Playak News Flash 2009-01-31

Playak News Flash - January 31, 2009

News Watch Headlines

Team Riot Kayaks: Riot Demo In The Deep South This January, members of the Team Riot (Spencer Cooke, Daniel Windham, Chris Gallaway) took a bunch of our wonderful whitewater boats down to Athens, Georgia to try them out on some bulldogs–that would be the vibrant and whitewater-starved students of the U of Ga.

Team Pyranha: Northwest Update After a long and dry fall we have been fortunate to get some much anticipated rain. Northwest rivers getting to perfect levels for some playboating in the Willamette Valley, and creeking in the Columbia River Gorge.

WaveSport: Diesel 70 Test Drive At Mill Creek At Mill Creek falls, the 20 footer with multiple lines, I was wondering how the planing hull of the new Diesel would feel on the landing. I landed with around a 40 degree angle, and the bow hit first with a surprisingly soft feeling.

Paddling Instructor Blog: All Confluence Composite Boats To Be Manufactured In China Starting June 2009, all composite boats made by Confluence will be manufactured in China. That covers brands such as Wilderness Systems, Perception, Dagger, Wave Sport and Made River Canoe.

Werner: Ku Hoe Hawaii Boards & Werner Paddles At Action Sports Retailer From business owners to the average person passing by, all had to stop for a minute to figure out just what exactly their eyes were looking at.

Double You Ess: Got Air? I simply LOVE living in Fayetteville, WV. Within a 20-mile radius, there is more variety of whitewater than most other 'paddling towns' have within 150 miles. Just 8 miles down the road are some of the best kayak surf waves in the world.

Werner: North Cove Outfitters Hard Work & Dedication Pays Off In the upcoming, Backpacker Magazine "Gear Guide," North Cove Outfitters will be recognized as Backpacker Magazine's-Retailer of the Year. This award speaks volumes to Norm and Ed's philosophy of remaining committed to the outdoor enthusiast.

WRSI: Chile!! The rivers are cold, but refreshing, and both of the playspots New River Academy has been to have been super fun!

Novice SUP Surf: Uli Lopez Model V Naish 9'3" He was widely recognized as the best tuberider in the world, and won the prestigious Pipeline Masters competition in 1972 and 1973.

Paddling Instructor: Falkland Islands Expedition 2009 Successfully Completed After paddling 22 days in strong winds and seas, New York City based sea kayaker Marcus Demuth has successfully completed the world first circumnavigation of the Falkland Islands.

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Playak News Flash 2009-01-30

Playak News Flash - January 30, 2009

News Watch Headlines

Playak: Interview: Spencer Cooke (Riot) ...Last winter, 2007, Jeff Rivest, owner of Riot Kayaks, enthusiastically invited me to design three new surfing kayaks for his company. Since I have worked with Riot for several years I felt very comfortable doing this, knowing that Riot is committed to the sport of whitewater paddling and that they were now going to fully commit to surf kayaking. This has been a very exciting process from the beginning. I designed and shaped these kayaks with two of my best friends from the surf, Drew Hayes and Raymond Cotton, guided by Riot's head designer, Simon Martin...

Jackson Kayak: 70' Butte Creek Falls First Descent Sometimes an adventure comes together when just the smallest spark of an idea ignites the imaginations and motivations of a good crew.

Team Pyranha: Adventure In Nepal Nepal has to be one of the best places to go for multiday river trips. You fly in to KTM, dump your boat and bags at the kayak friendly hotel, eat a curry and plan your trip. Its so easy to jump on a bus with your boat loaded for a multiday, get to the put in and start.

LL Ladies Lounge: Ice Ice Baby! Honoring the local paddling, our friend Tyler Roemer came out to take photos of us at Dillon Falls.  He is a professional photographer from Bend, OR and really does great work.

Team Pyranha: Rollapolooza 2009 This weekend was Rollapolooza 2009, an event put on by the Raleigh Parks and Recreation Department for the paddlers of Raleigh and the triangle area to come out and try new toys from different kayak manufacturers as well as get paddling instruction from the pros.

Stone And Water: Nothing To Offer: First Descents - An Interview With Brad Ludden Bliss-Stick-USA is raffling off a Bliss-Stick kayak of choice and many other prizes to raise money for First Descents. 100% of the proceeds go directly to First Descents to fund the 2009 camper season.

Freya Hoffmeister: Day 7, Saturday 24.01.2009 (by Freya) Half an hour paddling, and then it was *there* - strongest following winds, force 5-6, gusting 7-8, but pushing you along! I was just not too lucky to be pushed where I wanted to…as my rudder was still worth an improvement (the new one will be installed soon).

Purple Mirage: Rocky Gorge Group Paddle On Saturday, July 8th, I picked up about eight paddlers for a social paddle in the Rocky Gorge. The plan was to meet at the Brown's Bridge put-in at 9:30, but by 8:00 I still hadn't heard from Shannon. So I called her and woke her up. She answered the phone with, "Hi Susan." I think she was expecting my call. After debating with her the pros and cons of sleep vs kayaking on a warm summer day I convinced her to get up, grab something to eat and make the short drive over to my house. Shannon is looking for a new boat to replace her wooden strip boat so I loaded up the Mirage so she could take it out for a test paddle.

