News & Musings

Recently, I went on my first full moon paddle from Coloma to Lotus, with my parents and some friends. In order to paddle safely, you should have paddled the section of river many times before and memorized the structure of the waves, holes, rocks, eddie lines, and when rapids are coming and you should only…

Cali Collective Chief Instigator, Melissa DeMarie, was recognized by the American Canoe Association California Chapter with the Paddle Heroes Award for 2019. The ACA California Executive Council created the California Paddle Heroes Award to recognize and honor members of the California paddling community who prioritize and consistently: Help share paddlesports by making others feel excited, welcome,…

Hello, my name is Hannah Musgrove. I do a lot of skiing and kayaking and I have recognized the benefits for both the sports. One of the benefits of kayaking is dealing with fear. After a little time in the sport, you realize that rapids aren’t really that scary, especially when you’ve done them a…

There’s not much that can get me out of bed before 6am on a weekend. But in early September, I leapt out of bed before my alarm went off at 5:30. This was going to be the best weekend of the year! I was heading up to the South Fork of the American River to…

Over the years Life beats us up. Not whining, just stating facts. Therefore, it is SO GOOD to be around women who remind me of my younger self: rowdy, boisterous, athletic, outdoorsy, a little bit raunchy, funny, fun, supportive, smart and creative, and that’s good because they show me how to live all over again. Lately I’ve been having a little trouble holding on to that grrrl that I am. The women I’m talking about work for the California Women’s Watersports Collective and Sundance Kayak School of Southern Oregon. These two groups collaborate on an annual kayak camp for women. I signed up for this, their third annual event, and  came back filled with warm light vibrant energy. I love sea kayaking but it’s often cold and foggy and conditions change so rapidly and the consequences of those changes can…

    When Melissa DeMarie found herself side-lined with a shoulder injury four years ago, her dream of getting more women on the water finally found the right time to come alive. She founded California Women’s Watersport Collective and kicked it off on a shoe string budget with a few meet-up paddles and one weekend clinic for women’s kayaking on the South Fork American River. Once the first clinic’s registration overflowed onto a waiting list and people starting asking what else was available there was no turning back. Instigator, Melissa DeMarie. Photo: Adam Walker Since then, CWWC (aka Cali Collective) has gone from a few women with big ideas to an inspiring all-inclusive community on and off the water. A woman’s experience of the world is different from men’s and that holds true on the water. The way women face…

Dearest Friends of the Whitewater World, Please allow me this opportunity to tell you all how much I love you. No, I am not drunk, nor have I been court-mandated to do so. Rather, in this shoulder season of reflection, amidst the ashen skies and stripped, sleeping trees of my native Vermont, I wonder about…

My name is Hannah Musgrove and I’m ten years old. I’ve been kayaking for about a year (I learned how to roll last summer). Author, Hannah. Photo: Adam Walker Last weekend my family, some friends and our dog Rosie went on a trip to paddle the Merced river in Yosemite through the valley. We put…

Chapter 1: Daunted The swell and breaking waves seemed to come from every possible direction as the wind picked up and the tide dropped – it was already a stormy day that looked more menacing by the minute. Kelly and Tree chose steep drops on waves breaking right by the exposed, seaweed coated Mushroom Rock….

It is still raining. We have been driving for nearly six hours on dirt roads. We’ve had to turn around twice because our driver was going in the wrong direction. I have no clue where we are going. All I know is that it had been raining for two days, and Tess and I are…

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We don’t often think about having a formal regimen to warm up for a day of paddling. I know mine often consists of a practice roll and then paddling a few strokes in order to peel out of the eddy. In reality, a lot of our warm up happens on the river. For newer paddlers,…