Playak News Flash 2010-05-27

Playak News Flash - May 27, 2010
The world's latest paddling headlines.

News Watch Headlines

Interview: Naomi James Playak - A short interview with Naomi James, World Champion HP surf kayak.

Video: C4 Waterman Oil Tanker Surfing playak.tv - The C4 Waterman crew treks to Galveston, Texas to stand-up paddle surf the oil tanker wake.

How to Outfit your New Creek Boat Wavesport Blogs - This post outlines my suggestions as well as approaches to outfitting a new creek boat. Most of these approaches are applicable to a play boat as well as river runner, however some are unique to a creek boat.

Quebec Exploration pays off - First D's Wavesport Blogs - This is my second spring season coming back to Quebec, specifically the Saguenay area, in search of Quebec's amazing whitewater. Last year we had great success in finding / exploring un-run rivers, with 4 first descents, and we had a bunch more on our list that we didn't have time for. Unusual spring water levels / snow pack up high kept us from getting in to a few new runs but we persisted and managed to get on 2 First D's in back to back days.

Koosah Falls, OR Sweet - Coming back across the states to the West Coast, I was excited to finally get back on some home runs. Meeting up with some old kiwi friends from the past we were ready to go and get something big under our belts. Metlako was pretty low, so the next move was down to the super stout outside of Eugene OR. After many adventures around the world I was finally back to some of the first big waterfalls I had ever seen as young class V paddler. In 2004 I was on a Spring break trip with my older brother and Jon Meyers when I first laid my eyes on Koosah falls. At the time, I never in a million years, would have thought that someday I would launch this beast. There I stood above the 75 foot beast saying I was "IN".

Video: Damming the Heaven playak.tv - Movie about the Damming the White Nile river. We had the chance to kayak there for past 4 years. Uganda and the famous river White Nile left us many emotions, we enjoyed the time spend there but the damming of our haven is the an disaster for us. So enjoy the movie like we enjoyed the time there. Paddlers : Peter Csonka, Nina Halasova, Vladimir Cako, Peter Scherfel, Milos Trnka, Jan Rusnak, Matej Fabianek ...

Yoga for Kayaking: Neck Stretches Dagger Blogs - In a recent yoga class the teacher encouraged us to roll up out of a side-bending pose with our heads as the last body part to come up. I had to giggle because she sounded just like a kayak instructor teaching the roll! As she was giving her instructions she made the comment that bringing our heads up last can be challenging because we tend to be a society of 'head yankers.'

Augsburg Training/ KC learning the ropes Jackson Kayak - Training is going good here in Augsburg. Two workouts/day for Dane and I so far. Kat is also doing the same, as is quite a few of the paddlers here. I saw one of the local German team members do something super impressive. He linked cartwheels into a McNasty, into a bow end, another McNasty, into a bow end another McNasty in perfect form. It was awesome.

Charlotte Throwdown #1 Results: Gotta Airscrew to Win!!! WK Throwdown - It really is kinda of amazing, in less then a year the local boating community has gone from spin to win on M-Wave at the USNWC to the top 5 K1A's all throwing Airscrews. Blunts are now the norm, and everyone is learning how to do backwards tricks as well as attempting the helix, pistol flip and other moves on M-Wave, moves that were thought to be a no go, not so anymore.

Mark Cecchini's North Fk Clearwater report/Villain S review Jackson Kayak - Just wanted to send along a quick update about a recent trip into the North Fork Clearwater with my Villain S and All Star.

Write-up: Squaw Valley Creek A Wet State (CA) - A pretty good run, especially for how unknown it is! I first heard about this run several years ago when my friend Orion Meredith mentioned to me he did the elusive Lower McCloud via a creek that fed in half way down the run. He said the creek had a bunch of small waterfalls on it and that it was great run. That was all I needed to hear, being an enthusiast for seeing new runs I tried for a year or two to get a group together to go in and get on the creek as well as the Lower McCloud. After having no success, The McCloud Reservoir dam broke one fall and allowed folks to boat with ideal water the 22 some odd miles between it and the Shasta Reservoir. After doing the length of the Lower McCloud the little creek that entered in the middle of the run slowly moved further down my list of runs to boat, until I had completely erased it from my list of runs to get on.

Oregon's Dan Gavere wins 1st Annual Surftech Rally on the River SUP Race SUP Surf - Dan Gavere (Hood River, OR), arrived in Reno Nevada last weekend for the Surftech Rally on the River SUP Race, with two objectives, 1) to catch up with his long time whitewater buddies and charge the river with them, and 2) to take it to them in the "Rally on the River"! He did both… in that order.

The Pacific NW's Upper Clackamas WHitewater Festival Level 6 - Every May for 27 years whitewater enthusiast have converged on the Upper Clackamas River for a weekend of competition and good times. While paddlers may not have heard of the Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival they may be familiar with the play spot known as Bob's Hole. Both are on the Clackamas River aprx. 1 hour out of Portland. For paddlers who haven't heard othe UCWWF it is a great event with plenty of cool things happening! Kayak events include playboat mass start, boater X or boater cross which is 4 person head-to-head through gates, freestyle, downriver racing, slalom, and freestyle aerial ramp.

Hilde writes in from the 1st Auburn Rodeo: thanks Guy, congrats Jason and Ruth! Jackson Kayak - Just got this in from Hilde and want to say congrats to Guy Cables and everyone else who helped turn the Auburn Dam into a play park!

Polar Paradise Kayak Noise - Savage Island, Resurrection Island and the Unclaimed Coast are just a few titles given to the forboding Sub-Antarctic Island of South Georgia. An exceptionally isolated, storm thrashed island, South Georgia stands alone in the path of relentless storms and the savage winds of the Southern Ocean.

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