Kayak cross is new to the Olympics, and you will absolutely love it.
Kayak cross is one of the new events making an Olympic debut at the 2024 Paris Games, and it’s one you’ll want to see for yourself because it is absolutely chaotic.
Part of the canoe slalom family of events, which was previously just four games at the Olympics — two each for the women and men — the respective kayak cross events will expand it to six games.
So what is kayak cross?
It’s race between four people, who start on an elevated ramp above the water, drop down into it at the start of the race and proceed to paddle through the tight quarters of a waterway with downstream patterns at some points and upstream patterns at others. The athletes do this all while having to work around obstacles in the way and each other.
The winner is the first person to reach the finishing point, and watching this thing is equal parts exhausting and exhilarating.
Time trials for the kayak cross are August 2, followed by four rounds of the event through August 5 when a champion is crowned in the final race.
Team USA is comprised of Evy Leibfarth on the women’s side and Casey Eichfeld for the men.
Scott Haraguchi documented the assault on his vessel and offers a theory as to why the shark became aggressive.
An angler who survived a harrowing tiger shark attack on his kayak last May has shared footage of the encounter along with a possible explanation for the attack.
Scott Haraguchi had reeled in a grouper while fishing with a buddy off Kualoa, Oahu. He did not bleed the grouper and does not believe scent was a factor in the shark ramming his kayak.
Minutes later, as shown in the footage, the tiger shark surfaces off Haraguchi’s bow and slams into his kayak.
“There was a lot of speculation as to why a tiger shark would run full speed into a kayak,” Haraguchi stated via Instagram. “Hopefully this answers all those questions.”
Haraguchi captured the scene with a mounted GoPro that was documenting his fishing exploits. He told FTW Outdoors days afterward that the shark might have mistaken his kayak for a seal.
But in the footage he offers a different theory.
“The shark approaches the front of there kayak as if to ram it or scare it, instead of eat it,” Haraguchi begins. “And as it slides up the side of the kayak he realizes that it’s not tasting a seal or a whale, or something alive.”
Slow-motion footage, however, shows the large shark chomping on the kayak with much of its body out of the water.
Haraguchi and his companion remained in the area “with our limbs out of the water” for several minutes and eventually spotted a wounded seal, which Haraguchi points to in the footage.
He concluded: “I believe that the shark rammed me thinking that I was competition for its seal kill. What do you guys think?”
It’s impossible to know but tiger sharks, which can measure 20 feet, commonly prey on seals, turtles, fish, mollusks, and other critters.
They’re also implicated in the vast majority of shark attacks on humans in Hawaiian waters.
Eric Allee was targeting bass when he reeled in perhaps the largest crappie ever caught in the state.
A Colorado angler who landed perhaps the largest crappie ever caught in the state last November has been awarded a catch-and-release record.
Eric Allee was targeting bass from a kayak at McKay Lake on Nov. 12 when he spotted what he assumed were three large crappie on his forward-facing sonar unit.
Allee, a marketing director at Eagle Claw Tackle in Denver, hooked one of the fish with a 3.6-inch Berkley Flat Worm and soon realized that he might have a record crappie on his line.
On Friday, after being informed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife that his 18.25-inch black crappie had broken the previous catch-and-release length record, Allee told FTW Outdoors what went through his mind during the fight:
“It all happened so fast, but it felt like slow motion if that makes any sense. My heart was pounding, I was trying to remain tactful, and I was petrified at the same time.
“When she breached the surface, I would cringe every time her head would shake. Anyone who’s ever chased crappie knows they’re notorious for having paper-thin skin around the framework of their jaw; with a fish that heavy, if she was hooked in the thin-skinned parts of her mouth, it’s a recipe for disaster.
“After what seemed like forever, I felt instant relief when I scooped the net under her and lifted her out of the water.”
Eric Allee poses with 18.25-inch black crappie before releasing the fish. Photo: Eric Allee
Allee said the crappie weighed 3 pounds, 15 ounces on a scale he keeps on his kayak. He knew he could also shatter the Colorado weight record (3.48 pounds, set in 2017) if he killed the fish to have it weighed somewhere on a certified scale.
