In Vermont on a partially frozen pond, a 19-year-old took to frigid waters armed with a canoe, rake, shovel and life jacket to rescue a deer that had broken through thin ice. Griffin Marquis was on his way home when he received a call from his grandfather. The message: a deer had fallen through the ice on Derby Pond.
Young hunter canoes out to deer stranded on frozen pond
Upon arrival home, Marquis got into a canoe and used a shovel to both paddle and haul himself across the ice to reach the doe.
“The deer was pretty shaken up,” Marquis shared. “It didn’t have a whole lot of energy left.”
After reaching the doe, Marquis attempted several methods of rescue from towing the doe with a rope to pulling the doe closer with a rake. Eventually and after repeated attempts, Marquis got the deer into his canoe.
Feature Image: Griffin Marquis paddles out on frozen Derby Pond to rescue a deer. CNN Newsource/WCAX/WKRC | YouTube
“It wasn’t really happy to be in there with me, but it made it in,” Marquis said. “So I sat for another about three minutes with it in the canoe, try to calm it down, make it feel safe.”
The doe relaxed and Marquis began the journey to shore, but they weren’t out of the woods yet. The canoe broke through ice on the surface of the water, making a loud noise. Startled, the doe lurched and jumped out of the canoe, sending both Marquis and the deer into the chilly waters of Derby Pond. Thanks in part to Marquis’ choice to wear a life jacket, he made it back to shore safely, but the doe was still in peril.
“I went under, right over my head. Took the wind right out of me and breath out of me and it was just kind of fight mode to get out of there,” said Marquis.
The Derby Pond rescue continues
Upon reaching shore Marquis warmed up with a hot shower and made to head back out to continue rescuing the doe. His grandfather, Doug Spates, watched the whole ordeal from shore and encouraged Marquis not to go back out.
“I just said ‘Griff this isn’t worth it. You know I want to save a deer but it’s not worth something happening,’” said Spates. “But you don’t say no to Griff, because he was pretty determined that he was going to save that deer.”
Marquis couldn’t be persuaded and paddled back out to the deer a second time. When he reached the doe, Marquis grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, and with his other hand paddled the canoe with a rake. When he reached shallower water, Marquis jumped out of the canoe and pulled the deer to safety.
CNN Newsource/WCAX/WKRC reported that in addition to being an animal rescuer, Marquis is also an avid hunter.
“I figured you know, my life revolves a lot about hunting,” explained Marquis. “I love to hunt and I know that I’m putting it [the deer] to good use. I’m feeding my family, I’m feeding my friends and I thank that deer very much for letting me take its life. I figured I could give back to the deer myself.”
“Obviously I didn’t want to sit there and watch it suffer. I figured I’d do what I could to get it out,” Marquis added. “It was a sigh of relief, watching it walk away into the woods.”
Sporting goods is among the three most-affected market segments among hundreds of industries affected by tariffs. | Feature photo: Alamy
We all saw this coming. During the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign, Donald Trump frequently expounded on his love for tariffs, a variety of tax on international trade he calls “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.” The president made liberal use of tariffs in his first administration, starting in 2018 with a series of levies that roiled the paddlesports industry. And when Trump left office in 2021, his successor Joe Biden kept many of those tariffs in place.
Since regaining office in January 2025, Trump has used tariffs and the threat of tariffs as a cudgel against friend and foe alike. By April, he had tariffed nearly every country on the face of the Earth, with special attention to America’s two biggest trading partners, Canada and Mexico, and its greatest economic rival, China. Dozens of countries announced counter-tariffs, both targeted and broad-based.
Sweeping trade war hits paddlesports from all sides with little relief in sight
Paddlesports is vulnerable
Paddlesports is a globally integrated industry, straddling the retail, service and manufacturing sectors. The United States, Canada and Europe all make boats and paddling gear, and all import boats and equipment from each other. As a globally integrated industry, tariffs hit the paddlesports business both coming and going.
The supply chain economist Jason Miller has tracked tariffs by North American Industry Classification System [NAICS] codes, and found that sporting goods is among the three most-affected market segments among hundreds of demarcated industries.
“Outdoor products and paddlesports particularly are just incredibly susceptible because you have inelastic price demand for durable goods,” says former Eddyline CEO Scott Holley, now with the Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. “What you’re paying tariffs for is a larger portion of the finished product compared to something like electronics where you’re buying a lot of engineering talent and marketing. In paddlesports, the ratio of goods that are tariffed to services within the cost structure is much higher.”
Sporting goods is among the three most-affected market segments among hundreds of industries affected by tariffs. | Feature photo: Alamy
Okay, class dismissed. How does that play out in the real world? If you ask almost anyone in the paddling business, they’ll say it sure would be nice to know. Because right now it’s still anyone’s guess.
“Business owners can handle pretty much anything except for unpredictability. We can predict a lot, but we can’t predict what the president is going to do today,” says Rutabaga Paddlesports owner Darren Bush. “We’re living in a roulette wheel.”
Sea Eagle partner John Hoge is no stranger to the tariff game. During the last round of Trump tariffs starting in 2018 he proved to be a savvy player, applying for and receiving exemptions for the drop-stitch kayaks and aluminum paddles he imports from Asia. Those exemptions expired after 18 months, and Biden kept many of the so-called Trump tariffs in place when he took office in 2021. In the interim, Sea Eagle had moved the bulk of its inflatable kayak production from China to Vietnam. In January this year, Hoge told Paddling Business the shift had given him a relative leg up on competitors who stayed in China.
Weeks later, Trump announced a new 46 percent tariff on Vietnam.
“When it comes to tariffs, I’m pretty much in a Jesus-take-the-wheel mindset.”
—Simon Coward, AQ Outdoors
The episode illustrates the unpredictable tariff environment paddlesports finds itself in. Hoge was not immediately impacted by the increased Vietnam tariffs because he had filled his warehouse with product between the U.S. election in November 2024 and President Trump’s inauguration on January 20th this year. That strategy has paid off—so far.
“A company’s reaction could be ingenious if it’s in anticipation, or ruinous if you zig when Trump zags,” he says. “With 145 percent Chinese tariffs, a whole bunch of crazy stuff starts to make sense. But if you put a couple million bucks in that direction and then [the Chinese tariff] goes back to 30 percent—like it did—that’s all wasted.”
In July, President Trump announced he’d reached a deal with Vietnam to stabilize tariffs at 20 percent. Hours later, Politico reported that the rate in a draft agreement painstakingly negotiated by both sides had in fact been 11 percent. As Paddling Business went to press no formal deal with Vietnam had been signed.
