Paddling Education

Aqua Bound Ambassador Bree Roberts has guided sea kayak tours in the territories of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples on Vancouver Island since 2012. She has a lot to share about this area that has become her favorite in the world.

Terrain360 is a web-based resource that showcases 360-degree virtual “tours” of natural resources like hiking trails and water trails. Its many applications include benefits for kayakers, canoeists and other paddlers.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

The rugged and beautiful Norwegian coast is ideal for “rockhopping” in sea kayaks. We asked Reidar Sether to tell us more about this adventurous paddling activity and why he loves it.

Aqua Bound Ambassador Jessica Kelley embarks on her 1,400-mile bikerafting adventure in just a couple of weeks through part of Alaska and into Canada’s Yukon Territory.

Uteguiden is northwestern Norway’s leading guide company for outdoor adventures of all kinds. This includes kayaking in some of their country’s most stunning fjords and coastal areas.

Where The Wild Rivers Flow is a film about Australian YouTuber Scott Williams’ 6-day, 130-kilometer packrafting and hiking trek through the South Island wilderness of New Zealand.

Aqua Bound Ambassador Devin Brown will soon embark on a solo kayak trip she’s been dreaming about for many years—a source-to-sea journey on the Mississippi River. If she completes it, she’ll be the first black woman to kayak all 2,340 miles.

Aqua Bound Ambassador Peter Tjärnlund frequently packrafts the rivers of Swedish Lapland. We asked him to tell us more about this remote and beautiful wilderness area and what it’s like to packraft there.

Lifelong kayaker (and Aqua Bound Ambassador) Ken Whiting and Paddle TV take us to the Republic of Ireland’s 1,600-mile-long Wild Atlantic Way for some adventurous sea kayaking and a taste of what The Emerald Isle has to offer.

Estero River Outfitters is Southwest Florida’s largest dealer of kayaks, paddle boards and canoes. It’s one of the only paddle shops where you can always try a boat or paddle before you buy by launching right off their dock on the Estero River.

Aqua Bound Ambassador Rachel Bott is a sea kayak guide and coach in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Some of her favorite kayaking spots are the remote islands in her area where she often is treated with wildlife encounters.