West was born and raised in Texas and found his love of water at an early age. He was heavily involved in the water sports scene in Austin for years, organizing cleanups, races, etc. However, it wasn’t until his first trip out of the county, at the age of 46, that West decided to pursue an enormous expedition, paddle the entire length of the Amazon River.
This led West to organize The 2012 National Geographic Amazon Express Expedition, which was his first expedition. It started at the newly discovered/confirmed source of the Amazon, which added almost 100 miles to the river and after 111 days, they made it to the Atlantic Ocean, 75 miles east of Belem, Brazil.
West is also the first to kayak Europe’s longest river 2200 mile Volga River in Russia. In 2020 he and his group will be the first to kayak the entire Northwest Passage – 1,900 miles across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago with the “Arctic Cowboys”.
Read the full article at the Adventure Sports Podcast website.
