Adventure Kayak reader Sarah Muszynski sent us this fabulous photo of paddling on the calm, glacier-fed waters of Washington’s Lake Wenatchee in the Cascade Mountains. Visit Washington State Parks to plan your own tour this summer.
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This past weekend saw the the 34th running of the Gull River Open Canoe Slalom Race at Minden, Ontario’s Whitewater Preserve.
Top finishers included:
For full results, click here to view all runs or best runs only (PDFs will open.)
For photos of the event by Marilyn Scriver, please visit her Flickr page here.
There you are, heading downstream, a maze of breaking waves, holes and fast current ahead. Off to the side is a great shore eddy with your name on it. The problem is that you’re traveling downstream faster than the current so there’s little chance of catching the eddy using traditional steering strokes. The solution may be right there in front of you—do a wave turn on an approaching breaking wave and front ferry across to the eddy.
Redirecting your downstream momentum toward the eddy requires the creative use of water features. Wave turns are just the trick to spin your canoe up- stream and halt your downstream momentum. Even better, wave turns set you up for a front ferry to take you across to that eddy pool you’ve been eyeing.
Set up for a wave turn by angling your bow 45 degrees or more to the breaking part of a wave. Aim for the pile so that the water falling upstream into the trough captures your bow.
As the bow anchors itself in the foam pile, your stern remains in the downstream current and passes the wave resulting in a spin pointing…
This article appeared in Rapid, Spring 2013. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read the rest here.
A broken sky crowns kayakers in British Columbia’s Broken Islands Group, Barkley Sound. Thanks to Adventure Kayak reader Lester Lightstone for sharing this great shot!
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Join filmmaker Mike McKay of Five2Nine Productions as he visits some of Canada’s classic whitewater runs to capture both the rivers and the local paddlers who know them best. Episode 1 of the Made in Canada series features a Quebec crew kayaking their home river, the Neilson.
From NRS Films.
“Getting them started early,” says Adventure Kayak reader Wes Hall of this family paddling portrait.
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The 2013 ICF World Freestyle Championship has come to an end after an exciting week at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina.
Men’s and Women’s Squirt Finals were first on the list of many Final rounds. In Women’s Squirt, Claire O’Hara (GBR) proved herself yet again, and took home the gold and the World Champion title in her division with 1,153 points. Bringing home silver was Motoko Ishida (JPN) with 603 points and Yoshiko Suematsu (JPN) took the bronze with 286 points. In the Men’s Division, Clay Wright (USA) topped the podium with 1,340 points. In second place is Dane Jackson (USA) with 1, 160 points, while Max Karlsson (SWE) nabbed bronze with 860 points.
Jordan Poffenberger (USA) came in first place with 283 points in Men’s OC-1, Dane Jackson (USA) took home silver with 103 points, and Jez Jez (AUS) came away with a bronze medal with 100 points. In Men’s C1, Poffenberger (USA) took another gold medal with 1,068 points, while teammates Tad Dennis (USA) came in second with 843 points and Dane Jackson (USA) took bronze with 840 points.
Home-state hero Rowan Stuart (USA) was able to snatch a gold medal in the Junior Women’s K1 division with a 423 point ride. Nuria Fontane (ESP) came in second with 380 points, and Kimberlee Aldred (GBR) placed third with an even 200 point ride. In Men’s K1 Junior, Hunter Katich (USA) took top spot with an impressive score of 1,200 points. Thomas Richard (FRA) took home silver with 1,006 points and Alec Vorhees (USA) took home bronze with 953 points.
In one of the more anticipated Finals of the week, Claire O’Hara (GBR) grabbed yet another World Champion title in the Women’s K1 division, with a 708 point ride. Hitomi Kakau (JPN) took silver with 650 points, and Adriene Levknecht (USA) went home with bronze after her 326 point run.
To some, it may have come as no surprise that 20 year-old Dane Jackson (USA) walked away with the gold medal in the K1 Men’s division. His ride earned him 1,240 points, while Peter Csonka (SVK) came second with 1,233 points and Tomasz Czaplicki (POL) came in third with 1,208 points.
The 2013 ICF World Freestyle Championships was another raging success. The Nantahala Outdoor Centre did a phenomenal job hosting the events, especially with the inclusion of the LiveFeed and the automated scoring system, which made the event extremely spectator friendly. It will be interesting to watch the up and coming athletes over the next two years as they prepare for the next competition, with the scores we saw throughout the event this week, who knows what’s coming next in 2015.
Gary Luhm created this digital composite image of Sean Watson surfing First Beach by “moving the kayaker and his wave to an interesting background that includes the distant sea stacks of First and Second beaches.” Shooting Washington’s annual La Push Pummel in February 2012, Luhm and his surfer subjects waited for huge 23-foot seas to subside to a more manageable eight- to 10-foot swell. “I enjoy creating believable composites,” he says, “they’re limited only by one’s imagination.”
Location: Olympic Coast, Washington
This image originally appeared in the Spring 2013 issue of Adventure Kayak. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.
Semi-Finals for most events were on the agenda at the 2013 ICF World Freestyle Championships in Bryson City, NC today.