Hans Heupink: Chilly Voordelta Trip I announced a winter trip for advanced seakayakers in the Voordelta today. 5 fit paddlers took the challenge and signed in for the trip. Wind was blowing 6-7 Bft S-SE (during the whole day according to the forecasts).

Paddling Instructor: Jackson Kayak Unveils Two-person Whitewater Boat Jackson brings to the marketplace a performance -oriented tandem whitewater kayak. Based on the premise that sometimes two heroes are better than one, the Dynamic Duo is based on the Hero, the river running/creeking model in the Jackson Kayak lineup of best-selling whitewater boats.

A Wet State (CA): Write-up: Mexico's Santa Maria, 5th Canyon This river was only made possible for us because of the owner of Ranch Agua Azul. As the shuttle is way too long (especially too long on dirt roads) there was no way our little scooter was going to be able to run shuttle for us.

SUP Surf Mag: Spotlight On Shannon Cook: Socal Stand Up Paddler With pleasure, it's time to highlight Southern California stand up paddle surf girl, Shannon Cook. Shannon sent us the 411 on her experience with stand up paddling. Thanks for taking the time to share the stoke with us.

US NWWC: Pools And Parrots. Fortunately the rain has been co-operating and at least some of the runs have been up enough to enjoy. So far 2009 has been shaping up quite well.

Frogma: Cold Water Workshop At The Small Boat Shop, 1/31/09 This is a fun & informative event & if you live anywhere around the South Norwalk, CT area & are looking forward to pulling your dusty boat out of the winter mothballs as soon as the air starts warming up, this would be a great thing to attend.

Keith Wikle: Shawna Franklin And Kathy Miller Rolling Double Greenland Style The technique to rolling a double sea kayak is no different than rolling a single kayak, with one exception. Syncopation. You have to roll together or all bets are off. The other technique is that either the front paddler tucks forward and the rear paddler rolls both up or vice-versa.

canoeing.com: Florida Keys Guide Wins Book Award The beautiful and informative guide book was the winner in the Outdoor Adventure Guidebook category of the 2008 National Outdoor Book Awards.

This mail contains a selection of the most popular kayaking headlines. To see all the latest headlines, visit Playak News Watch.

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Playak News Flash 2009-01-28

Playak News Flash - January 28, 2009

News Watch Headlines

Jackson Kayak: Rodrigo From Chile Is Running All Of The Big Stuff Down There And Leading The Gringos Down Too! Hello there JK Family... Full summer here in chile...

Jackson Kayak: Mission: Rollapoolza, Child Beating 101 A Quick Stop On The Green Its interesting life being at the Jackson's. Roughing up Dane, learning the hard way Guide on the green. Learning the roll and helping people get by the brain.

Inflatable Kayak Blog: Paddle Materials – Which Is Best? I often get asked about the difference between the various materials used in making kayak paddles. The main question is … which is the best material? To be honest, there's really no good answer. Materials used to construct paddles determine their weight, durability and flexibility.

Team Riot Kayaks: A Wet Return Home From New Zealand… The humming, tinkering and buzzing sounds coming from within, outside and/or inside an airplane is never the most comforting sound to try to fall asleep to.  I prefer falling asleep to rain.  Or snow.  Snow's quite different though, because usually when it's snowing, it's really quiet outside.  So when it snows, is there really a sound to it?  Maybe if it's snowing really massive snowflakes, or if you consider silence a sound.  Which, I guess I would…consider silence a sound, that is.  Either way, anything would've been better than the plane.

Werner: Canoe & Kayak Mag Names Werner's Dan Gavere "a Hero" Werner Paddles own Dan Gavere was given a shout out in this months Canoe & Kayak Magazine, as one of the most inspirational paddlers alive.

Blogs: Mendocino Coast Whitewater Kayakers Get Creative Rain, Rain, Rain . . . Where are our winter storms? California's drought conditions are not going to get us down. We have a whole big ocean of whitewater in our backyard. Saltwater is good for the sinuses, right?

Hans Heupink: "gekkenwerk" - Just Crazy! I announced a winter trip for advanced seakayakers in the Voordelta today. 5 fit paddlers took the challenge and signed in for the trip. Wind was blowing 6-7 Bft S-SE (during the whole day according to the forecasts).

Jackson Rec: Carly Sends In Photos Of Her Mom Paddling The Day Trippers In Ontario Carly sends in photos of her mom Laurie McDonald paddling her Day Tripper 10 on McCormick lake up in Ontario.

playak.net: Reforestation Along River Banks Great Sunday out here in Madagascar While tananarive is on fire with riots and protests we decided to celebrate our planting season and invited my sponsors for a day out , not in the fields, but on the waters!!!

