Playak News Flash 2009-03-31

Playak News Flash - March 31, 2009

News Watch Headlines

ERA Blog: Endless River Adventures will join Confluence Watersports Endless River Adventures will join Confluence Watersports to implement a brand new program designed to support local organizations, introduce more people to paddling and establish a platform for a long-term sustainability initiative. The program is called "Paddle It Forward."

Jackson Kayak: NAWFest I was excited with a second place, mainly because I had really started to get a feel for the Mcnasty, even though I did break a paddle in the process.

Happy Paddlin': Eddyline repair Here is a detailed step by step video and photo tutorial on how to repair thermo-formed kayaks. This repair was completed in less than 1 hour with materials easily available at any hardware store or even Walmart.

Am. Whitewater: Army Corps Torpedo's West River releases Paddling representatives were shocked this week to receive a letter from Richard Carlson of the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) stating that the spring release on the Vermont's popular West River would be made during the week rather than on a weekend as has been the practice for decades.

Hans Heupink: Fascination Greenland-style kayak It's a amazing to notice the (world-wide) enthusiast response on this Tahe kayak design. When I saw this kayak for the first time, last year in the showroom of the biggest Dutch Kayak-shop, the owner of the shop told me he didn't expect much of this kayak.

Irish Freestyle: Women's Freestyle Weekend To help raise money for Cancer Research, I am trying to get as many female paddlers down to Clifden as possible for a day of clinics and a fun rodeo.

ID River Journeys: The Rear all-inclusive family trip "The idea that a rafting trip is just about whitewater isn't true anymore," says Bob Volpert, owner of Idaho & Oregon River Journeys, an outfitter on Idaho's Middle Fork of the Salmon and the Rogue River in Oregon. "People come for the rapids and scenery but it's the complete experience that brings families back."

Roaring Fork Kayakers: G-wood paddling with the Biscuit I took the Biscuit to the g wood wave at about 1700cfs on a freezing cold day. Spins, roundhouses and loops were possible in the small feature, the large one is a ledge hole right now.

Nature, Kayak and Travel: Back to San Juan Island As we approached Surge Narrows we could hear the accelerated water generating waves as it passed though the narrow slot. We made a plan, not a very organized plan, as we were being pulled into the waves. We all headed for what we thought was out best route. Heavy loaded kayaks getting smashed into a rock would be very bad. It was exciting and fun bringing smiles to our faces. We all passed though safely.

SUP Surf: New generation F16 Sandwich Island Composites gives us a preview of the 2nd generation F16 which is a proven point-to-point racing board by Mark Raaphorst. Check out what's new with the new generation F16 .

Pesda Press: Sea Kayak Handling by Doug Cooper A practical guide that will help the reader to master the skills needed to manoeuvre a sea kayak efficiently. For beginner and intermediate paddlers. Doug draws on his personal and coaching experience to help the reader master sea kayak handling skills and techniques.

Hans Heupink: NKB cold water training 6 People took the challenge to participate in the NKB Cold water training in the cold water (7 degrees Celsius) of the Voordelta today. It was good fun to train this group: in the beginning some of a hesitated a bit about all the wet-exercises I suggested, but soon everyone participated in full surrender.

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Playak News Flash 2009-03-29

Playak News Flash - March 29, 2009

News Watch Headlines

Bottoms Up Kayaking: NZ's Central Plateau In general Central Plateau is an amazing place to go and had adventures, whether on the water or off. It is absolutely beautiful and for the most part untouched wilderness.

Kayak Session: Whitewater legend Lars Holbek Whitewater legend Lars Holbek passed away on March 13th 2008 after a fairly short battle with cancer. Following up on many request from our readers, and Lars' circle of close friends, we decided make available online an article we published in our 2008 Fall issue (KS27). Lars is already greatly missed, certainly by his friends, but as well by the wider community. For those who were lucky enough to know him well, we hope the article has done justice to his character and his life of accomplishment. For those who did not know him, we hope it will help you better understand who he was, and what his life and legacy brought to our sport and our community.

Jackson Kayak: Hotel Charley 4 'At Your Own Risk' 2009 film tour!!!! ClearH2Ofilms is proud to present this year's film tour for Hotel Charley 4 'At Your Own Risk' including the AMAZING kayak world record waterfall descent of 127 feet by Pedro Olivia of Brazil.

NW Rivers: Re-visiting Riverhouse for the first couple miles the run alternates between punchy rapids with some waves and holes and flatwater. Everything is scoutable from a boat and the rapids are a nice warm-up for the bigger stuff downstream. Shortly downstream there is a small ledge drop known as The Wright Stuff that has a couple chunky lines.

