This Week in Small Craft: May 15th, 2026
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This week in Small Craft, Fresh Water News examines Colorado Water Trust’s latest “crazy drought quest,” where the nonprofit is literally trying to buy water to keep fish alive as another brutal low-water year shapes up across the West. Meanwhile, The Whale Foundation is once again offering scholarships and support programs for current and former Grand Canyon river guides proving, yet again, that river people continue to quietly take care of their own. American Whitewater notched a win on the Nolichucky River after litigation helped spare the Appalachian waterway from further riverbed mining damage, while back here in Colorado they’re also sounding the alarm after lawmakers once again failed to address the state’s wildly murky river-access laws. Speaking of low water, drought conditions have now forced portions of the paddling events at the 2026 GoPro Mountain Games to relocate away from Vail as organizers scramble for runnable flows. If you’d rather paddle than doomscroll, CKS Paddlefest returns to Buena Vista Memorial Day weekend with races, demos, gear swaps and general river-rat revelry, while Chesapeake Light Craft is heading to the 2026 WoodenBoat Show with another lineup of dangerously good-looking small craft guaranteed to make you consider an ill-advised new project boat. And on the electric front, EMO Electric reports the first shipment of the highly anticipated ePropulsion Spirit 2 has officially landed stateside. The new 2kW / 5HP electric outboard (with a 3kW boost mode) promises more power and a pile of upgrades over the Spirit 1.0 Plus, meaning your quiet little skiff setup just got a lot more interesting. Finally, Reuben Smith’s Tumblehome Boatshop is bringing back its beloved Saturday Shop Talk on May 16 with coffee, muffins, wooden boats and an open walk-through of the projects currently sprawled across the shop floor.