Eight canoeists were airlifted from a campsite on the edge of Lake Rendezvous in Northwestern Saskatchewan, after finding themselves dangerously close to an active forest fire.
The group had set off on the famous Meythe Portage route from Clearwater River to Lake Rendezvous and were initially unaware of wildfire potential in the area.
“We pulled our canoes on carts and climbed up quite a steep set of hills,” said Kelly Kohlert in the video. “We noticed the smoke in the background.”
The background smoke soon became a real threat as the forest fire began to grow, with no signs of slowing down. The group continued on toward the lake and were able to successfully paddle across to their campsite. Once settled, they called for rescue and began to film the incident on their phones.
In the video, Helicopters can be seen flying through the plumes of smoke and toward the group. The rescue took place approximately four hours after they had finished their portage.
“You don’t have to travel around the world to find adventure,” says explorer Mario Rigby, who encourages sustainable, human-powered forms of exploration. | Photo: Mario Rigby
Last summer, Mario Rigby set out to kayak the length of one of the Great Lakes. A member of the prestigious Explorer’s Club and a fellow at the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, Rigby is a full-time explorer. He’s previously cycled across Canada and completed a solo, two-year walk across Africa, 7,500 miles from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cairo, Egypt. But during the pandemic he set out on a new kind of journey.
5 questions for Mario Rigby on paddling Lake Ontario
Rigby had never been in a sit-inside kayak until he set out from the Hamilton harbor on Lake Ontario last June. His impromptu trip aimed to promote local travel in a year where regional restrictions were the norm, advocate for diversity in outdoor adventure, and raise money for MyStand, a charity for at-risk youth. During the 220-mile, 20-day paddle, he camped on shorelines and weathered a half-dozen capsizes and treacherous storms. Far more important than the miles paddled were the perceptions he challenged along the way.
I was supposed to go to Baffin Island in 2020 and do an expedition around how climate change is affecting local communities, and we were going to make a short film about it. But, you know—COVID. So, I decided to do a local expedition. I didn’t know how to paddle a kayak. I do large expeditions once every three years; between those I try to do mini expeditions.
Q2 What has the outdoor community’s response been?
Finding sponsors in 2015 for my African expedition was pretty much impossible. I reached out to hundreds of people, magazines, organizations and companies. I didn’t look like a quintessential explorer, and my message was different—I’m not trying to be the first or the best or the fastest.
I feel like this is a very Western perspective of what is successful; you have to be the ultimate at everything. I don’t think that’s true. The definition of an explorer needs some revision. The response to this trip has been intense. I have a team just for inbound requests.
Q3 Who belongs outdoors?
Everyone. The first challenge of being Black in the outdoor community is not being taken seriously. Some people take things seriously because of a certain voice or look. They’ll say, “Oh, you’re not saying these acronyms properly.” There’s elitism and it’s evident in just the way people speak.
We judge people when they don’t know the full names for certain things or when they’re not paying high prices for outdoor gear. That bothers me because I come from a background where I couldn’t afford gear like that; it was completely out of reach. When I look at the price tags of jackets, I’m like, are you kidding me? Every single human being belongs in the outdoor space, but attitudes and cost can be barriers.
If you have more inclusion and diversity in the outdoors, more people are interested in helping the environment. To me, it’s the biggest conundrum. Organizations and companies focus their marketing on a small group of individuals. But all those eco or green messages are only going to reach a small percentage of the population. Why not reach out to the masses?
The only way to do that is to understand other cultures and bring them on board. If people can’t experience what nature has to offer, of course, they’re not going to be interested in protecting it.
Q5 Where is your next expedition?
I’m planning future expeditions. One is to retrace the West African slave trade. I’ll find out where my DNA comes from by starting in Africa and retracing the route to America. It’ll be solo and human- or wind-powered.
This article was first published in Issue 63 of Paddling Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
“You don’t have to travel around the world to find adventure,” says explorer Mario Rigby, who encourages sustainable, human-powered forms of exploration. | Feature photo: Mario Rigby
Kentucky paddler Kevin O’Brien was sitting in an eddy above a low-head dam when, up ahead, he noticed another kayaker drop over the horizon line.
A low-head hydro dam (or “weir”) is a barrier across the width of the river that alters both the flow and the characteristics of the water. These weirs—defined as being less than 5 meters in height—are used as a means of controlling the flow of water for outlets of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs.
