Dec 6 | How to Paddle Like a Girl

by Andria Davis

Andria_Davis_31-100x100Andria Davis told you how female kayakers can learn from the guys (“Embracing Your Inner Dumbass“). Now, find out how paddling like a girl can help both men and women become better boaters.

 

I have a sticker on my raft guide paddle that states “Paddle Like a Girl.” There have been many teachings and theories over the years about how women paddlers are different than men because of our body shape and learning style. There’s no doubt that these schools of thought and the leader of that movement, Anna Levesque, have revolutionized women’s paddling and added to the increased numbers of women on the water. (Thank you!!) Lately, I’ve been looking at the subject from a slightly different angle: what can women and men paddlers learn from each other? I explored what the ladies can learn from the guys in my last article, “Embracing Your Inner Dumbass,” and now I’m wondering what it means to “paddle like a girl.”

As I said in “Inner Dumbass,” I’m not saying that men are always a certain way and that women are always a certain way. Many women have prodded me to find my inner dumbass, and I’ve seen many men walking rapids while women are running the shit.

DSC_0189 Continue reading →

Dec 1 | Fear and Dread on the Rio Sirupa

by Lacey Anderson

LaceyExpedition boater Lacey Anderson notched another rafting first descent this fall on Mexico’s Rio Sirupa. But, as you will see, it did not come easy.

 

 

The monsoonal rain would not stop and the river kept rising. A feeling of dread was overtaking me. Cascada Sirupa loomed only a few miles downstream; how big would the waterfall be? We were on day-five of a seven-day first raft descent of the Rio Sirupa in northern Mexico. The rain had begun in earnest two days earlier. I had nightmare visions of the class V waterfall that lay ahead becoming enormous and un-runnable with all this rain. From studying the topographical map and Google Earth I knew the potentially deadly waterfall was on a right hand turn of the river. My imagination was beginning to get the better of me. What if once we turned a possible blind corner we could not escape the current and were pulled into the waterfall? What if there were no calm water eddies due to the rising river level? What if there were so many trees and strainers in the eddies that we could not pull over? After all, we’d seen more and more debris floating in the river over the last few days—tree limbs, logs of all sizes, even a whole tree. The Rio Sirupa was becoming a river in flood stage!

Sirupa Scenery Continue reading →

Nov 15 | Rio Marañon: Expedition to the Grand Canyon of the Amazon

by Lacey Anderson

LaceyExpedition rafter Lacey Anderson checks in while preparing for her biggest trip ever, a mission to Peru’s Rio Marañon.

 

For many years now I’ve attempted to spend as much time as possible on rivers, seeking out extended wilderness journeys. I’m really excited about one particular multi-day trip coming up this fall. It will be the longest river expedition I’ve done to date—an entire month on the river.

A group of us will be spending 28 river days on the Rio Marañon in Peru. The expedition will start high in the Peruvian Andes at an elevation of around 7,000 ft and will end in the humid, tropical jungles at an elevation of about 1,000 feet. We’ll travel over 400 miles on this key tributary and hydrological source of the mighty Amazon. The canyon averages about 8,000 feet in depth on both sides for hundreds of miles. By the halfway point of our adventure we will have traversed a canyon that is deeper than the Grand Canyon, reaching a depth of nearly 10,000 feet in several places!

Rio Maranon Cacti Continue reading →

Nov 7 | The Kayaker’s Pledge: A Great Kayak Rolling Teaching Tool

by Devon Barker-Hicks

devonkayaktalkNRS ambassador Devon Barker-Hicks shares one of her favorite tools for teaching kayak rolling – the “Kayaker’s Pledge.”

 

I love teaching all aspects of kayaking, but I love helping paddlers improve their roll the most. Over the last few years, I’ve incorporated the term “kayaker’s pledge” into my teaching. If you’re struggling with your roll or helping another paddler improve their roll, I would encourage studying the etiquette of the kayaker’s pledge.

image2

Read the full article in the Learn section on NRS.com.

Oct 24 | Let It Go, Let It Flow: How to Worry Less, Paddle More and Live the Ultimate Lifestyle

by LJ Groth

IMGP3469Team NRS kayaker LJ Groth shares his secrets for living the ultimate  lifestyle. With some hard work and hustle, you can live the dream too.

 

Rain poured onto the porch of the old cabin and bounced off of the tents that waited for us in the field below. The Amtrak squealed around the river’s bends, shaking the picnic tables where we sat. The glow of the old 15” television screen captivated us all. It was a typical evening at Kids Camp at Riversport on the Yough, fifteen or so paddlers watching a movie on VHS to pass the time, but this night was special. John Weld, co-founder of Immersion Research, was our kayak instructor. That evening he introduced us to what some might claim to be the best whitewater film of all time. He said something like, “Some of these shots are insane. You guys are going to love this.” The funky soundtrack, the smiles, the exotic destinations, the high-profile paddlers and their high-level paddling (in Prijon Hurricanes) – it all added up to make Dan Gavere’s Kavu Day an instant inspiration.

IMGP7515

 

From that moment I knew I wanted to travel from river to river all over the world with my friends and play hacky sack and make videos about it all.

I can honestly say this film changed my life. From that moment I knew I wanted to travel from river to river all over the world with my friends and play hacky sack and make videos about it all. The next summer I traded in my Pirouette S for a bright red Hurricane. I was 13 years old. I vowed to go to Chile and Alaska, and I couldn’t stop thinking of how one day I would splat castles in Europe. Of course I was exposed to many other great kayak films, but Kavu Day captured the heart of the sport and lifestyle better than any other I had seen. Continue reading →