Kent Ford (USA)

Kent Ford’s unique background includes more than twenty years of teaching, paddling, coaching and international whitewater racing. His twenty plus videos and books on paddlesports have influenced the education of a half million paddlers and have made him one of the most recognized paddlers in whitewater worldwide.

Kent Ford is a producer and writer for Performance Video from 1990 to the present, making educational/instructional paddlesport books and videos including Whitewater Self-Defense, The Kayaker’s Edge, Solo Playboating, The River Runner’s Edge, The Kayak Roll, Breakthrough, The Kayaker’s Playbook, Take the Wild Ride, The Citizen Racers Workshop, Drill-Time Solo Playboating II, The C-1 Challenge, and Retendo. He was a technique article contributor for Canoe Magazine (1985-87) and Paddler Magazine (1999-2004).

He also wrote and produced ACA/U.S. Coast Guard Video Productions for National Paddlesport Safety System for coastal kayaking, rafting, and whitewater kayaking. He also offered pro-bono production and writing of conservation videos including Animas La Plata: At What Cost, which was partially responsible for downsizing of the project, and Dolores River, which advocated better balance in flow management.

He was a National C-1 Champion in 1977 and National C-2 Champion in 1987, and a member of U.S. Whitewater team in C-1 in 1979, 1983, and 1985. He was a member of the Gold Medal C-1 Slalom Team in the 1983 and 1985 World Championship, and a member of the Silver Medal C-1 Wildwater Team in. 1979. He was an assistant coach for Whitewater Slalom Championships and head coach for the U.S. Junior team. He was the announcer at World Championships, World Cups and Olympic Games from 1989 to present and is a present or past board member of San Juan Citizen’s Alliance, American Canoe Association, USA Canoe Kayak, and Chairman of the ACA SEIC (2001-2005).

Ford is a founding participant of The Whitewater Symposium, a three-day annual event that seeks to advance the sport of whitewater kayaking by bringing together top paddlers, industry representatives, instructors, and program leaders to address current issues within the sport. He is also a veteran of over 330 rivers in 27 countries and has been a member of expeditions in the Soviet Union, Costa Rica, Turkey, and Mexico.