For kayakers, they are generally bad news. At the base of these dams, there is often a strong recirculating current that is near impossible to escape. For those who find themselves at the mercy of the powerful hydraulic, it can often mean fatal or near-fatal consequences.
For the unnamed paddler up in front, things were about to get ugly.
Kevin and another nearby paddler sprung into action upon noticing things hadn’t gone to plan. Kevin was able to jump out of his kayak and quickly throw the distressed swimmer a throw bag. Thankfully, after a bit of verbal coaching and clear instruction to “grab it”, the swimmer was able to grab the bag the first time around and was pulled out of the hydraulic.
We exhale a sigh of relief as we see the paddler return safely to the side of the river.
It doesn’t take much imagination to envision this situation playing out differently. This kayaker was saved through the quick action from nearby trained paddlers and having the appropriate safety equipment available. A PFD and a throw bag were paramount to his rescue.
Even with the correct equipment at hand, some aren’t as lucky. The best way to avoid the dangerous hydraulics of hydro-dams is to steer clear of them to begin with. If you plan on paddling a river with a low-head dam, be sure to check water levels before you set out, know your portage routes and take out, and take all the necessary precautions.
The Madawaska River is the best teacher. | Photo courtesy of: Ontario's Highlands Tourism Organization
It’s no exaggeration to say water is in the blood for whitewater paddler, instructor and paddle school manager, Stefi Van Wijk. Most days Stefi looks like she’s come straight off a paddling trip which, in all likelihood she is, complete with the calm that comes from spending the day on the water and pushing yourself to do your very best, and then doing it.
Stefi is so passionate about paddling that it’s hard to imagine a time when a life on the water wasn’t a given, particularly in light of her family background. Stefi’s grandparents founded the renowned paddling school, Madawaska Kanu Centre (MKC), nearly 50 years ago. Stefi’s grandfather, Hermann, and mother, Claudia, were the first to descend the Ottawa River, where they ultimately founded the world-renowned rafting resort, OWL Rafting.
Stefi Van Wijk, avid paddler and manager of MKC. | Photo courtesy of: Ontario’s Highlands Tourism Organization
A life spent on the water
Needless to say, paddling played a big role in Stefi’s family growing up. In fact, Stefi’s sister was known as the best female whitewater kayaker in the world for a number of years, and paddling and the water continue to be a passion for Stefi’s parents, Claudia and Dirk Van Wijk, one they have encouraged in their daughters.
“I grew up on the water in a canoe or kayak,” Stefi said. “My earliest memories are of being in the bow of my dad’s canoe, or my mom’s tandem kayak.”
Stefi’s childhood years were spent transitioning seasonally between winters in Ottawa and summers on the water in a canoe or kayak at OWL or MKC, or on family paddling trips. This lifestyle meant Stefi’s relationship to both areas wasn’t given a chance to deepen, as she was always moving from one community to another.
There were many simple things she wasn’t able to experience as a result. For example, she had “never seen all four seasons of a single tree in my whole life…so that was a really big deal for me.” Now settled in the Ottawa Valley’s community of Barry’s Bay, Stefi has finally found a place to call her own.
Stefi getting ready for a day on the water at MKC.
When water is in your blood.
Stefi and her mother, Claudia, on the river.
Paddling the Madawaska River
While she is drawn to all waterways, for Stefi, the Madawaska River has been the one constant in a life spent transitioning between the Ottawa Valley in the summer months and Ottawa, where she attended school, during the rest of the year. Every summer, she and her family would make the drive to OWL or MKC, traveling the familiar roads that returned her to her water girl roots.
“The river is where I’m my best self. It doesn’t care who I’m pretending to be.” -Stefi Van Wijk
At 230 kilometers long, the Madawaska River has plenty to offer all levels of paddlers. It’s divided into four paddling sections as it makes its journey from Source Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park to the Ottawa River—the Upper Madawaska, Middle Madawaska, Palmer Rapids and Lower Madawaska.
The Mad is known for its park and play rapids as well as longer stretches of whitewater. Those looking for flatwater will find that too, either on the river itself or the lakes it flows through.
Spend an afternoon, entire day or weekend on the Mad. | Photo courtesy of: Ontario’s Highlands Tourism Organization
Paddlers can take their pick from ample Madawaska River canoe routes, each of which provides a different experience in a beautiful setting. With opportunities for camping, it’s easy to accomplish a Madawaska River canoe trip, spending the night at the river’s edge.
