Playak Weekly Digest - week 17

Playak Weekly Digest
The world's top paddling links in week 17, 2010.

News Watch The Best Creeking Paddle Outside Blog (Wednesday 28th) **** - As a general rule, a good creeking paddle should be as tough as a bull's horn, lighter than a Mexican pilsner, and far less expensive than your boat. Dry Meadow Creek A Wet State (CA) (Sunday 25th) **** - So far this year has proved to be a good one. For the 5th or 6th write-up in a row I am going to start by saying, "this run has been on my list for a long time." I believe the first time I saw pictures were on the dreamflows whitewater photos page followed a short time later by the photo on the cacreeks write-up. Video: Steve Fisher at the Moses Mabhida Stadium playak.tv (Friday 23rd) *** - Things to do with the new Moses Mabidha Stadium in Durban, South Africa. The Way of "Tox" Evan Garcia (Wednesday 28th) ** - Once upon a time there was a little dwarf named Tox. Tox lived in a mountainous region on the East Coast of the United States of America. He knew little about the outside world, and kept to quiet never coming anywhere close to any cities or humans. One day while he was hunting small rabbits he caught sight of something strange. Interview with Jeremy Wade Outside Blog (Saturday 24th) ** - Fishing may be a hobby to you, but for Jeremy Wade, host of Animal Planet's River Monsters, it's a way of life. Wade scours the rivers of the world for the stuff of legend, and we're lucky enough to bear witness. Viewers have seen him catch a lot of big fish, including a human sized Goonch Catfish, but most of the thrill comes from watching the hunt. We caught up with Wade just before the new season begins. Carrying your Kayak Dagger Blogs (Monday 26th) ** - I never thought much about carrying my kayak because it was something that my peers in the sport have always expected of me. My understanding from the start was that I needed to be able to carry my kayak by myself if I wanted to participate in the sport. When I first started teaching women I held that same expectation for my students. Video: Kayaking Japan Fukiwari waterfalls 滝 playak.tv (Wednesday 28th) ** - Min Ryan and I running fukiwari fall in Gunma Japan. Thanks to Ryan and Gabe for making the vid. Snow Boatercross! Jackson Kayak (Wednesday 28th) ** - Two weekends ago Mt. Rose ski area let us organize a snow boatercross event. They used snow cats to build up the couse that we wanted and let us put on a great show for the closing weekend. Corse We Can! Team Pyranha (Saturday 24th) ** - Filming for Means of Production 2 has been continuing in Corsica! But it hasn't all been simple fun and games; oh no. April 4th: Lucy and Luke picked me up from my grandmother's house in London and we shot off at high speed to catch our ferry. However things took a turn for the inconvenient when Luke's radiator exploded just before reaching the dartford crossing. April 26th Giant Final Dump Of Gold LVM TV (Tuesday 27th) ** - So I couldn't let this contest end with out sending some pics in from the great mank state of Colorado. First up is extreme tuber Rolf Kelly on the black canyon's waterfall before the fun mile long portage. In Between Swims: a blog with podcasts Rapid Magazine Blog (Friday 23rd) ** - That's the hook for this great idea: a blog with podcasts—audio recordings of interviews—rather than written stories from some of whitewater's most talented paddlers and biggest movers and shakers. The Good, the Bad and the Old Level 6 (Tuesday 27th) ** - First, the bad. It's been a long winter of school and I've spent 6 months out of my boat, other than a single rolling clinic in the pool. The Rockies are still locked up in ice and there is more fresh snow on the mountains than there is water in the rivers. This means I conceded to go and paddle the Elbow River at 3.5 cms, a rather bony level, then traveled for 4 hours to get to the Wigwam River and waited over an hour in hale storm for the shuttle. At least it was at a good medium level. North Fork of the Kern, Salmon Falls A Wet State (CA) (Sunday 25th) ** - So this run has not been on my list… ever. I never really had any desire to do these runs. I had run Chamise Gorge a few years back and had run Ant Canyon several times. Running them separately had always been fine by me. But then this year (2010) as the Kern River Fest was approaching, we decided to make the long drive down to the Kern Friday night. Since I had work on Monday I needed to get a sufficient amount of boating in in the two days that I would be at the Kern. The West Fork Gorge Northwest Video Scrapbook (Friday 23rd) * - The West Fork Gorge flows south between two major drainages in the Columbia River Gorge. Many paddlers have driven over the main branch of Major Creek, but few consider actually looking upstream enough to find the gorge. I had heard tales of fifty foot waterfalls and an un-runnable gorge. Warm Water / Big Lines – Villain S on Cain 1.8′ Jackson Kayak (Tuesday 27th) * - How's the Villain S paddle in big water? Smooth like butter on North Chick yesterday! Thundershowers doused the parched SE sending gages spiking and kayakers scrambling to the rivers we almost wrote off till next year. Expecting reasonable flows, I met up with Terry Smith, David Levitt, and some guys from Indiana at the put in and was surprised by the volume upon reaching the put-in – 1.8" makes that top section much more fun and the real rapids far more challenging...

Hot Forum Topics Fluid nemesis medium (Gear) Check out these photos... awesome / Lance Milnes spray skirts (Gear) I Like! (Playak) Buyer's Guide: Boats & Boards: Super Star 2010 Top Videos NSR 2010 Carnage (Hoethir) Kayaking Japan Fukiwari waterfalls 滝 (LincGD) Nordheimer Race 09' and Swollen Middle McCloud Falls Rock Paper Scissors: Norway 2009 (paddle wild) A 7 weeks long kayaktrip in Chile (max.eberl) Upcoming Events Vancouver Kayak Club Whitewater Festival Canada, Vancouver, Apr 30 - May 2 Cal-Salmon Race USA, CA, Butler Ledge, Apr 30 - May 2 FrenchBroad RiverFestival USA, NC, Asheville, May 1 Annual Black Creek Kayak Festival USA, SC, Hartsville, May 1 Amazing Bronx River Flotilla USA, NY, Concrete Plant Park , May 1 - May 2 Hell or High Water Weekend & The Ottawa Valley Rafting Championships Canada, ON, Ottawa Valley, May 1 Puget Sound Challenge-Segment 3 USA, Seattle, May 2 Reno River Festival USA, NV, Reno, May 7 - May 9 Frontenac Outfitters 26th Anniversary Paddlefest & Open House Canada, Ontario, Kingston area, May 7 - May 9

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