Jackson Kayak: Jackson Kayak team and major achievements Safety, team work, putting the team first, making history and "getting the job done", and going big are all part of an expedition lead by Ben Stookesberry. This latest waterfall hunting trip to Mexico is a perfect example. Rafa ran a 100+ foot Anaconda Falls and cleaned it, yet he is humble, helpful, a kayak instructor, and part of a team.

CKS Blog: Liquid Logic CR Series whitewater kayak review The Liquid Logic CR Series (80,125 and 250) has proven itself as a great river running playboat. It is able to comfortably tackle class IV big water style rapids, as well as hang tough at the play park.

Jackson Kayak: UK newspaper coverage of Pedro's World Record Waterfall Descent The world is buzzing with the news of Pedro's world record waterfall descent. Check out these links from UK newspapers.

Jackson Kayak: Santa Cruz Surf Kayak Festival I have been competing in the best Surf Kayak Festival since 2006. The Santa Cruz Surf Kayak Festival is well organized and is held on the amazing Steamer Lane break. The waves this year were smaller on Friday and Saturday but we were awarded in the finals with great waves.

ERA Blog: North Alabama Whitewater Festival We had a great day and got to really see what Alabama had to offer in terms of water and incredible scenery. If you get the chance to paddle in Alabama I highly recommend it.

Jackson Kayak: EJ and family at High Country Outfitters in Atlanta this weekend I am coming down to Atlanta on the way to Mexico this weekend for some time at the High Country store, a swimming pool session, and the a paddling day on the Chattahoochee. Bubba Sloan is an old friend of mine that has created an incredible retail store in Buckhead that is a Jackson Kayak Super Store.

P&H Paddlers: P&H Scorpio: The first impressions The ice is finally off the lakes in Madison, Wisconsin and I got to take my new demo Scorpio for a shakedown cruise.

Jackson Kayak: Jackson Kayak Team Week We have been hanging out here in Rock Island for the Jackson Kayak Team Week, and it has been a blast. We just got off the water from a day in the Dynamic Duos with the whole team.

homemade kayaks: The learnt lessons Respect the weather report and plan your trip so that the wind helps you return. Carry a cell phone.Everyone should have a tow rope.When conditions change for the worse stay together and decide how to continue and when to tow before getting into difficulties.You need to experience difficulties in order to become a better paddler.

Am. Whitewater: Senator Murray and Congressman introduce new Wild and Scenic legislation Today Senator Murray and Congressman Reichert introduced joint legislation ("Alpine Lakes Wilderness Additions and Pratt and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers Protection Act") that will help ensure the future of some of Washington's most popular backcountry recreation areas by designating more than 22,000 acres of wilderness adjacent to the existing Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area.

surfski.info: Mauritius Ocean Classic – Race Announcement The inaugural Mauritius Ocean Classic is scheduled for 1 and 4 July 2009. The event is supported by both an airline - Air Mauritius - and a resort chain - Naiade - which makes this the first World Series race geared towards family as well as outstanding racing conditions.

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Playak News Flash 2009-03-27

Playak News Flash - March 27, 2009

News Watch Headlines

Wavesport: The Project 54cx limited edition Developed to push the limits of hull design, outfitting design, construction materials, and performance freestyle kayaking. The result is the a now ultra-famous, ultralight 20 lbs of ultimate playboat high performance.

Werner: Record Waterfall Decent on the Today Show If you didn't catch a glimpse of Pedro's 127 foot world record fall on NBC's Today Show this morning (March 24th), you will have a chance to check it out this Thursday morning the 26th of March on the Today show.

Team Pyranha: Chasing the Gray Fox Deep in the gorges of northern Alabama, one might catch a glimpse of a rarity that is unknown to most of the general public. Some residents of cities and towns throughout this region may occasionally see a flash out of the corner of their eye, but never know what it is that they saw. However, among the lucky and diligent few who choose to venture into the remote river canyons in the area, sightings are common and the Gray Fox is well known.

Irish WW: Doug Ammons - Extreme kayaking presentation Doug has been hailed as "one of America's most famous white water paddlers - known for his outrageous solo descents of Class V+ and VI runs and especially of the Grand Canyon of the Stikine.

rockratrobinson: Three days with Wild River The paddling was just what I liked: low volume, tight and technical pool drop where boofs were a plenty. There were some minor hiccups on the river, like me calling the group down believing that everything was good to find that we were all dropping into a pool with no exit.

Team Swain SE Boating: A self supported trip I started off the rain event paddling with a group of friends on the North Fork of the French Broad and followed that up the next day with a nice padded out 9.5" run of the Green.

Chris Harvey: Hatric at Santa Cruz It's been a really tough event over in Santa Cruz with almost no waves for the first 2 days of competition. Somehow after taking off on rocks and a lot of jostling for the few waves, I scraped through the flat spell.