Madawaska River camping can be had in both front-country and backcountry experiences—the latter within the non-operating Lower Madawaska River Provincial Park. In need of a boat? Madawaska River canoe rentals, as well as kayak rentals, are available from various establishments along the river, depending where paddlers are starting or ending their trip.
And don’t forget that getting to the put-in is itself an experience.
“It’s being on the hilly roads around the Madawaska Valley and the familiarity there…it brings me home,” Stefi said.
The Madawaska River is the best teacher. | Photo courtesy of: Ontario’s Highlands Tourism Organization
Finding her own way
When you come from a family of passionate, avid and competitive whitewater kayakers, one would think it would be easy to embrace paddling. For Stefi, finding her way to the water was a route that wasn’t always clear. The competitive nature of her family’s passion didn’t resonate with her, and for many years she struggled to carve her own path.
“I had to explore my personal reasons or values for connecting to the river. My reasons are different than my mom and dad’s,” Stefi said. “My parents presented the way they connected with the river, and my sister loved that connection. I always kind of felt like the black sheep, but I just needed to explore and create my own unique way of connecting with it. In the end, that way is almost valued more because it’s different.”
The chance to work as a young apprentice canoe guide at the age of 16 gave Stefi the opportunity she needed to strike out on her own and establish her own connection with the water in a way that wasn’t based on competition, the way paddling had been presented to her.
When she injured both shoulders guiding, Stefi was forced to take a temporary hiatus and turned her attention to the administrative side of the family’s companies. This was the beginning of her journey facilitating other people’s introduction to and experiences on the water.
Enjoy peaceful flatwater.
Or the thrill of whitewater.
Managing the Madawaska Kanu Centre
These days, Stefi’s role is to help others learn to love the river as much as she does and bring more paddlers into the paddling community. “Putting bums in boats,” as Stefi’s mom Claudia likes to say. There are still expectations that come along with being manager of MKC, but Stefi isn’t shy about embracing the challenges the role brings.
“I run a paddling school, so there’s a bit of an expected identity that comes with that, and I can put pressure on myself to live that way,” said Stefi. “I try really hard as an instructor, as a teacher and as a leader to be authentic in my insecurities and my weaknesses so I can inspire others to hopefully show up and be who they are.”
MKC offers a range of paddling courses, from beginner to advanced instruction in the form of day- to week-long programming. In addition, the paddling school provides professional certification in first aid, river rescue and instructing. On top of that, MKC runs whitewater rafting trips.
Even after more than two decades of experience on the water, the river never stops teaching Stefi.
“Every time you’re on the water you learn what you need to learn. It teaches you, if you pay attention. Every lesson I’ve learned in life started on the water.”
Two tandem ocean kayakers are lucky to be alive after a huge humpback whale breached in front of them and appears to come crashing down right beside them, clipping and capsizing their kayak.
The pair had little time to react when a whale unexpectedly surfaced from under the water with such force that it capsized their kayak and launched them into the water.
The incident took place while the kayakers were on a whale tour just outside the harbor in Moss Landing, California.
“We stopped to see a large aggregation of humpbacks feeding and carrying on with random acts of hijinks. There were also a lot of kayakers right in the middle of it all,” said a Sanctuary Cruises spokesperson.
“Humpbacks were coming up next to and in the middle of many kayakers. It was amusing. It’s all fun and games until someone gets jumped on.”
Luckily, the kayakers came away from the incident unharmed. Whale watching regulations require boaters/kayakers to keep minimum 200 meters away from killer whales and 100 meters away from all other whales at all times. Responsible paddlers endeavor to follow these rules, and rare exceptional encounters do not represent a typical paddling experience.
PARK CITY, UT (7/2/21) – The Big Gear Show, a premier bike, camp, climb, hike, overland and paddle industry gear event for summer 2021, is pleased to announce an extensive range of retailer education opportunities during the August 3-5 show, held in Park City, Utah. The 3-day event will feature educational presentations, panels, and small group discussions covering a wide range of topics. Industry leaders and professionals can expect training and talks that are relevant to all categories of business.
Photo: Verde Brand Communications
The bike-focused presentations will span universal topics on inclusion and customer retention, and narrow to exploring still-new categories, like eBike. Kent McNeill, the CEO of IMBA and Steve Matous, the president of NICA will help give ideas to keep new cyclists engaged, put more kids on bikes, increase diversity, and break down barriers of entry for all types of new cyclists. Bosch will lead sessions focusing on how finance options and eBike rental can increase revenue, while Greg Robidoux of the Serotta International Cycling Institute will help retailers see the potential of bike fitting in today’s market. The NBDA will host a State of the Industry Panel on Tuesday with Scott King, who is one of SRAM’s co-founders, Tobie De Pauw from People for Bikes, and Larry Pizzi, of Alta Cycling. The NBDA will also present Bicycle Retailer’s Excellence Awards at the show on Wednesday, August 4th.