This mail contains a selection of the most popular kayaking headlines. To see all the latest headlines, visit Playak News Watch.

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Playak News Flash 2009-01-27

Playak News Flash - January 27, 2009

News Watch Headlines

Inflatable Kayak Blog: Kayaking In Rockport, Maine DayTripper here with another kayak travel suggestion. Rockport, Maine was recently listed on AOL as one of "America's prettiest towns"

Jackson Kayak: Check Out This Awesome Note From Inka In Nepal This was a dream come true for many people including myself having a Nepali girl winning a suitable boat in this event. But for Susmita, this dream has been on her mind for many years as she once started kayaking with her husband.

Team Pyranha: The River Plym The River Plym is one of the best Grade 5 runs in England.  It comes up after heavy rain and combining the Upper Dart and River Erme makes for a world class day of paddling.

Purple Mirage: Great Falls Kayaking But I was thinking I might try to run the Lower Yough (class III+) later this summer so I wanted to get a little practice in on gentler waters.

René Seindal: Future Plans And Wishes Naturally, my future plans mostly revolve around Venice Kayak, which is after all a 'strategic' choice I have made.

WRSI: Trusting Your Team While in New Zealand with New River Academy , I got the chance to do a Heli trip. We were helicoptered with our boats into the mountains with the goal being kayaking back out.

TirtasetA Indonesia: National Television Began To Cover A national television began to cover our activity in Purbalingga. It was Trans7, a Jakarta based television that has national coverage.

Liquid Medicine: 4 Seals, Ice And Sunshine, Ingredients For A Touring Day On the Limfjord. Again we are very lucky with the weather. This time even 4 Seals follow us and are curious about our boats. Some ice on the shores.

Werner: Werner Paddles: #2 Best Company To Do Business With SNEWS-Winter09 Werner Paddleswas voted the second best company to do business in the Outdoor Industry, in the 2008 SNEWS Outdoor Retailer Dealer Survey.

rockratrobinson: Keeping 'em Sweet The river was at a good level. The last time I had seen any river data for it was Friday morning and that had said it was dropping so I was slightly dubious as to whether the drive for the boys from Preston would be worth it.

This mail contains a selection of the most popular kayaking headlines. To see all the latest headlines, visit Playak News Watch.

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Playak News Flash 2009-01-24

Playak News Flash - January 24, 2009

News Watch Headlines

Stone And Water: Exploring Idaho: Favorite Photos Of 2008 2008 was a great season here in Idaho. We were fortunate enough to have a nice snow pack that melted slowly. That let us hit some creeks later in the season than usual. We were even fortunate enough to explore some new creeks as late into the season as August. Nothing like doing some exploratory kayaking in August without a dry top.

Jackson Kayak: Check Out Chris Wing's Grand Canyon Trip Report I thought I would share a few images from one of the most magical places I have been in recent history.

Team Riot Kayaks: Lets Play!! Okcc Play Clinic #1 13 of us met in Portland to head to Lake Creek and one more from Eugene Oregon met us down there at the put in.

DeRiemer Adventure Kayaking: Ecuador- Jan. 10-18 Class Iv- We watch a lot of folks experience "firsts" when they come to Ecuador to paddle; first time traveling to a foreign country, first time kayaking in a foreign country, first time kayaking big water, first time kayaking technical water, first time to realize that not all roosters "go off" at sunrise, first time to experience that the red squeeze jar at your dinner table may contain mayonnaise, not ketchup.

Fat Cats: The River Plym The Plym is one of the best grade 5 rivers in England, it rises and falls quickly after heavy rain.

Dash Point Pirate: Warren Williamson's Name Invoked To Sell Kayak Very fast kayak, made by master carpenter. Aleutian Island-style baidarka. Western red cedar, and yellow Alaskan cedar. Skin-on-frame. Tracks well. Thirty and a half pounds. Fifteen feet two inches long. Twenty-two inch beam (width).

Fluid Blog: Sudan Mission Part 2 Its Silverback, one of my all time favorite rapids, for those of you who don't know it, there is a lot of water splashing, especially through the middle and that is exactly were I plan an taking Gangster .

Lifejacket Adventures: Kayaking In Perth, Australia This week we have been doing a little catching up with various people involved in different types of paddling in Perth.

Fluid Blog: Lili Nepal Recon. Part 3. If You're Willing To Look... Nepal has been a premier white water destination for years and years - ever since Mike Jones and his motley crew hit up the Dudh Kosi in 1976 it has been firmly on the map.

PDX River Explorers: Nw Huck'n I have been looking for the right falls to take the next step and really go big! Lucky for me I live in the Northwest, a land of waterfalls.

Immersion Research: Introducing The Oregon Rafting Team The Oregon Rafting Team (ORT) is a team of whitewater paddlers who compete on a variety of rivers throughout the West Coast in multiple 2,4 and 6 man paddle raft teams.

This mail contains a selection of the most popular kayaking headlines. To see all the latest headlines, visit Playak News Watch.

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