The roulette wheel spins on.
As a globally integrated industry, tariffs hit the paddlesports business both coming and going. | Photo: Courtesy AQ Outdoors
No winners, just losers
President Trump claims his tariffs will revitalize American manufacturing and make the United States “rich as hell.” If those policies boost any American industry, it should be paddlesports. Hardshell boats are produced all over the world—in China, Europe, Canada and in the United States, where leading brands compete effectively with foreign rivals at every price point.
If any companies were to benefit from tariffs, it should be the likes of Jackson Kayak in Sparta, Tennessee, BIG Adventures in Fletcher, North Carolina, and Confluence in Greenville, South Carolina. Yet those companies report tariffs have actually hurt their business, both at home and especially abroad. All export to countries that have enacted retaliatory tariffs on American goods. Meanwhile, the Trump tariffs have increased materials costs, sometimes dramatically.
“Nobody’s gaining because even for American-made boats, the plastic came from China,” says OKC Kayak owner Dave Lindo. “The screws, the fittings, the seats—all of it came from abroad.”
Chinese plastic can be tariffed both coming and going because the polyethylene trade between the U.S. and China is a circular one. China consumes 38 percent of U.S. ethane-ethylene exports, much of which returns stateside as toys, drainpipes, sandwich bags, and the high-density polyethylene pellets many U.S. kayak manufacturers mold into boats. In March, Trump boosted the tariff on the import of Chinese plastic from 10 to 20 percent. While modest compared to the levy on many other Chinese products, this adds up to real money: China exported $18.2 billion worth of plastic to the United States in 2024. If the trade volume remains the same this year, American importers will pay an additional $3.6 billion in tariffs just to take delivery. Though paddlesports accounts for a tiny sliver of those U.S. plastics imports, plastic feedstock is the biggest single material expense for every kayak manufacturer.
In April, Trump imposed a 25 percent levy on all steel and aluminum imports to the United States, and then doubled the tax to 50 percent in June. The impact is impossible to avoid, even for manufacturers that source materials domestically.
“Our fastener suppliers make our stainless-steel bolts here, but guess where they buy their metal? It’s not the United States,” says Jackson Kayak Director of Sales Colin Kemp. “Even now, depending on the vendor, we’re already getting hit with 15 percent cost increases because of tariffs.”
Meanwhile, retaliatory tariffs from the EU and Canada are decimating export markets for U.S. paddlesports firms. Six years ago, a 25 percent EU tariff on U.S. kayaks and canoes made it nearly impossible for American companies to remain price-competitive, and the cost of U.S.-made paddlecraft remains high throughout Europe.
“Today a Waka Billy Goat is €1,399 ($1,622 USD) at my local shop. A Jackson Gnarvana is €2,499 ($2,898 USD),” an Irish paddler reported on Reddit in June. “Sales of U.S.-made stuff is going to shrink massively.” Jackson kayaks are made in Tennessee; Waka kayaks in Italy.
Jackson and other U.S.-made kayaks are also more expensive in Canada. Western Canoe Kayak in British Columbia stocks the Gnarvana for $2,475 CAD ($1,803 USD)—about $200 more than the typical stateside price. Those prices could well increase later this season or next year, after retailers sell through inventory they imported before Canada’s retaliatory tariffs took effect.
“Business owners can handle pretty much anything except for unpredictability…We’re living in a roulette wheel.”
—Darren Bush, Rutabaga
The Trump tariffs, and the president’s aggressive language about making Canada “the 51st state,” have provoked a powerful backlash, with 78 percent of Canadians telling the Angus Reid Institute they are buying fewer American products in response. “All the major supermarkets here are highlighting what’s Canadian and what’s not,” says Simon Coward, owner of AQ Outdoors in Calgary. The saving grace for American paddlesports companies selling into Canada is the relative dearth of made-in-Canada alternatives.
“We wouldn’t have any product if we didn’t have U.S. product. We’d be selling Level Six and Salus and I don’t know what else,” Coward says.
AQ Outdoors’ drysuit rack is a microcosm of the tariff effect on paddlesports. The Calgary specialty retailer sells Level Six from Canada, Asian-made suits from NRS, and Kokatat from the United States. Level Six ships tariff-free within Canada, and NRS avoids duties on products it ships directly to Canada from Asian factories. Kokatat must pay Canada’s 25 percent retaliatory tariff on U.S. goods. As a result, Coward says, the Kokatat price has shot up relative to the Canadian and Asian competition. “Level Six and NRS drysuits range from $1,300 to $1,800 CAD ($950 to $1,300 USD), and now Kokatat drysuits are $2,500 CAD ($1,800 USD),” Coward says.
“These tariffs have really impacted our exports,” says Steve Jordan, who handles international and domestic sales at BIG Adventures. The North Carolina-based manufacturer of Liquidlogic, Native Watercraft and Bonafide kayaks worked hard to keep its foothold in Europe during the first Trump administration, when the European Union answered U.S. tariffs with a 25 percent import tax on canoes and kayaks. “A lot of brands pulled out of the European market because of those tariffs, but we stayed committed. We got very creative with our distributor in Germany to find ways to minimize the impact, and we were able to survive it.”
To Jordan, the second Trump administration feels like déjà vu with a twist. “Now we’re faced with another tariff and a big part of it is just the uncertainty. One minute it’s 25 percent, one minute it’s going to be 50 percent,” he says. “It’s hard to manage your strategy when the tariffs are just all over the map.”
Prices could increase next year after retailers sell through inventory they imported before tariffs took effect. | Photo: Brenna Kelly
From boat manufacturers to paddle makers, tariff uncertainty makes for a challenging business climate. | Photo: Patrycja Hyrsz
No sudden moves
The tariffs have left everyone in the paddlesports industry mulling the sticky question of how much of the tariff costs they should—or can afford not to—pass along. For many, the question is a matter of forecasting. They still have warehouses full of imported goods, and the tariff environment remains, to put it very simply, fluid.
“If there’s anything we’ve learned throughout this tariff situation is that it can change on a dime,” says NRS Chief Marketing Officer Mark Deming. “Our philosophy is to stay the course for now and monitor it really closely. When we need to make a move, we’ll make a move, but we’re not going to make knee-jerk decisions we might have to reverse.”
“In these times, the old saying that hope is not a strategy doesn’t apply. Hope is the only strategy.”