Photo: Verde Brand Communications
Outdoor specialty and paddlesports retailers will be able to benefit from presentations by Rich Hill, President of Grassroots Outdoor Alliance, on point of sale retail data and how to use it; Teddy Schiavoni of Locally.com, on how to connect with local markets and showing your stock online in local searches; and a panel hosted by Yoon Kim of Outdoor ECom looks at the importance of content marketing to increase your online clout at any stage of retail business. There will also be numerous paddlesports-centric sessions, with an emphasis on supply chain issues, how to convert new participants into enthusiasts, and shipping and logistics. These sessions will feature panelists like Darren Bush, owner of Rutabaga Paddlesports and co-founder of The Big Gear Show, and other leading paddle shops like Alder Creek, Appomattox Paddle Shop, Outdoorplay, and The Trail Head. There will also be a “State of the Paddlesports Industry” roundtable discussion.
Inclusivity is among the must address topics across all outdoor, bike and watersport industries. Camber Outdoors will moderate a panel on the effects of REI‘s recent vendor requirements around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, revealing opportunities for all retailers to expand their audience.
Photo: Verde Brand Communications
Throughout these structured seminars, panel discussions and talks, attendees will have the opportunity to join smaller breakout sessions, roundtables, and other more intimate opportunities with Grassroots Outdoor Alliance, SmartEtailing, Ascent360, Locally.com, Bosch, and other outdoor recreation, business and diversity experts. Throughout The Big Gear Show, attendees will find unparalleled access to network with top industry thought leaders.
“The goal of these educational presentations is to bring people from multiple facets of the outdoor industry—bike, outdoor and paddlesports—together for the first time in over a year and learn,” said Sutton Bacon, founder and co-owner of The Big Gear Show. “Much has changed in the industry—and the world—over the past year, and the Big Gear Show is the perfect place for us to collectively learn from all of these trials we’ve just been tested by.”
“The importance of planning has proved fruitful over the past 15 months, with the most profitable retailers benefiting by staying informed and pivoting with the trends and times,” said Heather Mason, president of the National Bicycle Dealers Association. “Dynamic content, focused specifically on 2022 planning entwined with daily peer-to-peer learning sessions makes The Big Gear Show the best opportunity to learn from our current moment while planning for future success. All retailers in attendance, both bike and outdoor, will find these topics engaging.”
The Big Gear Show is scheduled for August 3-5, at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah. The event is an invitation-only, multi-category trade event for the bike, camp, climb, hike, outdoor, overland and paddle markets. The show targets an invite-only group of hand-selected retailers and brands across these industries, as well as associated national media.
Photo: Verde Brand Communications
Getting out in beautiful environments is the foundation of the outdoor industry, so attendees will use Deer Valley Resort to test gear and gain a new perspective of their own industry over the course of the 3-day event.
The Big Gear Show is North America’s first open-air trade show taking place in Park City, Utah, August 3-5, 2021. The show is built by and for retailers and offers an integrated, best-in-class demo-driven buying experience serving a curated group of 500 hand-selected retailers and hundreds of brands across the outdoor, cycling and paddle communities. The Big Gear Show is endorsed and co-presented by the Grassroots Outdoor Alliance, National Bicycle DealersAssociation and People For Bikes. There is simply no better place to discover new brands and products and drive your specialty business forward.
British pro kayaker and member of the “Senders” crew, Bren Orton, got more than he had bargained for on a recent trip to the Austrian Alps.
In the video, Bren talks us through the troubles that he and his group had experienced with the fluctuating temperatures and unpredictable water levels. So, when the water levels began to consistently rise for a solid week, creating technical, big water rapids—the experienced whitewater enthusiasts were more than ready to jump in their kayaks and hit the river.
The incident occurred on a challenging and continuous section of the Oetz River. At 3:00, Bren turned a corner and—we can only imagine—was filled with the same sense of impending dread as we are. He spotted the river-wide log just meters away from him. In the fast-moving current typical of snowmelt rivers, there is little opportunity to make any stops.
