Yikes! This clip was captured and submitted to the GoPro Awards by Lukas Reilly after his close encounter with an orca.
Reilly told ABC News: He was paddling off Kuaotunu Beach in New Zealand when a few orcas began diving for stingrays underneath his board. Reilly, a 27-year-old restaurant owner, told 3News he had a GoPro camera in his pocket and pulled it out to capture the moment that one of the orcas came over to check out his board.
“I was a bit nervous thinking, ‘What’s this guy going to do?,’” Reilly said. “Then he slowly crept up and grabbed the back of my board and I yelled, ‘What are you doing!'”
Reilly told another local news station, TVNZ, that the orca “had a chew” on his board but described the close-up with the orca as a “friendly encounter.”
“It was quite freaky but so amazing at the same time,” Reilly told TVNZ.
If planning the next family vacation makes you sweat, settle in for a 3400km, three-month family canoe journey from Jasper, Alberta, to the Arctic Ocean at Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. The Clark family left their jobs, home and community behind for a 100-day northern adventure.
Have Kids, Will Paddle won the Best Canoeing Film award at the 2014 Paddling Film Festival. “We go on wilderness trips to escape our civilized world, to strengthen our family bonds, and to get grounded in nature,” explains a wild-blooded and gentle-mannered Clark.
“We appreciate the opportunity to live in the moment, enjoying a simple existence as a family.”
The film captures the essence of a family vacation, except the disappointments include the shock of a savaged landscape near the tar sands along the Athabasca River, and the discovery that 1500 river km of the trip had very little current. The lows are eclipsed by the highs of a 4 a.m. paddle on the mirror of Great Slave Lake, the kids asleep in their cockpit, and 100km river days on the Mackenzie.
I don’t where the river mouth is, I don’t know what f***ing town this is… I got a broken toe, a chafe to the left arm and right nipple, and these shorts are starting to stink.”
In 2007, Beau Miles attempted to paddle 4000km from one side of Africa to the other. Starting in Mozambique and continuing along the South African coast, Beau allowed five months to complete the voyage. With him for over half the journey was Jared Sharples of New Zealand.
Together the pair experienced the magnificent coast until Jared, who was very ill, left the expedition. Beau paddled alone for six weeks, experiencing for the first time in his life, a truly nomadic, solo existence. Battling huge surf, Beau completed 2000km of the original plan after realizing that his trip wasn’t about kilometers gained but rather the quality of the experience.
Africa By Kayak is one of Miles’ first kayaking films and a fan favorite. Miles is a jack of many trades—sea kayaker, educator, ultra-runner and craftsman. His frank and quirky humor have turned many of his films into award-winners. Bass By Kayak and Junk Paddle won awards at Paddling Magazine’s annual Paddling Film Festival. Watch them below.
In this video, YouTuber Advoko Makes shows how to build a quick and easy bushcraft kayak. The idea is simple: you can build a fully functional survival kayak in the wilderness if you have a knife, fir tree branches, plastic wrap and scotch tape.
Even though we don’t typically carry yards of plastic wrap or scotch tape in our survival kit, this fully functional kayak is pretty cool. It weighs less than 10 pounds, is waterproof, and only takes a day to make. Because the vessel is transparent, you can see the bottom and fish swimming under you—fishing, in particular, is an exceptional experience, according to Advoko Makes.
Sure, we’re a little skeptical about its long-term durability—but for just a couple of dollars and a single day of work, what do you expect?
If building your own kayak thrills you, find out how to build your own transparent, fiberglass light-up kayak here.
In this video published by National Geographic, the seal follows a kayaker in Scotland’s Forth Estuary, an arm of the North Sea near Edinburgh. After tailing kayaker Alistair Forrest and his companion for about a mile, the seal took advantage of a break in the paddling to hop aboard Forrest’s kayak. There, the sleek marine mammal sprawled out as if ready to come along. Forrest and his companion voice their amazement at the unplanned wildlife encounter.
According to the accompanying National Geographic article, “Instances of seals hauling out onto kayaks aren’t common, but neither are they entirely unheard of. And sea lions, which are often mistaken for seals, are also known to hitch a ride. This particular seal—likely a juvenile, judging by its size and especially brazen interest—showed no signs of fear or aggression, instead seeming to enjoy a novel adventure.”
So what should you do in situations like the one in this video? According to the article, “Splashing a hand in the water or reaching out to touch the seal are definitely not the actions to take. In the United States, the Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits people from approaching seals and other marine mammals. In the rare scenario a seal tries to hop onto your kayak, it’s best to paddle away calmly.”
A kayaker exploring a section of a North Carolina river found more than he expected when an alligator slammed into his boat.
