This “Grand Canyon” was a kind of riddle we were unprepared to solve. But in turning our backs on the daunting Canyon and the river locals call the Beriman, we turned our attention to finding a solution and a logistic that would one day make the dream of kayaking the Grand Canyon Pacific a reality.
Many people have written to me over the last few days asking me if we’ve returned from Argentina yet because they haven’t heard anything for ages. Here we are, it’s been a few weeks since we arrived back but the truth is that I still don’t feel like I’m home.
We are humans and we go paddling so inevitably our paddling lives have cultures built around them. These are things that have developed or evolved over the (relatively) short time that kayaking as a sport or pastime has existed.
Sportscene was given exclusive access to the pre-published draft of Hendri Coetzee's autobiography; the South African was one of the most-respected explorers and paddlers in African history who navigated, by raft, the source of the Nile to its sea-mouth, Coetzee was sadly presumed dead in 2010 following an attack on his kayak by a crocodile.
The Pyrenees is a well-known kayaking destination for the all round kayaker. The Noguera Pallaresa offers some great white water III sections, a slalom course and a play feature that was base for the the 2001 World Championships, the 2006 European Championships and the 2013 Sort Open International. All freestyle.
Put simply, trying canoe slalom could benefit many recreational paddlers today to sharpen their skills. However, while the Olympics has elevated top tier canoe slalom competition, has this made the idea of this discipline more inaccessible to the average recreation paddler?
Steve Fisher and a trio of the bravest elite white water paddlers undertake an expedition to become the first to successfully navigate the Inga Rapids, considered the sacred heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the most perilous descent in Africa, if not the world.
Press coverage after a canoeing tragedy tends to focus on the safety precautions that those involved took. Often one reads the throwaway line ‘the victim was not wearing a lifejacket’, journalistic short-hand for ‘the person involved took inadequate precautions and therefore bears some responsibility for the fact that he or she perished’.
Open Canoeing is usually limited with paddling locations by the size of the canoe. However, Jim Coffey from Esprit International (a well known single blader himself) ) has opened canoeing up in Mexico by building a fleet of Esquif Canoes in Jalcomulco, Mexico.
It all starts with a long journey........Not the kind of deep emotional journey you might see in a top hollywood blockbuster but an actual journey that took a long period of time.
The West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand is a well known kayaking mecca! A few weeks ago I decided it was time to step it up and get some solid boating in and I knew the West Coast would provide.