touring kayak
Spotlight: Racquette River, N.Y.
06.08.2011
Former American Whitewater editor and longtime kayaker Chris Koll calls the Stone Valley section of New York’s Racquette River “one of the hardest commonly run rivers in the Adirondacks.” To see it in spring—a roaring white tumult—makes it tough to imagine that this three-mile stretch of the Racquette was nearly dry during the best paddling months.
Ellesmere Island Update: Eureka!
05.31.2011
We have been traveling really well so far. We have skied about 380 miles in 23 days—we could not have asked for better ice conditions thus far. Lots of adverse and dramatic weather: Really hot, then really cold, etc. We really have to be ready to throw on different layers all day long depending on what the polar environment gives us.
Video: ‘Into the Wind,’ featuring the ‘Round Ireland expedition
05.27.2011
Last week, C&K’s Conor Mihell interviewed Jeff Allen following Allen and partner Harry Whelan’s 25-day sea kayak circumnavigation of Ireland to establish a new speed record. Now comes a video trailer for the forthcoming film, “Into the Wind,” filmed and produced by Vaughan Roberts of Romany Productions, chronicling Allen and Whelan’s epic odyssey ’round Ireland.
Alone Around Ireland
05.25.2011
Just as Brit Jeff Allen and Irish paddler Harry Whelan were completing a rocket-fast 25-day circumnavigation of Ireland in early May, a solo sea kayaker from Northern Ireland was getting started on her own attempt to paddle around the Emerald Isle’s 1,000-mile perimeter. Elaine “Shooter” Alexander, a British Canoe Union instructor and former world-class surf kayaker…
Two-week triumph
05.25.2011
As the inaugural Whitewater Grand Prix wrapped up in Quebec with 17-year-old U.S. paddler Dane Jackson and New Zealand’s Lou Urwin taking top honors from the select international field, we can only sit back with slacked jaws watching the performances of athletes breaking new ground and pushing new limits in this one-of-a-kind competition for the [...]
Postcards, Part II
05.23.2011
—A little context from C&K‘s 2011 issue of Whitewater, now available on newsstands: “Lowdown: Cody Howard and company return for unfinished business from 2009’s The Risen Sun, hoping to knock off some firsts near Minikami, north-central Japan’s creekboating hub, as well as help the local paddling community’s rebuilding efforts following the devastating March earthquake and [...]
The Six-Mile Mire
05.23.2011
— This story originally ran in the Summer 2010 edition of Paddlesports Business. Last week, the federal government issued new rules to protect endangered killer whales that went into effect May 16. One of the new rules requires that all recreational vessels, including kayaks, stay twice as far away as previously required: 200 yards instead [...]
Record Breaker: 25 Days ‘Round Ireland
05.17.2011
Just when they thought they couldn’t push it any harder, Britain’s Jeff Allen and Irish paddler Harry Whelan dug deep, emptied the tanks and crushed the 20-year-old speed record for sea kayaking around Ireland. They completed the circumnavigation in 25 days; the previous record was 33 days.
Boomer, Turk Off to Ellesmere Island
05.12.2011
Erik Boomer and Jon Turk officially departed for their 100-something day attempt to circumnavigate Ellesmere Island on May 2, from Ottawa, Canada. As Boomer describes it, they will be linking together various puddle-jumping flights, including a stop-over on Baffin Island, until they reach the real “put-in.”
True Hair Boaters
05.12.2011
THERE’S A SELECT BREED OF PADDLER OUT THERE. The few, the very proud, who wear their helmets high for one simple reason: to protect their hair. Then there’s the rest, who eschew personal grooming on the water, letting their hair down (and out), and facial follicles slip well beyond five o’clock shadow, past 10:30 crustache and into the darkness of beard-dom. Fearing the razor ourselves, we salute those talented paddlers who red-line the shag-o-meter.
New Age Expeditions
05.11.2011
TO THE CASUAL ONLINE OBSERVER, it would appear that expedition sea kayaking has entered a golden age. It’s been barely a year since Freya Hoffmeister set the bar with her brazen 9,400-mile Race Around Australia. Since then, New York City’s Marcus Demuth traced the perimeter of Great Britain in a record-fast 80 days, a Norwegian team notched the first unsupported circumnavigation of Antarctica’s South Georgia Island (pictured above), and Aleksander Doba made the first continent-to-continent crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a kayak.
Delta Dispatches
05.10.2011
For the last 29 years, Joe Royer has spread his love of paddling the mighty Mississippi River each spring with the Outdoors Inc., Canoe & Kayak race. Royer founded Outdoors Inc., a Memphis-area outdoor equipment chain, in 1974 and watched his annual race swell last year to 500 entrants, including around 50 elite competitors. Unfortunately, [...]
We’re Giving Away an AIRIS Kayak
04.29.2011
New kayak going to only the finest of ‘friends’—’like’ us on Facebook to enter
Pluck of the Irish
04.15.2011
Among the many challenges awaiting sea kayakers Jeff Allen and Harry Whelan in their attempt to set a new speed record for circumnavigating Ireland, two stand out: The fickle weather and unforgiving cliffs of the Emerald Isle’s west coast, and the temptation of pints of Guinness in countless coastal pubs. Next week, Allen, a Brit, and Ireland-native Whelan will set off to try to break the 33-day circumnavigation record set in 1990 by Mick O’Meara, Dermot Blount, Brian Fanning and Karl Heery.
Kayak Fishing Tales: Twice Bitten
04.13.2011
The latest from Kayak Fishing Tales: “While fishing for yellowtail (kingfish) in New Zealand, Jim Sammons has a 40-pound yellowtail ripped from his hands by a hungry and aggressive shark:”
PFD or Manbag?
04.10.2011
Camera. Energy bar. Eye drops. Deflated beach ball. Film canister filled with a “mystery item.” Somewhere in the large pocket of my PFD is the goal of all this rummaging around: a simple tube of lip balm. Sometimes I wonder if my PFD is like a “manbag” where I bring something for every conceivable situation and can’t find any of it when I actually need it.
Paddler Completes South Island in NZ Circumnavigation Attempt
04.04.2011
By Tim Mutrie Tim Taylor of Tauranga, New Zealand just completed paddling around New Zealand’s South Island, and now he’s about halfway through completing his kayak circumnavigation of the North Island, too. Taylor, a 23-year-old tractor driver and former winemaker, is attempting to complete the first continuous solo kayak circumnavigation of New Zealand—the north and [...]
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