Dunno ‘bout where you live but here on the north coast of Ohio we were treated to freezing temperatures, snow flurries, and big gusty winds today. In other words, it’s spring in name only! But calmer days and warmer temps are not far away! We figured today was a good day to drop the 2022 Blazing Paddles Paddlfest stoke video to boost your paddling spirits!
Read MoreOn a brisk Friday afternoon in early March, we caught up with two paddlers at Cleveland Metroparks’ Merwin’s Wharf along Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River.
Read MoreSaturday’s 20th Annual Ohio River Paddlefest in Cincinnati, OH was a return to normalcy for almost 2,000 paddlers hungry for the opportunity to reconnect with each other and the Ohio River.
Read MoreOne week ago on what some are calling a history-making day on Cleveland’s hard-working, scenic, and historic Cuyahoga River, many of you were part of the 3rd Annual Blazing Paddles Paddlefest. During a short vacation (and an exhilarating whitewater rafting trip down the Cheat Narrows) in Dryfork, WV we’ve had a chance to reflect on what transpired on that amazing Saturday morning and we wanted to share a few thoughts. And some background.
Read MoreWow. Saturday's Blazing Paddles Paddlefest was an amazing sight for us to watch unfold. Brett Fisher's drone video footage gave us the opportunity to synthesize the vibrancy of Cleveland's hard working, historic, and scenic Cuyahoga River on that epic Saturday morning
Read MoreToday is a variation on our weekly "Slow River" where we share ground level video with natural sound from yesterday’s AMAZING Blazing Paddles Paddlefest on Cleveland’s hard-working, historic, and scenic Cuyahoga River. Many thanks to our tireless volunteers, sponsors, Cuyahoga River industrial stakeholders, partner organizations, kayak rental livery partners, and yes, you, our Blazing Paddles paddlers!
Read MoreShare the River’s founder, Jim Ridge, announces the 3rd Annual Blazing Paddles will return to Cleveland’s comeback Cuyahoga River on Saturday, July 24, 2021! Registration opens at 6 p.m. tonight!
Read MoreSlow River: Scranton Flats is the second installment of a trial series called "Slow River". Every Sunday morning we'll share a real-time scene with natural audio. It's a riff on the Norwegian "Slow TV" Series popularized in the 2000s.
Read MorePaddlers looking to explore the final miles of the Cuyahoga River have been turning to Cleveland Metroparks' Merwin's Wharf dock that offers one of the few public "put-ins" and technically the only one located in the Federal Navigation Channel
Read MoreOn a recent Saturday we caught the 630 foot long freighter Calumet making its way up a Cuyahoga River busy with recreational watercraft. It provided a great example of Cleveland’s evolving “theater of the waterfront’ and provided a few lessons on the river’s increasing popularity with recreational paddlers.
Read MoreOn a balmy Monday afternoon in July we took a bike ride along the Scranton Flats Towpath Trail to see what the waterfront scene was looking like along the Cuyahoga River.
Read MoreBelieve it or not, today marks one year since Blazing Paddles and the City of Cleveland’s Cuyahoga50 commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire!
Read MoreIt seemed there was something going on along every piece of Cleveland’s waterfront this past weekend with:
The Tall Ships Festival Parade of Sail kicking off affairs on Thursday afternoon.
An open water swim at Edgewater Park hosted by North Coast Multisports that served as a tune-up for the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships returning to Cleveland August 9-10.
An SUP Yoga session with SUP CLE at Wendy Park.
A birds-eye view of recreational kayaks interacting with the freighter Sam Laud as it transited the lower Cuyahoga River (more on that in a future post).
Our goal for Blazing Paddles was to reframe the Cuyahoga River narrative and we were so pleased media picked up on a paddleboarding race as a perspective-changer for recreational use of a river that formerly served as a cultural reference point for environmental ruin.
Read MoreUsually we prefer to stay in the background when we're covering one of Cleveland's waterfront stories but during Sunday's third annual Santa Paddle, we found ourselves right in the middle of a Cleveland version of "The Old Man and the Sea"
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Imagine taking a year off from your job, cashing in a large chunk of your 401K, saying goodbye to your family, and setting off on a journey to achieve one goal but also to show people with chronic illness how to triumph over adversity. Traci Lynn Martin is doing just that in her quest to become the first person to circumnavigate all five Great Lakes
Read MoreLast Friday we caught up with the inaugural Critical YAK, an informal aquatic gathering where kayakers put in at Cleveland Metroparks' Merwin's Wharf dock, paddled 1.7 miles down the Cuyahoga River out to Lake Erie, hung a left and beached at Wendy Park for some fun at Whiskey Island Still and Eatery before returning to Merwin's Wharf.
Read MoreEach Earth Day we take a stroll along the banks of Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River to bear witness to the progress made along Cleveland's waterfront since the first Earth Day in 1970
Read MoreIt's a unique day on the river as it's the one day the U.S. Coast Guard establishes a temporary safety zone (from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.) on the Federal Navigation Channel, restricting vessels from an area below Nautica Entertainment Complex up to the turning basin by ArcelorMittal.
Read MoreAs we scanned the river we noticed how it was quickly becoming an aquatic version of rush-hour - and then in the midst of the maelstrom we noticed a single stand-up paddleboarder powering his way into the procession.
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