Joe Potoczak, Author at Paddling Magazine

Best Kayak Seats For 2025

Joe Potoczak — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 23:10:43 +0000

The well-worn saying, “It’s like riding a bike,” has a second meaning when it comes to kayaking. Like the saddle of our two-wheeled counterpart, the seating area in a kayak is not always the most comfortable. Like a bike, stretching and putting in time could improve the situation, but at the end of the day, […]

The post Best Kayak Seats For 2025 appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

Best Inflatable Kayaks For 2025

Joe Potoczak — Sun, 07 Sep 2025 18:00:16 +0000

When I was 16, I started my first season as a safety kayaker for whitewater rafting trips. Each trip I crammed myself into my snug-fitting whitewater kayak, spending hours a day in the uncomfortable, even painful, outfitting, with unwavering devotion to the sport. But then I noticed that at the summer flows on the section […]

The post Best Inflatable Kayaks For 2025 appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

Kayak Review: Lekker Osprey

Joe Potoczak — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 12:15:20 +0000

Celliers Kruger isn’t in the barge building business. As the founder of Fluid Kayaks back in 2002, he was known for making innovative whitewater kayaks over the course of more than a decade. The South African boat builder launched his third kayak company in 2024, incorporating aspects he had learned from both whitewater and more […]

The post Kayak Review: Lekker Osprey appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

Best Foldable Kayaks For 2025

Joe Potoczak — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 20:00:44 +0000

Trying to find storage for a full-size touring or recreational kayak can be a real barrier to owning your own boat. Add to this the challenge of transporting these heavy, awkward-shaped recreational vessels. Enter the foldable kayak. A fold up kayak provides paddlers with a packable paddling craft that can be stored in an oversized […]

The post Best Foldable Kayaks For 2025 appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

Pushing SUP To New Heights

Joe Potoczak — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 12:15:13 +0000

When Andrew Hughes arrived at the crater lake on Tres Cruces Norte, he was on the verge of heartbreak. Along the edges of the brilliant blue body of water high in the Atacama Desert of Chile, salt rings marked the dry volcanic rock—evidence of evaporation and a shrinking pool. Just hours earlier, the Seattle-based mountaineer […]

The post Pushing SUP To New Heights appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

An Outdoor Retail Icon Closes, Causing A Tectonic Shift In The Region’s Paddlesport Landscape

Joe Potoczak — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 14:00:40 +0000

Deek Heykamp still remembers his first whitewater kayak, one he brought home from the annual Outdoor Retailer trade show to his new outdoor store in Southeast Portland in the late 90s. “It was an Eskimo Diablo,” Heykamp recalls. “We had just started the business, and we hired a guy who is still my close friend, […]

The post An Outdoor Retail Icon Closes, Causing A Tectonic Shift In The Region’s Paddlesport Landscape appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

The Lekker Albatross Is Leading A Double Life

Joe Potoczak — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 14:10:34 +0000

If you’ve seen one tandem sit-on-top kayak you’ve seen them all, or so someone may say who has yet to meet the Lekker Albatross. The Albatross is like the bird it’s named for—sizable and ready for a journey. The boat is 14 feet long and capable of covering ground, yet is easy to turn. The […]

The post The Lekker Albatross Is Leading A Double Life appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

Come Ebb Or Flood This Low-Profile Paddling Shoe Keeps Your Toes And Wallet Intact

Joe Potoczak — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 12:00:54 +0000

When it comes to a pair of kayaking shoes, there seems to be two extremes to choose from: pricey high-performance ones ready for anything, and cheap box-store pairs with thin mesh uppers and a clunky sole that are lucky to make it a week at summer camp let alone a season of a paddler’s use. […]

The post Come Ebb Or Flood This Low-Profile Paddling Shoe Keeps Your Toes And Wallet Intact appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

Hit The Water This Summer With This Budget-Friendly Inflatable Paddleboard

Joe Potoczak — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:27:39 +0000

When late-spring days with clear skies and rising temps start to take over the weekly weather forecast, I peer out my office window, and the thought creeps in: I’d rather be paddleboarding. Just a few blocks from home I can drift miles on the Willamette River, and within a 60-mile drive, there are half a […]

The post Hit The Water This Summer With This Budget-Friendly Inflatable Paddleboard appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

The Newest Astral Brewer May Be The Best One Yet

Joe Potoczak — Wed, 28 May 2025 12:00:12 +0000

Way back in 2012, kayak shoes were largely sandals or booties. And, regardless of the labeling as water shoe, few truly provided the confidence you were after in steep, slick river environments unless it had a felt sole or came from a climbing shoe brand. Then, the life jacket brand Astral showed up on the […]

The post The Newest Astral Brewer May Be The Best One Yet appeared first on Paddling Magazine.