East Coast Canoe & Kayak Festival

ACA & Subaru presents the East Coast Canoe & Kayak Festival. Come out to James Island County Park and immerse yourself in a full weekend of the history, technique, hands-on experience, and fun of canoeing, kayaking and Stand Up Paddleboarding. The East Coast Canoe & Kayak Festival includes lectures, on-water classes, and demonstrations directed to the novice and the experienced paddler. The heart of the festival is four classrooms run simultaneously throughout the three-day event. Refine your skills in a master class presented by many of the leading experts in the paddling world. Learn new strokes, rescues, or rolls with expert instruction and meet other knowledgeable paddlesport enthusiasts.


Dozens of commercial exhibitors will be on-hand to give you a chance to try before you buy. At the East Coast Canoe & Kayak Festival, you will be able to test boats, paddles, and accessories on the water at the festival site. You will also have the opportunity to speak with equipment designers and manufacturers throughout the weekend.

For information visit http://www.ccprc.com/ecckf.

SUP The Coast from Wind Powered Productions on Vimeo.

Mardi Pardi Eco-Adventure

The ACA is sponsoring a great event that promotes both health and fun, the upcoming annual Mardi Pardi Eco Adventure 5k Run and Triathlon .

The 2012 Mardi Pardi will include a music festival as well as a race. It promises a full weekend of New Orleans musical talent, as well as running, kayaking and biking served up with plenty of great, local food, beer and, of course, a Mardi Gras parade! Come out and set a personal goal to run, paddle and let the good times roll!

Race Details

The race will take place Saturday, February 18, at the Washington St. Pier on S. Beach Blvd. in Bay St. Louis, Miss. The triathlon is a 2-mile kayak in the calm waters of the Mississippi Sound along the Gulf of Mexico paired with a 5k run and 12-mile bike ride along the beach road from Bay St. Louis to Waveland. The race can be completed either as a 5K run or as a triathlon solo or relay race. See http://www.mardipardiadventure.org/ for details and to register.

Participants are encouraged to wear their Mardi Gras “racing best” for the Mardi Pardi multi-prize costume contest on the day of the race. And, racers can attend the Pass Parade on Sunday where they will have a reserved location from which to watch the parade.

For more information about the race or to register online, visithttp://www.mardipardiadventure.org/ or http://www.gulfcoastrunningclub.org/.

Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium

The ACA glad to be able to support the Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium. The Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium is a skills symposium in one of the most spectacular and dynamic locations in the world — the Marin Headlands and San Francisco Bay. This event is dedicated to the sheer joy of paddling well and paddling safe. Many ACA Instructor Trainers will be in attendance teaching many of the great course offerings. Spring tides and powerful Pacific swells will ensure challenging conditions for even the most seasoned paddlers. The area has beautiful surf, rock gardens, tide races, flatwater and challenging navigation. Take one look around and you'll see Mt. Tamalpais, the Marin Headlands, the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco Skyline, Berkeley, Alcatraz, Angel Island, the Bay Bridge and more…

GGSKS Website

NOBA Winner - Rio Grande

ACA member, Dr. Paul Bauer of New Mexico recently received a National Outdoor Book Award (NOBA) for his new book, The Rio Grande.

From the NOBA website:
"This colorful and remarkably well done guide, covering 153 miles of the Rio Grande, is packed full of information for flatwater and whitewater paddlers.  But it’s not just for river runners.  Hikers, anglers and cyclists will also find it invaluable in their trips to Rio Grande country.  The maps are first rate.  They were developed from an aerial photo base and use a blend of colors and shaded relief to make the river topography stand out.  The geological information, both textual and illustrative, is some of the best the judges have seen in a river guide."

Congratulations Paul!

For additional information about the book, click here.

ACA Quickdry Hats back in stock

Need a hat for paddling with a built in moisture management system?

The ACA now has two quickdry hats available at the eStore.

Show your support of America's oldest paddlesports organization, order one today...wear it this weekend.

Rocky Mountain Surf Festival

The ACA is proud to announce that it will be a partner for the 2012 Rocky Mountain Surf Festival and the C4 Waterman Whitewater SUP Championship. The 2012 Rocky Mountain Surf Festival will once again be held at the world famous Glenwood Springs Whitewater Park in Colorado.


This one of a kind Polynesian themed extravaganza will feature surfing contests, music, food and product vendors, costumes, a hula contest, limbo events, a Goof Board competition, a floating parade of rafts punching the monster wave/hole and the world’s best river stand up paddlers displaying their paddling prowess on the snowmelt swollen Colorado River. The weekend includes nonstop action on both sides of the river. Festivalgoers migrate back and forth across the bridge from kid friendly activities held at the park’s stadium seating to the event beer garden, sponsors’ and food vendor’s tents and the event HQ and surf judging zone.

The Rocky Mountain Surf Festival will feature competition for:

• Downriver SUP


• SUPcross


• SUP Surf Contest


• River Surf Championship

The Rocky Mountain Surf Festival will also host the ACA Regional SUP Summit.

For more information on the 2012 Rocky Mountain Surf Festival visit the following websites or view the video below. The RMSF video can also be found on the ACA YouTube Channel

http://www.rockymountainsurffestival.com/ or find the RMSF on Facebook

Clean Water Victories

 (Photo Credit: Ben Morton)

Our fellow water lovers at American Rivers dubbed 2011 "the year of the river" because of huge successes for river restoration across the country, including dam removals on the White Salmon and the Elwa (the largest dam removal in history!)


It seems like the "year of the river" continues as we move into a new year, and the ACA is proud to help keep the clean waters flowing in 2012! Earlier this year, the ACA put in calls to senators and representatives to oppose proposed uranium mining around the Grand Canyon. On Monday, January 9th, Secretary Salazar formally signed a 20-year moratorium, the longest allowed by law, on new uranium and other hard rock mining claims on a million acres of federal land around the Grand Canyon. Salazar said it was "a serious and necessary step" to preserving the canyon, an American natural icon, and the river that runs through it.


And yesterday President Obama rejected the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline.  The proposed pipeline would have crossed major rivers, including the Missouri, Yellowstone, and Red rivers, as well as critical sources of drinking and agricultural water, such as the Ogallala Aquifer, supplying water to more than two million Americans.

Check out other ACA Stewardship Initiatives!