If there is one thing about Rylan, it is love for community either through paddling or through his work in photography and film.
He is a die hard paddler and has an uncontrollable love for the outdoors. There isn't a time where Rylan isn’t out doing something and he is always down for an adventure. Without further introduction, we hope you enjoy our 20 Questions interview with community member and paddler, Rylan McCarthy.
1. What is your name and what do you paddle?
My name is Rylan McCarthy and I paddle a Castine 140 from Old Town.
2. Where did you grow up?
I was born in Calgary, but spent my childhood growing up in the small town Bonnyville, Alberta.
3. How long have you been paddling for and how did you get started?
I have been kayaking for 7-8 years now. I got started paddling with my parents when they started Up the Creek Kayaks and Canoes in the Lakeland, Alberta. This was my introduction to kayak and retail sales. I first started out paddleboarding.
I quickly got addicted, paddling multiple times a week. I pretty much spent every spare second on that board.
From there my family started to paddle more as a group and I slowly transitioned into a kayak, paddling a Pungo 120, though I preferred to be on a SUP. It wasn't until 4-5 years into paddling that I started to transition to a kayak as my main choice.
Kayaking with my mom became my main priority, so I began paddling touring boats (a Wilderness Systems Tsunami 160 to be exact), and during the beginning moths of the pandemic I purchased my Castine 140 from AQ.
From there the addiction of touring boats really began and I began paddle that boat 3-4 times a week over that season (rain or shine). I still SUP a fair amount. Spent 14 months living in Vancouver whilst in school, and had a 10'6" SUP with me on the coast, paddled at least once a week on that board and my love for SUP has started to return tenfold.
4. What is one thing paddling has brought into your life that you would say has changed for the better?
Paddling has brought a lot of peace into my life. It's connected my family and has really helped bring my mother and I closer after some family challenges. The water has always been a place of peace for me. It helps clear my head and think.
If I am having a bad day or need to figure out a challenging situation you would find me on the water. But mainly it brought connection to my family. It is something that we all love to do, and more importantly is something we all love to do together.
I'm very grateful to have started paddling and I don't think I would be the same person I am today without it. Plus it keeps me very active and if any of you know me, without activity I go crazy and can be hard to handle lol.
5. From your perspective, has spending time outdoors and on the river helped you manage your daily challenges in life and why?
110% YES. Im am a firm believer that the outdoors calms and helps bring things into perspective. I believe that time outdoors and out in nature helps us stay healthy and positive.
I can't really explain how it feels to me, but every time I find myself overwhelmed or stressed, I spend time outdoors and I calm down very quickly. This helps me focus and put things in order in my mind and when I return I am often able to work much more efficiently and communicate better with my family and friends.
6. If you could paddle only one boat or board for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Okay this one is challenging. If I could only paddle one kayak it would be a 17 foot of some sort, still in the search for the perfect boat for me.
The Castine is close and love paddling it, but it doesn't come in a 16-17 foot model. So I guess right now it would be the Tsunami 170. If it was a board it would be the Pivot 140 from Kootney PDL.
7. What is the longest commute you have ever made for a paddling trip?
I was spoiled where I lived and grew up paddling, having lakes in 10 min of every direction. But I did live a good distance from the mountains at the time, so a 7 hour drive from my town to rockies.
8. Where is your favorite place to paddle? Or one that isn't top secret?
So many places to pick from... but if I had to choose I'd pick Tucker Lake, Alberta.
9. How do you continue to push yourself on the water?
Im always looking to expand my skills. Im now pushing my paddling distances, and learning a variety of self rescue techniques to start doing more sea kayaking and multi day trips.
10. What's the longest paddling journey you have done to date?
I haven't really pushed for distance in the past, but probably about 10-15km in a day.
11. What is your craziest on water experience or thing you have seen while paddling?
When you paddle as much as I do a lot happens on the water. As Im a flat water paddler lots of my stories involve wildlife but I've had some pretty wild experiences.
One of the craziest moments I had on the water was on my SUP in Vancouver. I was paddling out near Porteau Cove towards Squamish and had launched off the shore. Around the corner I came across what I thought was seal in the distance, but later learned was sea lions, as a few of them dove into the water and made their way over to me.
And WOW are they large, easily doubling the length of my SUP and swimming right up to me and dashing away. I paddled away at a good pace that day. Not like 5 min later I was paddling along the cliffs edge and the sea floor was covered in purple star fish. Was a pretty cool day on the ocean!
12. Do you train during the off season or participate in any winter sports?
Like Id mentioned earlier if Im not active I go crazy. I work out when I can and spend lots of the winter hiking still. I also love to snowboard and this season splitboarding was introduced to me by AQ.
13. What and where is your dream paddling trip?
My dream paddling trip is paddling through the glaciers in Norway, and paddling with orcas!
14. Do you or are you involved in and community programs on or off the water?
I'm not part of any programs, but I do run a Facebook group for paddlers and outdoor lovers, where anyone can ask questions and learn and share about paddling. I started it as a place for people to ask questions to the community and the community could respond. Group is called Behind the Travels Adventure group.
15. What is the best advice you would give someone who wants to get into paddling?
If you are tossing and turning about getting into it, just go for it. It has brought me a lot of joy and I've met a lot of very nice people along the way. There is nothing quite like it. One thing I would recommend is getting into some proper and higher quality boats/ boards. It will change your experience on the water and make it 100 times for enjoyable.
16. If you could paddle with anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?
I would continue to paddle with my mom. Paddling has become something that we do mainly together and is the number one thing we chose to do when together. It has brought us very close together and I would give up a lot to be able to paddle more with her.
17. Is there anything you would change about the sport
I wouldn't say I would change anything, just expand the knowledge and continue to grow the paddling community.
18. Over the past few years how have you seen the rivers or lakes change, and what are you doing to try and protect it from an environmental standpoint?
Over the past few years I have personally seen nature change. Especially over the pandemic. With the world shutting down and no one going out, I spent a lot of time paddling.
Because of the lack of people out, the amount of wildlife that I saw was easily double if not triple what it was prior to the pandemic. Also with less people put, the waters were a lot less busy, cleaner and the shore lines were also a lot cleaner.
When Im paddling a part that I do is cleaning up the waters from things like cans and water bottles. If I see any garbage or bottles, if I can reach it it out it in my boat and dispose of it properly when Im at shore.
19. Could you describe the feeling you get when you are on the water?
It is pure peace and happiness to me. It is where and why I love to do and helps me stay positive and take a breath from the challenges of the day to day.
20. If you could describe the paddling community in a single word, what would that word be?
I would describe it as exactly that, Community!
AQ Outdoors Contact
Edmonton: (p) 780 463-4892 (e) info@aquabaticsedmonton.com
Calgary: (p) 403 288-9283 (e) info@aqoutdoors.com
