Water Sports
Archive
Record low snowpack in the Golden State means lower streams and, sadly, fewer opportunities to fish and paddle.
It doesn't have to be the first, the longest, or the tallest. You don't have to be the best, most famous, or even have much of a reason at all. When a passion or desire takes hold within, all you have to do is explore. The U.S.
With runoff in full swing in Montana, the Montana Wild crew decided to load up their truck and head south. Their targets were big, predatory brown trout, and true to their nature the fish didn’t disappoint. Bucknasty Browns is a film from…
Norman Ollestad's father taught him to surf during rambling, tough-love safaris down the coast of Mexico. Then the education came to a sudden and tragic end. Forty years later, Ollestad heads south with his own son鈥攁nd finds that the old road maps can only take them so far.
Surfer L茅a Brassy grew up in Northern France. By the time she was 17, she moved to Southern France for the warm water surf. Accustomed to a life on the road, her nomadic lifestyle takes a pause at the Unstad break in th Lofoten Islands in Northern…
The Whitewater Grand Prix is paddling's most insane event, a scrappy, alcohol-soaked gauntlet that sends competitors down some of the most fearsome rapids in the world. It's so dangerous and spectator-unfriendly that many sponsors won't go anywhere near it. But it might be exactly what the struggling sport needs.
The sport of kayaking is at a bit of a standstill. Sales are down, there are fewer boats on the water, and the pros are making less, which is exactly why the Whitewater Grand Prix is so important.
A new catamaran racing circuit for young competitors proves that speed sailing鈥攚ith all its excitement and danger鈥攊s here to stay.
Paddling through Minnesota鈥檚 springtime ice break-up is nuts. What is Will Steger thinking?
Filmmaker MP Cunningham recently ventured to the North Shore to spend a few days with surf photographer Brian Bielmann. At age 18, Bielmann packed his bags and headed to Hawaii with two hundred dollars in his pocket, and worked tirelessly to become the professional…
With the first 2015 World Surf League Championship Tour stop around the corner, Body Glove surfer Tatiana Weston Webb of Kauai shares her hopes and dreams about being the only female rookie on tour. The 18-year-old learned to surf from her brother, but it…
The English have a secret, and it’s called North Norfolk. Wintertime brings perfect kitesurfing conditions and, more importantly, empty beaches. 聽…
A Frenchman plans to swim across the Pacific Ocean. Yes, that's as crazy as it sounds.
Record snowfall, week-long freezes, and big cities brought to a standstill is how the winter of 2015 will be remembered across much of the Northeast. For some, like York, Maine-based photographer Nick Lavecchia, the winter brought in big swells, endless fun, and a group of friends to enjoy it with. We caught up with Lavecchia for a glimpse into the last few weeks on the snowy shores of the East Coast.
Stephanie Gilmore was a world-champion surfer when a brutal attack by a stranger nearly ended her career. Now she's back on top, with a sixth world title, and reveals how she found happiness again鈥攊n the most unexpected places.
When it came time to find someone for the cover of our annual happiness issue, Stephanie Gilmore jumped off the page. With six world surfing titles and a balanced outlook on life we could all learn from, the surf star lives by some pretty simple words: "I'm going to just enjoy exactly where I am." Fortunately for Gilmore, she is usually in places like Hawaii, Mexico, and Sri Lanka chasing the biggest waves she can find. We caught up with one of surfing's best photographers, Morgan Maassen, who has been shooting Gilmore for years, both on and off the water. Maassen says it best, "Stephanie always has three things on her: a magic surfboard, some sort of exotic guitar, and her golden smile."
The story of Maya Gabeira’s recovery from a major wipeout at Nazare in 2013 is truly inspiring.聽This Spring, filmmaker Gordon Wong and his聽team from lululemon met up with the big wave surfer in Hawaii to talk about her perserverance during recovery and courage to try the…
Travel deep into the mind of big wave surfer and聽Clif Bar athlete Greg Long with this short film from Patrick Trefz. 聽…
Michigan-based Filmmaker Seth Haley enjoys capturing the best that his state has to offer, and that often means braving less than ideal conditions. “There is something immensely satisfying in experencing the lake and capturing whatever mood it happens to offer and then showing it to as many…
Lake Lotawana, near Kansas City, MO, is a weekend getaway destination during the summer months but far less crowded in the Winter. But, the locals who stick around know that the lake can be just as fun when it gets cold. A short from聽Mammoth Media.聽…
Pro Kiteboarder Lindsay McClure tries to give back as often as she can. The Hood River native is聽a teacher, mentor, and coach to the young kiteboarders who are students in her traveling high school. This video is part of a series from Moxy International…
In September 2013, Eric Porter, along with Neil and Ian Provo, set out in search of a grand adventure in their own backyards. In true multi-sport fashion, they grabbed their mountain bikes and headed into the Unita Mountains with fly rods in tow. They…
Earlier this year, Atlanta Hawks shooting guard Kyle Korver and three friends ventured off the coast of Santa Barbara for a fitness challenge called a “Misogi.” The point is to take on a challenge that radically expands your sense of what’s possible, and feat the group certainly accomplished.聽…
Examining the perpetual youth and singular talent of surfing's king
The Olympic gold medalist makes a name for herself as a big-wave surfer.
