Westbrook Supply Company owner Fletcher Griffin working his kayak rigging magic. | Feature photo: Westbrook Supply Co.
Tucked up a river mouth on Long Island Sound is a workshop where Joe Harasyko is turning wrenches to modify some seriously tricked-out rides. The creations he is dialing in with lights, electronics and gear aren’t of the four-wheeled variety you’d see rolling out the garage doors in a scene from Vice Grip Garage though. Harasyko is the rigging manager for Black Hall Outfitters, a paddling shop in Old Lyme, Connecticut that does a booming business in customized fishing kayaks. One of two full-time riggers at the shop, Harasyko is in charge of transforming stock kayaks into some of the most elaborate bass sleds you’ve ever set eyes on.
Rig my ride: How kayak customization boosts the bottom line
Black Hall owner Gene Chmiel says the shop has been customizing kayaks for around five years, and as participation in outdoor sports soared the desire for tricked-out fishing kayaks has followed suit. Now it’s a mainstay of his business, with no end in sight.
During that time kayak fishing has continued to grow, both in overall participation and as a share of the recreational fishing market. The Outdoor Industry Foundation reports that 47 million people went fishing in the United States in 2017, of whom five percent fished from kayaks or other non-motorized craft. Five years later in 2022, those figures had grown to 52 million anglers and six percent using kayaks. That’s more than three million kayak anglers in the United States alone.
Westbrook Supply Company owner Fletcher Griffin working his kayak rigging magic. | Feature photo: Westbrook Supply Co.
Customization Goes from Joes to Pros
While some kayak anglers are drawn to the quiet simplicity of a paddle and an old spinning rod, many more get into kayak fishing to catch fish with every bit of high-tech firepower a 14-foot hunk of floating plastic will carry. One look at the multitude of DIY rigging projects on YouTube will prove just how resourceful and obsessive kayak anglers can be. They want kayaks that can go toe-to-toe with full-size fishing boats, and they’re ready to pay expert riggers like the team at Black Hall for them.
“It’s where the sport is going,” Chmiel says, adding that not everyone has the confidence to start drilling holes in perfectly good kayaks. “There’s a small percentage of people willing to do it themselves, but a lot of people are intimidated by it,” he says.
Even with boats that already cost a few thousand dollars off the shelf, Chmiel says custom rigging is a service customers are willing to invest in. He estimates half the kayaks Black Hall sells have some degree of customization. This translates to about 15 rigging jobs per week, with the more elaborate setups pushing the total sale and service toward the $10,000 mark.
Black Hall is one of a growing list of shops around the country building custom fishing kayaks. Another is Westbrook Supply Co. in Atlanta, Georgia. Owner Fletcher Griffin says customizing fishing kayaks has been a part of the business since he opened the shop in 2017, but rigging has really taken off in the last two years. He’s also noticed something interesting in the demographic of anglers who’ve been seeking out builds.
Black Hall Outfitters owner Gene Chmiel (left) and rigging manager Joe Harasyko, (center) turn customer dreams into fish-slaying machines. | Photo: Black Hall Outfitters
NFL Hall of Famer Tedy Bruschi is a happy Black Hall customer, and this is why. | Photo: Black Hall Outfitters
“These elaborate fishing kayaks are pulling people from johnboats and bass boats, not necessarily from a paddling background,” Griffin says. “Guys are coming down from the bass boat world and embracing the kayak scene. A paddler sees the price of these custom kayaks and they may think that sounds like a lot, but it’s all perspective. When you’re coming from a $50,000 bass boat, a fishing kayak is just more economical and there is less to deal with.”
Shops like Westbrook Supply and Black Hall Outfitters are garnering wide notoriety for their work. Black Hall is shipping boats from Connecticut to buyers as far afield as Texas and Montana. They’ve even done some work for celebrity figures.
In spring 2023, Harasyko built out an Old Town AutoPilot 136 for New England Patriots Hall of Famer Tedy Bruschi. The kayak featured Boonedox Landing Gear, Lowrance radar, a Power-Pole, interior lights, and a spotlight just to get started. The fact Bruschi, who is a boat fisherman as well, is investing this much in a kayak says as much about the work of Black Hall as it does about the rising tide of elaborate kayak builds.
“He found out about us and brought his boat in,” says Chmiel. “Now he’s a friend of the shop and totally into kayak fishing. He’s even recommended us to other NFL players.”
Chmiel, who spent 20 years in marketing prior to starting a kayak shop, sees this as just the beginning to future growth of customizing fishing kayaks.
Black Hall is already fabricating and 3D printing their own parts to fill gaps in what’s available on the market in terms of bars and mounts. For Chmiel, going the route of the car world and rigging these rides was an obvious move for his shop, and one he suggests to other retailers who can support it.
“We saw the opportunity and we’ve been active in pushing it out. Any time in retail you can add those additional sales and have those incremental rings it’s all upsell. The need is there, and it creates a point of difference for the shop.”
This article was first published in the 2024 issue of Paddling Business. Inside you’ll find the year’s hottest gear for canoeing, kayaking, whitewater and paddleboarding. Plus: forty years in the Four Corners, robotic kayak rentals, building the Paddlesports Trade Coalition and more. READ IT NOW »
Westbrook Supply Company owner Fletcher Griffin working his kayak rigging magic. | Feature photo: Westbrook Supply Co.
When faced with a big rapid, kayaker Charles Cailyer first slows his breathing to slow his heart rate. “Then, I think of my mother, who died a couple years ago. I thank her for giving me life and imagine her with me. Then, I focus and I send it.” | Feature photo: Caleb Gingras
Are you superstitious about running big rapids? Or is a ritual you always perform to calm your nerves and conjure up some good river karma prior to a big run? In case you need some luck, we asked nine pro whitewater kayakers share their go-tos.
9 curious superstitions and reliable rituals of pro whitewater kayakers
“Every time I run Spirit Falls, I look up in the sky, throw a handful of water up in the air, and watch each droplet fall back down. I’m asking my paddling buddies who are no longer with us for a soft landing each time.”
—Dave Fusilli
“Treat the river with respect, or it will remind you who’s in control. This means even talking nicely to it. They have found water crystallizes differently depending on the tone and what you’re saying to it. Mean and angry = non-symmetrical crystals. Kind and nice = beautiful symmetrical crystals. Every time I paddle, I focus on gratitude and sometimes even talk to my surroundings.”
—Emily Jackson
“I have this weird little eddyline thing on my home run, which is an unnamed rock 200 yards above Upper Zigzag on the Truss on the White Salmon River, and I tell myself my line through that little weird eddyline will be an indicator of how good my line on the next main rapid (Zigzag) will be. It’s probably pretty accurate since it’s a test of how well I’m paddling that day.”
