Playak News Flash 2009-01-01

Playak News Flash - January 1, 2009

News Watch Headlines

Team Riot Kayaks: Check Out Danny Doran Kayaking has pretty much consumed my life since I was 9. I started at Lock 32 Whitewater Park in Pitts ford, NY and ever since my first class I have been hooked, now I am 15 and I kayak almost every day. I teach kayaking, and I go to World Class Kayak Academy. Recently, I traveled down to Chile and had an amazing experience, Next year in January I plan on going to the China/West Coast tour with WCKA.

LL Ladies Lounge: Looking Back On 2008 My year started off with a "bang". January and February gave North Carolina good rain, which meant good water. Ravens Fork is in the Cherokee, right by the Smokey Mountain National Park. It runs even if there is only an inch of water in the watershed. This picture is of John Grace running a rapid called Right Right. This river is stacked with rowdy rapids and some priceless drops, it just never gets old.

The Water Cycle: Río Gol Gol: V he Gol Gol is yet another classic Chilean waterfall playground. Zak and Mike had been down before at higher water and we´d all heard plenty of good reviews on the river, so we made it a priority on our Christmas road trip. The Gol Gol is a step up from the nearby Fuy and while a class IV boater can easily run the river with a few portages, confident huckers can go as big as they want.

Team Shred Ready: Adventure In Pakistan It was interesting, to say the least, to land in Islamabad after several major incarnations of what we in the USA solely see and hear from the media about Pakistan: terror. Islamabad was in the midst of recovering from the bombing of the Marriott Hotel and next door gov't building, cross border drone attacks from the USA, and a controversial presidential election.

Paddling Instructor Blog: Kayaking City Councilman Plays Key Role in Rescue "I looked over and could see something that looked like either a piece of plastic or a log floating," Glass said. "It wasn't until I was about five feet away from it that I realized it was a person floating in the water -- just floating motionless ... . I could tell she wasn't dead because she looked at me."

Simon Westgarth: Autumnal Devonshire And finally after a long early Autumn in Finland trying to finish my long awaited and now 4 years in the making Instructional DVD, Genotype 2, I headed to Munich from Helsinki to collect the G17 Sprinter, and drive back to England. I know this drive very well now, I can normally get to Dunkirk in 10 hours via Luxembourg, and the VIP lounge o the ferry was worth the extra £10 just for the leather sofa to sleep on, let alone the inclusive drinks and food.

homemade kayaks: Tuesday End Of 2008 I was sick last week with a bout of the flu and so decided that today I needed to get my sinuses washed out with salty water. What better way to do it than by rolling in the sea. So even though the regular outing was again canceled due to high seas, I went out for about an hour and played in the waves. The only problem with being out alone is that there is no one to photograph and no one can take any pics of me.

SeaKayakCobber: Moldova, The River Nistro Recently I just did show you all some pictures from the trip from holland to Moldova. It took me five months to complete the 4000+Km trip across Europe. Finally I made it to Moldova, entering from the Black Sea and the waters known as Kyllyman.

Raoul Collenteur: Haute Tarn & Dourbie This was one of those weekends you can do two things: try to keep up with study or get out there to paddle some rivers! So when the national news showed big rain and flooded rivers in France, the decision was easily made. A phone call away our team of 5 was driving to the Cevennes in the south of France.

Jackson Kayak: Rio Alseseca... As Real As It Gets Continuing on with my Mexico adventures, I find myself at Adventurec in Tlapacoyan. When we first arrived here about a week ago we had heard of a section of the Rio Alsecesa called the BIG BANANA. The rumor was that a crew the week before found a way in without having to repel the 120 foot waterfall. After talking with a few locals, and a bit of luck, Lance Reif, Chris Baer, Jake Greenbaum, Davis Grove, and myself found a trail to the base of the 120 foot Big Banana waterfall.

Jackson Kayak: First D Of Upper Cascade At Fall Creek Falls! Since I was in high school I have frequented Fall Creek Falls State Park, as I am from the area. Cane Creek passes through this wonderful resource. It snakes through the region creating a spectacularly scenic whitewater gorge. Above the traditional putin there is a 70 foot waterfall, and a 30 foot cascade leading into it. Last spring Pat Keller knocked of Cane Creek Falls... the 70 footer. This left the cascade as the last first d in the gorge.

Raoul Collenteur: South America In the winter of 07/08 I had my sabbatical year in which I did quite a few things. One of them is a 5 month during trip from Mexico City down to the south of Chile, Futaleufu. It's hard to tell all the amazing things I've done, seen ans experienced on this trip but I'll do my best.

KayakQuixotica: Pencils Down Going through my pile of email this morning I came across a new "Kayak Essentials" class outline from one regional paddling group. The class runs 4 days of classes each are 3 hours. According to the description this Essentials class is about 50% class room and 50% water. 50% Classroom? That sure seems like a lot to me.

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