Thanks to glacial runoff and a long filtration journey through Iceland’s volcanic underground, the water pouring into Lake Thingvellir is some of the cleanest water in the world. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the Silfra Rift, the tectonic boundary between the Eurasian and North American plates.
Erika Bergman turned her career as a submarine pilot into an international engineering and exploration curriculum. The goal: to get more young women outside and involved in the sciences.
Surf Berlin (2015) is a documentary film following the quest of one man to be the first in history to document a ride on the “last German wave.” Formed by a giant ship, this unusual wave is almost impossible to catch, and like many good things in…
Photographer and Filmmaker Luc Mehl lives in Anchorage, AK and spends his time exploring the vast expanses of wilderness in his home state. Often times the best way to get around is by packraft.聽…
A closer look at swim coaches who abused their athletes
It may be the oldest emotion. Before happiness, before sorrow, before exhilaration, and way, way before the urge to climb mountains and bomb down steeps, there was fear. Now scientists are finding new ways to help us conquer our deepest anxieties鈥攁nd use them to perform even better.
Strange Rumblings in Shangri-La is a modern surf film that documents an unforgettable worldwide journey from the frigid shores of Iceland to the sultry coastline of Mozambique. From well-known spots in Eurpoe to exotic islands off the coast of Brazil and into deepest Indonesia,…
In October, 12 women will compete in one of the world's oldest male-dominated sports. The race? A 38,000-mile monster through pirate-infested waters and rough seas.
Blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer set off on his Grand Canyon kayaking expedition earlier this month. Best known for summiting聽Mount Everest聽in 2002, Erik’s latest adventure presents a whole new set of challenges. Get to know Erik’s partner, fellow blind kayaker Lonnie Bedwell, and…
Writer William Powell took on Verruckt, the world’s tallest water slide, located in Kansas City. At 168 feet, 6 inches, the slide is taller than Niagra Falls and certainly lives up to its name 鈥 which means “insane” in German.聽…
Cape Fear is a deadly wave break in Sydney, Australia, and each year Red Bull puts on one of big wave surfing’s premiere competitions there. Here’s a look at the best wipeouts from this year’s event.聽…
On August 26, Laird Hamilton entertained crowds as Huricane Marie kicked up surf at Malibu Lagoon. Hamilton paddled out and “shot the pier” twice, meaning he rode waves through the gaps in the posts beneath the Malibu Pier. Shooting the pier is no easy…
After his loss to 20-year-old Brazilian phenom Gabriel Medina in historic conditions at the Billabong Pro Tahiti, the 11-time world champion will want an even dozen more than ever.
Last year in Nazar茅, Portugal, the Brazilian surfer nearly drowned while trying to ride the biggest wave ever surfed by a woman. Most of the alpha males who dominate the sport say Gabeira doesn't belong in their ranks, but nothing will stop her from going back in.
Red Bull athletes from surf, snow, motorsports and even a professional gamer push through their mental and physical limits in Hawaii while free diving to the bottom of the ocean, learning to hold their breath for nearly 5 minutes. A part of the聽Red Bull High Performance…
“One Shot” is a short documentary that looks into the life of Russell Ord, a West Australian, world renowned surf photographer, as he embarks on a mission to capture “one shot” that defines who he is. A film by Spektrum Visuals.聽…
When six friends set out on a 63 day journey to paddle over 900 miles through pristine Canadian wilderness, they had no idea a film about their trip would transform into a mission to protect the Yukon’s Peel River Watershed. Inspired by the landscape…
Some plan trips in advance; others let the current carry them. For Amy Ragsdale, traveling with risk takers like herself has helped her trust the process of exploring without a full map, rather than fight it.
In June, a group of Australian surfers spent 11 days surfing the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia. Epic conditions and a lot of drone footage makes this clip one of the coolest surfing videos we’ve seen in a long time. Video by Paul Borrud.
By the Water is short film about a point of view; an undefined boundary between inside and outside, between submerged and emerged. The space in which the surfboard moves, not completely in the water and not totally free in the air, is defined by the rhythm of…
A look at one of kayaking’s biggest events, the North Fork Championship. Year three brought the competition to new levels, as athletes traveled from all corners of the globe to the North Fork of the Payette River in Idaho to compete for the title of world’s best…
This is the story of one of the most decorated anglers in the US.聽Cam Chioffi is the youngest member of the US Youth Fly Fishing Team, and聽the curent World and US National Youth Champion in competitive fly fishing. With his win at the National…
We can boat the same backyard river with our family a dozen or more times, and it will never get old鈥攂ecause rivers, like our children, are constantly changing.
Surf icon Dave Kalama is still winning a year shy of his 50th birthday. But he has new competition: Kai Lenny, the 21-year-old rising star. What happens when the prodigy faces the man who taught him almost everything he knows about paddleboarding?
