This month i’m going to teach you how to do the McNasty.

Do you have trouble ferrying or feel that you get pushed off-line a lot?  If so try paying more attention to the angle you're setting with your kayak before you make your move.  Setting the correct angle can mean the difference between a ferry that feels hard and sloppy and a ferry that feels easy and precise.  It can…

Well, we've now had a week straight of record high temps (in some places by over 20 degrees). Apparently we skipped right past spring (typically in April) to the hottest part of summer here in New England. Conveniently enough, I got the week off work, so I've been paddling every day since spring started 2.5 weeks ago. A solid week of training attaining the White River before melt got going was a good start to the season, but now we're fully into creeking and I've been taking a lot of days…

Here are some photos from Eagle Creek, Oregon. The waterfall photos are from Punchbowl and Metlako Falls. I included some as well from the hike up and from the metal "stake" gauge we use right at the trail head. …

It's been a solid 10 days of kayaking here in Cosa Rica the land of sunshine and amazing rivers.  While there are numerous opportunities to paddle all over the country my favorite run so far has been the Rio Pacuare.  The Pacuare has  a long history of kayaking and rafting in Costa Rica with some of the first companies setting up operations in the early 80's.  After spending several days running all the sections I can see why.  First off the Pacuare has an amazing amount of whitewater that…

Although it really doesn't feel like it most days here in the southeast we've officially reached Winter.  Winter brings a lot of good things but it can often be a hard time to motivate to go kayaking.  After all snow, sleet, winter mix, or rain when its 35 degrees don't really scream "let's go get wet".  However if I can get past that some of the best days I've had on the river have been in the Winter.  For me it really brings a different feel, it's often super quite and less crowded.  Often…

Green Race!  My most anticipated race is right around the corner, first racer at high noon this Saturday.  The runs are in, the attainments done, the smack is being laid down, bets made, the list of what surrounds this race goes on and on. This year is a special one for me as its my first one back on my road to recovering from a herniated disc.  It's been super fun to be a part of everything again and I can't wait to fire out of that start gate.  But that's Saturday and this is…

Oregon is known for its huge, runnable waterfalls.  Most of the world records for highest waterfall have been set in Oregon.  However, Oregon is not known for great class five whitewater (Little White Salmon is in Washington for those not encompassed in PNW geography).  

My buddy Matt King recently moved towards Eastern Oregon and away from the whitewater scene, or so we thought...  He dedicated many days to driving around and scouting out the Wallowa Mountain range.  The…

Labor Day weekend marks the beginning of the Fall boating season in New England. There's boating all summer, but as the leaves start to change and 'peeping' season begins in earnest, the rain starts to actually bring rivers up for more than a few hours at a time. I've been to the Labor Day Beaver/Raquette releases for a few years now, and they're always a blast. This year, we rallied up Friday night straight to Colton. After a healthy breakfast at the local diner, we spent all day lapping…

This summer I came across the opportunity to work as the lead instructor for ex-pro paddler Todd Anderson at the Columbia Gorge Kayak School in Hood River, Oregon. Without too much thought I took the job, and since have been enjoying every bit of working as a…

Hey all hope everyone's summer has been good.  It's been a fun one here in the southeast a little on the hot side I suppose but that's just a great excuse to get in the water!  I'm going to take a moment to talk about catching eddies, actually what I really want to talk about is making it easy.  No more almost making it but sliding out the back or struggling to cross the eddy line.  Eddies can turn from your nemesis into your friend by following one easy concept:  Let the eddy do the work!…

The boating this summer has been pretty great. Graduated college, drove to the Rockies, and spent the last month kayaking in Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Montana. Now I'm back in New England getting stoked for a summer of Hartlands and the bi-weekly Raquette releases.…

As kayakers we have the unique ability to spend a lot of time close to water and observe the qualities and energies of her currents firsthand.  The inspiration for this article comes from that intimate proximity to water and the lessons water has taught me throughout my kayaking career.  The word ‘yoga’ means ‘union’ and there are wonderful life lessons to be learned when we allow ourselves to feel ‘united’ with the waters that we paddle. That’s why I like to call what I’ve learned from…

Gauge near the old buildings by the AB Tech Enka Campus

Sometimes you just need to take a moment to do those things that are close to home that you always talk about but you never get around to.  There's a creek near my house called Hominy Creek that everytime I drove by and the water…

In this video Dagger Team paddlers Tyler Bradt, Brendan Wells, and myself paddle with Erik Johnson 70ft. Outlet Falls in Washington State. Because the area rarely sees enough rain to bring the drop to runnable flows, Outlet Falls has only been run on a few occasions. After our first day on the drop we returned for a second round, in which we also ran the first descent of the lead-in rapids to the falls. For my full write-up and some stellar photos by Bennett…

Laura Farrell takes some time to answer a few questions, make sure to check out the video as well!

Where are you from? Where do you live? 

I grew up in Tampa, Florida but moved up to Western North Carolina the morning after my high school graduation and…

Team Dagger's Iker Beristain Van Dusen check's in from his home country of Mexico to answer 6 questions about paddling, Mexico, and where he's going this year.

Where are you from? Where do you live?

Mexico City, I’ve been living here my whole…

Mexico has gotten a lot of bad press lately so we’d like to give you some good news about our favorite country south of the border.  Our whitewater kayaking trips in Jalcomulco, Veracruz went off without a hitch this winter!  We experienced the same friendliness, slow-paced lifestyle, delicious fresh food, sunshine and amazing rivers as always.

We started off…