According to CNN, Pete Joyce was paddling in a swampy section of the Waccamaw River on Sunday when the alligator charged at him. The impact tipped him over into the water. He was able to grab some tree branches to right himself. Joyce was wearing a video camera on his chest, which caught the whole encounter.
“When it was about three feet from the side of the boat is when I actually got a good look at the head,” he said. “Not enough time to really react, anyway.”
Joyce didn’t see the alligator after the collision but could feel it brush against the bottom of his boat as it swam by. Once he righted himself, he hit the side of his kayak three times, hoping that might scare the reptile away. He took some long deep breaths and then grabbed his paddle and paddled the heck out of there.
If serenity isn’t your thing, power up your next adventure with two jet engines and a whole lot of speed.
YouTuber the Hacksmith demonstrates how to build the world’s fastest jet engine canoe. As it may be the only jet-powered canoe, there wasn’t a lot of competition for the title. The jet engines used for this canoe build, Hacksmith tells us, are the same ones he fitted onto a homemade jetpack. They had sat unused since, so the jetpack was disassembled and put to better use.
To make the jet canoe, the engines are tied together to propel the canoe in whichever direction the operator wants it to go, and they’re mounted high enough as to not blow exhaust onto the hull.
Thanks to movie magic, the build is completed in no time. The result can generate a total thrust of 143 lbs, and travel at 50km an hour. The engines are so powerful the stern is almost submerged under the pressure. That proved to be a problem for Hacksmith, who wanted to go faster but couldn’t, because the canoe would have completely dipped its engines into the water. However, any good voyageur would have just moved a barrel of whiskey forward in the boat.
Watch the video to find out how you can make the fastest canoe on the water.
Not every paddling retailer has a love-hate relationship with demo days. For some, it’s all hate.
So when the COVID-19 pandemic burst onto the scene last spring, closing stores and dropping a cloud of uncertainty over every aspect of the paddlesports business, there was a silver lining of sorts. Nobody had to run a demo all season.
Later, as an unexpected Covid boom improved bottom lines and retailers experimented with smaller-scale alternatives, some began to wonder whether full-blown demos will become a thing of the past. Others have no doubt.
[ Discover the best canoes and kayaks of the year in the Paddling Buyer’s Guide ]
“We’re done with big demos,” said Dave Slover, owner of Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe in Portland, Ore. Even before the pandemic struck last spring, Alder Creek had decided to cancel its 2020 Spring Paddle Festival, which was still popular with paddlers but wasn’t generating the sales boost it had in years past. Such events come with plenty of overhead for retailers and participating manufacturers, all to sell boats at a discount. “A two-day demo costs $20,000 or $30,000,” Slover said. “Until you put a hundred thousand bucks in the bank, that event isn’t paying for itself.”
A demo is essentially a sale, used not only to show new paddlers the ropes but also to move product, usually at a discount. That doesn’t pencil out in the current environment, with retailers selling everything they can get their hands on at full price and full volume. Next year looks like more of the same, with retailers across North America desperate to restock and vendors limiting orders for 2021, even as their factories run full-tilt.
“Our inventory is about 70 percent of where it should be going into spring and we are pre-selling all sorts of items,” Slover said. A sale of any kind doesn’t make sense in such times, especially one that costs money to put on and leaves staff sweaty and grumbling.
“For every show we rent two 40-foot Penske trucks and load them with 50 or 60 kayaks every morning,” said Juan Carlos Andreu, general manager at Austin Canoe Kayak. “It’s just a lot of sweat and tears to put these shows together.”
In exchange for that investment in money and hard labor, retailers gain the chance to cultivate relationships that just don’t grow under fluorescent shop lights. Demos set specialty shops apart from the box stores, bring new blood into the sport and foster a kind of customer interaction you can’t get anywhere but on the water.
“There’s no comparison because when I’m on demos, I’m educating people on paddling.”
“There’s no comparison because when I’m on demos, I’m educating people on paddling,” said Steve Cheers, owner of Mountain Sports Ltd., in Bristol, Va. “It makes you look like the expert. You get a connection you don’t normally get in the store, and there are people I’ve met at demos who continue to this day to be friends.”
Mountain Sports is an outdoor-sports institution in southern Virginia, a family-owned operation celebrating 40 years in business. As recently as a decade ago, it hosted six demos per season at a city park in Bristol, but as the municipal red tape mounted Cheers transitioned to less-frequent demos at a lake 40 minutes out of town. Last season he scheduled two, both canceled due to COVID-19.
