touring kayak
Mr. Canoe Paddles On
12.10.2012
Canoeing icon Ralph Frese died December 10 in a hospice overlooking the Chicago River’s East Branch. He was 86 years old. The proprietor of Chicagoland Canoe Base began paddling in a canvas-covered kayak on the Illinois River when he was a teenager. By the time he was 24, Frese was mass-producing canoes for his local Boy Scout troop, and in 1967 he paddled voyageur canoe replicas from Chicago to the World’s Fair in Montreal. In 1973 he retraced Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette’s 3,000-mile 1673 expedition.
Inside the Box
12.07.2012
Check out the latest mass-paddling concept from sit-on-top kayak design pioneer Tim Niemier.
Two Men Enter, One Team Wins
12.01.2012
The Robe race is among a handful of Pacific Northwest creek races for two-person teams, including B.C.’s Callaghan Creek Race and Washington’s Little White Salmon Race. Teams start together, and the clock stops when the second paddler crosses the line.
Convergences
12.01.2012
Where tectonic upheaval flatlines and the Brooks Range runs out, infinite space welcomes the traveler like a door thrown open. Blue as the Caribbean, the Canning River spills our two rafts from between foothills into the arctic coastal plain.
Gallery—Charlie Munsey
12.01.2012
In the first two weeks of February 2002, seven of the world’s best and boldest paddlers completed the first descent of Tibet’s Upper Tsangpo Gorge.
Heavy Medal
12.01.2012
If you caught Vavinec Hradilek’s silver-medal performance at this summer’s Olympic Games, you witnessed one of the world’s most dynamic slalom paddlers lay down a near-perfect run. But you probably missed the 25-year-old Czech’s clever shout-outs to his steep-creeking buddies.
Thoughts from a legend
12.01.2012
Al Widing Sr. has finished the 120-mile AuSable River Canoe Marathon a record 33 times, including 16 consecutive finishes from age 63 to 79.
Oversea Debris
12.01.2012
On March 11, 2011, the Tohoku earthquake, centered off the coast of northern Japan, generated powerful tsunami waves that slammed into 400 miles of the Japanese shoreline…The waves washed more than 5 million tons of debris out to sea. In the fall of 2011, some of the estimated 1.5 million tons of remaining flotsam—everything from buoys and boats to entire shipping containers—began arriving on North America ’s west coast.
Skook Classified
11.27.2012
Episode 1 of CanoeKayak.com’s exclusive four-part series detailing the core sea kayakers developing an invitational competition at freestyle kayaking’s hallowed grounds: the tidal rapids at Skookumchuck Narrows, B.C.
Congo takes the cake
11.27.2012
Congrats to Steve Fisher, whose latest film release, CONGO: The Grand Inga Project, produced by Red Bull Media House and made in association with Fish Munga, won Best Film at the 13th annual X-Dance Film Festival Nov. 8–11 in Salt Lake City. Fisher also took home the Athlete of the year honors.
Gallery (EXTRA)
11.26.2012
In the new December issue of Canoe & Kayak, available on newsstands now, photographer Benjamin Hjort made a huge visual statement about the paddling possibilities in his home country of Norway. Check out the behind-the-scenes action here and get the full story.
In the Eye of the Storm
11.12.2012
Dave and Amy Freemans’ 11,700-mile North American Odyssey survives a close encounter with Hurricane Sandy as the educator-wilderness trippers help outfitter Bill Stage of New Jersey Kayak in Barnegat, N.J. recover from the devastating storm.
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