The Firecracker had me excited from the beginning, but it still took me a while to understand what the design is capable of and what its limitations are. On a highwater, spontaneous Turkey trip, I found out exactly what I could do with it…
Category Archive: Trip Reports
04
Jan
Chile for Everyone!
Guiding in two very different parts of Chile took me to a real mixture of whitewater, and despite having paddled here a lot, it wasn’t until this season that I realised just how great this place is for every level of paddler. Here’s a little of what I got up to…
06
Dec
Meet the Sava River
A river is worth more than just its best whitewater. Us kayakers often only paddle the portions of a river that have the best whitewater. But rivers are different than mountains or trails – they are dynamic, fluid and flowing. And while what goes on above and below the put in is often a mystery, it doesn’t have to be.
29
Nov
Back to Mexico!
I brought my trusty large Scorch for this trip, I was confident it was going to perform really well on most things, but I was interested to see how it would handle some big free fall. This is the one area I haven’t really been able to test the Scorch out and I was a little bit apprehensive about all that rocker in the nose…
22
Nov
Ingredients for an Epic Weekend: Skook, Starfish, Sea Salt, Sunshine, and the Ripper 2 Small
My first impressions of the new and improved Ripper is that Pyranha really crushed this design. It is infinitely easier to stern squirt, carves on waves because it doesn’t get locked into a line, loves to lay big treat boofs, and zooms out of features like a dart.
21
Aug
Best Day Ever, Part 2
In the planning stages of this road trip, all my pal Benny had told me about Clearwater was that the rivers were the warmest in all of BC and were full of big whitewater fun. I was sold.
20
Aug
Best Day Ever, Part 1
When paddlers talk about Canada, British Columbia usually takes centre stage and I was guilty of knowing virtually nothing about Alberta boating until we started planning this trip (at which point Benny began bombarding my DMs with Alberta footage). I’ve got to say it- Alberta was definitely worth the hype…
26
Jul
Dear Diary, Part 2: What About the Kayaking?!
“No one could hear me over the roar of the water, but sometimes screaming at the world is all you need to do to feel better.”
15
Jul
Dear Diary, Part 1: Curve-Boulders
A couple of months ago I went to Nepal to paddle the Humla Karnali and wow, what a river it is! I have to say though, I don’t think I’ve ever had so many curveballs thrown at me on a trip, mostly in the shape of giant boulders…
15
Jun
A Perfect Union
Initially, I got the Ozone to spice up my local runs when heading out between work stints. The more I have paddled it, the more I realise what an all-around capable boat it is. I’ve taken it down respectable continuous Grade 4, ran leadership provider orientations from it, and spent a lot of time recklessly vertical. I felt as though it was time to allow it to show how versatile it is.