—John Hoge, Sea Eagle
Coward initially spent a lot of time trying to plan for tariffs, before deciding just to watch his brokerage invoices and adjust prices as needed. “It’s a bit reactive, which we don’t love being, but being too proactive in such tumultuous times can be a bit of a time suck,” he says. “When it comes to tariffs, I’m pretty much in a Jesus-take-the-wheel mindset.”
While the full impact on pricing won’t become clear until brands release their 2026 price lists, some companies already have announced midseason increases, citing the cost of tariffs. “We’ve gotten letters saying tariff prices are in force as of today, from accessory brands as well as boat manufacturers, so the tariff effect from Donald Trump is already here,” OKC Kayak’s Lindo told Paddling Business in June. The Yale Budget Lab estimates Trump’s tariffs could cost the average American family an extra $2,400 this year. That leaves precious little for discretionary purchases like boats and paddling gear.
“The problem is people are resisting buying at the old prices,” Lindo says. “They’re not going to buy it at this new price at all.”
Consumer confidence in the United States has declined sharply since January, and the mood looking forward is glum. The Conference Board’s Expectations Index—a monthly assessment of consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions—dipped to 69 in June before rebounding to 74.4 in July—still well below the threshold of 80 that typically signals a recession ahead. The retreat in confidence was shared by all age groups and political affiliations, and almost all income groups. Notably, tariffs remained on top of consumers’ minds and were frequently associated with concerns about inflation, high prices and the negative impact of tariffs on the economy.
The Conference Board and similar surveys are focused on the entire U.S. economy or industry segments far larger than paddlesports. To assess the impact on paddling specialty retail, livery operations and manufacturing we must rely on anecdotal reports. Those are not good.
In a business environment characterized by slow sales and uncertain demand, the last thing paddlesports needs is increased taxes—let’s not forget that tariffs are a type of tax—and more uncertainty. That’s what the industry is facing now, Hoge says. “We have to place orders from Vietnam and in theory that could snap back to 46 percent. That would be ruinous,” he says.
And if it does?
“We’re just hoping it doesn’t,” he says. “In these times, the old saying that hope is not a strategy doesn’t apply. Hope is the only strategy.”
The Explainer, Tariff Edition
Some (but not all) of President Trump’s tariff actions in one sentence
Ready? Deep breath … Go!
Since taking office on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump has launched sweeping trade policies centered around import taxes, aka tariffs, on goods from nearly every country on the planet, starting with his announcement hours after being sworn in that America’s two closest neighbors and biggest trading partners, Canada and Mexico, would pay for their inability to stop the flow of fentanyl from Mexico (and imaginary fentanyl from Canada) with 25 percent tariffs; then on January 25, 2025 Trump announced a 60 percent tariff on all Chinese imports including electronics, electric vehicles, non-electric vehicles, steel, textiles, and more, as part of an “economic decoupling strategy” from the world’s second-biggest economy; then on February 11, Trump resurrected a 25 percent tariff on all foreign steel and aluminum; and then on March 11, Trump aimed his ire at the fentanyl lords of the Great White North, threatening to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum and maybe annex the whole country, which got Mark Carney elected prime minister; followed on March 13 by a 60 percent tariff on Vietnamese electronics and textiles because, according to Trump (and pretty much everyone else) Vietnam was and still is acting as a proxy for Chinese companies; then on March 26 Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on Mexican and Canadian automobiles and auto parts (in apparent breach of the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which Trump himself negotiated in his first term and hailed as “the best agreement we’ve ever made!” so he later backed off of those tariffs); all of which was prelude to April 2 (“Liberation Day”) when Trump announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on imports from almost every country in the world, including uninhabited islands but not Russia, plus higher “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries that, briefly, pushed tariffs on Vietnamese imports to 45 percent and China tariffs to 145 percent, causing the global stock markets to plunge and Trump to suspend the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to give countries time to make deals with the White House, which none did, so then Trump extended the deadline to August 1; but in the meantime, he doubled steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 percent and the administration later announced that the United States had collected $27.2 billion in tariff revenues in the month of June, which is a lot of money but probably not enough for Congress to replace portions of federal income tax with tariff revenue as the president has suggested and experts warn would drive inflation, provoke retaliatory tariffs, upend supply chains and destabilize global markets; and then, on July 27, the president announced “the biggest of all the deals,” setting a 15 percent tariff on most U.S. trade with the European Union, and no tariff on U.S. goods going the other way,which brings us to August 21, when Paddling Business went to press, and if you don’t like the tariffs now just wait, because U.S. tariff policy is like the weather in Maine, it changes every five minutes.
This article was first published in the 2025 issue of Paddling Business. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
Sporting goods is among the three most-affected market segments among hundreds of industries affected by tariffs. | Feature photo: Alamy
Nikki Bettis and daughter "Not Oatmeal" paddle the Mississippi River. Image: 32 Feet Up
On November 22, 2025 single mother Nikki Bettis and her seven youngest children finished paddling the Mississippi River, reaching the Gulf of Mexico after 2,350 miles in 96 days. In 2023, the family, including the oldest eight children, had hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. The crew took on the name 32 Feet Up, accounting for the 15 sets of feet of her children and Bettis herself.
The Mississippi paddlers in Bettis’ family range in age from six to fourteen, and the family was accompanied by their adopted grandfather, Smoky. Paddling Mag caught up with Bettis to learn more about the logistics, challenges and rewards of thru-paddling with kids.
Single mom thru-paddles Mississippi with seven children
Bettis shared that going outside with kids, whether for a short paddle or the entire Mississippi can feel daunting.
“My biggest thing I have learned,” explained Bettis, “[is that] you’ll never ever have all of the answers.”
With a background in hiking and mountains, paddling the Mississippi was a new challenge for the family; the risks and hazards were different from what Bettis expected.
The Bettis family paddles the Mississippi River from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. Image: 32 Feet Up
“The internet screams whirlpools, eddies, currents, things like that… and that kind of shocked me how many people are actually afraid of the river itself. You get out here and if you have some common sense and go into it educated, this is absolutely possible.”
For Bettis, the perceived dangers of the trip, steep eddylines and whirlpools, didn’t match up with the reality the family experienced on the water. In fact, the biggest hazards for the family came from close calls with other humans.
“Speedboats on lakes… those were the most dangerous things we’ve encountered so far,” shared Bettis, adding that the scariest moment of the trip for her was when a speed boat on a lake cut through the group, separating the family and throwing a wake. “We communicate well with our VHF radios but it was actually the speedboats of the lakes up north [that posed a hazard].”