—Leif Anderson
“I splash my face three times before any big rapid.”
—Mariann Saether
“Always put your kayak on the car going the correct way—facing forward, the way you want to go kayaking.”
—Adriene Levknecht
“Don’t spit in the water. I never spit in the water. I always think the river might throw some river karma at me if I do.”
—Mike Dawson
“River karma. We all have positive and negative behaviors on the river. When too many people are loose and unsafe, accidents happen within the community. Most of the time, it doesn’t make any sense; it’s unfair, random and tragic. I believe that, in some ways, we all have our own responsibilities. Every time someone gets lucky, someone else might not get away with a bad line or hidden hazard. I call it river karma, but I guess it’s more a probabilistic approach to whitewater accidents.”
—Nouria Newman
“Anointing your kayak with burning sage.”
—Natalie Anderson
“I always check my sprayskirt before leaving the eddy after I’ve scouted or left the boat. It’s not like I didn’t check it immediately after pulling it over the cockpit rim, but I check it again. Maybe that’s idiosyncratic more than superstitious, but I feel slightly off if I don’t. Also, when in doubt, I portage that stout with my boat always on the riverside shoulder, which I think is a strategy as much as superstition.”
When faced with a big rapid, kayaker Charles Cailyer first slows his breathing to slow his heart rate. “Then, I think of my mother, who died a couple years ago. I thank her for giving me life and imagine her with me. Then, I focus and I send it.” | Feature photo: Caleb Gingras
This article was first published in the Spring 2024 issue of Paddling Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
When faced with a big rapid, kayaker Charles Cailyer first slows his breathing to slow his heart rate. “Then, I think of my mother, who died a couple years ago. I thank her for giving me life and imagine her with me. Then, I focus and I send it.” | Feature photo: Caleb Gingras
The nomination of this expedition paddler was nearly unanimous—Can you guess who? | Feature photo: Jaime sharp
Following his successful transatlantic expedition, kayaker Peter Bray said, “If somebody says something can’t be done, I like to know why it can’t be done, and then prove it can be.” This sentiment echoes through the motivations of some of the most extraordinary kayaking expeditions, inspiring journeys that push not just physical and mental boundaries, but also the limits of what we believe is possible.
Drawing on the nominations from more than a dozen of today’s most accomplished expedition paddlers, we’ve curated a list of some of the most remarkable journeys by double blade in the past 25 years. While few of us will ever attempt such daring trips, these stories inspire us to question our own limits and fuel the spirit of adventure.
We’ve ranked the following expeditions in reverse order, saving the best for last. What do you think? Tell us how you’d rank these expeditions and about the journeys we missed.
Greatest kayaking expeditions of the century (so far)
The Svalbard team encountered 39 polar bears on their circumnavigation. | Photo: Jaime Sharp
11 Svalbard circumnavigation
The 3,000 polar bear inhabitants of the Arctic Ocean’s Svalbard archipelago outnumber its human residents. The bears are why the first recorded circumnavigation of Svalbard’s four main islands—by Jaime Sharp, Tara Mulvany and Per Gustav Porsanger in 2015—was preceded by 20 years of failed attempts and near deaths.
“This expedition was not just about whether you can paddle long days but can you manage polar bears and not be eaten—an outcome that ended the previous attempt in 2009,” says Sharp. “Can you paddle 160 kilometers of nonstop glacial cliffs and manage sea ice movements, all encompassed within an already hefty paddle of 2,300 kilometers, over three months, and needing to be completed before winter storms return?”
“The trio was chased by polar bears and had to out-paddle them on the water. Enough said.”
—Editors
The Henry brothers’ 6,500-kilometer route is among the longest modern sea kayaking journeys. | Photo: Courtesy Graham Henry
10 Brazil to Florida
In 2014, brothers Russell, 21, and Graham Henry, 23, paddled from Brazil to Florida, charting 6,500 kilometers over seven months. The inspiration was Russell’s expedition planning class at university, which required designing a dream trip. Why not make it a reality?
The two Canadian brothers set out in their Current Designs Nomad GTSs from Belem, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon River. After paddling 2,400 kilometers up the South American coastline, they island-hopped up the Lesser Antilles to Anguilla before heading west to the Dominican Republic. From there, they had the two longest crossings of the trip—upward of 150 kilometers—to Turks and Caicos and then Florida.
The journey spanned 25 countries and territories and threw everything imaginable at the brothers, from a diverse and ever-changing cultural landscape to the obvious obstacle of rough sea conditions to the physical demands of paddling stretches of up to 27 hours straight. The brothers avoided pirates, stayed on Richard Branson’s private island, and became the first kayakers since John Dowd’s 1979 expedition to cross the Caribbean Sea. They were also the only paddlers to do so in solo kayaks.
Ten years later, Russell is an expedition guide, and Graham is an attorney. “This trip really cracked open our idea of what we could accomplish, both in the outdoors and in life,” says Graham. “We can shoot big and, no matter the challenge, probably make it work.”
“The Henry brothers did a cool trip. Impressive for their youth. It was a great comparison with a trip we did—they had the technology, and it made such a difference, I could follow them live.”
—John Dowd, 1979 Caribbean crossing
The Amazon Express expedition team paddle down the Ucayali River in Peru, the headstream of the Amazon River. | Photo: Erich Schlegel
Darcy Gaechter, Don Beveridge and David Midgley in 2013. | Photo: Courtesy Darcy Gaechter
There are endless difficulties in a source-to-sea descent of the Amazon River: complex logistics, class V rapids, subzero temperatures at altitude followed by heavy heat, intense rain and swarming insects, jungle rot, river pirates and drug cartels. That didn’t deter these two impressive 21st-century teams.
In 2012, West Hansen led the first expedition to paddle the 4,200-mile Amazon River from its most distant trickle high in the Peruvian Andes to the Atlantic Ocean in Brazil. The Amazon Express team rafted and kayaked the entire distance in 111 days. “In completing the route, the team helped establish a new source of the Amazon River, objectively recognizing it almost 200 miles longer than the Nile River,” said expedition lead Hansen.
The following year, Darcy Gaechter, Don Beveridge and David Midgley kayaked the length of Amazon River over 148 days. Gaechter was the first—and still only—woman to descend the Amazon source to the sea. And the only vegan, too, she says.
“My whole life, people have told me I can’t, or shouldn’t, do things because of my gender and stature. For example, I wanted to be a raft guide and a kayaker—even though I’m a girl and really little—and people told me it probably wasn’t a great idea,” Gaechter told Paddling Magazine in 2020 about her newly published book, Amazon Woman. “A big motivation for writing my book was to share this story that you can overcome other people’s ideas about you. I hope it will encourage others to figure out their passion and chase it.”
