Paddling Education

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.

Kayaking, paddleboarding, canoeing, packrafting—these paddlesports are amazing ways to enjoy nature, get some exercise and have fun with others. But how do they affect the environment, both positively and negatively?

Although kayaking is statistically an extremely safe sport, some kayaking mistakes can be serious. Here we look at seven that can lead to tragedy and how to protect yourself by keeping safety top-of-mind.

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.

Aqua Bound Ambassador Jeffrey Creamer is an avid ski rafter—combining the backcountry sports of ski touring and packrafting into one adventure. We asked him to tell us more about it.

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 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.

When you kayak camp, you have some flexibility with food freshness and weight that you don’t in other outdoor adventures like backpacking and canoe camping with multiple portages.

Next Adventure is a Portland, Oregon-based full-service outdoor retailer with a 20-year history and a national presence. Their robust paddlesports department serves customers from beginner to elite paddlers of all kinds.

Aqua Bound Ambassador Johan Grönblad is an avid packrafter in his native Sweden. He’s also a former military medic and knows that safety must always stay top-of-mind when in the backcountry.

Aqua Bound is one of the founding members of the Paddlesports Trade Coalition, an organization initiated in 2023 and dedicated to becoming the “voice and soul of paddlesports” for the US and Canada.

Alexander “Jalle” Stjernberg is a member of Aqua Bound’s Ambassador team and is uniquely qualified to talk to us about common kayaking injuries and how to prevent them.

Aqua Bound Ambassador Dan Ransom was looking for better ultralight packrafting gear for his own expeditions. So he did what many outdoors folks have done before—he started to make them himself.

In the summer of 2023, Aqua Bound Ambassador Jeremie Lamart joined a crew to packraft Canada’s Nahanni River over 10 days. This remote national park in The Northwest Territories offers stunning scenery, abundant wildlife and in this case, a chance to meet new friends while outdoor adventuring.

By: Eszter Horanyi I could feel tears welling up in my eyes as I struggled in the seemingly bottomless pit of mud, my heavily loaded packraft fallen to the side into some trees, my drysuit zipper, which had been unzipped...

Bikerafter and filmmaker Deane Parker and a few mates headed into the mountains surrounding New Zealand’s Dillon Cone by way of the Clarence River. The goal of their trip was the tackle the summit and descent by bike, after an unsuccessful 2017 attempt.

In scenic northcentral Washington lies the Methow River, the “home river” of Aqua Bound Ambassador Jessica Kelley. Here she shares with us an expedition she’s been wanting to take for a long time—the Methow from start to finish.

There are so many reasons we choose to kayak, canoe, paddleboard or packraft. Here are some of the main reasons we love to paddle. Which are YOUR reasons to love it?

The kinds of water conditions that make ideal kayaking, packrafting and paddle boarding depend on a couple of key factors: your experience and the type of boat and gear you have.

Traveling to epic kayak and canoe destinations is amazing. But paddling locally can be equally wonderful and is a whole lot more accessible.