Nestled on central Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau, there’s an iconic little whitewater run called Daddys Creek and every year a group of dedicated volunteers runs a race thru its spectacular gorge to draw awareness to the runs splendor, do a trash pick up and have a great time. And with lifes distractions pushed to the side […]
Author Archives: Chris Hipgrave
January
20
ANTARCTIC PENINSULA – 2019
posted by Chris Hipgrave
Kayaking in Antarctica continues to fascinate me. This continent is full of surprises around every corner. Enjoy a few photos from some of my personal high lights that came from this past trip, where I worked as a kayak guide for Aurora Expeditions.
December
16
Downwind Camp: Fish Hoek, South Africa
posted by Chris Hipgrave
We’d been on the beach for just 2 minutes before the Mocke brothers started dropping nuggets of surfski knowledge on our international group of paddlers, underlining just how little I knew about the finer points of the downwind surfski padding. Over the next 2 weeks we’d be participating in their Downwind Camp at the famous […]
November
28
Race Recap: Big South Fork Dash
posted by Chris Hipgrave
Kentucky hadn’t been on my race radar until recently when the Explore Kentucky Initiative started a race series across the state in some beautiful areas. That’s how I found myself at the series finale, competing in a 14 mile loop course in the Big South Fork Wilderness where Lake Cumberland backs up the Big South […]
August
06
Race Recap: Gorge Downwind Champs
posted by Chris Hipgrave
The Gorge Downwind Championships has been an annual pilgrimage from its inception. It’s predecessor, the Wildside Relay, first introduced me to this downwind paradise, and I have enjoyed screaming upstream on the Columbia River in the shadow of snow capped volcanoes ever since. For 2017, the Gorge Downwind Championships would be my first “A” race […]
June
22
Outdoors Inc. Canoe & Kayak Race
posted by Chris Hipgrave
This article is reposted with the kind permission of its author, Elmore Holmes. You can read his original post, here. Thanks Elmore! The Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race is in the books for another year. This event has now happened 36 times, and I have participated myself 22 times. Today’s river level–13.5 feet on […]
April
27
RACE RECAP: CAROLINA CUP
posted by Chris Hipgrave
The promise of a competitive surfski field drew me to the Carolina Cup for the first time this year. Historically a huge SUP race, the 13 mile Graveyard race is quickly gaining a reputation as a fun ocean race that now had the attention of the surfski community. Surfski participation jumped from just 12 in […]
April
14
2017 Shark Bite Challenge & Paddlefest
posted by Chris Hipgrave
What does it take to run a massively successful paddling event with over 450 participants from all over the World, hundreds of spectators and dozens of vendors / sponsors? What does it take to bounce back to an even stronger event in the shadow of the US Coast Guard shutting down your event the year […]
March
30
REVIEW: EPIC KAYAKS V12(2G)
posted by Chris Hipgrave
I’ve been waiting on the second generation Epic Kayaks V12 for a long time. As an early adopter of the V14, I’ve loved the speed, clean lines and comfort of this speed demon, but as an inland paddler, I struggled with the stability on rough days out in the ocean. Basically, I would cross that […]