Bren hit the log and his kayak flipped backward underneath it. He experienced a second or two of downtime before resurfacing on the downstream side. It appears that he narrowly made it under without getting stuck.
Moments later, he glanced upstream, only to see his paddling partner undergo the same terrifying ordeal.
Both kayakers were lucky to escape from this ordeal unharmed. Bren’s incident reinforces the importance of scouting rapids, bringing appropriate safety and rescue equipment on the water, and ensuring that the group’s skill level is a good match for the section of water in question.
Even something as mundane as a commute to work can offer a world of adventure, according to outdoor educator, kayaker and filmmaker Beau Miles.
Miles’ new film, The Commute: A four day paddle to work, details his 116-kilometer adventure paddling, dragging, portaging and pontificating from his rural homestead to his job at Monash University in Melbourne by way of two rivers, a canal, the sea and a creek. What usually takes him 75 minutes by car took four full days by kayak, burning more than 18,000 calories.
“I’m reinventing my idea of adventure,” says Miles. “I no longer feel the need to paddle great distances down a continent’s shore or go to the highest peaks. Your carbon footprint goes through the roof, just so you can go and find yourself somewhere else. I want to do these things in my backyard now.”
“This genuine, gut busting, horrible, beautiful paddle and drag to work was the most insightful four days of travel I’ve ever done,” says Miles who slept by the river, under a train line and next to a boat ramp during the journey.
Initiatives like Diversify Whitewater help make the river a more inclusive place, one new boater at a time. | Photo: Matthew James Berrafato
Last June, protests broke out worldwide. It started in the United States and spread to nearly every continent. Marchers rallied for social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC).
Later the same month, I woke up to a notification about a post from Immersion Research, titled “A Letter To Our Customers Regarding The BLM Movement,” stating its support for the Black Lives Matter movement and commitment to “helping diversify outdoor recreation.” As a Black presenting, multicultural person of color, I had been wrestling with what I could do to move the needle in a positive direction. Because when there is a lack of equity and inclusion for anyone, it impacts everyone—including BIPOC, stigmatized veterans, people with differing abilities, LGBTQ+ and low-income white folks.
IR’s blog post hit home. I felt convicted of not having done enough. I vowed to use my platform as a speaker, writer and video producer to normalize outdoor adventure for people of color. Even though I’ve been an avid kayaker for seven years, I’d only met five paddlers of color on the water.
Following a seven-month research project investigating the lack of diversity in whitewater, I’ve found these are the top challenges facing our sport, industry and community—and what to do about them.
Diversity will be the difference between a future spent surviving or thriving for the adventure sports industry. According to the Outdoor Industry Association’s Special Report On Paddlesports, while 22.9 million Americans participated in at least one paddling activity in 2018, more than three-quarters of participants were white. Recreational canoeing and kayaking participation, the two paddling disciplines with the most participants, reported 80 to 83 percent white participants.
The biggest threat to the adventure sports industry is businesses may become irrelevant if they do not evolve to attract a changing population. The Outdoor Foundation’s 2019 outdoor participation report shows only 73 percent of white Americans participated in outdoor sports that year, down from 82.8 percent the decade before. This decline is likely due to an aging population, less youth participation and normal attrition.
Meanwhile, U.S. census data tells us population growth is faster among minority communities. Today, about 50 percent of U.S. children under 18 are members of ethnic minority groups. And according to global consulting firm Accenture, 47 percent of all millennial Americans—aged 23 to 38—are multicultural, and together they wield more than a trillion dollars in spending power right now. Diversifying isn’t just the right thing to do—it makes economic sense to make outdoor adventure relevant to a growing and significant population. If the paddling industry does not reach out to these potential new customers, it misses a crucial growth opportunity.
You can be like Kodak, which developed a digital camera in 1975, saw the future coming and ignored it, and almost didn’t survive—or you can do a little more to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in paddlesports.
Initiatives like Diversify Whitewater help make the river a more inclusive place, one new boater at a time. | Photo: Matthew James Berrafato
White fragility
Trying to start a conversation about the lack of diversity within the paddling community is sometimes met with dismissal, offense or microaggressions—instances of indirect, subtle or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group.
White fragility shows up as discomfort and defensiveness from white folks when confronted by information about racial inequality and justice. It makes it challenging to have conversations about the lack of diversity in our boating communities. White fragility might sound like this: “I come to the river to forget about that stuff. I don’t want to hear about that diversity stuff on the river.”