But Allee told FTW Outdoors that the fish was so large and magnificent-looking that he chose to toss it back after immortalizing the catch with a photograph.
“I didn’t want to kill the fish for the record,” he said. “It’s not that I’m against killing fish, I eat crappie often, but didn’t want to kill the fish just for the record.
“There’s more to it for me, too. I practice selective harvest and there’s something special about watching big fish go back.”
Colorado is not known for giant crappie, but any crappie topping three pounds is a giant.
For comparison, the all-tackle world-record black crappie in the weight category stands at 5 pounds, 7 ounces. That fish was caught at Richeison Pond in Tennessee in 2018.
The International Game Fish Assn. lists as the length (release) record a tie between five catches measuring 37 centimeters, or about 14.6 inches.
Allee said he did not consider applying to the IGFA for a possible length record and bemoaned the fact that he missed the 60-day limit for record submissions.
Why was there a kayak just sitting on top of the San Francisco dugout during Giants-Marlins?
During Saturday’s San Francisco Giants game against the Miami Marlins, the camera panned over to a very strange sight on top of the San Francisco dugout.
An empty kayak rested atop the dugout, seemingly for now reason at first. As strange as baseball games can get, it’s just, well, not common to see a random kayak just sitting on top of a team’s dugout during a game.
The broadcast indicated that the kayak almost assuredly had something to do with a bobblehead giveaway at the ballpark that day featuring Giants mascot Lou Seal.
To support the broadcast’s explanation, Lou Seal was hovering around the dugout where the kayak was, and it absolutely had something to do with the bobblehead giveaway. Lou Seal was probably doing some sort of skit with the kayak to mimic what was going on with the bobblehead.
However, it’s more enjoyable to just think Lou Seal was just doing mascot things around the dugout, and the kayak was just sitting there for no reason.
A kayak on the Giants dugout.
Definitely falls into the "if you go to the ballpark, you'll see something you've never seen" category. pic.twitter.com/zgNsVQK57B
If you’re a Giants fan who was at the ballpark on Saturday, you probably knew why there was a kayak just sitting on top of the San Francisco dugout.
However, if you were just tuning into the game on television after the broadcast explained what was going on, you were probably very confused as to what an empty kayak was doing there. We can’t blame you!
A Hawaii angler on Friday survived a harrowing encounter with a large shark that attacked his kayak as he fished off Oahu. The frightening moment was caught on video.
A Hawaii angler on Friday survived a harrowing encounter with a large shark that attacked his kayak as he fished off Oahu.
Scott Haraguchi captured the dramatic incident with a Go Pro video camera that was still running after he had landed a fish. (The footage is posted below.)
Viewers can see the shark materialize off the bow a moment before it slams and bites the side of the kayak. Haraguchi kicks at the predator and immediately screams “Tiger shark!” as a warning to his nearby fishing companion.
The encounter occurred off Kualoa in Windward Oahu, not far from where a large tiger shark was spotted the next day.
Haraguchi, who was not injured, explained via YouTube that he heard a “whooshing” sound just before he saw the shark. “I looked up and saw a wide brown thing on the side of the kayak,” he recalled. “I thought it was a turtle at first.”
Tiger sharks, which can measure nearly 20 feet, commonly prey on green sea turtles.
But according to KITV 4, Haraguchi spotted an injured seal shortly after the shark attacked his kayak. He theorized that the shark mistook the kayak for the seal.
Chen, a marine artist known for his creative use of colors, also posted about meeting with Mutchler:
“Met with the kayak legend that has the most viral fishing photo on the internet Scott Mutchler, who commissioned me to do the painting of his 600 lb black marlin he released on the kayak [at] Los Buzos Panama. Such an incredible feat not only to release a 600 lb black marlin but from a kayak this takes extraordinary skills.”
Scot Mutchler (left) poses with renowned artist Carey Chen
After the May 23 catch, out of Los Buzos Fishing Resort, Mutchler told FTW Outdoors, “Once I was hooked it was nothing like I ever could have dreamed about. I was in for the fight of my life.”
Mutchler became the first Los Buzos client to catch and release a black marlin from a kayak. Adam Fisk, a Los Buzos guide, had previously released two marlin estimated to weigh 500-plus pounds from his kayak.
