The information I assume you have, but you probably don’t have, is that I spend crazy amounts of time checking out and researching the three zillion other products that don’t make it into my hands. For some reason, the hunt for the elusive perfect PFD was especially time consuming.

VHF radios are required by the Coast Guard on basically any boat bigger than a surfboard in U.S. coastal waters. That’s an exaggeration of course. Regulations do change at various lengths, but I’m not sure where the VHF requirement kicks in. The reason I don’t know is that I like to have a radio whether [...]

I'm glad I'm not in the business of writing marketing materials for an entire line of products basically consisting of a stick with two blades at the end. As far as sticks go, this one is pretty satisfying. As far as blades go, well... I'd rather drop the Werner Camano on my foot than my 12" Wusthof.

I wrote my first review of the TRAK T-1600 after paddling only once. That mini-adventure included only about six miles up and down a gently flowing river. Since then I’ve taken it on some more exciting rivers, a few lakes, and the pacific ocean. For this review, I want to talk about two days of [...]

Keeping in touch while exploring remote places is a pain. Trying to run a business while traveling can be a pain. Google Voice solves a bunch of problems. You want it, trust me.

After a journey from Calgary, Alberta that included what seemed like forever to clear customs (it was probably only a few hours, but I’d been hitting refresh on the shipment tracking ever 3 seconds or so), the new kayak arrived today. The delivery driver couldn’t find the place (as usual) so I had to run down [...]