“When Hansen, Gaechter and their teams started their trips, more people had walked on the moon than had traversed the Amazon from source to sea. The number was tied at 12 each when these journeys were complete.”
—Editors
The Arctic Cowboys completed the first single-season human-powered traverse of the Northwest Passage in 2023. | Photo: Courtesy The Arctic Cowboys
7 The Northwest Passage
Though it has been attempted many times, no recorded expedition had successfully navigated the Northwest Passage by human power in a single season until the Arctic Cowboys team in 2023. For centuries, European sailors sought the route between Baffin Bay and the Beaufort Sea for a quicker trade route to Asia, and the Passage is at the heart of many historical Arctic voyages and expedition lore.
“The conditions were rough. Rescue was precarious and unlikely. There was only one resupply point,” says Cowboys’ expedition leader West Hansen. “Purely self-propelled, the team fended off polar bears, severe storms, team strife and being almost crushed by sea ice twice.” Read more about the Cowboys’ expedition here.
“The Arctic Cowboys’ Northwest Passage trip is an epic journey. It also shows how much the Arctic is changing due to warmth. A journey once impossible to do in one season [due to sea ice] has now been done. It is an impressive feat, though also a sobering one.”
—Jaime Sharp, 2015 Svalbard circumnavigation
Jon Turk and Erik Boomer traveled 2,200 kilometers around Ellesmere Island by ski and paddle. | Photo: Erik Boomer
6 Ellesmere circumnavigation
In 2011, Jon Turk and Erik Boomer completed the first circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island in Canada’s Arctic. Nearly the same size as Great Britain, it was a retirement trip for Turk, then 65.
Turk and whitewater kayaker Boomer, 26, began by hauling their 300-pound, 13.5-foot plastic kayaks across 1,300 kilometers of sea ice on skis. On the island’s northeast coast, the ice pack formed 30-foot-high pressure ridges the men were forced to lift and lower their kayaks over. By midsummer, the ice opened, and they could paddle.
During their 104 days, the team had way-too-close encounters with polar bears (one ripped open their tent), walruses (one almost capsized Boomer’s kayak), crushing sea ice and even kidney failure.
“After the first day, I wrote in my journal, ‘Completed: 15 miles. To Go: 1,485.’ Then I took a quick mental survey of all the aches and pains throughout my body and concluded, I’m 65 years old, and there was no way I could complete the circumnavigation,” Turk said to Paddling Magazine after the expedition in 2011. “I thought seriously about saying to Boomer, ‘This is really dumb. I can’t do this. I’m going to turn back tomorrow morning. Sorry.’ But I couldn’t end my career so ignominiously.”
More than three months and 2,200 kilometers later, Turk and Boomer completed the treacherous journey. Read more about the expedition here.
“A really committing, grueling trip with two amazing adventurers.”
Peter Bray was the first kayaker to cross the Atlantic from west to east. | Photo: Alamy.com
5 North Atlantic crossing
In 2001, Peter Bray, a former special forces sergeant from Cornwall, United Kingdom, embarked on an expedition to cross the North Atlantic solo, paddling from Newfoundland, Canada, to Ireland in a custom-built 27-foot-long kayak.
Bray paddled more than 4,800 kilometers during his 76 days at sea. The journey was marked by treacherous weather conditions, which at times confined him to his six-foot by 30-inch cabin where he lay while waves up to 26 feet crashed over the kayak. Conditions were so abysmal Bray glimpsed the stars on just a single night. He lost 40 pounds, and severe weather repeatedly set him off course and depleted his solar-powered batteries until he was without communication.
Before Bray, only two kayakers had crossed the Atlantic. Both Franz Romer, in 1928, and Hannes Lindemann, in 1956, paddled east to west in modified Kleppers. In crossing west to east, Bray paddled without the help of trade winds.
His successful crossing came on the heels of a disastrous first attempt. In 2000, Bray’s expedition was cut short on its second day. A faulty valve flooded his kayak, leaving him adrift in a leaky life raft and immersed in the frigid North Atlantic for 37 hours while awaiting rescue. It took him months to learn to walk again. But Bray remained undeterred.
“The Atlantic was mind over matter and shows if you put your mind to it, you can achieve your goal. Seventy-six days alone in a kayak. No land,” he reiterates. Bray raised money for two charities along the way.
“His tenacity to try again after his near-fatal first attempt is a testament to true grit.”
—Editors
Justine Curgenven and Sarah Outen’s Aleutian Islands journey involved long, exposed crossings in cold, rough, remote seas. | Photo: Justine Curgenven
4 Crossing the Aleutians
The notoriously stormy Aleutian Islands chain stretches like a beaded necklace from Russia to Alaska. Justine Curgenven and Sarah Outen’s 2014 journey marked the first modern-day kayak crossing of the 2,500-kilometer remote archipelago. Over 101 days, they confronted more than 20 crossings between sparsely populated islands in cold, remote and rough seas—they also contended with bears and Outen’s inexperience. “We had three days of crossings where we paddled over 47 nautical miles (87 kilometers), and each took more than 15 hours,” says Curgenven.
“The Aleutians was a very, very good expedition. There are big tidal rips and very steep waves when the tide changes. You have a big wave of water, 29,000 feet deep, washing up onto a shallow continental shelf. It stacks up with nowhere to go. Hats off to Justine.”
—Jon Turk, 2000 Pacific Rim crossing
As if that wasn’t enough, Curgenven added a new dimension of challenge by filming the entire expedition. The adventure is captured in the feature-length Kayaking The Aleutians. The three-month adventure was just a chapter in Outen’s ambitious six-year quest to circumnavigate the globe using human power—kayaking, rowing and cycling, primarily solo.
“I am likely biased because I was part of it and know how challenging it was to kayak with a relative beginner kayaker on multiple uncharted crossings in one of the stormiest places on Earth, hundreds of miles from outside help,” says Curgenven. “Sarah is an example of what you can do with resilience and determination.”
Aleksander Doba paddles out of New York Harbor in Olo, his live-aboard kayak that measured 23 feet long and rose almost five feet above the waterline. | Photo: David Jackson
3 Atlantic hat trick
Bronzed, bearded and sinewy, Polish grandfather Aleksander Doba (1946–2021) paddled across the Atlantic three times, and he did it all in his seventh decade. The first expedition was from Senegal to Brazil over 99 days in 2011, the second from Portugal to Florida over 167 days in 2014, and finally from New Jersey to France over 110 days in 2017, at the age of 70.