Cheers says that about 20 percent of his paddlesports sales come from demos in normal times, and he expects to resume them eventually. How soon depends on the pandemic and his suppliers. “As soon as we can get some boats, we’ll probably do something for ’21,” he said.
Austin Canoe and Kayak, a powerhouse retailer with five locations in central and east Texas, also has taken a wait-and-see approach to demos, Andreu said. In recent years, ACK has hosted four demo weekends, one each spring and fall in both the Austin-San Antonio and Houston areas. The events have been a key part of the retailer’s customer outreach efforts, and Andreu is eager to return to them. Just not quite yet.
With no excess inventory and almost everything he can get into the shop flying straight off the shelves, there’s no immediate need for full-scale demos. Instead, ACK has focused on more targeted outreach. Last summer, the retailer offered reservation-only on-water tests of its 10 most popular fishing kayaks, in what Andreu calls a boutique experience for customers considering boats that retail from $1,500 to more than $3,000. “It was one-on-one, and we were able to keep it safe,” he said, adding that a $100 refundable deposit ensured participating customers were serious.
The approach is a far cry from the festival vibe of ACK’s regular demos, which feature live music and draw hundreds of people, from kitted-out enthusiasts to folks who just happen by. Still, the scaled-down demo served one of the most important functions of a paddling demo—building community around the sport, and helping customers find the boat that’s right for them.
Slover believes smaller-scale demo opportunities may be the wave of the future. While Alder Creek may never throw another weekend-long Paddle Festival with SUP yoga classes, kayak fishing clinics and dozens of brands, Slover is pursuing opportunities for small demos keyed to individual brands.
Rather than putting on a big show at great cost to the retailer—and inviting brands to send reps at great cost to them—Slover envisions more personal events coinciding with brand reps’ regular rounds.
“If they can double up on their tour, it makes sense for them to promote their products to not only the retailer but also to the consumer,” he said. “Come spend an evening with the rep. I think that’s the target.”
Algonquin Park is just a few hours’ drive from Ontario’s largest urban centres, yet this staycation destination feels worlds away from the hustle and bustle of Toronto and Ottawa. You don’t have to be a rugged outdoors person to experience the majestic lakes, serene forests and abundant wildlife of this iconic park—a selection of comfortable and affordable hotels is located within minutes of the park’s west, east and southern access points or within the park itself.
[ Paddling Trip Guide: View all paddling trips in Algonquin ]
Base yourself at an Algonquin inn or a hotel within or near Algonquin Provincial Park for easy access to the park’s diverse hiking trails, canoe routes, guided canoe day trips, visitor attractions and cycling opportunities. Plus, many hotels offer the convenience of a room or fully equipped suite that is steps from the shops and restaurants of the region’s welcoming communities.
An Algonquin Park landmark since 1917, Bartlett Lodge is an oasis of luxury and fascinating history set amid the wild beauty of Algonquin’s Cache Lake. Whether your idea of the perfect vacation is a lakeside deck and a comfy reading chair or an ambitious paddle-and-portage adventure to a remote lake, Bartlett’s artist studio suites ensure you’ll end each day in total comfort. And the lodge’s gourmet, five-star meal plan guarantees you’ll be well fuelled for each new experience. Located near the mid-point of the Highway 60 corridor, this Algonquin inn-in-the-park is a short freighter canoe ride across Cache Lake from the guest parking area, making it a bit more difficult to slip away. But once you are here, we guarantee you won’t want to leave.
For upscale accommodation in south Algonquin, look no further than Nomi Resort on Benoir Lake. Just a 3 km walk or drive to Algonquin Park’s Kingscote Lake access point, and a short paddle or hike to High Falls, this boutique hotel also boasts over 30 kilometers of private trails with on-site fat bike rentals. Nomi’s main lodge houses spacious guest rooms; a wellness center with sauna, massage rooms and mindfulness room; and the top-rated Lands850 Restaurant, Bar and Lounge.
Located in the village of Dwight and just 15 minutes from Algonquin’s West Gate, Spring Lake Resort offers a cheap and convenient home base with easy on-site amenities including a restaurant, complimentary canoes and kayaks for exploring tranquil Spring Lake and 52 wooded acres with hiking trails. The resort’s tidy, motel-style rooms feature lake views and are steps to a sandy beach and canoe dock. Head into Dwight for a tasty baked treat or a fresh bottle of red to enjoy by the lake.
Nestled among tall pines with a private beach on the sandy shores of Dwight Bay, the Lake of Bays Lodge offers a variety of affordable accommodations, ranging from modern lakeview suites with en-suite Jacuzzi tubs to traditional rustic cottages. All suites feature a private balcony or deck overlooking Lake of Bays. Dine in at the lodge’s restaurant, or sample local take-out steps away in the village of Dwight. Centrally located within a 20-minute drive of Algonquin Park’s West Gate, downtown Huntsville and the picturesque, waterfront hamlet of Dorset.
