Paddle: Kayaking, Canoeing & Rafting

Fall pickerel: Tyler Hughen, documentary photographer, and Kahlil Hudson, filmmaker and cinematographer, of Finback Films spend some time in northern Wisconsin compiling footage for an upcoming fly fishing documentary.

Produced by Finback Films

Paddle to Seattle is documentary featuring J.J. Kelley, a television producer for National Geographic, and Josh Thomas, a carpenter from Seward, Alaska, as they decide to build sea kayaks from pygmy wooden kits and paddle 1,200 miles from Juneau, Alaska to Seattle–96 days of exploration and adventure along the North American Inside Passage.

“…[W]hen you have three months at eight hours a day, you get to know yourself very well. And that’s huge just to go inside your brain to try to make yourself a better person. You learn just to be yourself,” says Josh Thomas in a National Geographic Traveler interview.

Produced by Ben Gottfried

Bryan Smith, kayaker/filmmaker of Reel Water Productions and the 22-episode outdoor series The Season, scouts Dipper Creek –a tributary of British Columbia’s Upper Squamish River–along with Chris Trentwold, Shane Robinson, and Todd Gillman. Rope-work, rappelling, rock climbing, and creative portaging required…

Produced by Reel Water Productions

Crystal Gorge: Roaring Fork Valley kayakers Fred Norquist and Jake Sakson take on the Crystal River’s short, two-mile run above Marble, Colorado–4-wheel drives required. This footage is part of Forge Motion Pictures’ WildWater–a kayaking movie chronicling destinations throughout the Rocky Mountains, Grand Canyon, and Ecuador.

Produced by Forge Motion Pictures

Edward Nickens of Popular Mechanics spends a few days paddling Louisiana’s salt marsh in search of sea trout and redfish and writes about the new breed of fishing kayaks: stable casting platforms, easy to paddle and maneuver, relatively indestructible, light and portable, and most of all, comfortable.

“These new fishing-friendly designs have ushered in a golden age of small-craft angling. According to the Paddlesports Industry Association, kayak fishing is the fastest growing segment of human-powered water recreation. These boats are introducing outdoor enthusiasts who might never have considered themselves paddlers to a new kind of fishing adventure.”

Native’s Ultimate Hybrid and Hobie’s Mirage Pro Angler are loosely reviewed.

A man’s struggle to find his birthright: Californian Michael Mitchell–a spinal cord survivor from a teenage surfing accident–displays a daily ritual of independence and his desire to be “free,” “fluid,” “natural,” and more like his “God-given self”…

Produced by Sean Mullens

Susan Carpenter of The Los Angeles Times writes about her Panamanian excursion to the Valle Escondido Resort & Spa, where hiking, beach time, and whitewater rafting are daily eco-tourism attractions.

“The driver, who also turned out to be the rafting guide, was exactly on time the next morning, at the brutal-for-vacation hour of 7. Scooping up two other couples on the way, we raced northwest on the Pan-American Highway, then took secondary roads and, finally, a treacherous deep-in-the-jungle dirt road. Twenty minutes from the river we would be rafting, the driver slowed to pick up another man who seemed to appear out of nowhere. He was the driver who would move the van from the head of the river to its tail and pick us up a few hours later.”

Yes, “skyaking” is what it sounds like: skydiving with a kayak. Miles Daisher, a resident of Twin Falls, Idaho and a longtime BASE jumper and skydiver, tells The Daily Telegraph how he came up with the idea of throwing himself and plastic boats out of planes and helicopters.

“‘It took us nearly a year before we could get our wish to come true as no one was really looking to throw a kayak out of an aeroplane. To begin with we did it off a 600ft bridge on a static line, and landed in Feather River, California,’” says Daisher. “‘A year later I got permission to jump out of an aeroplane and so since that time I have jumped out of four different aircraft, including a helicopter.’”

In the last few years, thousands of Texas anglers have begun utilizing kayaks to explore everything from Hill Country rivers to coastal estuaries in search freshwater bass and saltwater redfish and sea trout. Shannon Tompkins of the Houston Chronicle writes about the advantages of these nimble and cost effective fishing solutions.

“Kayaks are relatively inexpensive (certainly when compared to power boats); can be easily transported without a trailer; allow anglers to access places such as narrow, shallow, rocky Hill Country rivers or knee-deep, back-bay flats that powerboats can’t; and, perhaps most importantly, can be a tremendously effective way to fish.”

Important options to consider for any quality fishing kayak: comfortable seat, durable rod holders and leashes, carrying weight, dry storage, and soft cooler storage.

photo credit: paddling

Amazon Headwaters

Helen Skelton, an English television personality for the British children’s series Blue Peter and life long outdoorswoman, recently kayaked the entire Amazon River (roughly 2,010 miles) from Nauta, Peru to Almeirim, Brazil, setting two world records for “longest solo journey by kayak and the longest distance travelled in a kayak in 24 hours by a woman.” Before the journey, she had never set foot in a kayak.

The extensive journey–to provide aid for the charity Sport Relief–was not without challenges: “[Skelton] had two injections to counteract heat exhaustion and was bitten by insects hundreds of times. She endured blisters, sores and seasickness so bad she sometimes felt like giving up. Making more than a million strokes, she went through some 150ft of medical tape to protect her hands,” reports Stephen Adams and Ben Leach of The Daily Telegraph.

photo credit: quinet