Education through paddling along the Mississippi River
While the traditional thru-paddle might go for speed or miles, Bettis’ goal was to use the river as an interactive classroom and teaching tool for her homeschooled children. After traditionally homeschooling her older eight children, Bettis shared some of the merits of the hands-on classroom the outdoors offers.
“Everything comes to life,” explained Bettis about homeschooling from the water. “They’re a lot more prone to remembering things and identifying with it if they’ve touched it, seen it, smelled it, lived it.”
Nikki Bettis and daughter “Not Oatmeal” paddle the Mississippi River. Feature Image: 32 Feet Up
Bettis’ homeschooling on the river was made possible by a support vehicle, enabling the family to leave the river banks and head into towns and cities along the way to better learn. Leading up to the trail, Bettis focused on researching and educating her children on water safety. Once on the trail, the education goals shifted to science, geography and history.
“We’re not doing paperwork. It’s just not happening on the trail,” explained Bettis. “I want to give them experiences… honestly I still to this day kind of hated history up until this trail. Then you realize the things that happened around you, and you’re standing on the ground it actually happened on.”
Nikki Bettis hopes her journeys with her family will inspire others to get outside
After hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2023 with all 15 of her children, it took some time to adjust to the dynamics of a smaller group with the younger seven children and become acquainted with a new type of trail.
“It’s almost like a relationship that develops. You begin to fall in love with the sound of barges at night and the trains,” said Bettis. “It’s a very bittersweet feeling and I think that goes with any trail because you realize all these things are coming to an end.”
Ultimately, hopes in sharing about her and her families’ adventures is that they inspire other families and people to get outside.
“You don’t have to thru-paddle or thru-hike anything… just get out there and start having experiences,” shared Bettis. “One of the best things for us as a family is getting away from screens… when you’re paddling, your hands are tied up. You’re not drinking as much water, you’re not testing and it forces you to just be in the moment. I think more people need to do that, just get outside.”
During the holiday season, some are gearing up for winter activities like skiing and skating, some are planning to mad dash across malls for their holiday shopping, but if you’re like us, you’re probably scouring the web to see what kind of Black Friday kayak deals you can discover and score some sweet new paddling gear for you and yours.
Well, search no longer. We’ve gone ahead a put together an up-to-date list of the best kayak deals we could find across the internet for the most anticipated shopping event of the year. Check back daily as new deals go live.
Best Black Friday & Cyber Monday kayak deals
Our favorite deals
Jackson Kayak Flow 40% off.
Advanced Elements
Packlite Packraft 50% off at Eco Fishing Shop — $979.99$499.99
Save on select flotation, drysuits, gear and apparel. Each order removes marine debris from the Pacific thanks to the Blue Friday initiative — Up to 40% off
James Campbell wasn’t at all the sporty creeker guy Dagger designer Snowy Robertson spent two years building a boat for. But Campbell is going to buy one anyway. | Feature photo: Scott MacGregor
What do General Electric engineer James Wright, 3M Laboratories researcher Spencer Silver, and Dagger Kayaks designer Mark “Snowy” Robertson all have in common? Need a hint? Three of these guys created something awesome by mistake. They didn’t set out to create Silly Putty, Post-it sticky notes and a quiver-killing whitewater kayak. But the world is a better place nonetheless.
Whitewater Kayak Review: Dagger Indra
The Dagger Indra was intended to be a sport creeker. “Our team of Dagger athletes were asking for a boat capable of running creeks, but with more playability,” says Robertson. “Something between the Rewind and the Code, with some speed of the Phantom.”
Before I tell you how awesome this boat is, let’s look at all the little bits that make it so.
If you’re still paddling a Dagger Mamba or Axiom, or any other kayak from way back before the pandemic, you’re going to love the bow of new Dagger boats. With each new boat, beginning with the Phantom, Robertson and his team have added more rocker. So far, more rocker has always been better.
They’ve also played with width, volume and deck shape ahead of the cockpit. If you’re a mountain biker, it’s a bit like riding a 29er for the first time—the front wheel seems huge. They roll over everything. Same with the bow of the Indra. Stop looking at the bow and let it ride up and over pretty much everything in its path.
“In the Indra, we added even more rocker and more width to the bow,” says Robertson. “It stays on the surface and feels floatier. It’s easier to maintain speed when the bow is dry. And, water isn’t hitting you in the chest.”
Watching the bow of the Indra skip over holes and reactionary waves is impressive. If I were in the marketing department at Dagger, I’d create side-by-side video comparisons of the Mamba and the Indra running the same drops and punching through the same holes. I’d show team athletes doing it, and I’d film club boaters, too. Or bring back paddling demo days and let naysayers try it for themselves. We’ve truly come a long way. It’s shocking how much easier and more fun the Indras are to paddle.
James Campbell wasn’t at all the sporty creeker guy Dagger designer Snowy Robertson spent two years building a boat for. But Campbell is going to buy one anyway. | Feature photo: Scott MacGregor
Okay, the bow rocker evolution is cool. But it’s not the real news story here. We need also to be excited about the stern of the Indra.
First, Robertson and the team removed volume from the stern of the Indra. Not too much, though; it’s still a long, long way from a Rewind. To me the stern looks like an overstuffed sunflower seed. The goal was a sportier stern to match the creek boat bow, not slicey.
“The thinner nature of the stern is to pivot but not go vertical,” says Robertson. “With a bow you can sweep across and over things, we could design the stern so you can dip and load the last two feet and steer from the tail.”
The Indra is roughly the same width as the Code. The planing hull is, however, flatter and wider, with longer and sharper rails. It feels floatier. By floatier I mean more on the surface and looser. The Indra also planes up more when charging across eddylines. The modified rails make the Indra a little closer to feeling like a slalom boat. I know, sounds funny to say about a creek boat. But it’s racier. Dynamic. More precise. All in a really fun way, without it feeling edgy or uncomfortable.
Highly bow-rockered boats, like the Indra, kick up into a wheelie position as they punch over waves and holes and land drops. The more vertical they go and the longer the bow stays elevated in a wheelie position, the harder it is to see where you’re going. And the longer the stern drags, the more forward speed is inhibited. I don’t know about you, but I like seeing where I’m going and I like to carry speed past the scary stuff.
We know from surfing a kayak is faster flat than rocked back on its stern.