“On the first expedition, I faced more than 50 tropical storms; otherwise, it was pretty quiet. The second crossing was more than twice as long and much more difficult. I lost communication for 47 days. I was plagued by strong winds that trapped me for 40 nights in the Bermuda Triangle. Then a storm broke the kayak’s rudder,” Doba told Paddling Magazine in 2014. On the same voyage, his desalinator broke, forcing him to hand pump water four hours a day.
Things often didn’t go according to plan on Doba’s expeditions. Repairs required all his ingenuity as a retired mechanical engineer. Storms blew him all over, but often backward. Saltwater, heat and humidity irritated his skin, so he sometimes paddled naked. His 23-foot-long, self-righting kayak weighed nearly 1,500 pounds when loaded with supplies and required Doba to sleep in a fetal position in the boat’s airtight cabin, which he affectionately called the casket.
Storms were frequent and Doba often faced waves over 21 feet high. But he was joyful for the adventure, fearful of being “an average old man with nothing going on.” Living life to the fullest until the very end, Doba died on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro at the age of 74.
“He was crazy enough to do it not once but three times. Nobody else has done that. And he was 70 years young during his third Atlantic crossing—he encouraged older people to get up off the couch and do something exciting with life.”
—Piotr Chmielinski, 1985 Amazon River first descent
“We eked out 54 miles over the next four days, tackling diabolical headwinds, running blind through incessant fog, and landing and launching through treacherous surf.” —Jon Turk, In The Wake of the Joman. | Photo: Jon Turk
2 Japan to Alaska
Beginning in 1999 and finishing in late 2000, Jon Turk traveled 4,800 kilometers across the North Pacific, from the northern tip of Hokkaido, Japan, along Siberia’s Kuril Islands and Kamchatka Peninsula to the 65th parallel and crossed to Alaska. The expedition is one of the most legendary kayak journeys of all time. It also tested the hypothesis Stone Age humans migrated by paddlecraft from modern-day Japan to North America, which Turk wrote about in his book, In The Wake of the Jomon.
“It’s some of the most tempestuous waters in the world,” says Turk, who sailed a small trimaran in the expedition’s first season and paddled a 17-foot Prijon Kodiak in its second. Turk and expedition partner Franz Helfenstein were caught in a whirlpool for 36 hours during the first leg of the journey. Turk was joined by Chris Seashore and Misha Petrov for the expedition’s second season. Of the 18-hour crossing to St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Strait, Turk says: “The current was pushing us, the winds were coming up, and we were getting blown off. We fought for our lives on that one.”
“Greatest due to the remoteness, especially long crossings, technical paddling with surf landings, general exposure, and overall logistics. It’s also a great story.”
—Frank Wolf, expedition paddler
“When I think back, I think of the storms, the coastlines, the fatigue; all those things happen on any long sea kayak expedition,” says Turk, who is now 78 and spent last winter in Arizona, living out of his van with his wife and mountain biking every day. “But I also think of my transformational relationship with nature. At the time, I was sponsored by The North Face and Polartec and thought this expedition would further my career. I ended up a dramatically changed person instead.” Turk returned to Siberia for the following five years to explore the connection between science, wilderness and mysticism, which he wrote about in his book, The Raven’s Gift.
Freya Hoffmeister arrived back in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 1, 2015, after paddling 27,000 kilometers around South America. | Photo: Courtesy Freya Hoffmeister
1 Around South America
Freya Hoffmeister’s record-smashing expeditions—mostly solo and unsupported—have taken her around countries and continents. The self-described Goddess of Love to the Seas has probably logged more expedition miles than any paddler ever. Hoffmeister set records around Iceland and New Zealand’s south island in 2007 and Australia in 2009. Between 2011 and 2015, her 27,000-kilometer circumnavigation of South America spanned 13 countries, stretching from the Panama Canal to Cape Horn, and crossed the equator twice. She spent most nights in a tent and was self-sufficient for weeks at a time. Hoffmeister took two breaks between legs of her journey to recuperate back in Germany, where she owns two ice cream shops.
There were many intense moments on Hoffmeister’s South American epic: one was an emergency crash landing and waiting out 60-knot winds near Cape Horn, the infamous southernmost tip of South America. Brazil’s Pororoca tidal bore at the mouth of the Amazon was another: “I thought I would wait for the tide coming in, but it came in rough. Within 15 minutes, it had side-surfed me for eight kilometers. I was afraid for my life.”
“It is an incomparable trip and will never be achieved again—as much as my ongoing circumnavigation of North America,” says Hoffmeister, 59, who is now roughly halfway through a 48,000-kilometer, decade-long journey to circumnavigate the North American continent.
“For the scale, ambition and dogged determination, plus the fact no one else has even attempted such a long undertaking—Freya’s overall goal of ticking off the continents one by one is unparalleled.”
Paddling Mag curated this list based on nominations gathered from a panel of accomplished expedition paddlers. The number of nominations received determined each expedition’s ranking on the list.
This article was first published in the Spring 2024 issue of Paddling Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
The nomination of this expedition paddler was nearly unanimous—can you guess who? | Feature photo: Jaime Sharp
We are seeing one of the most exciting periods of whitewater kayak design yet. As river running technique continues to evolve and meld with the “play the river” mentality, boat manufacturers are innovating in hot pursuit. Two of the most successful whitewater brands have recently dropped their latest progressive whitewater designs, The Pyranha Reactr and the Dagger Indra. Here with an initial side-by-side comparison is Simon Coward, owner of AQ Outdoors (AQ Outdoors is a paddling shop and school with locations in Calgary and Edmonton). The following is a transcript of Coward’s review.
I’m really excited to be checking in with a quick, first thoughts review on the new Pyranha ReactR and Dagger Indra kayaks. In full transparency, I’ve only really paddled these on Class II to easy class II whitewater but I am starting to form some thoughts around both of the boats.
Right off the bat I would say they’re very unique and perform quite differently. I’ve tried both sizes of the Indra, and at the moment we only have the medium ReactR available, and I certainly wouldn’t want to be paddling anything larger than that because it is a fairly big feeling medium boat.
The Pyranha ReactR. | Image: AQ Outdoors
A look at the Pyranha ReactR
I’ll start with the ReactR. My first thoughts on the new outfitting is that Pyranha really hit the mark. I’ve been a huge Dagger outfitting fan for a long time and still am but I feel Pyranha have gone a long way to bridging the gap as far as the quality and comfort of their outfitting.
