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.

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