“We designed the Indra with camber in the last 12 to 15 inches of the stern. Camber is like a reverse rocker that we’ve used to get the bow down,” says Robertson. “Coming off a drop the Indra will rear up, but then we want the bow to drop back down as quickly as possible to glide across the pool.” Think of camber like a wheelie bar on a dragster.
Available in two sizes: S/M and M/L. at 6’2” tall and 180 pounds, I can paddle both depending on the river. | Photo: Scott MacGregor
Rather than a continuous rocker stern like the Code, the Indra stern is cambered and fluted.
Less volume. More speed. A bit of slice. More fun. | Photo: Scott MacGregor
You’re probably thinking, this all seems fantastic if you’re a pro athlete paddling eight months a year and eating ramen on the tailgate of your Tacoma. Sorta by mistake, all the things that make the Indra great as a sport creeker inadvertently, and accidentally perhaps, also make it the perfect working man’s one boat to do it all.
“At first we sold Indras to early adopters. These were the younger, charging paddlers who wanted a boat to run harder whitewater but still be playful. That’s who the marketing grabbed and they loved it,” says Simon Coward, instructor and owner at AQ Outdoors in Calgary. “As more people jump in the Indra on courses and demos, the more Indras we are selling to class III paddlers.”
Coward says, “The Indra looks after people while running the river.” I like that.
Class III paddlers don’t need a beefy creek boat like the Code. They don’t need to stern squirt, but they still want to surf waves all the way down the river. The Indra is a nice middle ground, like how we used to feel about the Mamba. We loved the Mamba, didn’t we? The Indra performs better, in every way. You’ll see.
You know what else is better about the Indra? Dagger’s Contour Ergo Outfitting with angle-adjust thigh braces and two different fits for more or less aggressive thigh hook and increased comfort.
Sometimes scientists, inventors and designers get lucky. The Dagger Indra will have much greater appeal than just its intended audience. Fun like Silly Putty. Handy for everyday use, like sticky notes.
This article was published in Issue 74 of Paddling Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
James Campbell wasn’t at all the sporty creeker guy Dagger designer Snowy Robertson spent two years building a boat for. But Campbell is going to buy one anyway. | Feature photo: Scott MacGregor
Getting a bird’s eye view. | Feature photo: Paul Villecourt
As you dive into this issue of Paddling Business and tales of a tumultuous year for the industry, here’s something worth remembering.
Behind paddling’s participation boom
There’s an old Taoist parable about a farmer whose horse runs away. When his neighbors cry, “What bad luck,” the man simply replies, “We’ll see.” When his wayward horse returns with another, the neighbors cheer, “What good luck!” Again, the man says,“We’ll see.” When the man’s son breaks his leg riding the new horse, again the neighbors cry, “Terrible luck,” until the injury spares the son from going to war.
The point, of course, is no one knows what fortune brings while the story is unfolding.
Paddlesports is living that parable. Five years ago, the industry was riding high on a pandemic boom. Then came the bust. This year, tariffs, economic uncertainty and cautious consumers have many bracing. Inside Paddling Business, you’ll hear many predictions, though no one knows for certain what comes next.
Getting a bird’s eye view. | Feature photo: Paul Villecourt
Here’s one thing we do know, and it’s this year’s underappreciated good news story: Paddlesports participation is at an all-time high. Nearly 30 million Americans went paddling last year, up 2.7 percent year-over-year, and up 22 percent since 2019, according to the Outdoor Industry Association’s (OIA) newly released 2024 participation report. Research director Kelly Davis dubs paddlesports “healthy and growing.”
There was growth across all disciplines, though modest in some. Standup paddleboarding continues to lead, averaging 4.4 percent annual growth over the last five years, and a 6.6 percent increase between 2023 and 2024. Canoeing saw the smallest growth year-over-year (1.1 percent) while sea kayaking saw the smallest growth over the last five years (1.7 percent). Still, both stats are an improvement from 2015-2018, when participation in canoeing and sea kayaking was shrinking.
In 2017, recreational kayaking overtook canoeing as America’s most popular paddlesport, and it remains not only the largest discipline, but it also boasts the highest share of frequent paddlers at 23 percent—defined as those who paddled more than eight times a year.
Last year was also a milestone year for another reason. The paddlesports gender gap has narrowed significantly over the last decade, and 2024 saw an almost equal number of male and female paddlers (49 percent female versus 51 percent male). Sea kayaking had the largest proportion of male participants (66 percent), while paddleboarding had the highest percentage of female participants (58 percent). Recreational kayaking also had more female participants than male participants, though by a smaller margin (53 percent).
Ethnic diversity has increased in paddlesports, too, though not as much as in other outdoor activities, which has contributed to outdoor participation growth across the U.S.
“Diversity has driven growth across the outdoor participant base for the past five years, and paddlesports has become more diverse during that time period. However, there is room for growth in diversity across paddle disciplines,” writes Kelly.
And despite the classic dirtbag image, more than 40 percent of frequent paddlers have a household income higher than $100,000, compared with one in three households in the study.
Nearly every signal in the OIA’s participation data is positive. Times are tough for many, but as the Taoist farmer might say, we’ll see. What’s certain is that the base is bigger, more diverse and more affluent than ever. Dive deeper into the participation data.
This article was first published in the 2025 issue of Paddling Business. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
Getting a bird’s eye view. | Feature photo: Paul Villecourt
Serious contender for the world’s weirdest sport. | Feature photo: Neil Schulman
I hear the splash before I see it. I turn and sprint toward the floating yellow object of my desire. I have a clear path.
Or so I think. Suddenly my friend Sam comes in fast from my right. As I reach for the yellow ball, he crashes into my kayak, his foam-covered bow pushing me off to the side. He scoops it up and, in one smooth motion, hurls it past the goalie’s raised paddle.
Welcome to kayak polo. It’s the weirdest and most addictive thing you might ever do in a kayak. And possibly the best paddling training you’ll ever have.
Inside the weird world of kayak polo
You’d be forgiven for thinking I’m making this all up. Kayak polo sounds ridiculous: take a few short kayaks, a ball, two goals at the end of a pool, and try to score goals.
It definitely feels ridiculous when we try to explain why our club, Portland Kayak Polo, wants to rent a pool from the local recreation district. The manager furrows his brow and waits for the punchline. But for all its weirdness, kayak polo brings most things we crave as paddlers: camaraderie, exercise and skill development.