My first thoughts on the ReactR in flatwater is it’s super loose. It pivots under the seat really quickly and I could see it giving newer paddlers a bit of a hard time because it would be quite hard to control. But for a more advanced paddler that nimbleness when translated into moving water was really dynamic and super fun to paddle.
There’s the obvious bow rocker in the ReactR that skipped up and over everything that we threw at it—which was admittedly very small. Because I haven’t paddled anything harder in it yet it’s hard to speak too much to the stern rocker, but the stern profile did make it very easy to sweep the bow up and over small waves and features, so I imagine that will translate very well into harder whitewater.
The one thing I really did like about the ReactR was doing bowdraws. If you keep the boat flat during a bow draw the boat turns very very quickly and very dynamically and it’s very easy to accelerate out of those turns.
The last thing of note for me is the ReactR felt like a boat that was very comfortable to paddle flat which I really enjoy. The stern was not super grabby. It has a distinctly non-Pyranha feeling stern to me—sort of softer edges and such. Because I haven’t paddled it in anything harder yet it’s really hard to say much around what I don’t like. These are more just cursory observations about how the boat performed in easy class II.
Ride higher and drier in rapids, scream into eddies faster than ever, and find your line without any limitations. The ReactR is Pyranha's most innovative design yet, and opens new doors within the world of creek and river running for kayakers of all abilities.
Next, the Dagger Indra. So I’ve paddled this on some bigger class III on the Elk River in Fernie and here at Harvey Passage in some mellow class II. I’ve also paddled both the sizes, and I would say my initial thoughts are: I love the boat.
The new thigh hooks in the dagger outfitting are a huge win for sure They give you more control and more engagement with the boat overall. In the small/medium the stern is definitely a bit more grabby than the ReactR. In the larger version the stern stays high and dry, and I would be very comfortable paddling it in harder class IV and even easy class V.
From an observation standpoint watching some other young strong paddlers use the Indra, I think for advanced boaters it would be a boat that would very easily translate into a class V environment. The ability to pull the bow up and over some rather large foamy features was really quite remarkable and there was never any inclination that it was going to back loop. The boat was getting close to vertical and just riding up and over some quite big holes and waves which is really neat to see. It’s a very modern style of paddling that is super fun.
The Dagger Indra is here to transform your paddling experience. A familiar and confident bow is built to rise over drops, waves, and hydraulics. A wide planing hull keeps the kayak on top of the water and a tapered deck allows the boat to slice through currents, load the stern, and skip through rapids. Camber in the wide tail turns the momentum of a climbing bow into controlled and playful downstream acceleration.
One thing with the Indra that was very different feeling to the ReactR is coming out of an eddyturn, or a carve, it tends to want to be on edge a little bit more, and it’ll sort of slingshot that speed more effectively than the ReactR. The ReactR tends to spin out a little bit and wash out, whereas the Indra wants to carve and drive and continue that speed. If you like paddling your boat on edge the Indra will probably feel more familiar. If you like paddling the boat flat the ReactR is probably going to feel a bit more comfortable to you.
Again, with the Indra I haven’t really been able to formulate anything I don’t like about it because these first thoughts are very much just commentary around what we’ve seen, and I haven’t really been able to lean into the real nitty-gritty of the boat. I’ll check back in in a little while with some more thoughts and feedback on that, but overall it is definitely a new segment in whitewater. They haven’t just made minor changes, the boats do feel very different and I’m excited to paddle them more.
AQ Outdoors offers retail and kayak instruction in Calgary and Edmonton. Learn more about their school and stores at AQOutdoors.com.
The adventure of a lifetime or a life lived adventurously? | Feature photo: Virginia Marshall
Lately, I’ve noticed a pernicious gap between the trips I imagine going on—the big, ambitious ones—and the ones I have the time and resources to actually do.
This tends to be very discouraging, to the point I’m tempted just to stay home and try to do something useful. As common as it is to hear the advice to dream big, I believe adventure ambitions are more like a fire that will never grow if you load it with too much heavy fuel. Like my dream of kayaking for three months in Patagonia that just won’t ignite in the somewhat hypoxic environment of my full-time job and empty bank account. Fortunately, there is a solution to this disheartening condition, the best-ever tinder fuel to hack your adventure ambitions—microadventures.
Microadventures could save your soul from the grind of modern living
“A microadventure is an adventure that is short, simple, local, cheap—yet still fun, exciting, challenging, refreshing and rewarding,” explains Alastair Humphreys, the British adventurer who coined the term and wrote a book of the same title.
The adventure of a lifetime or a life lived adventurously? | Feature photo: Virginia Marshall
Although the concept of microadventures has been around for more than a decade, it is especially important now. Our era of cheap global travel and the glorification of exotic trips on social media has created rampant destination inflation that has cheapened shorter and more accessible trips. We’ve become so saturated with stories of other people’s grand expeditions we’ve become disenchanted with the smaller, local adventure opportunities all around us, the trips we can afford to squeeze in and around “the margins of real life,” as Humphreys puts it. We forget how worthwhile a paddle on a nearby lake or sleeping under the stars in a local park can be because those activities typically don’t garner accolades, nor the sponsorships to write and talk about them.
How Humphreys hit on his micro idea
Alastair Humphreys first came to prominence as an adventurer biking around the world, rowing oceans and walking across India. In 2011, he concluded all the things he loved about those extreme adventures—being in nature, going to new places, having fun and challenging himself—could be done equally well close to home.
“All those things are just a mindset; they’re in your head,” Humphreys says. “It doesn’t matter what you do. You just have to find a way, within the framework of your own life, to get out regularly, do a bit of exercise and get out into nature.”
Paddle at sunrise, cannonball into a lake, walk under a full moon, have a fire on the beach, identify birds—anything can be a microadventure.
The idea caught on. Humphreys went on to write two more books about microadventuring. His latest, Local, was published earlier this year and chronicled a year of exploring a different grid square on a map of his local area each week. The map’s square area was just 20 kilometers across.
There is an appetite for these stories because they unlock something so accessible yet forgotten: a treasure chest buried at our feet. They are the perfect antidote to destination inflation, reminding us there is a very rewarding match between the adventures we have the capacity to achieve and the satisfaction that can result from doing them.
A daily date with adventure
I discovered this principle before I’d heard of Humphreys. In 2021, I set a goal of running or paddling 10 kilometers a day for 100 days straight. I’d just come home from a two-week paddling trip that had ignited something inside me. I was tired of living below my capacity, not taking risks and spending too much time inside. My 100-day plan seemed so unimpressive compared to what the people on social media were up to, like doing 100 Ironmans in a row, that I wasn’t sure it was worth the bother. Yet, at the same time, I had so many doubts—could I even do it? What if I got injured or sick? The endeavor was just uncertain enough to spark my curiosity.