It’s a great alternative to camping. | Photo courtesy of: Destination Ontario
Dwight Riverside Inn
Families rave about the clean rooms, immaculate grounds and friendly service at this hidden gem midway between Algonquin Park’s West Gate and the amenities of Huntsville. Newly renovated family and luxury suites feature warm cedar accents and well-equipped kitchenettes for longer stays. If you’re on a budget and looking for affordable Algonquin Park hotel deals, the Dwight Riverside Inn’s cozy rooms and suites have everything you need—plus, the 10-acre motel property adds a ton of value with beautiful gardens, free BBQs and firewood, children’s playground and a gorgeous swimming hole on the Oxtongue River. Rent canoes and inner tubes on-site to experience a lazy river ride, Algonquin-style.
If you’re planning to paddle Canoe Lake or hike popular trails near Algonquin’s West Gate, this charming lakeside motel and cottage resort offers comfortable studios and suites with fireplaces and great views of Oxtongue Lake. Add to that the resort’s superb sandy beach and on-site trail network for hiking or cross-country skiing/snowshoeing and you have an idyllic home base for an Algonquin couple’s getaway or a family vacation. Blue Spruce Resort guests enjoy use of canoes, kayaks and paddleboards to tour the lake or make the half-day trip to spectacular Ragged Falls on the Oxtongue River. Algonquin Outfitters is just next-door if you need to rent equipment for a longer paddling adventure in the park.
Choose from classic, comfortable rooms and suites at this modest lakeside hotel right on Highway 60, minutes from the park’s West Gate. Enjoy hot breakfast and dinner with Algonquin Lakeside Inn’s lodge-and-dine packages, and then head down to the resort’s sandy beach and borrow a canoe or kayak to paddle Oxtongue Lake or journey to Ragged Falls.
Situated on the picturesque shore of Little Hawk Lake in the Haliburton area of the Algonquin Highlands, Oakview Lodge is a convenient option if you’re looking to explore both the park’s West Gate area and southern panhandle. This cozy Algonquin inn offers rooms, suites and cottage accommodation, lakeside dining and use of canoes, kayaks and SUP boards for exploring the lake. Oakview Lodge is also on the doorstep of the Haliburton Forest, a year-round destination for paddling, hiking, wildlife viewing and winter activities.
Another fine option for stays in the Haliburton area is Little Hawk Resort and Marina. Set on five wooded acres on the shores of Halls Lake, kids and adults love the lodge’s family-oriented atmosphere and sandy swimming beach. Choose from pet-friendly suites or cottage accommodation, and enjoy the complimentary canoes, water trampoline, playground, hot tub and an on-site restaurant.
This couples-only, five-star luxury resort is situated on the shores of Galeairy Lake and the Madawaska River with direct access to the east side of Algonquin Park and walking distance to the village of Whitney. Both the lake (most of which lies within the park) and river offer superb canoeing and kayaking, but it’s the Couples Resort’s opulent rooms—all of which feature an outdoor hot tub and in-room Jacuzzi next to a wood-burning fireplace—and gourmet dining experiences that make a stay here truly one-of-a-kind. This all-season resort is also home to an organic spa so you can pamper weary muscles after a day of paddling, hiking, biking, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing the nearby trails.
With a hip, sociable vibe and cheerful Algonquin Park-themed rooms in a classic log chalet, the hostel-style lodge at Camp Bongopix offers a fun (and sometimes rowdy) atmosphere for younger adults and lovers of folk music. The lodge and a handful of rustic rental cabins are pet-friendly so you can bring your pooch (or adventure cat) to Algonquin Park. Meet like-minded park visitors while chilling in the book- and guitar-filled common room, playing retro video games (there’s no wifi) or grilling dinner over the lodge’s BBQs. Grab a complimentary canoe to paddle across Galeairy Lake into Algonquin Park, and don’t miss the free campfire jam every Saturday night. Located on the Madawaska River in the village of Whitney, Camp Bongopix is a 5-minute drive from the East Gate of Algonquin Park and close to the park’s superb visitor center, logging museum and popular hiking trails.
