Tsunami Rangers, Extreme Sea Kayakers
Location: Northern California & Pacific Northwest Coast
Stats:
- Models paddled: AdvancedFrame Convertible, AdvancedFrame Expedition, StraitEdge Kayak, AirFusion Elite, Fishbone SUP, and the Lotus YSUP.
- Water that they paddle: Coastal/Ocean.
- What they use their yaks for: Travel to remote destinations for extreme sea kayaking and paddling.
The Tsunami Rangers are an ‘extreme condition’ sea kayaking team based in Northern California. They have been featured in numerous books, magazine articles, and television productions, including National Geographic, ESPN’s Expedition Earth (circumnavigating Easter Island by kayak), and Discovery Channel adventure specials. The Rangers have also produced their own action-packed paddling adventure videos, and literally wrote the book on extreme sea kayaking.
Tsunami Ranger Commander Michael Powers, the face of the Tsunami Rangers AE Ambassador Team, is a photojournalist and filmmaker whose efforts for the past 20 years have been directed increasingly towards sea kayaking expeditions around the world with a larger purpose. In 2005 Michael co-founded Ocean Studio, an alliance of adventure photographers, writers and filmmakers, working together to nurture a deeper understanding and empathy for the natural world.
His stories and photographs have been published in Sea Kayaker, Paddler, Canoe & Kayak, Outside Magazine, National Geographic Adventure and other major outdoor adventure publications. He and fellow Tsunami Ranger Eric Soares co-authored the book, EXTREME SEA KAYAKING, published by McGraw-Hill. More recently he published the coffee table format book WILD IN SPIRIT, featuring his kayaking & mountain climbing adventures around the world. www.wildinspirit.com
Michael is currently planning sea kayaking expeditions to Costa Rica and Cuba and will be capitalizing on the portability and performance of our AdvancedFrame kayaks for his expeditions.
You can learn more about the Tsunami Rangers at www.tsunamirangers.com
You can learn more about Michael Powers and his publications at www.wildinspirit.com and Ocean Studio at www.oceanstudios.net
Favorite AE Story:
With the newly relaxed US travel restrictions to Cuba, Tsunami Ranger Commander, Michael Powers embarked on an exploratory mission to the island nation to learn more about the local waters and paddling scene. With a trade and travel embargo spanning over 50 years, little was known about the lay of the land (or waters for that matter) but what Michael and his crew did know was that Fidel Castro had been proactive about ecologically preserving much of the waters around Cuba so that the reefs and sea life could flourish. This alone was a tempting motivator for his trip. With little more knowledge than the fact that they were going to have to transport kayaks to remote locations via rough unmaintained roads, Michael knew that the best kayaks for the job would be Advanced Elements inflatables. Due to the nature of the mission, and the little known knowledge of Cuba’s paddling scene, Michael chose to take a grouping of both the AirFusion Elite Kayak, for speed and high performance, and the StraitEdge sit-on-top kayak for its self-bailing properties and the ability to easily swim from it; a great choice for snorkeling from.
With 4 kayaks in tow and his crew lined up, the trip seemed like it would be a breeze… until a little snag with his passport slowed him down. With a “little” return trip back to LA from Mexico City for a visit with the US Passport agency, Michael was able to clear things up and safely make his way to Cuba to meet up with the rest of his team within 48 hours. Once in Cuba, Michael says that they had a great time and learned a great deal about their surroundings while they were there. His most memorable day of the trip was a beautiful paddle among pink flamingos in one of Cuba’s ecological preserves.