Canoe & Kayak Staff

Frederick Reimers, Editor

Frederick was raised at Keewaydin, a canoe-tripping camp established in 1893 and located on a island in Lake Temagami, smack dab in the middle of some of the world’s finest canoe country. By the time he was 22 he’d been a member of five canoeing expeditions longer than 40 days. He spent his twenties paddling and guiding all over North America, including stints in a raft in Wyoming, West Virginia, Utah, Colorado, Alaska and a few winters spent guiding sea kayak expeditions in Baja.

He acquired a laptop computer in 1997, and stayed out of the water long enough for his articles to appear in The Jackson Hole News, Sports illustrated, Outside, Skiing Men’s Journal and Paddler, where he eventually became the managing editor for three years and conned them into sending him to India, Peru and Tahiti on assignment.

Favorite Boat: Eskimo Salto, the Class V overnight machine.

Good times: “The moment I hit my first flat spin on Jackson Hole’s towering King’s Wave (before the gravel bar shifted and the wave changed) in the paradigm-shifting X-boat. At that moment, I knew everything was different.”

Bad times: “Realizing what I jerk I was for belittling my then-girlfriend for not hitting her roll at the bottom of Zoom Flume rapid on the Arkansas River, when just being on the run at all was a major accomplishment for her.”

Secretly loves: Shopping at IKEA

Age: Summer of Love, 1967

Gig: Managing editor slash cameraman

Known for: Bitching about carrying his boat, and running stuff he shouldn't to avoid same

Likes to drink: Tequila, and tequila with lime juice

Boating since: 1996

Has paddled in: Twenty-three states, seven countries, and one territory, using everything from a Perception Dancer (first boat) to the hopelessly hogged Blue Hole canoe he re-gunwaled one winter

Came from: Oregon by way of Washington D.C., where he reported on the Pentagon and the CIA, listened to politicians lie, and learned to shower every day after work

Brags about: Exposing the illicit arms deal that helped topple Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori

Also brags about: Catching a 40-pound tuna from his kayak in Baja

Never talks about: Losing his sea kayak in Glacier Bay

Writes for: Anyone who pays, which on occasion has included Sports Illustrated, Outside, Mother Jones and the Washington Post

In high school: Had a 1966 Mustang (primer and red), and a mullet

Favorite department at C&K: The swag closet

Before work: Tries to paddles outrigger canoe, or tries to learn how to surf

After work: Eats two Hungry Man frozen dinners and watches Love Connection reruns

Says a good weekend: Lasts all week

John Bolivar AKA JB, WebEditor/Staff Photographer

JB got his first kayaking fix in paddlers heaven while working as a wildlife biologist - SE Alaska. Since then his addiction has led him kayaking all over the world. He spent 8 years teaching and leading kayak tours with Seattle's legendary Northwest Outdoor Center and 7 years owning his own tour company and roaming the waters of Costa Rica, Belize , Baja and the Pacific Northwest. After a brief bout of insanity during which he owned a coffee shop (doesn't everyone in Seattle own one?) , started a sporting goods store and worked as a medical photographer he returned to his first loves, paddling and photographing his travels.

His cameras have taken him all over the world - shooting videos in Africa of orphanages, commercial photography at remote Canadian fish camps, even medical photography in a jungle camp in Guatemala. Those cameras have spawned pictures appearing in National Geographic, Outside, Sierra and Backpacker and over 30 magazines as well as the catalogs of Patagonia, Cascade Designs, Kokatat, Kavu, Chaco, REI , OR,Territory Ahead and a bunch of others.
Two years ago he started working as C & K's webeditor and staff photographer. He lives in Seattle with Martin, his 6 year old paddling partner and his ex-girlfriend, Jean. Isn't every guy's wife their ex-girlfriend?

Favorite boat: The one he is in at the moment. Boats are his tools and being in the industry he knows all the tool makers. He does have a particular affinity for handmade skin boats though..."works of art on the water" is how he describes them.

Memorial Paddles: JB's memory book is full of "highlights" but one of his faves is taking his dad sea kayaking for the first time. His dad was 65 , never been kayaking and it was the first time JB was the "boss" as far his father was concerned. They weathered some nasty weather on the outer coast of Vancouver Island and survived being stranded in a very small tent in torrential rains. Luckily they did not talk politics on that trip.

Equally as memorable was his first overnight kayaking trip in the Gulf Islands with his then 5 year old son. They stayed up late watching the moon and listening to otters then spent the days catching crabs, paddling with seals and watching eagles fly overhead. The best part - knowing that it was the first trip in a whole lifetime of future paddle adventures .

Worst Paddling Moment: Taking his wife to be,Jean, on her first kayaking trip. She was in the front of a double taking the brunt of 3 foot breakers as they pummeled her. She survived and still enjoys paddling but now she doesn't believe him when he says "just a little weather ahead."

Don't ask:How much farther is it? What's for dinner? Will it hurt?

Kate Stepan, Associate Editor

As a child, Kate would stick a make-believe microphone in the face of anyone who would talk to her. She has been reporting since the newfound freedom of a driver’s license had her buzzing about her small hometown of New Tripoli, Pennsylvania, writing stories and snapping photos for the weekly Northwestern Press. Gigs at her college newspaper at George Washington, the Hatchet, and Skiing magazine led her to C&K.

For the last three years, she has been livin’ the dream in a way that would make John Denver proud — teaching skiing in Colorado and raft guiding in West Virginia. At age 25, she has found a way to combine her passions for writing and paddling and turn them into a steady paycheck as associate editor at C&K.

Boats: Keepin’ it old school with a WaveSport Ace 4.7 and Pyranha Micro 240.

Proudest moment: Scooping the Washington Post with a story about rape charges against a GW basketball player at the Hatchet.

Most embarrassing moment: Getting thrashed while leading friends through Bastard on the Upper Yough, swimming in the eddy next to the hole, and having a video boater catch it all on tape.

Paddling experience: Got her feet wet on the knee-high Lehigh in 2003, started guiding and shooting rafting videos in West By-God in 2004. Got a head-splitting introduction to Colorado Class V in 2006; had an eerily similar head-splitting experience in an outrigger canoe on a reservoir in Boulder, Colorado last fall.

Known for: Dismissing anything labeled “women-specific” as lame and unenlightened.