Playak News Flash 2009-12-18

Playak News Flash - December 18, 2009

News Watch Headlines

PaddleBlogs: Andrew Pollock: Sungai Mangga, Malaysia Let me start with the quick back story. Ben Marr, Pat Camblin and I had been in Malaysia for 3 weeks running rivers all over the country including a trip down the lower section of the Sungai Manga. Dave Nieuwenhuis and Nick Doran had just arrived and we decided to go back to the Sungai Manga and try drive much further upstream and do a multiday on a previously unpaddled section of the river.

Simon Davidson: Whitcombe So with gerard being down south and super super keen for some west coast action we headed to hokitika late on a thursday night only making it so far as franz josef. We made camp (in the truck) next to a lake which turned out to be pretty spectacular in the morning.

Nantahala Outdoor Center: Just Released: Jackson Kayak Villain Prototype Photos Thanks to the crew at Jackson Kayak for showing us photos of their brand new river-running creeker, the Villain. Along the same lines as the Pyranha Burn and Dagger Mamba, the Villain will be super beginner-friendly but able to drop big falls in a single bound (when leaving the scene of a villianous incident). The flatish hull should be easy to steer and control, but the rounded, recessed chines should provide good secondary stability. The waist-high side line helps stiffen the walls of the boat, giving you a solid, tough sidewall.

passion4adventure: Lifeblood of the Nation A thin layer of plastic sits between him and the dozens of rocks that create the whitewater he is about to tackle. He disregards everything but the line the tiny kayak must take to negotiate the rapid.

Immersion Research: An Inside Look at What South America Has to Offer! This river is renowned for its siete tazas section, which is a series of seven basalt pool drops that are some of the cleanest waterfalls I have ever seen. What many people do not now is there are two other sections known as the entres saltos and the veintidos saltos sections. The veintidos saltos consists of mostly clean waterfalls ranging from 10- 30 feet. The section is completely gorged in and hiking out is not an option.

Immersion Research: Frozen in, in the Pacific NW A small group of us were denied access to one of our trusty "year round" runs on the White Salmon this weekend! A frozen "get in" and sub freezing temps led us to hike in and do the infamous Orletta section of the Truss, which for the most part, has enough moving water to still be free of any ice shelves.

Dave Hoffman: The Eddie – Big Wave Surf Comp at Waimea Bay, HI The world's longest-running and most prestigious big-wave invitational, The Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau, known informally as the Eddie, is only held when the big swell at Waimea Bay reaches 20 feet Hawaiian – meaning at least 40 foot faces. I just happened to be in Hawaii last week when the conditions were right for the first time in five years.

Tony Paradise: Cool paddle I stopped on this pocket beach for a quick snack. I hauled the boat up out of the reach of the surf right up under the wall of icicles. There was a bit of broad open swell that was dumping waves and washing up on the beach and there wasn't much room on the beach out of the reach of the wash.

SUP Surf: S.I.C. Fw-14 Displacement Hull Stand Up Paddle SUP Race Board The wait is over. I finally got my full displacement hull version of the SIC F-14, renamed the FW-14.

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