Serious contender for the world’s weirdest sport. | Feature photo: Neil Schulman
Like water polo, kayak polo is a team game. Five people on a side try to get a ball into the goal hung over the water. It’s a lot like floating hockey. You can pass the ball or “dribble it” by tossing it in front of you, maneuvering past the defense to get in close for a good shot. Some people play in specialized polo kayaks—short slalom-style boats with padded ends—but most play is pretty casual, so we always have a few folks in standard whitewater kayaks.
You can use your kayaks to bulldoze other kayaks out of your way near the goal. With people and paddles in close quarters, helmets with face shields are the other essential equipment, along with paddles with blunt or taped edges. The rules are otherwise similar to soccer. In advanced games, and for people who can roll, it’s legal to push people over who have the ball, as long as there’s no paddler on the other side.
There’s nothing like maneuvering with nine other boats in a pool, pushing past each other to get to a ball, to hone your boat handling.
I started playing one winter to improve my skills, and I quickly found I loved the sport, especially since my pickup basketball “career” ended two knee surgeries ago. There’s nothing like maneuvering with nine other boats in a pool, pushing past each other to get to a ball, to hone your boat handling. And it’s all sprint paddling, back and forth, offense to defense, until a break when there’s a goal, an out of bounds or a substitution. It’s great paddling cardio.After jockeying around in kayak polo, a whitewater rapid or rock garden with no other paddlers trying to knock you out of position can seem calm by comparison.
Our Portland club numbers about 15 to 20 members, with similar clubs in Seattle, Bellingham, Bend, the San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, Boston, New York, Richmond, Edmonton, Victoria and Toronto. Almost everyone I play with is also a river or sea kayaker.
The small, fringe nature of the sport means clubs know they need to welcome newcomers to survive. That means being patient as people learn the rules and strategies and get used to mixing whitewater and polo boats. Experienced players know to tamp down their competitive instincts.
So now my kayak shed holds a weird-looking boat with padded ends and two sea kayaks, a whitewater kayak and my partner’s all-purpose Romany. All winter, I look forward to blowing off my stress by chasing a ball up and down a pool and getting pushed over by my friends. When we shift to playing outdoors in the summer, polo has more competition for my time, between the call of the river, the sea and weekend camping getaways.But when I do get in my sea kayak, I know I can sprint a lot faster when I need to make it through the surf zone. And it’s easier to roll if I’m not also worried about hanging onto the ball.
Neil Schulman plays with Portland Kayak Polo, where he keeps trying to invent absurd rules and get other people to follow them. Nobody does.
This article was published in Issue 74 of Paddling Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
Serious contender for the world’s weirdest sport. | Feature photo: Neil Schulman
Atotal of 16 ancient Indigenous canoes have been discovered beneath Wisconsin’s Lake Mendota, and these canoes are now a window into the ancient transportation. According to WMTV 15 News, the canoe cache is near a network of Indigenous trails and the canoes were likely shared by community members and stored buried in sediment in waist to chest deep water to prevent them from freezing or drying out.
In May 2024, of the 10 ancient dugout canoes were recovered from Lake Mendota in Wisconsin, ranging in age from 1200-4500 years old. While the Lake Mendota cache makes up the largest find of ancient dugout canoes, similar finds have been made throughout the entire state of Wisconsin. Now, archeologists and historians are asking paddlers to help aid in the search for archaic canoes on Wisconsin lakes and rivers.
The Lake Mendota ancient canoe cache: bury your canoe in the mud in the winter for longest use
The canoes discovered on Lake Mendota, or Tee Waksihominak in the Ho-Chunk language, are believed to belong to the ancestors of the Ho-Chunk Nation, who have lived in the region since time immemorial. The most recent canoe in the Lake Mendota cache is 1200 years old, and the oldest a 4500-year-old elm canoe— this is the oldest canoe ever recovered in the Great Lakes.
“That’s a huge gap in time,” shared Tamara Thomsen, maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society‘s Maritime Preservation and Archaeology program with Paddling Magazine. “In fact, we’re closer to the people in the 1200-year-old canoe than they are to the people in the 4500-year-old canoe.”
Underwater image of dugout canoe from Lake Mendota. Feature Image by Tamara Thomsen.
The ancient canoes didn’t end up underwater by chance. According to Thomsen, caching canoes, or storing them underwater for the winter, was standard practice in the region at this time.
“A lot of times these people were nomadic and so when the resources became scarce or the seasons changed they would move south and look for more abundance of resources… they would move and they would leave their canoes behind,” explained Thomsen. “They would take them into water about chest-deep and they would bury them in the mud and cover them with sticks and sometimes rocks and bury them in sediments.”
Burying the canoes in chest-deep water protected them from warping in the cold on land and kept them out of the way of damage from ice shoves, according to Thomsen.
“They would go out from there, wade out around, find their canoe, pull it up and get it free of some of the debris and remove the water and it would dry out a little bit and float,” said Thomsen.
Remarkably, the 1200-year-old canoe recovered from Lake Mendota still floated when put in the conservation tank.
How ancient canoes offer a window into America’s Indigenous history
Together with the Ho Chunk Nation, the Wisconsin Historical Society is searching for more canoes and clues to piece together a more complete picture of the people who lived in this area thousands of years ago. In addition to radiocarbon dating of already recovered canoes, researchers are searching the area of the Lake Mendota cache looking for arrangements of rocks and evidence of a hearth or campsite. With the high concentration of canoes recovered, all signs seem to point to a small settlement nearby.
Thomsen noted that Lake Mendota is located near a number of Effigy mounds, or earthen mounds built to look like animals or spirits. These mounds are estimated to have been constructed between 1400 and 800 years ago, a period overlapping with the most recent of the canoes.
Wisconsin Historical Society maritime archaeologists recovered a 3,000-year-old dugout canoe from Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin, on Sept. 22, 2022. Image by Dean Witter – Wisconsin Historical Society.
“There has to be evidence of them being here on this ancient shoreline. Lake Mendota is a really weird situation where it’s [the water level] been raised but also in the period where the dugout canoes are represented, 1200 years ago to 4500 years ago there was a prolonged drought which lowered our lake levels almost 20 feet,” explained Thomsen. “When you look at the bathymetry of Lake Mendota, the bottom contour map of it, you can see that there’s a bench or a rim that goes around it and that’s the ancient shoreline. So we know that there are habitation sites on that ancient shoreline. We just have to figure out how to look for them and what they look like.”
Thomsen also shared that while the canoes could have been made and used for a number of purposes including fishing and transportation most certainly they were used for recreation, the same as we use canoes today.
