Playak News Flash 2010-03-22

Playak News Flash - March 22, 2010
The world's latest paddling headlines.

News Watch Headlines

Immersion Research: Shane Benedict and the IR Drysuit I just spent an hour in an out of the water trying to pull a boat out of the nastiest little pin I have seen in a long time. It started with a couple folks just trying to pull it out and it escalated all the way to 8 people pulling on a z-drag, breaking the grab handle, and making the pin worse. I was in the new IR dry suit. I spent as long as 5 minutes straight standing in waist deep water placing biners, and ropes and such.

Immersion Research: Paddle with the bros event schedule & Pyranha promo video If you are interested in paddling Pyranha's new line of kayaks, learning a few things on the river, or just want to have a cold one and talk about kayaking. Please come, it will be a good time.

PaddleBlogs: Fluid Dynamics: Canning River Wetlands I started at Riverton Bridge which has a purpose built canoe entry point and car park. It is so good to be away from the power boats which I have to paddle with in East Fremantle and to have smooth quiet water, with no wind and waves.

PaddleBlogs: Madamax: Lilly Groupies, ... 4 fully loaded rafts for a fairly large group of local residents and nationals. Water was high over the week end and sections at a challenging level We bailed out at "La langue", a nasty looking drop which keeps boats and flush down swimmers past the hole!

Team Pyranha: Mexico Set Turns out Mexico isn't all desert and cacti after all…

LVM TV: LVM 33 Premiere Countdown: Iskuit River Exploration I taste of what's to come from the Iskuit River in British Columbia. Here is LVM 33 Iskuit River First D Segment Teaser.

playak.tv: Video: Gflex Epoxy Kayak Challenge This is the Kayak Chainsaw Massacre & Gflex Challenge featuring Ben Gougeon & Daryl Brunette. Video by G.C.Kirkland.

Kokatat Blog: 2010 Circumnavigation of Quebec and Labrador I am an experienced sea kayaker, paddling since I was 16 years old both on rivers and seas. Being a professional guide for 5 years will help me as much as the paddling I've done on the Saguenay Fjord, the North Coast of Quebec, Gaspe, Nova Scotia and the rivers along almost all its length. I'm confident for sure, otherwise I would not start this trip, but I fear I still might not arrive in time at Kuujjuaq, since I do not know the Labrador Sea and the impact of the current along the coast.

Am. Whitewater: Dillsboro Dam Removal (NC) Complete Today, the removal of Dillsboro Dam is complete! Work will continue over the next few months to restore and stabilize the river banks. In place of an outdated and uneconomic dam (the dam had not produced power in over 4 years), there are two "new" ledges on the river. A yellow silt curtain (visible in the photo above) will remain across the main part of the river until the restoration work is completed, probably a couple of more months. For paddlers who wish to paddle this section of river, the silt curtain has an opening on the far river right side for boats to pass through.

Kokatat: NorthernLights Greenland Expedition - Inspiring Children Through Exploration Since returning to Scotland, the team has toured the Scottish schools, speaking to the children and teachers involved in the project. Training has been delivered to the teachers on how to participate further in the project through the secure online learning environment. Through this medium the schools have been developing and participating in online projects exchanging ideas and media through projects covering areas of global warming, song, dance, and social cultural comparisons. There projects are paving the way for the next phase of the NorthernLights project.

Fraser Valley WW: Safety Day Tune-Up With the Winter Olympics wrapping up an hour west of the Valley in Vancouver and no sign of snow or water in the near future the end of February was a perfect time to practice some of our rusty rescue skills. Western Canoeing and Kayaking along with Purple Hayes School of Kayaking hosted a "River Rescue Tune Up Day". The idea behind the tune up day was to offer some free instruction from a rescue professional (Kay @ Purple Hayes) for the newer paddlers as well as motivate the more experienced paddlers to practice the rescue skills that most of us hang up for the winter along with our paddling gear.

ICF: Support the Constitución Kayak Club, which was ravaged by the Chilean earthquake and tsunami Chile's devastating earthquake struck on 27 February near Chile's capital of Santiago. It reached 8.8 on the richter scale and the ensuing devastation was immense, killing hundreds and causing structural damage of $30 billion. Now, one month on, people are beginning to rebuild and restore. And that is the same for the Constitución Kayak Club located at the mouth of the Maule River.

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