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A weekly newsletter for paddlers
The perspective from the water
The perspective from the water
Current is a weekly newsletter for paddlers who want a clearer, more thoughtful view of what's happening across the paddling world. We help you stay connected to an important part of your life, even when you're stuck at your desk, at home, or in the middle of another ordinary week.
Each week we bring together the places, routes, races, operators, ideas, gear and developments that are actually worth paying attention to, and filter them through a simple lens: does this matter to people who see the world from the water?
Free weekly paddling newsletter. No spam, no filler — easy to
unsubscribe if it's not for you.
The space between paddles
Because being a paddler doesn't stop when you get off the water
Most of life isn't spent paddling.
Even for people who care deeply about the sport, the week fills up with work, admin, family, traffic, obligations and all the other things that make up ordinary life. You may get your session in before work, or on the weekend, or during a trip you've been looking forward to for months. But much of the time, the water is somewhere else.
And yet, if paddling is a real part of who you are, it doesn't disappear when you aren't doing it.
You still notice rivers from bridges. You still look at coastlines differently. You still think about water levels, wind direction, routes, races, boats, trips, places, people. You still have that quiet internal pull towards the next time you can get on the water.
Current exits for for that space between new paddlers
Not as a substitute for being there — because nothing replaces that. But as a way to stay in contact with the sport, the places and the state of mind that matter to you.
The promise
A weekly return to the paddling headspace
A good issue of Current should make you feel a little closer to the water than you were before you opened it.
It might give you a place to add to your mental map. It might introduce you to a club, route, operator, event or piece of gear worth knowing about. It might give you a story, idea or observation that puts language around something you already felt but had never quite articulated.
The practical value matters. Current should be useful. But the deeper value is that it helps you stay connected to the part of yourself that paddling brings forward: the part that wants movement, presence, physical effort, fresh air, self-reliance, good company, quiet, weather, water, and the feeling that the world makes more sense when viewed from a boat.
Not more content for the sake of content. More contact with the world you'd rather be in.
Inside each issue
What you'll find in Current
Each week, Current brings together a selective view of the paddling world
through the eyes of a paddler who's spent most of his life in and around the sport.
01
Stories from across the paddling world
Writing that makes the sport feel larger and more alive.
02
Ideas about paddling itself
Paddling as a way of relating to nature, effort, agency, community and place.
03
Waterways, routes and places
Destinations worth knowing about, from a paddler's point of view.
04
Operators, clubs and events
The people and organisations doing work that deserves attention.
05
Gear and technical developments
Covered only when something genuinely improves your time on the water.
06
Notes from the wider ecosystem
Access, stewardship, conditions, participation and the state of the sport.
The intention isn't to cover everything. It's to bring you the parts that feel worth your attention, and to do so in a way that respects the reason you care about paddling in the first place.
Point of view
The world looks different from the water
Current is built around a simple belief: paddling isn't just a sport, a hobby, a travel activity or a gear category.
For many of us, it's one of the ways we feel most present in the world.
There's something specific about moving across water under your own power. You're close to the conditions. You're accountable to wind, current, weather, fatigue, balance and judgement. You move through a place differently. You notice things differently. You can't outsource the effort.* The boat only moves if you do.
That experience shapes how you see the world even when you aren't paddling.
Current is an attempt to create a publication from inside that perspective. It's for people who understand that the boat, paddle and gear matter — but only because they help you get to the experience itself
* Technically you can, but those partnerships rarely end well.
The Movement
For people who want more of their life organised around water
At one level, current is a newsletter
At another level, it's a gathering point for people who know that paddling gives them something ordinary life often does not.
It gives you:
- A way to be in your body instead of only in your head.
- A direct relationship between effort and outcome.
- Contact with nature without turning nature into decoration.
- Connection through shared effort, shared discomfort, shared weather, shared routes and shared stories.
- A reminder there are still things worth organising your time, money and attention around that have nothing to do with screens, status or productivity.
Shared effort, shared weather, shared water.
That's the movement underneath Current.
More people spending more of their lives connected to water, to the natural world, to each other, and to the parts of themselves that feel awake when they paddle.
If that sounds obvious to you, you're probably in the right place.
Why I care about this
I grew up inside the world of paddling.
My father was one of the founding members of Dabulamanzi Canoe Club in Johannesburg, and paddling shaped a huge part of my childhood. Our family life was organised around training, river races, long drives, club culture and the calendar of South African canoeing. I raced the Fish, the Vaal, the Berg, the Breede and the Sella, and eventually represented South Africa at junior level.
For a long time, my relationship with paddling was tied up with racing, comparison and performance. Some of that was valuable. Some of it was not.
What's stayed with me more deeply is the water itself, and the lessons that came from being on it: effort matters, attention matters, judgement matters, conditions matter. And there's something powerful about moving through the world in a boat that you have to propel yourself.
Current comes from that history. It also comes from a sense that paddling deserves to be written about and curated with more care, more intelligence and more feeling than it usually gets.
Not because paddling needs to be made grander than it is — but because for the people who love it, it already is that important
— The editor
The standard
What a good issue should do
A good issue of Current should leave you with a stronger sense of connection
to the paddling world. You should come away with three things.
Something practical
A route or paddling location you hadn't considered. A piece of kit worth knowing about because it genuinely improves your time on the water.
Something INTERESTING
Highlights from the world's best paddle sport and adventure travel publications, operators, and gear makers — so you don't have to find them yourself.
Something that pulls you back
Current is building a directory and marketplace for paddle sport ecotourism. Subscribers get first access as it develops.
The issue should feel like time spent in company with the sport — not time
spent managing information. That's the standard.
What it isn't
What I'm not interested in building
The whole point is the opposite:
Current should help you feel more connected to what you already care about — and more alive to making more room for it.
FAQ
You've got questions. We have answers.
Yes. The weekly newsletter is free to join.
Weekly. One considered issue per week that feels worth opening — not constant updates.
No. It's for anyone who cares seriously about paddling, at any level or in any style.
No. Gear matters, but only as far as it helps improve safety, enjoyment or time on the water.
Sometimes it goes deeper than routes and equipment — but it's always grounded in real experience on the water.
Stay in the Current
You won't always be on the water as much
as you'd like.
You won't always be on the water as much
as you'd like.
Most of us can't.
But you can stay closer to the sport — the places, the people and the state of mind that paddling gives you. Current is a weekly way to do that. If you want a regular reminder of why this part of your life matters, join the free newsletter.
Free weekly paddling newsletter. No spam, no filler — easy to
unsubscribe If it's not for you.