Thanks to everyone who got registered and supported WK this throwdown season.  Look for more cool contests and river events to come next season.  We will finish off this season with two great events at Gauley Festival.  Our first timers event will be in full effect and we will have a great throwdown on the lower Gauley that will be video judged at the Chaco booth during the festival.  Make sure you sing up to participate for this event, that has the richest prize purse of the season.

Later ; Colin

Later ; Colin

Just when we think things cannot get any better, our amazing partners notch it up once again!  This time with a series of prizes encouraging our community spirit on the web!   World Kayak believes that showing the outside world our personalities is key to successful growth.  The “I wanna paddle with them” factor is very important as a draw to our lifestyle.  Blog posts and stories on the web tend to lend to this kind of attraction.  World Kayak and its partners (Kokatat, Immersion Research, Chaco, Shred Ready, Mountain Khakis, Jackson Kayak, Smith Optics and Astral Bouyancy have set up a series of fun ‘story posting’ contests aimed at getting our amazing lifestyle out there for all to see!  From laughing about some of our ‘unique paddling fashion’ to our weirdest helmets, to swims and giving them glimpses of our take out parties and those who have inspired us along the way in our c0mmunities this contest series will show the expanse of our fun, free and unique culture.

Join us, post up a story for each of our contests or just one… get your friends involved… most of all… show the non-paddling folks JUST how much fun we have!

http://worldkayakblogs.com/wkcontests/

One happy moment for me this year was ripping the cover off of the annual OIA Report on Participation to see Whitewater Kayaking in 3rd place behind Adventure Racing and Hiking as the top sports in 2008-2009 with an average participation increase of 10.2% over the last report… and #1 in size of leap it has taken.

I say Kudos to all who strive each day to get your friends out and paddling!

It is this very report that comes out showing numbers that seemingly were stagnant over the past decade prompting the doomsday crowd to the forefront calling for the end of the world… I’ll say now what I said then… BLA BLA BLA… You know who you  are…  For all those who took those previous numbers and actually did something about it… High Five!  Job well done!  I’m happy to report that World Kayak sees many more positive people out there and hope that keeps comin’… 2012 numbers will show even bigger numbers… hopefully knocking that adventure racing crowd into the rivers!

Growth in any sport is all about community activity, fun and spreading the good word.  Cheers to all our ambassadors and their peeps in each region for doing just that!  Keep having fun and let us know how we can help!

It’s a truly unique opportunity for paddlers and industry leaders alike to exchange ideas about trends in programs, promotion, equipment, and technique. For the benefit of the paddling public and club members in particular, the 2010 Symposium will provide an all-inclusive package of on-water instruction, dry-land seminars, film presentations, and roundtable discussions targeting many more of the “in-demand” topics most noted by past participants,

We’ve listened to attendee feedback over the years, from which we’ve created a fresh new series of topics addressing some of the more common themes of interest to our audiences. New to the Symposium this year is a dedicated 3-track session schedule that aims to emphasize specific topics in the areas of whitewater oriented business, program development, and paddler enthusiasm.

The Business Track will include presentations by astute market leaders like Andy Zimmerman from Legacy, and Darren Bush, whose company Rutabaga is the largest paddle sports retailer in North America. Discussions will incorporate perspectives on topics like “How to boost sales”, “Effective Marketing”, and “Connecting with Customers”. If you make your living in the paddlesports industry, you won’t want to miss the broad range of forward thinking discussions in the house.

The Development Track is geared towards educational programs, instruction, and club activities. These sessions will center around the most innovative thinking being applied to everything from equipment design, to program building and approaches to teaching, training and paddling technique. Key Speaker Chris Fanning, along with a plethora of acclaimed instructors like Anna LeVesque and swiftwater rescue guru Mike Mather, bring their years of experience to interactive presentations of important topics. This is an unparalleled opportunity to be part of the conversation, as many of today’s top ambassadors of paddlesports weigh in on a whitewater vision for the future.

The Paddler Track will be a chance to connect with some of the hottest personalities in paddlesports and learn about the most cutting edge whitewater pursuits happening around the world. Participate in on-water clinics with the likes of freestyle champion Eric Jackson and Olympic gold medalist Joe Jacobi. Get up to speed on specifics like paddling performance, running creeks, improving your mental game, river safety, whitewater film making, and playboating skills … and find out how many of today’s most successful paddlers are striving to make a difference through programs you might find yourself wanting to explore further.

Whether you’re looking to improve your on-water skills, boat with world class paddlers, connect with other whitewater enthusiasts and business leaders, grow your business, market your product, or learn about service project opportunities, this year’s Whitewater Symposium offers something for everyone through a dynamically diverse program held over a single weekend at one of the world’s premier whitewater destinations …. Hope to see you there! For more program, schedule, and registration information, check out http://WWSymposium.com

World Kayak’s kayakeducation.com was built to support a global conversation and exchange between educators, aimed at helping EVERY educator have a resource for cutting edge teaching tools and techniques.  This system is part social network for educator exchange, part instructional support tool and part marketing tool.  Schools, clubs and instructors can read tips, video instructional videos, post up recommendations, join forums all in the name of supporting their teaching.  These tools also allow them to post upcoming classes and contact information.  This will then be posted to World Kayak’s regional portal (regions.worldkayak.com) and to its blogging and community portals www.worldkayakblogs.com … exposing their regional classes to the tens of thousands of visitors monthly throughout the seasons.

Apply today!