I can’t shed my brown skin and drop out of the conversation about diversity when I feel like it because someone will eventually remind me that I’m different—not white. I haven’t experienced racism or misogyny in adventure sports, but others have. I have experienced it elsewhere: When I left my office back when I was a tech firm CEO, the security guard and a sales associate at a high-end department store promptly asked me if I could afford to shop there.
In another example, during an immigration raid outside of a Hispanic grocery store in Raleigh, North Carolina, I joked in Spanish with another customer as I exited the store. An I.C.E. agent seized my arm and shoved me against the building and asked for my identification. When I produced a driver’s license with a U.S. Army veteran emblem, he said I needed to carry my passport because I “don’t look American.” I was born and raised in the U.S., but as a person of color, I’m expected to carry a passport to prove I belong in my country.
Willingness to listen to everyone’s perspectives and experiences in our paddling community is an essential step toward making it more welcoming for everyone.
Marketing to everyone
Twenty-first century consumers want value-aligned brands. Calls for diversity, equity and inclusion mean companies must evolve their marketing practices. It’s not going to be easy for the outdoor industry, whose leaders are mostly white, to market to a non-homogenous group it does not understand. Adventure sports marketing needs to include people of color, while also removing biases like colorism and texurism, which refers to preferring models with lighter skin and straighter hair. It’s also important to avoid turning “Black lives matter into Black lives marketing,” as Black Enterprise magazine stated.
It’s not going to be easy for the outdoor industry to market to a non-homogenous group it does not understand.
Brands will best succeed when diversifying their staff and representatives—including ambassadors, paddling team members, sponsored athletes and marketing outlets, and giving their diversity experts veto power.
Organizations can also support BIPOC-led initiatives with donations of funds, time, gear or expertise. Liquidlogic, Kokatat, Paddling Magazine, Watershed, Immersion Research and many local partners supported an initiative I co-founded this past summer called Diversify Whitewater. Our nonprofit welcomed more than 100 new paddlers of color onto the water for the first time through free skill clinics.
Antoinette Lee Toscano – Team River Runner (TRR)
Overcoming limiting beliefs
The BIPOC community needs to tear down its own cultural barriers and limiting beliefs:
These examples of BIPOC-on-BIPOC microaggressions will stop some people from participating in paddlesports and other activities not traditionally enjoyed by their cultural community. Race shaming from my family, friends and community prevented me from taking up an adventure sport for 10 years. This is a barrier that unbiased marketing, inclusivity initiatives and affordable access alone cannot solve, but knowing those cultural barriers and limiting beliefs exist is critical to overcoming them.
The most significant opportunity for the paddlesports and adventure sports industry is recognizing people of color love the outdoors in the same way white participants do. Growing the paddling community means more partners and advocates for building whitewater parks and protecting wild and scenic places and waterways. Best of all—by diversifying whitewater, you’ll meet people you might not have met otherwise, and the community and industry will be richer for it.
This article was first published in Paddling Magazine Issue 63. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions here, or browse the digital archives here.
Antoinette Lee Toscano, MBA, is a former IT executive, public speaker, contributing writer at Culturs magazine, producer of WhitewaterTV, and co-founder of Diversify Whitewater. Find her online at antoinettetoscano.com.
Initiatives like Diversify Whitewater help make the river a more inclusive place, one new boater at a time. | Photo: Matthew James Berrafato
Dane Jackson is undisputedly one of the world’s greatest kayakers. On June 17-19, at the 2021 North Fork Championship, he proved to us once more why he’s widely considered best in class.
Jackson laid down the fastest time in the Qualifier Race, The Boater Cross and, most importantly, the elite Jacob’s Ladder Race. Every year at the Idaho event, the “Jakes” race attracts a handful of the best whitewater kayakers from all corners of the world to battle it out for the winning time and a sizeable cash cheque ($5000 USD).
The rapid itself is an extremely pushy, class V+ section of whitewater that requires expert skill to navigate.
Jackson had extremely hot competition this year from the likes of Alec Vorhees (2nd place) and Jeremy Nash (3rd place), but still managed to snag the top spot on the podium with a final time of 1 minute and 52 seconds. See the full event results here and watch Dane’s winning run in the video above.
The women’s category had an impressive turnout too; the qualifying round saw 28 female athletes compete and 5 finalists battling down Jacob’s Ladder. Sage Donnely took home first place, followed by Natalie Anderson (2nd place) and Darby McAdams (3rd place). See the full results here.
This article was first published in Issue 63 of Paddling Magazine. 