“We have paintings from the 1500s that show people recreating in canoes,” said Thomsen. “The same things we use them for today, they were using them for 4500 years ago. If you picked someone up from 4000, 5000, 6000 years ago and you brought them here, probably the only thing they would recognize is a canoe,” shared Thomsen.
How Wisconsin paddlers can help uncover more historic canoes
While the largest cache of ancient canoes was found on Lake Mendota, ancient dugout canoes from the have been discovered throughout the state, all the way from the Brule River in Northern Wisconsin, to the southern end of the state.
“We really believe there’s a lot more,” said Thomsen. “There’s no place in Wisconsin where we don’t have evidence of a dugout canoe already being recovered. There has to be more.”
Wisconsin Historical Society workers carefully clean the canoe using water and brushes to remove sediment and invasive zebra mussels. Image by Dean Witter – Wisconsin Historical Society
Generally, the canoes have been recovered from shallow areas and look to the casual observer like a tree beneath the water. Upon a closer look, the dugout canoe differs from a tree in that it looks like sculpted wood with bark removed, sometimes marked by burning Thomsen explained, adding that the clear water in Wisconsin makes them easier to find. Additionally, Thomsen shared that the canoes are often found in places where notable trails used to reach the waterline, noting that making of these trails are now modern roads.
“We’ve looked at over 112 canoes that have come out of Wisconsin waters,” shared Thomsen. “There has to be thousands of them but people really don’t know what they look like or what to do when they find them so we know that there’s more and we’re reaching out for help.”
The familiar adage, “You can never have too much gear,” is more like a commandment for most kayakers. While that simple fact should make it easy to find the best kayaking gifts, it can be difficult to discern between what’s truly practical from stuff they’ll never use.
Spanning from budget-friendly to splurge-worthy, all items on this list of kayaking gifts have been personally tested and approved by Paddling Magazine editors and longtime contributors. Whether you’re shopping for a sea kayaker, recreational kayaker, whitewater kayaker or packrafter, there’s something for everyone here at all price points—from a truly waterproof map case to a versatile PFD and an ultralight packraft to venture deep into the backcountry. This article showcases some of the season’s best kayaking apparel, gear and accessories to help you make the best selections for all the paddlers on your list. And while it’s tailored for the holiday season, bookmark this guide for birthdays, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and any special occasion year-round.
Eventually, every composite sea kayak will benefit from a keel strip as the hull’s gel coat wears down in high-use areas. Keel Eazy is a great gift for kayakers that allows moderately handy paddlers to breathe new life into a fiberglass or kevlar boat with a durable PVC keel strip and only a few basic tools. It takes about a half-hour to install two-inch peel-and-stick Keel Eazy on a typical 17-foot kayak, using a heat gun and roller for a professional application. Multiple colors are available to match (or accentuate) your boat. —CM
Photo: Kaydi Pyette
Astral EV-Eight PFD
Buy from:
ASTRALAMAZONPUBLIC LANDS
The Astral EV-Eight is a favorite amongst rec kayakers for its light weight and breathability, plus its extra-high mesh back pairs with modern high-back kayak seats. Astral’s Airescape system features mesh, contoured foam and vent ports to let heat escape, making it the perfect PFD for hot summer days. And at just 1.2 pounds, it’s also the lightest foam vest we’ve tested. Seven adjustment points make this vest fit a wide range of paddlers, and the Velcro shoulder-strap keepers are a nice touch. The EV-Eight is one of Paddling Mag’s top picks for best life jackets. —KP
The Watershed Ocoee is a favorite among Paddling Magazine photographers and editors. I use it to keep my camera and long lens dry on trips. I typically stash it in the cockpit with me, so it’s easy to access my camera to catch the moment. Prefer to stow it in a hatch? You can do that with the 10.5-liter Ocoee too. Try that with a big Peli case. The Ocoee lives up to its claim of being a waterproof and submersible thanks to its ZipDry seal, which looks like a giant Ziploc seam running across the top. I love the easy-carry handles and included padded liner to soften inevitable bumps. Not quite what you’re looking for your camera gear? See more of Paddling Mag’s top picks in the best waterproof gear boxes. —KP
Gifting a Garmin InReach Mini 2 is really about giving the gift of peace of mind. Perfect for backcountry paddlers, sea kayakers and others traveling off grid, the Mini 2 delivers everything you want in one tiny, dependable package: SOS and check-in messaging, long battery life, and two-way texting that can pair with your smartphone to save you pecking at its screen like it’s 1999. Garmin’s newer InReach Messenger Plus can send photos and voice memos, which is neat but not essential. After hundreds of nights in the field, the Mini 2 remains my favorite satellite communicator. —KP
It’s tough to find a reliable, waterproof map case that can survive the rigours of riding on the deck of a sea kayak for more than a trip or two. Most suffer from blown seams or defective zip seals way too soon. That’s why the NRS HydroLock map case is such a great gift for kayakers. The medium size fits a good span of coastline at most map scales. —CM
Each issue of Paddling Magazine is packed with essential skills, expert tips, unforgettable expeditions and trusted gear reviews. If your loved one is passionate about paddling adventures and values top-notch storytelling, it’s the perfect gift for the holidays! Get a subscription for yourself or give it as a gift.
Veteran Pacific Northwest kayaker Rob Casey has penned the ultimate guide to kayak touring in Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, Olympic Peninsula and southern British Columbia. Paddling the Salish Sea features 80 routes to inspire paddlers of all skill levels. This is a great holiday or birthday gift for kayakers or armchair adventurers alike, with a mix of day trips and overnight tours and an excellent overview of the region’s diverse human and natural history. —CM
Available in men’s and women’s styles, the PAKA Everyday Baselayer is ideal for wearing next to your skin under a drysuit for cold-weather paddling. The blend of natural alpaca and Tencel synthetic fibers is soft, breathable, odor-resistant and durable—with a cut that transitions effortlessly from the backcountry to the cafe. —CM
A good dry bag will consistently rank amongst the best gifts for kayakers. The Sea to Summit Evac Compression HD dry bag combines durable, reliably waterproof yet lightweight Cordura eVent fabric with a compression system to force excess air from bulky items, such as clothing and sleeping bags. Eight- and 13-liter models are good all-around choices for most paddlers that fit almost every hatch size. See more of Paddling Mag’s top picks for the best dry bags. —CM
The Kokopelli Twain is a tandem flatwater packraft for adventurous duos that excels on lakes and smooth-flowing rivers. A sleek bow and stern profile and a built-in skeg improve glide and keep you tracking straighter than other packrafts for more efficient paddling. With an overall length of 10 feet, when paddled solo, the Twain is a packhorse with oodles of space for gear, a bike or a canine companion—yet it still tips the scales at less than 14 pounds, which is lighter than most two-person inflatable kayaks. Impressively, it manages to pack down the size of a sleeping bag. —CM
After a kayak, a drysuit is probably the most expensive purchase any cold-water paddler will make but it’s also the only piece of gear that can double your season, making it sort of priceless when you think about it. The Kokatat Gore-Tex Meridian is a perennial favorite and has been my go-to suit for nearly 15 years. Others on our team report their Meridians are still going strong after two decades. The Gore-Tex fabric offers reliable waterproof protection and breathability, keeping you dry inside and out, all to Kokatat’s legendary standards of comfort and durability. See more of our top picks for best dry suits. —KP
Gift your loved one endless entertainment with Paddling Mag TV, the premier streaming platform for paddlers, featuring the best kayaking, canoeing, whitewater, and standup paddleboarding films all in one place. More than 150 paddling films are accessible on all devices, including smartphones, tablets, TVs and computers. Stream directly to your TV via HDMI or casting devices for the ultimate viewing experience.