The journey planned is rarely the journey taken. The Nobody’s River expedition team had no idea how true this would be as they prepared to leave for a two month expedition in Mongolia and Russia. This film from NRS聽and Wazee documents…
In this new clip from SmugMug and聽photographer Chris Burkard, he聽and Professional Surfers Partick Millin, Brett Barley and Chadd Konig brave sub-zero temperatures in the Arctic Circle to capture moments of raw beauty in conditions that rank among the harshest in the natural world. The bitterly cold…
Sam Grafton is not your typical kayaker. The 23-year-old balances working as an ER Tech, volunteering as a firefighter and paddling the biggest water around. After a devastating injury to his jaw last year, Sam worked hard to return to the site of his accident: Washington’s Tumwater Canyon. So far…
Robby Naish, Red Bull Athlete and 24-time world windsurfing champion, headed to Brazil recently on a stand up paddle surfing expedition. He found one of the longest waves on the planet in the middle of the Amazon River, called the Pororoca Tidal Bore, and set the world…
19 of the world’s most talented divers took to Hell’s Gate on Possum Kingdom Lake outside Fort Worth, Texas, earlier this month for the second event in this year’s Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. Divers leapt from 90 and 60 feet, and reached…
Stand-up paddle boarding is one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S. And because SUP doesn't discriminate when it comes to water鈥攊t can be still or rushing鈥攜ou can find classes and meet-ups just about everywhere. But if you've never done it before, here's Kristin Artz from the…
In The Land Of: Episode 2, we follow Ed Worland, Jack Entwistle and Nick Riley to the region of Phuket, an area of Thailand known for its tourism and party scene. Days after arriving the crew finds themselves assisting with the relief effort for Bangkok after severe…
In the final chapter of The Land Of series, the crew find themselves discovering Ko Phayam and the surrounding islands. Apart from a few local Rastafarian Thai surfers, the common attitude towards the ocean is that of fear after the 2004 tsunami. The crew connect with a…
Kai Lenny is a 21-year-old hailing from Paia, Hawaii who also happens to be the breakout star of the SUP world, having paddled his way to six world titles.
A year and a half after the famous ship went down during Hurricane Sandy, the U.S. Coast Guard releases its official report into the sinking of the tall ship Bounty.
A look at the 2014 Colorado River Pulse Flow, and the first crossing of the Colorado River Delta via watercraft in over two decades. It’s been more than 50 years since the river regularly reached the sea, but this year dam gates were opened for an experiement in ecological restoration.
Lindsey Vonn learns how to cast a fly rod at the 2014 GoPro Mountain Games. 聽…
Pro kayaker Hunt Jennings recently made the second descent of “God Help Me Falls” on Wolf Creek. Pat Keller made the first descent four years ago, and no one has tried since. Hunt got the whole thing on video so everyone can see the just how aptly named the drop…
Kai Lenny takes you on a course preview of the SUP Downriver Sprint at the 2014 GoPro Mountain Games.聽聽…
Pro kayaker Rush Sturges takes you on a course preview of the Steep Creek Challenge at the 2014 GoPro Mountain Games. The games kick off in Vail, CO, on Thursday June 5 and run until Sunday June 8.聽…
Cold-weather surfers are cut from a different cloth. Eager to travel north, these guys dodge icebergs between sets and aren't afraid to freeze for the perfect Arctic barrel. Photographer Chris Burkard has the heart of a cold-weather surfer but more impressively, the eye to capture these stunning Nordic scenes from places such as Iceland, Norway, and Russia.
This year’s Red Bull King of the Air event took place in February at Capetown, South Africa’s Big Bay. 24 of the world’s best kiteboarders went head-to-head in a competition all about big air and style points. Watch as Kevin Langaree wins the title in this edit…
A 2014 Telluride Mountainfilm Favorite. 90 year-old Frank Moore has always loved to fish. A WWII veteran and one of the many brave troops who landed on the beaches of Normandy. Mending the Line captures Moore’s incredible pursuit to return to Normandy seeking serenity in the waters where he witnessed…
Natural Goods is a documentary that celebrates the ocean, wood and nature. It tells the story of Luca Bressan, a Italian designer who was born high up in the Dolomites but always dreamt of riding ocean waves, and made those dreams a reality when he started building…
The Florida Keys are a cluster of about 1700 islands in the extreme southeast of the United States. Islamorada is known as the “Sport Fishing Capital of the World,” and rumor has it that it hosts the largest fishing fleet per square mile in the world.聽In Episode 5 of…
For champion kayaker Brad Ludden, being outdoors has always been a way of life
Winter is characterized by short days, cold weather, and plenty of snow in Montana.聽 Some may see it as a burden while others see it a playground.聽 State of Motion looks at the commonalities between skiing and fly fishing and how often the snow that we ski today will the…
A short documentary about David Welsford, who has given up the luxuries of land in search of happiness and adventure on a 50 year old wooden boat he restored from a scrap heap. From filmmaker Kevin A Fraser. Find out more at TwentyEightFeet.聽…