Boating & Water

Heading for the villa at one of the many breaks along the southern coast of Baja, Mexico. Photo: David Moran.. Operating on a tip that surfing in Mexico is better than surfing in California, I booked a two-hour flight from Los Angeles to check it out for myself.. It’s true. The water is warmer, the...

This cannot stand. I’m paddling in the Delaware River a couple of weeks ago, and a snake swims by me with a big fish in its mouth. Amazing. Weird.. I ran to my car to get my camera and ran back to the river to get a photo of the snake trying to swallow the...

I’ve been traveling to fly fish on the Missouri River near Craig, Montana, for eight years now.. My father, brother and I do this for the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, the art of the sport and the camaraderie that comes with spending a long day in the wild.. It’s an amazing place with...

Hendrik Coetzee, a pioneering South Africa whitewater kayaker and river explorer, was killed by a crocodile while paddling last week in the Democratic Republic of Congo.. Coetzee, 35, was on an Eddie Bauer-sponsored expedition down the Lukugu River in the Central Congo with American kayakers Ben Stookesberry and Chris Korbulic.. The three paddlers were in...

Whitewater paddlers love numbers. Get a group of them together and inevitably you’ll hear statements like, “ it was big, like 5.6” or “it sucked, 600 cfs”, or “I was paddling Rapid 9 with my 35 degree, 198,in my 1.5, at 600 cfs – that’s 1.2 at the bridge.”. While this numerical shorthand certainly...

The most out-control-feeling freestyle trick on the river, the loop is also one of the most impressive and fun things you can do in a kayak. The nice thing is that, despite its reputation, the loop is actually not that hard to pull off. Its all in the timing.. Getting set-up. To set up...

Workers installing solar panels on the roof of Kokatat’s California factory.. In an effort to reduce its carbon footprint, water sports apparel manufacture Kokatat has installed a large solar array to power its factory in Arcata, California.. The company, best known for its water-proof outwear for kayaking, canoeing, sailing and other damp sports estimates the...

Canyoneering in Nuy River Gorge, South Africa. Photo by Stormy Sweitzer.. Following the second pitch of a five-pitch descent, I made the mistake of being overconfident on flat land. I tripped and landed hard on a rock on my left shin and hand. The pain was intense, but it was only when I sat up...

We all own the rivers, right?. Not so fast. Paddler’s rights to navigate Western rivers will be a matter of debate this spring.. Trouble’s brewing in Utah. More accurately, it’s brewed and has begun to froth. The state legislature is debating the rights of paddlers to navigate the state’s river, according to American Whitewater.. One...

Whitewater paddlers in Washington DC are like hogs in . muck. They can work high-paying city-slicker jobs and still paddle . world-class whitewater in the evenings and on weekends. It’s a rare . combo.. Tons of whitewater rivers snake through the Appalachian Mountains of the surrounding states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, and...

With the wind at their backs on a following sea, Morgan and Jenny surfed the swells from Maui, landing near an abandoned resort on Lanai’s eastern shore.. Not long ago, “Club Lanai” welcomed moneyed day-trippers looking for the kind of beautiful and secluded Hawaiian adventure that only disposable income could buy. Today the pier sags...

A lucky dude surfing in late winter at Sandy Beach in Rincon, Puerto Rico.. The waiter was suspiciously tan. My friends and I had decided to splurge one night during our trip to Rincón, Puerto Rico, at a swanky Spanish villa-style restaurant where they serve the food under silver hoods, like in old movies.....

The Wildest Dream, a National Geographic movie about climber Conrad Anker finding George Mallory’s body on Mount Everest 75 years after his death, comes out on DVD on March 15, 2011. You can pre-order it through Virgil Films and other online DVD sellers.. Here’s the description of the movie from the website:. George Mallory...

The Australians are laughing at us. As we break out sweaters and chapstick here in the Northern Hemisphere, they continue their campaign of “slip, slop, slap” – slipping on a shirt, sloping on sunscreen, slapping on a hat. Okay. We get it. You live in a sun drenched paradise. . Now, to give the Aussies...

After nearly a century, the White Salmon River in Washington has been freed, opening a popular whitewater paddling run to natural water flows. On October 26, engineering blew up Condit Dam, which had constricted the flow of the river and covered a large stretch of the river bed since 1913.. “New and improved recreational...

A Hiker on the South Kaibab Trail about half-way to Phantom Ranch. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.. After intense lobbying by Coca Cola, the head of the National Park Service has blocked a plan to stop selling plastic bottles in Grand Canyon National Park, a policy intended to reduce plastic litter.. Fed...

The 2014 Whitewater Grand Prix puts together the world’s top whitewater kayakers to race on Eastern Canada’s high-volume rivers in a multi-stage, multi-discipline spectacle. A taste of the action is offered by this promo video for the case. .