter hovering nearby, ready to leap into the river to extract a swimmer. Meredith combined [...]
THE GRAND INGA PROJECT
04.30.2013
This story featured in the 2013 Buyer’s Guide issue. By Joe Jackson Team: Steve Fisher, Tyler Bradt, Rush Sturges and Ben Marr Mission: The first descent of the planet’s biggest rapids Tyler Bradt specializes in running whitewater that most rational people think no human being could survive. While much of his success (meaning he’s still [...]
BIKE2PADDLE
04.29.2013
This story featured in the 2012 Buyer’s Guide issue. Mission: Bag Norway’s best whitewater from the seat of a bike Team: Olaf Obsommer, Jens Klatt, and Philip Baues By Joe Jackson German paddlers Olaf Obsommer, Jens Klatt, and Philip Baues have racked up an impressive list of whitewater expeditions in exotic locations from Chile to [...]
Unfiltered: Maligiaq Johnsen Padilla
04.22.2013
Padilla has always straddled two worlds. His father was an American serviceman, his mother Greenland Inuit. He learned Greenlandic at age 3 when his parents split and his mother brought him back to Greenland from the States, re-learning English in high school. Two years ago he moved to Alaska and married Elizabeth Saagulik Hensley, an Alaskan Inuit attorney. With the day off from his construction job (“It’s 20 below, not too cold for me but the air compressors don’t work”), Padilla held their 6-month-old daughter as we spoke. — Jeff Moag
Rescue for River Runners Recognized
04.19.2013
A year ago, open-boat expert Jim Coffey—founder of Quebec-based outfitter Esprit Whitewater Worldwide—and Mike McKay from Five2Nine Productions started a series of whitewater rescue lesson videos called R3: Rescue for River Runners, which aired on the Canoe & Kayak website. Last week, the series won the National Association of Search & Rescue Special Commendation Award for contribution to search & rescue.
C&K staff got in touch with Coffey and McKay to talk about the series and what winning the award meant to them. Here’s what they had to say:
Cross Strokin’ in Costa Rica’s Endangered Rivers
03.29.2013
Last February, a group of whitewater canoeists ventured down to Costa Rica to enjoy the rivers slated off for damming and under the threat. One of them, an up and coming filmmaker Chris Loomis captured the group’s moments through his lens and created a film portraying what they showed and what the world will soon lose. Canoe & Kayak got a chance to talk with him.
Boating in Costa Rica
03.29.2013
Last February, Canoe & Kayak online editor Charli Kerns traveled down to Costa Rica where she joined Jim Coffey from Esprit and canoed some of the country’s most pristine and endangered rivers.
“I got way more out of the trip than I ever thought possible,” Kerns said. “I thought I was just going down to paddle and report, but Coffey shed light on so much regarding the culture, environment and conflicts that make Costa Rica such a dynamic and fascinating country.”
Rivers Be Dammed: Somos del Rio Baker Update
03.25.2013
The Somos del Rio Team has paddled miles of some of the world’s biggest whitewater down in Patagonia. Their journey was to paddle the country’s endangered rivers and immerse themselves in the life they support before the proposed damming project erases them from the earth. They have offered a report of their travels so far.
When the Currents Stop
03.06.2013
Airing his last episode airing in April, TV producer Mike McKay is ending Currents, the web TV documentary series that both illuminates the risks threatening the world’s rivers and highlights the intrinsic value of preserving rivers in their natural state. Currents episodes have won several awards, including its latest episode The Ottawa River, which won Best Accomplished Documentary at the National Paddling Film Festival last month.
Following the Wizard’s Eye
02.04.2013
In March of 2013, the sailboat Wizard’s Eye will sail quietly out of the Bay of La Paz, Mexico and begin a journey across the planet’s largest ocean, the Pacific. Led by world record holding extreme kayaker Tyler Bradt, the Wizard’s Eye crew will point the bow toward New Zealand, kicking off a five-year-long circumnavigation of the globe combining modern-day action sports with time-honored exploration. Their goal: to explore the limits of what’s humanly possibly while exploring the farthest reaches of the planet.
Rivers Be Dammed
01.29.2013
Reel Motion Inc. and American Whitewater’s Evan Stafford has two main passions in life: filming and river activism. The perfect stage right for such passions is set in Chile, Patagonia’s rivers are under threat to be dammed. Canoe & Kayak Magazine caught up with Stafford to see just what he plans for this project and will be following him as it unfolds.
Racing Through Stage 1
12.04.2012
The athletes kicked off the second annual Whitewater Grand Prix race yesterday with the first whitewater enduro stage on the Rio Gol Gol. They raced against the clock on a nearly one mile-long stretch of class V whitewater, navigating not only extremely technical rapids, but also several 15-20 foot waterfalls.
Whitewater Grand Prix II : Set in Chile
11.29.2012
This Saturday, Dec. 1, 30 kayakers from around the world will race in five stages over 14 days in the second annual Whitewater Grand Prix in Osorno, Chile. Set in some of the country’s steepest creeks and biggest whitewater, the Whitewater Grand Prix is considered the world’s most extreme whitewater competition where the best boaters can push the very limits of kayaking itself.
Bike2Boat, Norway
11.14.2012
For three weeks last July, filmmaker Olaf Obsommer, engineer Lukas Wielatt, and journalist Philip Baues traveled from river to river throughout Norway — all with their kayaks hitched to their bikes. Their goal was to paddle Norway’s classic whitewater while leaving a small carbon footprint and experiencing the challenge of minimalist travel. Biking with the [...]
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