Playak News Flash 2010-03-07

Playak News Flash - March 7, 2010
The world's latest paddling headlines.

News Watch Headlines

Seth Ashworth: Best trip ever....Uganda. Spending most of our time in the Dorms at Nile River Explorers set us in the perfect location to paddle both the day one and day two sections of the river.

PeakUK US: Pucon, Chile photo dump Pucon was definitely a hot spot for kayakers this year. With countless class 5 runs and clean waterfalls within half an hour of downtown Pucon its easy to understand why. I was fortunate enough to be in chile for 5 weeks this year and spent about 3 or so of those weeks based out of Pucon. Here are some photos from the waterfall paradise of Pucon.

Jackson Kayak: Villain S Proto 2.0 on Upper Middle Cosumnes! I was fortunate enough to get out with a great group of friends on one of the best day runs in the world yesterday: UMC. We had a fantastic day on the river, with good lines run by all. This way my 3rd or 4th run down the UMC, and my first run down it in the Villain S proto 2.0. This boat is fantastic: FAST, predictable, holds a line at speed, easy to spin/turn low speed, boofs great, and shoots through foam and sub-outs like a hot knife through butta.

Jackson Kayak: 4th Annual Brazil waterfalling expedition part : Rio Das Mortes This incredible descent of a big water canyon on the edge of the Amazon could not have provided a more exhilarating and informative start to the trip. Unfortunately the Das Mortes river and it's intact jungle corridor is slated for inundation by hydro-electric development over the next 5 - 10 years. From this first encounter with river, jungle, and agricultural plantation it seems that the biggest threat to the Amazon now is from the promise of "cheap and clean" hydro power.

PeakUK US: downtown smackdown Mud Season is arriving to New England early this year. Unusually warm weather has brought wet snow and rain to the area. Most of the mountain creeks are still under feet of ice, but my local backyard run, the Mascoma, is running. The Downtown Hair section is walking distance from my house and flows through downtown Lebanon. The 180 foot per mile stretch is only a third of a mile long, so I usually do 4 laps.

Adam Johnson: Carabiners, Safety Gear, & Whitewater Kayaking Many of the people I paddle with, in addition to myself, have trouble carrying enough safety gear with them on the river. There are a number of reasons for this.

Dagger Blogs: Dream Result Takes Rosenheim Paddling Film Festival We just won the Rosenheim Paddling Film Festival last night. This is the biggest kayaking film festival in Europe. We had an attendance of 1,000 people! Biggest year they have ever had.

Dagger Blogs: Spring Cleaning A group of paddlers and cat boaters got together this Saturday for a river clean-up on the Wind River in Washington. The Wind is a stunning watershed but the put-in and takeout were getting pretty trashed and there was tangled fishing line all along the run. It felt good to get rid of all the clutter for the spring kayaking season to begin.

Eric Jackson: USA has the opportunity to put in Bids for the 2012 World Cup and 2013 Freestyle Worlds!!! Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Spain, Austria, Australia, Canada, and Switzerland. Now, the international canoe federation is looking to the USA for good bids and if we can provide a great option, we can not only host the World Championships, but the World Cup the year before! This is a great opportunity for the USA to showcase freestyle kayaking here, and host the world in our own backyard.

Kokatat Blog: 4th Annual Brazil Waterfall Expedition: part 2 Despite many areas experiencing the most rain in 80 years, Sao Paulo's freeways and the thoroughfares through Brazil's expansive interior were in as good of shape as I have seen them. The rivers on the other hand are incredibly full and treacherous, with our first descent of the Expedition demonstrating the true power of a Central Brazilian river.

Werner: Canoeing Gets Some Long Overdue Attention Canoeists are often overlooked in much of paddlesports media, with the lions share of attention going to whitewater, expedition sea paddling and the booming sport of stand up paddle. But those days are coming to a close as film makers begin to focus on our single bladed brothers and sisters.

ICF: Canoeing Goes Large... on TV Working with Hit the Roof Productions in Geneva, in 2009, the ICF's first year in active broadcasting was a resounding success. Highlights shows, featuring action from all six World Cups (three for Canoe Sprint, three for Canoe Slalom) were distributed to Broadcasters around the world. Packaging each of the 26-minute highlights shows with a 10-minute News Reel proved to be incredibly popular and as the year progressed, more and more Broadcasters put the show on air. Similarly popular, the 2009 Canoe Sprint World Championships attracted 59 million viewers in Europe alone, while the Canoe Slalom World Championships managed to pull a colossal 61 million.

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