Paddling Education

When it comes to buying a stand-up paddleboarding (SUP) paddle, the rule of thumb is to buy the lightest one you can afford. Why? What makes some paddles better than others?

British Columbia’s Stikine River sits just east of Alaska’s panhandle and about a hundred miles south of the Yukon provincial line. Often called “the Everest of whitewater,” kayaking the Grand Canyon of the Stikine was a dream trip for Thomas Franco.

Packrafts are still fairly new on the scene compared to other types of boats, but their popularity is growing. Should you get one? We’ll help you answer that question here.

Do you need your paddle to fit in your backpack? In your luggage on the plane? On your bike rack? You got it! Here are our most packable paddles…

The PaddleWays app is a feature-packed digital tool for those in the paddling world.  NRS partnered with onWater (a water recreation app) to develop it and launched PaddleWays in mid-2023.

You wouldn’t believe the kayaking adventures people have had over the years! Here’s our list of suggested books for those of you who love to enter into the stories of those who’ve challenged themselves in ways few others have.

Kayak Freak of Handbjerg, Denmark is northern Europe’s largest kayak shop. Their 2,500-square-meter building houses 1,000 kayaks of all sorts at any given time, along with canoes, SUPs and any paddling accessories you could want.

Karakul Lake in the Central Asian country of Tajikistan is a large, high-altitude saltwater lake surrounded by both desert and snow-capped mountains. Not the likeliest choice for a kayaking destination, but certainly an interesting one!

Lake Superior offers some of the best freshwater sea kayaking you’ll find anywhere in the world. Aqua Bound Ambassador Ken Whiting takes us along on his 5-day trip on this greatest of the Great Lakes.

The Scandinavian countries of Europe offer some of the world’s finest sea kayaking opportunities. Right up there near the top is the Southwest Archipelago of Finland.

These gear items have been personally tested and approved by Aqua Bound Ambassador Ken Whiting and given his two thumbs up for Paddle TV’s annual Best Paddling Gear awards.

Aqua Bound’s Malta stand-up paddle and Whiskey and Tango kayak paddles have been much-desired products in the paddling community since their introduction in 2017 and 2018. Now we’ve upgraded them significantly for 2025.

Land Water Adventures is a Germany-based outfitter that provides single-day and multi-day land-water packrafting expeditions and trainings. They’ve successfully carved out a niche serving beginning to advanced paddlers around Europe and into Canada.

Aqua Bound’s Aerial whitewater kayak paddle uses revolutionary technology that makes it the most durable paddle on the market. How do you know if you need such a beefy paddle?

Aqua Bound Ambassador Ken Whiting took a solo river trip down one of the world’s best canoe routes in Canada’s Algonquin Provincial Park. But he chose a kayak instead of a canoe to tackle the river’s many whitewater sections.

Most people would answer that question with a Yes. But why? As we’ll see, kayaking gives you many more health benefits than simply a chance for some exercise.

Coontail is an independent outdoor retailer in northern Wisconsin surrounded by thousands of lakes. Their robust paddling department has helped get people on the lakes and rivers near them since 1993.

Iia Vuorenpaa is a member of the National Finnish Freestyle Kayak Team, competing on a global scale in 2024. We were happy to be able to ask her a few questions amid her busy training schedule.

The biggest question to answer when you get into kayaking is: “How do I choose a kayak that’s perfect for me?” There are more options than you may think, but don’t worry, we gotcha covered!

The proper care of your kayak, paddle and gear ensures they’ll last for decades of fun and adventure on the water.

Our mission here at Aqua Bound is to inspire meaningful outdoor experiences by offering premium products worth bragging about. To do that well we maintain a constant underlying mindset of innovation.