“When your regular 9 to 5 working day finishes, then begins the 5 to 9.”
—Alastair Humphreys
For a couple of weeks, it seemed like 100 days would never end. Gradually the 10 kilometers became something I just did each day, like brushing my teeth. I’d stop for trail runs by headlamp on the 5 a.m. commute to work. I joined my town’s Wednesday night group run. I met a friend for a hair-raising whitewater paddle after a rainstorm flooded our local river.
I loved the way my adventuring side hustle blurred the edges between a wild and free version of myself and the person I was at home, between the adventurous and the domestic. Stumbling through the mud, half-lost in the forest at one moment, home cooking dinner the next, I lived two lives like my great-great-grandfather, a sea captain, who was reputed to have wives and families on two continents. But minus the adultery and deception.
My microadventures, all 100 of them, inspired me in unexpected ways. I realized my preoccupation with other people’s accomplishments had blinded me to how short a stretch was required to exceed my own limitations. To arrive in a new place, you don’t have to go farther than anybody else; you just have to take one step beyond where you currently are. I got tired but was amazed by my body’s ability to adapt, plateau, ache and strain, and then adapt again. I got leaner and faster. I didn’t make a splash on social media, but I felt like people looked at me differently, and the experience filled me with a new feeling of potential. What more can I do? I wondered.
My daily commitment was a humble and undemanding habit asking very little of me, but it paid multitudes in return, a portal into a more abundant and expansive way of being each day. As Annie Dillard writes in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, “The great door opens on the present, illuminates it as with a multitude of flashing torches.”
The magic faded when my 100-day streak ended. Here is where it helps to follow Humphreys’ advice to schedule microadventures into your life. Like the tourist attractions you never bother to visit in your hometown, microadventures are too easy to put off if you don’t approach them deliberately.
“One way I started doing that was to put into my diary, the first Wednesday of every month, ‘Go climb a tree,’” Humphreys explains. Another of his recommendations is to regularly sleep outside on a local hill—even on weeknights. “When your regular 9 to 5 working day finishes, then begins the 5 to 9 overnight microadventure time.”
There’s no reason to say these small trips have to replace larger ones. I hope microadventuring is a gateway to reintroducing bigger adventures into my life—maybe even a kayak trip in Patagonia.
Then again, maybe small is good enough.
“I would never speak against people aspiring towards the adventure of a lifetime,” says Humphreys. “What microadventure offers up is the opportunity for a lifetime of living adventurously, just a little bit every day.”
Tim Shuff is a sea kayaker, firefighter and former editor of Adventure Kayak magazine.
This article was first published in the Spring 2024 issue of Paddling Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
The adventure of a lifetime or a life lived adventurously? | Feature photo: Virginia Marshall
There are few who have seen more of Florida’s coastline than those who have completed the Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail, commonly referred to as the CT. Stretching 1,515 miles long, the CT has been dubbed the longest designated national recreation trail in the United States and is considered by some to be a sea kayaker’s version of the Appalachian Trail.
Along the way, paddlers will pass by and through national parks, wildlife refuges, marine sanctuaries, aquatic preserves, state parks, local parks, preserves, small towns and big cities. To date, 40 paddlers have completed the journey. Most have been in their 20s, 60s or 70s. Some finish it in a matter of months, while others have taken more than a decade.
No matter which way you slice up the journey, it’s sure to be the adventure of a lifetime.
Experience the Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail
Photo: Albert Ruggles
History of the CT
The idea for the Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail was first brought up in the late 1980s after the establishment of the Maine Island Trail. However, development didn’t take place until the early 2000s.
Doug Alderson, Florida Department of Environmental Protection outdoor recreation specialist, was instrumental in bringing the CT to life. In what some would consider a dream job, he spent three years scouting and helping establish the trail, which stretches from Pensacola to Key West to the Georgia border.
After the work was complete, Alderson organized a statewide gathering in 2007 to form an independent nonprofit association to help maintain and improve the CT.
“I knew that for the trail to be successful, there had to be a group of volunteers to help maintain it because I was a staff of one,” says Alderson.
The Florida Paddling Trails Association (FPTA), now a steward of all Florida’s water trails, was created to support and maintain the CT. The organization utilizes trail keepers, a network of coastal trail angels, and maintains a guide for the trail that includes updated information on launches, campsites, campgrounds, points of interest and more. The FPTA also has an annual CT reunion where those thinking about taking it on can meet those who have already done so.
“It’s a small world and we’re here to support each other,” says Dorsey DeMaster, who was inspired to tackle the CT after attending a reunion. She became the first woman veteran to complete the trail in late 2021 and then served as president of the FPTA in 2022 and 2023.
“Network with the existing people who have already done it, or are in the process of doing it, and learn from their successes and things that didn’t go as well as planned.”
Photo: Albert Ruggles
Completing the CT
While those with varying levels of experience have completed the CT, it’s most suited to long-distance sea kayakers who know how to navigate strong winds, currents, open water and boat channels. The recommended months to paddle are October through late April to avoid the majority of hurricane season.
Both the FPTA and Florida Department of Environmental Protection have resources on their websites for prospective and current paddlers. The map on this page lists launches, primitive campsites, campgrounds, other places to stay along the route, and important notices, such as closures due to hurricane damage. Some spots require a permit to stay while others do not.
The trail can be completed in two ways: Paddle it in one sweep or divide it up into sections. To date, 18 of the 40 sea kayakers who have completed the CT have chosen to do the latter.
“Section paddling is so much easier because you just have to connect the dots between all your paddles,” says Steve Cournoyer, who became the 29th person to finish the CT after completing the 26 segments of the trail over the course of 13 years.
Twenty-two people have chosen thru-paddling, including the most recent CT alum, Albert Ruggles, who had to sit out for 28 days due to weather. When he was able to hit the water, he sometimes packed in more than 30 miles a day in his Current Designs Solstice GT.
One his favorite parts of the trail was Florida’s Big Bend from the Aucilla River to Yankeetown because of the wildlife, fishing and camping. He was treated to countless manatee, dolphins, sea turtles and bird sightings on his travels around the state.
But, not every segment was so sweet. The wet winter amped up the mosquito activity in south Florida and made his trip through the Everglades memorable for the wrong reasons.
“It was beautiful all day long paddling and then once you got in your tent, you’d spend 15 minutes just killing all the mosquitos that came in with you,” he recalls. “God forbid you forgot anything outside.”
