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  OTT Featured Friend | February 2014 Leigh R.   What trips/rivers have you run with OTT? I’ve run the Umpqua, Klamath, Lower Salmon, the Gold Hill “Nugget Falls” and the Lower Wild and Scenic sections of the Rogue River with Orange Torpedo Trips. What was your first trip/river with OTT?  The Lower Rogue River. The Lower Rogue was my first guided river trip. My only other river experience previously was on the Upper-Middle Rogue. What is your favorite trip/river that you have run with OTT?  They are all favorites—each an extension of the other.  It’s like picking your children.  Eac... Keep reading ›

  Rafting the Rogue River  For the Hundredth and First Time Ryan, A.K.A. "Hunter," and son, Ty In 14 seasons of guiding with Orange Torpedo Trips, I have had the opportunity to paddle rivers of incredible beauty, with challenging and exhilarating rapids.  From my home river, the North Umpqua, to the Main Salmon, the Klamath, the various sections of the Rogue and as far away as Alaska, Hawaii, and Costa Rica, I have repeatedly found myself awed beyond words. This past summer, I was fortunate to have a “first river experience” in taking my children, my 6-year-old son, ... Keep reading ›

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During some recent tunneling through footage, we came across this video time-lapse of N.G. (Erik Weiseth, OTT GM) and Mike Slagle (A.K.A. The Great One), who, after having been called in to help, are here seen setting up a Z-Drag and ultimately retrieving one-unlucky-someones' boat (not ours!) from the Picket Fence--the crux move in Blossom Bar on the Lower Rogue River. From the time they arrived at the rapid, it took our team just over an hour and fifteen minutes to free the raft. Once free the raft ended up flowing into the sieve on river-left, from where the OTT rescue team re-in... Keep reading ›

Guides' First Rivers Series River guides are notorious storytellers. And whether they be true or tall, the stories we tell about the river are a part and reflection of our own story. They are a part of who we are and who we will be (deep water, brother...). So, in this spirit of storytelling and in homage to rivers everywhere, we've asked our guides to recall a notable "first" paddling experience, broadly defined, and to tell the story of that experience.  For this, our first installment, OTT guide Priscilla Macy (A.K.A., Fukari) writes about first river/paddling experiences through a glob... Keep reading ›

SOTAR Orange Torpedo IK First DescentSunset Falls, East Fork of the Lewis River, WA Sunset Falls on the East Fork of the Lewis River, WA, has been run any which way, by all sorts of watercraft, including the original Sevylor Orange Torpedo inflatable kayak. But not until this past weekend had it been run by one of Orange Torpedo's new SOTAR inflatable kayaks. Keep reading ›

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Like the tributaries that feed into the rivers we run, the history of Orange Torpedo Trips (OTT) is one of multiple beginnings. Key among those tributaries, the threads of our history, is the boat that started it all: the Sevylor Tahiti or the Orange Torpedo (as OTT founder, Jerry Bentley, would fatefully call them). The Original Orange Torpedo | Sevylor K-79 SB Connie Klimenko, who founded Sevylor U.S.A., recently sent us an article (or as he describes it, "a modern day fairy tale") that he wrote in 1994, titled, "A Little Boat Finally Gets Respect." In his story, Connie r... Keep reading ›

Guides' First Rivers Special International Edition River guides are notorious storytellers. And whether they be true or tall, the stories we tell about the river are a part and reflection of our own story. They are a part of who we are and who we will be. So, in this spirit of storytelling and in homage to rivers everywhere, we've asked our guides to recall the first river they paddled and to tell the story of that experience. For this, our first installment, 43-year veteran OTT guide Mike Slagle (A.K.A., The Great One) recounts his experience traveling to Nepal and there running his firs... Keep reading ›