ACA Awards Deadline

Today is your last chance to nominate someone for an ACA Award! 

Visit www.americancanoe.org/awards for details on how to submit an online nomination. 

Award Recipients will be announced at the ACA Annual Banquet & Awards Ceremony at the upcoming Instructor Trainer Conference in Charleston, SC.

Throwback Thursday

Here's a little something from our archives.

The ACA song from 1927:

Click image to enlarge

If you're in the mood for a mini history lesson, click here to learn about how the ACA made its beginnings as the nation's oldest paddlesports organization. 

Feeling nostalgic yet? Send us your vintage paddlesports photos so we can feature you in a future Throwback Thursday post!

We Want to Hear From You

Have something to share? Whether it was the paddling trip of a lifetime, a stewardship event you helped out with, or just something valuable you learned while out on the water, we want to hear about it!

Send your stories, ideas, and photos to Catharine at clloyd@americancanoe.org, and your words could show up right here on the ACA's Water Blog, our Facebook and twitter pages, or our new Paddle emagazine!

In Case You Missed It: Paddle Ready App Updates!

There are two new updates to the ACA's Paddle Ready app: Tide Forecasting and a revamped Float Plan feature!

If you haven't downloaded the Paddle Ready app yet, what are you waiting for? You can get it for free on the App Store and on Google Play.

Please let us know what you think of the recent updates (we love hearing your feedback), and stay tuned for more updates coming in the next few weeks! 

Paddle safe out there.

Making the Case for Kayak Fishing

By Crystal and Tony Keill, the husband and wife duo behind Coastie Culture in Houston, Texas. Tony is an ACA certified kayak instructor and avid saltwater angler while Crystal grew up kayaking with her family and is currently a teacher and coach of a high school fishing team. Together, they hope to promote passion for the Upper Texas Coast through kayak angling adventures.

I've been kayaking sporadically since I earned my first beads for a wet exit at Kamp Kanakuk in 7th grade. But, in January, we snagged a good deal on a 2014 Wilderness Ride 135, and that's when things got serious.

Tony drove all the way to Lafayette, Louisiana to pick up my baby and to add a Tarpon 140 to our fleet. I don't call them our "babies" lightly. When you've got four yaks carefully stowed in your garage and two vehicles parked in the driveway exposed to the elements, it's a huge statement about your priorities. Judge us if you want. 

The amazing thing about kayaks is that they provide a sort of simplicity to the angling sport. Here are a few examples of what I mean:

1) Motorized boats are expensive

The cost of maintaining a motorized boat is out of the question for most people. I believe that we'd have to take out a second mortgage on the house to pay for said boat. We'd spend all of our extra cash paying for gas just to take the boat out. Then you've got to worry about insurance and maintenance on top of that. My dad (a powerboat owner) often reminds me that there are two most exciting days for a boat owner: the day you buy your boat and the day you get rid of it. At this point, we've had zero finance fees, zero fuel costs, and zero maintenance issues with any of our four kayaks.

2) Kayaks are extremely portable

Unlike with motorized boats, no special trailers are necessary when you are ready to drop everything and go kayaking. I've even witnessed my 100-pound friend whip out her tandem kayak, scoot it right on top of her Pontiac Grand Am, and strap it to her roof with ease. We were loaded up and on the water within minutes. 

3) Kayaks provide an added health benefit

I can tell you from experience that with proper paddling techniques, you will get a full body workout from a day of kayaking. It's not just an upper body thing. Your core is constantly working to keep you balanced and aiding in a stronger and more efficient paddle while your legs are helping to brace your position and boost your speed. I don't remember having a single sore muscle on the days I was out on the powerboat.

4) Kayaks are eco-friendly

That's right. No environmentally-damaging emissions given off from these babies. No worries about fuel spills in our bays that will harm the aquatic life. 

5) Kayaks provide the ability to navigate areas that you can't get to any other way

Man, oh man- have we been able to creep into some confined spaces while paddling our kayaks. I've seen some things in an up-close and personal way that I never would have been able to experience from a motorized boat.

While the simplicity of kayak fishing is certainly alluring, there are many add-ons that offer convenience and ease. It all boils down to the person in the kayak--- there are plenty of gear options that will enable you to bring out your inner-techie. To simplify or not to simplify? That, my friends, is a balance you choose for yourself.

Happy Stewardship Saturday!

For this week’s Stewardship Saturday, we will take a look at Plastic Tides, a group comprised of dedicated adventure conservationists with a common goal: shedding light on plastic pollution. 

Relying solely on stand-up paddleboards, Plastic Tides' expeditions have taken them to remote locations around the world to both document the beauty and expose the rampant plastic pollution that threatens these wild ecosystems. Combining adventure and hard science, these expeditions bring fresh awareness to the ubiquitous problem of marine debris, at home and abroad.

This year, Plastic Tides will be using their Club Fostered Stewardship grant funds to support their Microbead Free Finger Lakes project. This project combines local research with an effective and professional media strategy to promote a bill banning microbeads from consumer products statewide. 

Plastic Tides will work with volunteers to collect surface samples from Cayuga Lake and neighboring Finger Lakes that will be analyzed for the presence of plastic microbeads. The samples will be collected using a manta trawl that is pulled behind the paddleboard at a steady speed, skimming the surface. Volunteers will be trained in effective stand up paddle sampling methods. The samples will be chemically processed using wet peroxide oxidation before being examined under a light microscope for the presence of microbeads and other plastics, such as synthetic clothing fibers from laundry effluent. Plastic Tides will coordinate with volunteers to document their efforts and facilitate spreading the message through social media, and local news outlets.

Through funds provided by L.L. Bean, the ACA's Club Fostered Stewardship program has provided nearly $130,000 to over 135 different stewardship initiatives since its inception thirteen years ago. 

To learn more about the great work Plastic Tides is doing, please visit their website: 
www.plastictides.org 

Are you inspired to start your own local stewardship project? Apply for some CFS grant funds of your own--you can get more information on that here. 

In the meantine, order yourself a Paddle Green Bag and join the ACA's Stream to Sea Initiative today. 

Stewardship Saturday is an ongoing theme of the ACA Water Blog where we we shine a spotlight on organizations and individuals who are working hard to make the world a better place to paddle. Want to be featured? Email ACA Communications Coordinator Catharine Lloyd at clloyd@americancanoe.org to tell her about the stewardship work you are doing in your local community.

Paddle often, #PaddleGreen!

2015 ACA Awards

Do you know a paddler, or an entire organization, deserving of recognition? There's still time to submit a nomination for the 2015 ACA National Awards! 

The submission deadline is Monday, July 31, 2015 for the following awards:

• Legends of Paddling 
• Excellence in Instruction
• Sanctioned Event of the Year
• Green Paddle for Waterway Conservation
• Joe Pina Volunteer of the Year
• Stroke of Achievement
• J. Henry Rushton

Please visit www.americancanoe.org/awards for more details on how to submit your nomination. 

Award Recipients will be announced at the ACA Annual Banquet & Awards Ceremony at the upcoming Instructor Trainer Conference in Charleston, SC.