Playak News Flash 2009-08-07

Playak News Flash - August 7, 2009

News Watch Headlines

Teva Blog: Simon Strohmeier wins German Kayak Freestyle Championships The world famous "Washing Machine" was place of another dramatic battle for the crown the best German Kayak Freestyler. Despite some serious lack of training Teva Tribe member Simon Strohmeier entered the Championships to compete against the super strong local paddlers, who been showing some incredible moves in their home spot lately.

Nookie: Norway Part I - The Return... As Promised here's the first installment from my latest adventure... Its been 6 years since my last visit to Norway and i'd forgotten how stunning it was and how good the paddling was! Cooking dinner on the very first night! We'd all agreed to take it easy fo...

CKS Squad: CKS END OF SUMMER BLOWOUT This weekend (August 7th-9th) CKS will be selling everything in the store for 20% off. We'll also be selling our ENTIRE demo fleet including AT/Werner Paddles, Creek Boats, Play Boats, River Runners, Rafts, Duckies, PFDs, Helmets, Wetsuits, and anything else we may have. We'll also have a gigantic ...

Tribe News: 'Dream Result' Trailer Check out this trailer for Tyler and Rush's upcoming feature 'Dream Result' Go to their website HERE for ordering information on this and their last movie ' Africa Revolutions Tour '

Nookie: Yellowboy - 3rd at Worlds Hey Just got back from the World Surf Kayak Championships in Portugal. We had an amazing time out there and surfed some fantastic waves under the hot portugese sunshine! I turned up with my new surf kayak design the 'Alushe' from new surf kayak brand AIRTIME. This is a sub-brand of the very well es...

Alpine Quest: Upper Upper Cispus River Washington This river is located near Mt. Adams in some beautiful forests of Washington. The river had many boulder gardens, and had they not been so full of wood, they could have offered up some fun lines. The wood was a definate issue but luckily we were able to zig zag around most of it and make it down to Bohemeth.

Immersion Research: Gautier checking in from France The start was a little bit difficult because the kayak doesn't keep the line when the boat is planing out. So it took two or three times before I was able to get going… And when the boat and I took off, the feeling was awesome ! It was very fast and difficult because the kayak didn't behave like it was on a real wave

Paddling Instructor Blog: Image Gallery of Homebuilt Boat Kits [how not to do it] Looking to get out on the water but don't have the cash to buy or rent? Why not build your own? Below are a couple of inspiring photos from the fantastic website, thereifixedit.com that will likely give you a couple of ideas of not how to do it. I also threw in a bulk hotdog cooker at the end f...

Outside Blog: Simple Water Purifier a 'Lifesaver' TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a conference that gathers some of the most interesting and innovative thinkers in the world to discuss ideas, and the best part is the free online footage of the speakers and discussions. Today, TreeHugger points out an especially riveting presentation by Michael Pritchard, inventor of the Lifesaver water purifier. Inspired by the shortage of drinkable water after the 2004 Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, Pritchard created a cutting-edge filtration system that blocks even tiny viruses like Polio.Watch the amazing (and disgusting) demonstration below. -- Lisa Lombardi

WK Throwdown: Confluence/Ohiopyle Hometown Throwdown #3 After negotiating the struggles that come with hosting our Hometown Throwdowns in the local state parks, our third Throwdown, a downriver mass start loop race at the famous Loop section of the Youghiogheny River, went off splendidly. We had fourteen racers and a number of safety boaters, insuring both an exciting and safe adventure down our regions most paddled section of river. The race included everything from the long wildwater style boats on down to the smallest of playboats. Racers began with their bows on the shore requiring them to backup at the beginning in order to pull away from the putin beach and start their journeys downstream. The race was carnage free, much unlike our last race, with the boats pulling ahead of one another through both Entrance and Cucumber rapids. From this point on the race became the sort of smaller races that are created when one mass starts the competitors, with those nearest each other egging each other on and desperately trying to make those last minute passes. At the finish line, just at the end of Railroad rapid, racers were require to touch and marked rock with some part of the boat and/or person. I know that I personally took great pleasure in watching the racers push for the final stretch, with racers who had already finished egging on those still competing. Following the race, Chrissy Zeltner, a resident wildwater racer from the region, took the time to allow fellow racers to experiment with paddling her boat, hopefully bringing more paddlers to this often overlooked section of our paddling community. After the race, the racers gathered in the Ferncliff parking for the raffle of the great prizes from Shred Ready, Crocs, Rocky Mountain Khaki, Stonyboater Paddlewax, LVM, Smith Optics, and more… We look forward to seeing everyone at this region's final Hometown Throwdown, The Riversport Slalom Aug 22-23. Overall Order Of Finish (Top 4) 1 - Chrissy Zeltner 2 - Carl Schnieder 3 – Kent Reigel 4 – Rick Gates Finish By Class A Class – Boats Over 11' 1 – Chrissy Zeltner 2 – John Roach C Class – Boats 7-9' 1 - Carl Schnieder 2 - Kent Riegel 3 – Rick Gates D Class – Boats Under 7' 1 – Paul Eisner 2 – Joey Eisner 3 – Carolyn Brown

BRT Insights: California River Flow Gages at Risk from Budget Cuts Support full funding of the National Streamflow Information Program by contacting your representatives in the U.S. Congress. Streamflow gages are critical for planning whitewater paddleboating trips, but also for all of the government agencies and businesses that manage, conserve or utilize our wat...

Chicago Area Sea Kayakers Association: CASKA Logo Contest Winner CASKA Board is happy to announce that the following design was chosen as the winning submission for the CASKA Logo contest. The logo was submitted by a local paddler and a designer from the distant West Suburbs Chris Hoffman.  Please visit the website at www.faucethead.com to find out more about the author.  Congratulations Chris! Thanks to all artists who submitted their designs to the contest.

AS Watersports: All new Wavesport "D" Freshly unwrapped in the shop this week, we have the revamped, renamed and relaunched Wavesport "D" 65 and 75. The "D" is a refreshed version of the original Wavesport Diesel.

Dash Point Pirate: Trinidad, California The day I was there, there was an 8 ft swell at 10 seconds from the northwest and no wind. Even this late in July the temperature was in the mid 60s. Foggy and overcast.

PeakUK: Bavarian Research Trip Team Pyranha / Peak UK paddlers Paul Smith and Dave Fairweather have just had a great couple of (long) days out in Germany and Switzerland, under the guise of research for a project that they are jointly working on.

Outside Blog: Surf: E:60 Segment Showcases Marzo ESPN showcased Hawaiian surfer Clay Marzo yesterday in one of its E:60 segments, combining amazing footage, interviews with big names in the surfing world, and home videos. The shots of Marzo in action are stunning, and make us even more eager for the upcoming Quiksilver film, Clay Marzo: Just Add Water.The episode, along with other E:60 segments, are available to view on ESPN.com. Check out the 12-minute segment if you missed it last night. -- Lisa Lombardi

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