Whitewater was the last thing on my mind when I first heard of Columbus, Georgia. The southeastern United States isn’t typically known for its whitewater. The first day I paddled the Chattahoochee River, I was blown away by the quality of the kayaking. Big waves, warm water and friendly people defined the Columbus experience for me, and I’ve been yearning to go back ever since.
In 2025, Columbus was recognized as the world’s first Center of Excellence for canoe freestyle by the International Canoe Federation. The city hosted the 2023 ICF Freestyle Kayak World Championship and will host it again in 2029. The Chattahoochee flows right through downtown, with 22 miles of parks and paths paralleling its banks. At 2.5 miles long, RushSouth Whitewater Park is the longest urban whitewater park in the world and home to several world-famous whitewater features, including Good Wave and Ambush.
A river runs through downtown.
More than 50,000 visitors travel to Columbus each year for whitewater sports, but it wasn’t always this way. In 2012, the city removed two large dams and worked with hydrologists to launch a major river revitalization project. Today, the Chattahoochee offers five class IV+ rapids, 10 smaller rapids, warm water, dam-controlled releases 365 days a year, and flows of up to 13,000 cubic feet per second (the highest-volume rapids east of the Mississippi and south of Canada). All this makes the Chattahoochee a whitewater kayaker’s paradise. Each winter, freestyle kayakers flock from all over North America to train on Columbus’s warm waters and big waves. They even have a name for it: the Wintering Grounds.
Head south for winter whitewater
Professional kayakers and multiple-time freestyle world champions, Emily Jackson and Nick Troutman, bought a house in Columbus to spend more time paddling the Chattahoochee.
“One of the biggest draws to Columbus is the consistency and access to great river features. Between Ambush, Monkey Wrench, Good Wave, Great Wave, and the super high-water features, it has a ton to offer. Not to mention it is one of the warmest places to paddle year-round,” says Jackson.
High volume on the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Georgia.
The whitewater is the main draw, but Jackson says the best part about paddling in Columbus is actually the community. “The community is what makes Columbus so great. You have a kayak shop, Whitewater Express, that has committed a ton of energy and resources to supporting the paddlers, then you have individuals like Melissa Hargrove, who organizes dozens of get-togethers for people of all skill levels and kids to enjoy the river,” she explains.
The warm water, deep whitewater and variety of rapid difficulty, from class I to class IV+, also make the Chattahoochee ideal for beginners and families. And there’s something extra special here: a community that goes out of its way to welcome new paddlers.
Why paddling pros make Columbus home
The Hargrove family has been a pillar of the Columbus paddling scene for over 20 years. Two of their kids, Makinley-Kate and Mason, are each world champions, while their younger siblings are not far behind.
“Kayaking is so much more than a sport. It has turned into an epic adventure, full of travel and meeting amazing people. Kayaking gives us opportunities for unplugged family time on the river, creating an enjoyment that we have not been able to duplicate with any other activity. This all started on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, thanks to a community that welcomed us with open arms,” says Hargrove.
The Chattahoochee is the perfect learning ground for young paddlers.
The Hargrove family now gives back to the Columbus community by hosting kids’ kayaking camps, camps for underprivileged children, river cleanups, weekly paddling meetups, and volunteering for Team River Runner, a nonprofit organization providing adventure and adaptive sports programs for active-duty military personnel and veterans.
“The community is what makes it such a great space for my kids to push themselves in their kayaks because this group is dedicated to simply having fun on the water. Last week, all the kids ended the day at sunset, jumping in and swimming the rapids. To me, that’s what kayaking is all about: a place to connect with nature, push yourself, and have fun,” says Jackson.
“You can be a brand new kayaker through Team River Runner, or take a lesson through Whitewater Express and work your way up to surfing Good Wave or running our amazing river. The Chattahoochee River in Columbus has something to offer for everyone. I think it is one of the most inclusive pieces of whitewater in the United States,” says Mason Hargrove, 22, who learned to paddle on the Chattahoochee, and has worked his way up to become one of the best freestyle kayakers in the world.
Spectators watch the action.
A river town made for adventure
Located just 1.5 hours from Atlanta, you don’t have to be a freestyle athlete to kayak in Columbus. Local outfitters run rafting trips all year. The river’s flow changes with releases from the dam upstream, offering low-flow morning floats for families, while afternoon releases crank the volume. And there are plenty of other things to do in Columbus, too. RushSouth hosts guided fly fishing and ziplining, and Whitewater Express installed an 18-hole disc golf course along the riverbank.
Downtown Columbus has maintained its historic brick mill town character. I loved wandering the streets and exploring the coffee shops and restaurants within walking distance of Good Wave. I spent many mornings at Iron Bank, working on my computer before walking a few blocks to the river to paddle. For non-paddlers, the RiverWalk is a 22-mile park with paved walking trails right next to the river. There is also a farmers market on Saturdays, as well as art studios and live music throughout the city.
What’s next for the Chattahoochee
Columbus is one of the best freestyle destinations in North America, and the city is continuing to develop the river as one of the bucket list whitewater destinations in the country. The city is even planning another multi-million dollar investment in the whitewater park with a new low-water feature that will be accessible to both river surfers and freestyle kayakers. I hope to test out the new wave on my next visit to this unexpected kayaking mecca.
This article was first published in the 2025 issue of Paddling Business. 
This article was published in Issue 74 of Paddling Magazine. 