More Old World mountain lodge than modern hotel, the Algonquin Eco-Lodge offers a truly unique, off-grid experience for wilderness enthusiasts. Located on the southern border of the park, this award-winning eco-lodge creates its own alternative energy from an onsite waterfall so guests can enjoy the finer comforts, including a carbon-neutral hot tub. This is one of the most secluded places you can stay in Algonquin—walk, cycle, horseback ride or ski a 2.3-km trail to reach the lodge (don’t worry, they’ll transfer your luggage). Guests stay in 17 private bedrooms, share dining and social areas, and enjoy an extensive trail network (over 40 km) right out the door. Canoe to secluded beaver lodges and meandering creeks, then relax in this unusual inn’s lakeside sauna.
Planning a canoe trip to the breathtaking Barron Canyon, mighty Petawawa River or Grand Lake area on the east side of Algonquin Park? Algonquin Portage is located right on your route into the park, just 15 minutes from Sand Lake Gate, making this comprehensive outfitting service and motel-style lodge a convenient one-stop shop. Book one of their simple, cozy rooms and get an early start on your Algonquin Park adventures. Additional services include: canoe, kayak and SUP rentals, equipment rental, trip planning, vehicle shuttles, canoe delivery/pick-up and a camper’s store.
Registration is open for the 36th annual Wilderness & Canoe Symposium, taking place February 17, 2021, from 6 pm to 9 pm via Zoom.
“We remain committed to nurture our passion and love for paddling and to keep our symposium community safe. For this reason, we will be delivering the 2021 event live and online only,” says organizer Aleks Gusev. Traditionally held in a high school auditorium in Toronto, for the first time the WCS is easily accessible to paddlers around the world.
“You will be able to join from the ease, comfort and safety of your pajamas, sitting on your couch, with your various pets. Bonuses include access to the bathroom with no line-ups, your favorite snacks at your disposal, and no restrictions to bringing a glass of wine to the event this year,” Gusev adds. Click here to register.
The evening will feature five presenters. Continuing with the tradition George Luste started many years ago, there will be a short wilderness music interlude halfway thru the evening. Presenters include:
The Enduring Ice Project
Diana Kushner and Stephen Smith on their kayaking expedition to Nares Strait and forthcoming film, Albedo: in search of a frozen ocean. Their journey to assess climate change in the North had to switch gears when their scientific team became trapped by the sea ice it had come to study. With the Arctic Ocean collapsing all around them, they escaped the chaos by traversing the North’s most remote and formidable passage.
Wally Schaber
In 1969, Wally Schaber was part of a team of guides who tried to reestablish the Ottawa YMCA Boys Camp On-Da-Da Waks at the headwaters of the Dumoine River. Working in conjunction with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Ottawa Valley Chapter, CPAWS-OV, and Friends of Rivière du Moine, this is the story of how the larger Three Rivers Project came to establish the Dumoine, Coulonge and Noire as an interconnected and protected wild river preserve.
Paul Burbidge
In 2017, Paul spent three weeks exploring rivers in the Mackenzie Mountains of NWT. The team started on the Little Nahanni River near the NWT/Yukon border and finished in the town of Tulita on the Mackenzie River. Paul’s group paddled 10 rivers with three significant portages—the longest portage 100km in length. Find out how to plan for remote unrun river trips, as well as gear selection for long whitewater packraft trips.
James Raffan
Loves canoes and canoeing and is a longtime friend of the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough. But it is storytelling that is JR’s real passion, and he’s one of the best. Over the years he has written and edited 24 books on topics ranging from canoes to biography, with the common thread running through them the connections between people and place. He is a frequent public presenter, speaking about risk, adventure, environment, reconciliation, education and the simple joys of self-imposed suffering.
Wilderness Concert by Jerry Vandiver
With over 40 years paddling whitewater and flatwater in the US, Mexico and Canada, and more canoes and kayaks than his wife thinks he should have, Jerry is an established singer/songwriter from Nashville, TN and has had his songs recorded on over 15 million records, two of which are hanging on the walls of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Be ready to laugh, dance and sing in your pyjamas from your own home in this fun virtual WCS presentation.
Breakout Sessions
Five simultaneous breakout sessions, following the Wilderness Concert by Jerry Vandiver, will take place half-way through the evening.
Look-at-me-Wilderness-Super-Hero – Hosted by Bob Henderson
Paddle or not to paddle in the territories in summer of 2021?Hosted by Iva Kinclova
Fitting your Canoe Pack to carry heavy loads lightly – Hosted by Bill Ostrom
A sharing session of how we connected with nature during COVID-19 – Hosted by Brian Johnston
General Breakout session for any other topics and/or socializing.
The WCS is looking for a dozen or so volunteers familiar with Zoom meetings platform to help facilitate breakout sessions. Virtual pizza included. Use Subject Line “2021 WCS Volunteer” in your email to sign up with Aleks at aleks.gusev@gmail.com