Photo: Albert Ruggles
The stretch between Everglades City and the Florida Keys is also the longest stretch without an opportunity to resupply. Paddlers should have four to seven days’ worth of supplies on hand at any given time throughout the journey, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Some stops along the trail have supermarkets within walking distance, while others have post offices nearby where care packages can be sent. Water supplies can be replenished almost daily in the developed sections of the trail because of the many parks along the route.
While urban areas bring easier resupply opportunities, they often present challenges on the water. Some who have completed the CT, including Ruggles, cite the roughly 70-mile stretch between Miami and Lake Worth, nicknamed the “Concrete Canyon,” as one of the trail’s toughest sections. Certain areas are narrow and lined with seawalls, making it hazardous for kayakers who must navigate boat traffic and rebounding boat wakes. Because of this, some opt to complete the segment at night, but Ruggles’ timing put him in Miami on a weekend day.
“That was probably the most uncomfortable stretch of water for me because you just felt certain you were going in. I should not have gone through there when I did, but that’s just the way it worked out.”
However, the variation of scenery, coastal habitat, wildlife and degree of difficulty are part of the draw for those who choose to take on the journey.
“Every section has its challenges and I think that’s part of what attracts people to it,” says DeMaster.
Photo: Albert Ruggles
What’s next for the CT
Word about the CT is spreading. DeMaster says more people from outside the state are purchasing the Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail Guide. The ninth edition is set to come out this summer.
The nonprofit asks paddlers for information such as the make and model of their paddlecraft, whether there is a satellite tracker on board, what their experience level is, and if they will need assistance through the trail angel network.
If and when they finish, paddlers will be listed on the CT Hall of Fame on the FPTA website and have stories to share for a lifetime.
Alderson, who helped develop the trail, says he gets great joy hearing from those who have completed the CT.
“For a properly equipped and prepared person, if they really want to experience the Florida coast, this is the best way to do it.”
The U.S. Coast Guard recently released their 2023 Recreational Boating Statistics. The annual report is a bellwether of boating safety, measuring how well everyone who recreates on the water is handling priority number one—returning home safe. In 2023, the U.S. Coast Guard reported a record drop in year-over-year boating fatalities, going from 636 in 2022 to 564 last year. The 11 percent decrease would be cause for celebration if it weren’t for one disturbing detail for our sport—deaths involving paddlers actually increased in 2023.
The WSF hopes to reduce paddling deaths through safety awareness programs. | Image: Rad Pozniakov/Unsplash
Why the 2023 Coast Guard report shows an unsettling trend in paddling
Paddlesports were involved in 183 fatalities in the 2023 report, a five percent increase from last year. This means paddlesports account for 32.5 percent of the total deaths reported in 2023—second only to open motorboats.
In an article summarizing the report, Jim Emmons, executive director of the Water Sports Foundation (WSF) shares, “The number of people involved in paddling incidents, and especially those who don’t come back to their loved ones, is unacceptable. Paddling fatalities continue to increase even as overall boating deaths are declining. Since most incidents are preventable, recreational paddling safety advocates including the U.S. Coast Guard, state agencies and non-profits must rally together to reverse this trend.”
The WSF identifies another significant number if you breakdown the report further. Of those who died in paddling accidents, nearly three quarters had less than 100 hours experience in the activity, and well over one-third had less than 10 hours experience. It’s the people making their introduction to paddling who are most at risk. A factor that has been exacerbated since the recreation boom over the past four years.
WSF executive director Jim Emmons (center) with Dick’s Sporting Goods store managers and Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. | Image: WSF
The WSF is a national nonprofit boater education organization based in Orlando, Florida and founded in 2003. In 2016 the nonprofit launched the first U.S. Coast Guard grant-funded project designed to increase awareness of paddlesports safety.
A large part of the equation is finding a way to provide basic safety education, and the best venue for this may be meeting entry-level paddlers at the point of sale.
The WSF has managed to bring big names in paddlesports retail to their cause. Last year, the WSF worked with retailer Tractor Supply to encourage more safety promotion in their stores. This led to the inclusion of lifejackets around their kayak displays.
The WSF also scored a big win recently with the recruitment of Dick’s Sporting Goods as paddling safety ambassadors. According to the WSF, “Corporate managers pledged to promote more safety recommendations online and in stores, including the importance of wearing life jackets and taking a free paddler safety course.”
The free online courses will be implemented by the American Canoe Association.
The WSF adds that, “The effort positions Dick’s Sporting Goods as a safety leader among large non-specialty retailers, which sell the majority of entry-level paddle craft in the United States.”
Employing non-specialty retailers to spread the word on safety holds a promising potential of reaching the largest demographics of the sport, and if successful can play a key role in reducing fatalities in paddlesports.
Feature Image: Hyperlite, courtesy of the Water Sports Foundation
The Paddling Mag team is thrilled to announce we have won the Best Magazine: Special Interest award and the Magazine Grand Prix award at Canada’s prestigious 47th annual National Magazine Awards. These accolades are a testament to the exceptional work, creativity and passion of our incredible team and talented contributors, who shape the magazine’s success.
Paddling Magazine wins two National Magazine Awards
The Magazine Grand Prix award celebrates the publication that demonstrates overall excellence in bringing its publishing team together to create an outstanding product. Judges praised Paddling Mag for its user-friendly design and engaging content, noting, “From the very first turn of the page, Paddling Magazine was easy to navigate, fun and informative to read.” They were impressed by the magazine’s ability to “draw us into its world of technique, cool gear, and—most impressively—breathtaking photography of the places to be discovered.”
Art director Michael Hewis and editor-in-chief Kaydi Pyette proudly accept the Grand Prix for 2024.
More than 200 publications enter the awards each year, and we are honored and humbled to be recognized alongside industry giants like Canadian Geographic, Toronto Life, Macleans and The Walrus. Paddling Mag’s art director, Michael Hewis, and editor-in-chief, Kaydi Pyette, proudly accepted these awards at the gala on June 7, 2024, where the winners were announced. They were thrilled to represent the magazine and the amazing team behind it.
“From the very first turn of the page, Paddling Magazine was easy to navigate, fun and informative to read.”
—National Magazine Awards jury
“This is such an honor. Winning these awards is a testament to the incredible effort our team puts in every day to celebrate paddling in all its forms and connect with our readers in a meaningful way,” said Pyette.
Let the celebration begin!
“None of this would be possible without our incredible readers, contributors and partners who bring such richness to our pages,” added Hewis.
This magazine began as a dream scribbled on the back of a bar napkin in 1998. Back then, founder Scott MacGregor’s big idea was to create Rapid, a North American whitewater paddling magazine. In his very first Off The Tongue editorial, MacGregor wrote, “I’m not about to sit here in my duct-taped plastic desk chair and predict the future of this magazine, but I do have a few ideas.”