Mutchler’s 45-minute fight, during which he was towed one mile against a strong current, was captured by Fisk on video.
For a group of kayak anglers off Panama recently, fishing became secondary as two humpback whales surfaced nearby and began to throw their weight around.
For a group of kayak anglers off Panama recently, fishing became secondary as humpback whales surfaced and began to throw their weight around.
While the astonishingly close encounter left them in awe, the angler closest to the activity told FTW Outdoors that he feared one of the 40-ton whales might land on him.
“It made me realize how small we are as people,” Byron Young said, adding that the breaching whale in the footage was only 25 feet away. “When they hit the water I could feel a rumble through my kayak into my body.”
The footage – a silent Facebook clip and a longer YouTube version in which the whales appear at 17:03 – was captured by Robert Field of Field Trips with Robert Field.
The encounter occurred in September but Field only recently published the footage as part of the YouTube episode.
The kayak anglers were guests at Los Buzos Resort, which is popular among fishermen and surfers.
Young, who is from Riverside, Ca., is said to be enjoying “a front-row seat” as the whales revealed their tail flukes and slapped at the surface with their pectoral fins.
But Young said he was peddling backwards even before one of the whales breached because he wasn’t sure the whales were aware of his presence.
“I was trying to get away from them because I thought one was going to land on me and I kept telling myself this is really going to hurt,” he recalled.
Young added that the fishing was equally “amazing” and sent FTW Outdoors the above image showing him posing with a large roosterfish that he caught and released.
Devin Kanda was fortunate to have seen the tiger shark closing in as he sat with his feet dangling from his kayak.
Devin Kanda was fortunate to have seen the tiger shark closing in as he sat with his feet dangling from his kayak.
As Hawaii News Now states in the video report posted below, Kanda had just caught an 18-pound ono off Diamond Head when he spotted the approaching shark, enabling a quick response.
“I caught it in my peripheral [vision] … and I looked up,” he said. “And just in time I pulled my leg before it could take a bite of my foot.”
The shark appears to have been attracted by the scent of fish, and Kanda just happened to be facing in the right direction. He said he was more in awe of the large shark than afraid, but thankful that he wasn’t attacked.
A Southern California kayak fisherman caught his first-ever white seabass last Saturday and it turned out to be one of the largest ever landed.
A Southern California kayak fisherman caught his first-ever white seabass last Saturday and it turned out to be one of the largest ever landed.
Brian Beam, who was fishing with James Loud off Dana Point, tethered and boated the 80-pound seabass after a 45-minute fight off Dana Point.
Beam, 37, could not find a certified scale because of business closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, so he took the fish home and weighed it twice on his bathroom scale: 81 and 79 pounds, so he split the difference.
Western Outdoor News describes Beam’s catch as a kayak-fishing world record, besting a 75-pound white seabass caught by kayak-fishing pioneer Dennis Spike in 2000.
Perhaps more noteworthy, it’s less than four pounds shy of the all-tackle world record (83 pounds, 12 ounces), which has stood since 1953. If Beam could have found a scale while the fish was still fresh, it could have been much closer to the overall world record.
“I’d never even seen one over three pounds before,“ Beam told For The Win Outdoors. “You can only imagine how I felt once I realized what it was.”
Beam and Loud had paddled for 30 minutes to green water beyond a red tide, and Beam hooked the 5-foot-long seabass after his first cast of a live sardine. It towed him a half-mile south before he reeled it into view.
“My initial reaction was slight panic,” Beam said. “The fish was sideways, which made it appear twice as big in the water. It looked bigger than my kayak and I still had no idea what it was, which added to the excitement.”
Beam added that a rush of adrenaline helped with the task of hoisting such a heavy fish onto his kayak, after tethering it with rope.
The angler has reached out to the International Game Fish Assn. in an attempt to get the weight of the fish certified, but said the excitement generated by his catch is more rewarding than a potential record.
In a Facebook post Wednesday he wrote, “It’s been incredible hearing stories of how this accomplishment helped reunite family and friends and even created a little excitement in the mist of a global pandemic when finding things to get excited hasn’t been that easy.
“It’s truly a remarkable accomplishment and I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to achieve and share it.”