Werner: Ernie Alverez wins Puerto Rico's SUP contest Ernie showed patience and poise waiting for the best wave and then charging them with a combination of turns that made everyone look twice to realize that he was doing this on a SUP and NOT on a 6' shortboard, sticking his paddle on the face and completing bottom turns, cutbacks, roundhouses, smacking the lip hard.

Valentin Grollemund: Free Kayak Tour - Tournon Saint Martin, France Free Kayak Indre, on March 21st and 22nd in Tournon Saint Martin, signed the opening of the Free Kayak Tour in 2009.This year, like last year, the Free Kayak Tour is in 3 steps and allows for the ticket to the freestyle kayak World Championship in Thun, Switzerland.

Isle of Man Kayak: Isle of Man Kayaking - Learning to paddle again! I took my new Mega Jester Trident out today in an attempt to familiarize myself with the new surf boat. After nearly 4 years in sea kayaks, I needed gentle conditions to get the hang of it, and to adjust the foot pads etc.

Roaring Fork Kayakers: Westwater and The Liquid Logic Biscuit The production version is quite different than the prototype that I had been paddling. There is less bow rocker, and less stern rocker, the spin disc is removed. The stern is a bit longer, and it has a little bit more volume. This made the boat much faster which I was very happy with. It surfs great, easy to control, big bounces, spins easily. I was super stoked with how it performed.

canoeing.com: Women added to Canoeing World Championships The International Canoe Federation, the governing body of world competitive canoeing, plans for the first time to allow women to compete in its Olympic disciplines.

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Playak News Flash 2009-03-25

Playak News Flash - March 25, 2009

News Watch Headlines

Evan Garcia: The Money Drop Rock creek falls, also called as the Money Drop by the EP boys. The water was launching off the lip at an incredible rate so it was hard to decided how to run here.

Peter Csonka: First training on the Kuchl When we discussed date with Austrian guys for they training on Kuchl we expect a warmer weather. We were driving on highway and how we were closed to Salzburg we saw more and more snow around us.

passion4adventure: The Mungo Below us whitewater raged constantly downstream and we peered into a number of gorges. After a couple of minutes it became a joke, there was so much steep whitewater below us that I gave up trying to memorize lines and looked at JJ in disbelief.

New Mexico H2O: Kayaking in New Mexico in winter It is winter time down here in New Mexico. The mountains have snow but the lower valleys are getting toasty during the day. Perfect for some nice 60 degree weather to go boating in. The Rio Grande Racecourse section flows year round and some folks kayak it all winter.

Sea-Boo-Photos: Donut in Vermillion The level had come down a bit but Donut is still rocking strong. Alon, Aaron and I spent another great evening on the Verm. Aaron for his second time on moving water did incredible! He watched Alon and I play the heck out of Donut and then before we left we had him try to surf it in my creek boat.

Am. Whitewater: Public scoping announced for Green River Pumpback After much anticipation, the US Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) has announced the first set of public meetings on the controversial Regional Watershed Supply Project (RWSP) also known as the Green River or Flaming Gorge Pumpback.

Hans Heupink: Spring Cleaning 2009 I just returned from the so called "Spring Cleaning"-weekend workshop of the German Seakayak association "Salzwasserunion". The Spring Cleaning is a training Weekend on the Isle of Wangerooge for (to be) instructors, tour-guides, and experienced seakayakers. This year the main topic was "group control in demanding conditions".

JaxKayakFishing: West Marine teams up with jaxkayakfishing.com JaxKayakFishing.com, Jacksonville's Kayak Fishing Community, is pleased to welcome West Marine as a site sponsor. West Marine, the nation's largest specialty retailer of boating supplies and accessories, will open the company's largest store in Jacksonville, FL at The Markets at Town Center. The grand opening of the 30,000 square feet flagship super store is March 27-29.

UK Freestyle: Youth Freestyle Series 2009 Youth Freestyle is back for 2009 and we hope to make this year even better than the last. The Series kicks off on the 19th April at Llangollen it then moves to the Nene on the 14th June, then on to Boutlers on the 11th July, followed by the Washburn on the 6th Sept and finishes with a final at Nottingham on the 13th Sept.

Playak Product News: Ophion Paddles: New: Senior Rapture Our Senior Rapture is specifically designed to give the smaller paddler all the benefits of our leading freestyle blade with the added advantage of been fine tuned for the more refined technique. Giving the paddler the same aggressive, accelerating power in a smaller more compact design.

surfski.info: Doubles comparison: Elite vs Apex Both skis are finished well. If anything the Apex seems to have the edge in terms of attention to detail. The Apex used was a lightweight hybrid lay-up model and the Elite was a standard glass model.

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