The day started off at noon, with Men’s and Women’s Squirt boating Semi-Finals. The boaters had two runs, with their best of the two determining their overall score. Clay Wright (USA) posted a 1, 220 point first run, which earned him top spot going into the Finals. Dane Jackson (USA) also had a good first run, scoring 1,076 points, which put him into second place. Rounding out the Top 5 athletes going into tomorrow’s Final are Max Karlsson (SWE) with 866 points, Jeremy Laucks (USA) with 796 points and Benjamin Aldred (GBR) with 523 points.
In Women’s squirt boating action, Claire O’Hara maintained her first place position easily with a 900 point lead, earning herself 1,253 points. Completing the Top 5 are Motoko Ishida (JPN) with 390 points, Elaine Campbell (USA) with 553 points, Hitomi Takaku (JPN) with 293 points and Yoshiko Suematsu (JPN) with 243 points. Tomorrow, we find out if O’Hara will once again nab the Women’s World Squirt Champion title.
In K1 Junior Men, Alec Vorhees (USA) was able to sweep top spot with 966 points. Bennett Smith (USA) is close behind and takes second place, with 945 points. Also moving on to tomorrow’s finals are Max Karlsson (SWE) with 916 points, Hunter Katich (USA) with 833 points and Thomas Richard (FRA) with 690 points.
Tad Dennis (USA) was able to unseat Jordan Poffenberger (USA) going into tomorrow’s Final with 1,086 point ride, which at press time was the unconfirmed highest score in ICF history of C1. Dane Jackson (USA) came second with 893 points. The other three men advancing to the final tomorrow are Poffenberger with 736 points, Sebastien Devred (FRA) with 690 points, and Seth Chappelle (USA) with 640 points.
Wrapping up the day was the nighttime rodeo for Men’s and Women’s K1 Semi-Finals, where the Top 10 from each division faced off to try and secure a spot in tomorrow’s Final. Claire O’Hara (GBR) maintained her first place position with a 575 point ride, while Ekaterina Kulkova (RUS) was only points behind with a score of 546 points. Also advancing to finals are Hitomi Takaku (JPN) with 413 points, Anne Hubner (GER) with 410 and Adriene Levknecht (USA), also with 410 points. It’s a close race for the ladies, and the Final should be interesting to watch.
In Men’s K1, the competition was fierce, with non-stop action. The bar was set high from the beginning, as the first two rides of the evening scored above 1,000 points. Going into Finals tomorrow sitting in first place is Dane Jackson (USA) with 1,230 points. Only 27 points behind, Tomasz Czaplicki is sitting in second with 1,203. Also in the Top 5 going into tomorrow’s Final are Peter Csonka (SVK) with 1,113 points, Sebastien Devred (FRA) with 1, 073 points and Alan Ward (GBR) with 1,058 points. Nick Troutman (CAN) and Eric Jackson (USA) didn’t make the cut along with James Bebbington (GBR), who missed moving on to Semi’s yesterday. With three former World Champions out of the running, it’s anyone’s guess as to who could take home the title tomorrow, especially after watching such dynamic boating.
Finals take place for all events throughout the day tomorrow (September 8th). For a schedule of events, as well as a link to the LiveFeed, be sure to check out the 2013 ICF Freestyle Championships website.
Another day has gone by at the Nantahala Outdoor Centre, which means we are one step closer to finding out who will be named World Champion in the various events taking place at the 2013 ICF World Freestyle Championships.
Men’s C1 heats started off the day at noon, with over 15 men looking to make the cut in order to go on to Semi-Finals. Leading the pack is Jordan Poffenberger (USA) with a score of 1,382 points. Closely following is Tad Dennis (USA) with 1, 277 points and Lucas Cervinka (CZK) 1,228 points. The Top 10 will throw down tomorrow afternoon in the Semi-Finals.
K1 Women’s heats got underway today as well, and it came as no real surprise that Claire O’Hara (GBR) came in first in the preliminary round with a total of 1,220 points. Rounding out the top 3 women are Ruth Gordon-Ebens (CAN) with 713 points and Hitomi Takaku (JPN), who is following Gordon-Ebens extremely closely with 712 points. The Top 10 ladies also go into Semi-Final rounds tomorrow afternoon.
Wrapping up the day was the Men’s K1 Quarter-Final, where the boys laid down some impressive rides. Mathieu Dumoulin (FRA) threw down a massive 1, 520 point score, quickly linking huge loops, McNasty’s and Phonix Monkey’s, earning himself some bonuses for big air. Not to be outdone, Dane Jackson (USA) followed Dumoulin’s performance with a 1, 560 point ride, the highest of the day. Going into Semi-Finals, Jackson is in the lead with a total of 3, 106 points, Dumoulin is in second place with 2,616 points and Peter Csonka (SVK) is in third with 2, 369 points. The Top 10 men go onto tomorrow’s competition, which promises to be exciting as previous World Champions such as Nick Troutman (CAN) and Eric Jackson (USA) are in the mix. Tomorrow’s Semi-Final gets underway at 9:00Pm EST for a nighttime rodeo, be sure to catch all the action on the LiveFeed.
For a full list of today’s results, click here.