While receiving the highest honor in Canadian magazine publishing wasn’t on his radar then, MacGregor saw the magazine’s potential to evolve and adapt. In that same editorial from 26 years ago, MacGregor wrote: “As Rapid matures it will take on many different forms, constantly changing, evolving and striving to be the best magazine possible.”
From those early days, Paddling Magazine has grown into a leading voice in the paddlesports community and beyond. We want to extend a massive thank you to the paddling community for your continued support and enthusiasm. Your passion fuels our mission to deliver the best of paddlesports. None of this would be possible without you.
If you’re not already a subscriber, you can dive deeper into the world of paddling with a subscription to Paddling Magazine. If you’re passionate about paddling adventures and value top-notch storytelling, subscribing is the perfect way to ensure you never miss out on our exclusive content. From thrilling expedition stories to expert tips and the latest gear reviews—Paddling Magazine is crafted for enthusiasts by enthusiasts.
Subscribe now and let us bring the adventure to your doorstep. If you love paddling, you’ll love Paddling Magazine.
If you’re going to roll out some new boat-building tech, there is no more fitting way to do so than slapping it on a completely new boat. This is exactly what Esquif Canoes has done with the new Huron 17, the first of their canoes to be made with their T-Formex Lite material.
The Huron series has included the existing 15 and 16—both inspired by Esquif’s Prospector series. For the Hurons, Esquif has kept most of the Prospector design, but reduced the freeboard. With the lower profile on the sides, the Huron is easier to paddle in wind and is significantly lighter.
Now the Huron 17 provides a longer 17-foot boat in the series, but there’s a catch; with the introduction of T-Formex Lite, the canoe is the lightest yet. In fact, the Huron 17 is a foot longer but a pound less than the 16.
Esquif accomplished this through a new version of T-Formex and some thoughtful tweaks to the Huron’s outfitting.
“What [Jacques Chasse] decided was T-Formex is really an evolution,” David Hadden, Esquif’s director of business development and U.S. sales shared with us at Canoecopia 2024. “It’s always changing because he’s always thinking about how he can make it better. And the big thing we’re focused on now is how can we make it lighter.”
Our first look at the Esquif Huron 17. | Feature image: Paddling Magazine Staff
Introducing T-Formex Lite
The new T-Formex Lite material helps make T-Formex lighter by varying the thickness throughout the canoe’s hull. This allows less material in less essential areas while also allowing reinforcement in other places on the boat.
The Huron’s weight savings don’t end there, however. Esquif has also looked over the canoe’s outfitting to see what could be trimmed. They reduced the thickness of wooden items such as the seat bracket and thwarts. Esquif even reduced the number of rivets joining the gunwales to the hull by changing the spacing between each. Hadden calls it an optimization that has brought the Huron 17 down to a weight of 59 pounds. One pound less than the shorter Huron 16 still using their traditional build.
This is all to say, the Huron 17 in T-Formex Lite isn’t intended for every paddler. The Lite while still tough will have more flex and less strength than the traditional T-Formex build. Hadden says, if you’re a river runner or expedition paddler hundreds of miles from the launch you’ll want to look toward the traditional T-Formex. But for canoers seeking a lighter option for portaging, cartopping or the cottage, the T-Formex Lite holds the answer you’ve been looking for.
Minneapolis-based kayaker Devin Brown firmly believes “there’s a portal, a version of me that I’m supposed to meet.” She hopes to discover that person on a source to sea expedition down the Mississippi River, starting May 28.
Brown, 38, is setting out to be the first Black woman on record to paddle what she calls the “Nile of North America,” from Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. She’s making the journey to help her grow as a person, but also to encourage other Black, Indigenous and People of Color to discover the outdoors.
“It takes people seeing people that look like them out there doing these things for them to take interest,” Brown says.
Devin Brown beginning her journey in the rain. | Photos: Courtesy Devin Brown
A quintessential American waterway
The Mississippi River flows 2,320 miles across 10 states. It doesn’t escape Brown that the Big Muddy is a watery corridor spanning vast landforms, ecosystems, communities and histories. The Mississippi carves a path through the heart of the continent and plays a central role in American culture—for better or worse.
“Civilizations have consistently established themselves along rivers for survival and the Mississippi is no different,” Brown notes. “Indigenous peoples navigated the river, created ceremonies around the river, birthed and died on this river. Enslaved peoples used the river as a source of economy in the back channels, collecting Spanish moss to fill mattresses. They also used the river to escape to the North, knowing that once they hit the Ohio River tributary, they were free.
“And then you have the colonizers who have recreated her banks, sold goods and people up and down the river, installed locks and dams, and polluted her at some times beyond recognition in certain areas.”
Brown embarking on some open water portions of the trip early on. | Photo: Courtesy Devin Brown
Brown crossed Lake Winnibigoshish on day five. | Photo: Courtesy Devin Brown
Finding meaning on the Mississippi
Brown was born in New Jersey and she considers herself lucky to have discovered kayaking and the outdoors as a youth at the Frost Valley YMCA camp in New York’s Catskill Mountains. She spent 12 summers at the camp. Years later, she returned as an adult to lead sea kayak trips for campers on the Gulf of Maine. The opportunity to leave a stressful career and reconnect with nature was “the time of my life,” Brown says.
Brown relocated to Minneapolis in 2014, drawn by the “graceful power” of the Mississippi River. She says she’s faced plenty of barriers—including 80-hour work weeks, the cost of outdoor gear and a car accident last April—to get a chance to paddle its entire length.
Brown has already received plenty of help along the way. | Photos: Courtesy Devin Brown
Brown doing a temperature check of Lake Bemidji the day before setting out. | Photo: Courtesy Devin Brown
What’s more, as the mother of a six-year-old son, Brown says she “doesn’t have the luxury of taking 100 days to paddle down the river.” So she’s also decided to take a crack at the speed record for paddling the Mississippi, which currently stands at 55 days. Plenty of precipitation this spring has increased her odds of accomplishing this goal.
Ultimately, the journey is an expression of someone who has “fallen hopelessly in love with the Mississippi River,” Brown says. “Life is short. We try so hard to find purpose, meaning and joy in life. Kayaking is something that gives me joy and this trip just seems right.”
This article was first published in the 2024 issue of Paddling Business. Inside you’ll find the year’s hottest gear for canoeing, kayaking, whitewater and paddleboarding. Plus: forty years in the Four Corners, robotic kayak rentals, building the Paddlesports Trade Coalition and more. READ IT NOW »
This article was first published in the Spring 2024 issue of Paddling Magazine. 
