62nd Annual Salmon La Sac Whitewater Races by kylethomas | Aug 5, 2023 | Event Coverage, Events, Internationalisation, jacksonkayak.com, JAdventures Main Banner, River Running, United States, Whitewater, Whitewater Feature, WW DisciplinesI am fortunate to have attended the 62nd Annual Salmon La Sac Whitewater Races near Roslyn, Washington. 62 years! I’m just wowed by that. This was my first time attending this event and certainly won’t be my last. The Salmon La Sac Whitewater Races are hosted on the...
Middle Fork Championship 2023 by kylethomas | Jun 27, 2023 | Event Coverage, Events, Featured Post, jacksonkayak.com, JAdventures Main Banner, River Running, Whitewater, Whitewater Feature, WW DisciplinesI strongly believe that competition builds community. The Middle Fork Championship on the Middle section of the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River (aka “Middle Middle”) is no exception to that community-building for the Greater Seattle Area. This race is organized a...
Kayak Slalom in a Dynamic Duo by kylethomas | Apr 22, 2023 | Creeking, Dynamic Duo, Event Coverage, Events, Featured Post, jacksonkayak.com, JAdventures Main Banner, Whitewater, Whitewater Feature, WW DisciplinesFor me, being in a Jackson Kayak Dynamic Duo is directly connected with whitewater river racing. My first race in a tandem whitewater kayak was the Ocoee River Race in Tennessee, winning a gold medal with my good friend Sam. From that point on, I was hooked on racing...
Jackson Kayak Mixmaster by kylethomas | Mar 3, 2023 | Featured Post, jacksonkayak.com, JAdventures Main Banner, Playboating, Whitewater, Whitewater Feature, WW DisciplinesI remember being jealous of my good friend’s Jackson Kayak MixMaster before getting my own. At the time, I owned a Wave Sport Ace and I had told everyone that it was the one kayak I’d never part with. …then I saw a MixMaster (uh oh!). I saw how effortlessly my friend...
East Fork of the Lewis River – Intro to PNW Waterfall Kayaking by kylethomas | Feb 12, 2023 | Creeking, Featured Post, jacksonkayak.com, JAdventures Main Banner, Whitewater Feature, WW DisciplinesI love whitewater kayaking in the Pacific Northwest in January. Why? January usually starts the paddling season for the middle section of the East Fork of the Lewis (EFL) River in Yacolt, Washington at my favorite flows. Due to a huge logjam in the middle of the run,...
Diversify Whitewater – Greater Seattle 2022 by kylethomas | Oct 30, 2022 | Event Coverage, Events, Family Zone, jacksonkayak.com, JAdventures Main Banner, Outdoor Adventures, Recreational/Touring, River Running, Whitewater, Whitewater Feature, WW DisciplinesThis year I was fortunate to volunteer as a kayak instructor for Diversify Whitewater’s Greater Seattle Area weekend event. The mission of Diversify Whitewater (https://diversifywhitewater.org/) is to promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in paddlesports by...
Middle Fork Championship 2022 by kylethomas | Aug 16, 2022 | Event Coverage, Events, Featured Post, jacksonkayak.com, JAdventures Main Banner, Karma RG, River Running, Whitewater Feature, WW DisciplinesI had the pleasure of attending the 2nd annual Middle Fork Championship in the greater Seattle area. This downriver whitewater race is hosted on the “Middle Middle” aka the middle section of the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. The Middle Middle is a convenient...
Launching the ACA River Kayak Hand Paddling Curriculum by kylethomas | May 20, 2022 | Clinics, Creeking, Featured Post, Instructional, jacksonkayak.com, JAdventures Main Banner, Whitewater Feature, Whitewater Instruction, WW DisciplinesPaddling with your hands? What’s that all about? Probably a decade ago, I was presented with a silly contraption at a pool session that was made from plastic, strapped to your hands, and made it super easy to hand roll a whitewater kayak. Someone called them hand...
Cedar River Slalom Race in the Antix 2.0 and Dynamic Duo by kylethomas | Apr 6, 2022 | Antix, Dynamic Duo, Featured Post, jacksonkayak.com, JAdventures Main Banner, River Running, Whitewater, Whitewater Feature, WW DisciplinesI recently moved to Issaquah, Washington in the Greater Seattle Area and fortunately found myself a 15-minute drive from the Cedar River slalom course. This well cared for whitewater slalom course is maintained by members of the League of Northwest Whitewater Racers,...
Built for Longevity: 100+ River Days in my Nirvana by kylethomas | Mar 2, 2022 | Creeking, Featured Post, jacksonkayak.com, JAdventures Main Banner, Nirvana, Whitewater, Whitewater Feature, WW DisciplinesI completed my first lap in my pink Jackson Kayak Nirvana whitewater kayak on July 27, 2017 on the Skykomish River in Washington state. Since then, I own the same pink Nirvana and have completed 100+ river trips on the same hull and that number keeps going up. It was...
PNW’s New ACA Instructor Trainer Kyle by kylethomas | Feb 28, 2022 | Featured Post, Instructional, jacksonkayak.com, JAdventures Main Banner, River Running, Whitewater, Whitewater Feature, Whitewater Instruction, WW DisciplinesMy experience with the ACA dates back to my days volunteering as a sea kayak and whitewater kayak instructor and trip leader for Outdoor Recreation Georgia Tech (ORGT). I started volunteering with ORGT back in 2009 as an Instructor-in-Training (IiT). While in that...
BIPOC Paddling Skills Day – Greater Seattle Area by kylethomas | Oct 18, 2021 | Clinics, Events, Exploration Feature, Family Zone, Featured Post, jacksonkayak.comOn September 18, 2021, the Greater Seattle area paddling community gathered at Lake Sammamish to share our passion for paddle sports with community members. The fun and free paddling skills day was designed to introduce Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) to...
