Playak Weekly Digest - week 22

Playak Weekly Digest
The world's top paddling links in week 22, 2010.

News Watch South Africa: Western Cape Province, Witte River Playak (Wednesday 2nd) ***** - The standard section of the Witte consists of mostly boulder garden type rapids that are seething in undercuts and siphons. The river is very continuous and a typical river runs take between two and four hours depending on how much you scout and/or portage. It can be done in under an hour and all the rapids are runnable. The average gradient is 36m/km for the full 7.5km stretch but some sections are way steeper and this produces rapids in the class 3 to 5 range, and at high water 5+. Steelpoort River – Quick Fly Up from Cape Town to Score the Rain! Adrian Tregoning (Wednesday 2nd) ***** - On Friday 29 January 2010 I made a hurried decision. With an ever decreasing bank account, no employment and no rain in Cape Town, I bought an air ticket to fly up to Johannesburg. I made that choice at about 10:00am, I flew out that night. Johannesburg had received loads of rain and the rivers were flowing nicely. The Vaal was at around 2000 cumecs (for my American friends that just under 71 000 cfs!!!) and this was something of a fifteen year record. The plan was to drive to the Steelpoort River on Friday night straight from the airport, paddle it on Saturday, then drive later that evening to the Vaal, paddle the Vaal on Sunday and fly back Monday morning early. That's exactly what we did. This first article covers only the Steelpoort with the monstrous Vaal coming up in the next one. Final River in West Sumatra! Adrian Tregoning (Sunday 30th) **** - Thursday 26 November 2009. I woke up at 07:30 and felt tired. Perhaps it was the excitement that all the other days had been filled with that left one feeling quite drained. It wasn't a bad thing, it was just, well, one of those things. The trip had been really memorable and I'll always look back fondly to the amazing things were saw and experienced there, but before I get too teary eyed in my story, we still had one day left to paddle. California Creeking with the Villain S Jackson Kayak (Wednesday 2nd) *** - My month of creeking in Cali was a bit harder then expected, because of the continuous amounts of snow and cold weather. Though this still didn't stop me from paddling some of the best day runs in the state. Val sesia contest Team LiquidLogic (Friday 28th) *** - I was in Val Sesia this weekend to make a portrait of Fred Gilardone, secretary of the committee for Val Sesia preservation. They now have a 20 year protection plan for the rivers in the area. Tyler Curtis: Freestyle in Scandanavia Wavesport Blogs (Monday 31st) ** - After some epic surfing on the Ottawa River it was time to head for Norway. Freeride Italia! Palm Blogs (Monday 31st) ** - With the big melt in Val Sesia coming to a head, I flew out to join Nick Horwood for some freeriding fun! Cold Cali Creeks Sweet (Saturday 29th) ** - After hucking down on a few of my favorite runs in the Northwest, I made my way from the Green wonderland of the PNW, down to the ever so classic California goods. Finding some very out of the normal Cali weather, we have been forced to run some high and cold rivers. Video of my day in Colorado Wavesport Blogs (Monday 31st) ** - After several weeks spent in California, kayaking and working, we got to Colorado few days ago. Weather is sunny and warm, flows are high and we all are having great time out here. This weekend I have been representing at the CKS kayak festival before Teva mountain games next week. Freya Hoffmeister – Woman in Black Daily Paddle (Wednesday 2nd) ** - Freya Hoffmeister is accomplished in several styles of paddling, including open water marathon racing, Greenland style rolling, huge expeditions and rough water kayaking – and who knows what else she's going to try next. Homestake creek practice - Day 1 and 2 Jakub Nemec (Tuesday 1st) ** - Just got to Colorado yesterday and started cruising at the Homestake creek to get ready for Teva mountain games. Tonihgt heading to CKS fest in Buena Vista, then OBJ creek, Yule creek, Barrel springs and much more before heading back here next week! Pyrenees, THE place to paddle in May! Valentin Grollemund (Friday 28th) ** - After 2 years of reflexion, coming again and again in the Pyrenees, I can now say: it's THE place to paddle on May! Cameron and Cataract Wavesport Blogs (Wednesday 2nd) * - Cameron Creek had a nice juicy medium flow, great for the Upper portion and a tad high for the Lower Canyon, oh well it gives me a good excuse to get down there again. We paddled from Aldridge falls down to just below Deja Vu, Aldridge had a log in the top ledge so we where limited to running the bottom two ledges, still fun. After a mellow float through the scenic valley the river starts to change character into the typical Alberta Ledge fashion, a couple of class 4 ledges leads to Something Nasty, a 8 foot ledge with a sloping lead in and a sticky hole, with easy safety set on river left we where all able to clear the hole with a couple close calls. California Summer? Sam Roil (Saturday 29th) * - We haven't really been experiencing the textbook Californian summer of clear skies and super hot days - rain, hail and snow have pretty much been the go for the last week. As a result the water is still locked up in the snowpack for all of the big runs. Last week we got on a couple of small creeks along with the ever present South Yuba runs. The North Fork of the North Fork- California Creeking Kokatat Blog (Friday 28th) * - The North Fork of the North Fork has been a thorn in the side of paddlers for over 10 years. Numerous trips in have been turned back due to the small range of runable flows, committed canyon, technical portages, and numerous other challenges. Finally in May a group of us decided to give it another go.

Hot Forum Topics Best WW kayak for Belgium? (Gear) Plattling World Cup 2010 - status (Events and Results) Inflatable or open canoe (Gear) Marking your personal gear Happy feet or foam? (Gear) Top Videos Creature Craft at Sunset Falls-WebReady.mov 2010 - Molokai Solo | Karl Treacher (20th) The Shranalong River (bowsie) fern ridge May 27.dv Kayak Freestyle Graz 2010 - 1. Stop ARF Cup - GER-EDIT (Philipp) Upcoming Events Kayak River Festival Greece, Ολυμπιακή εγκατάσταση Canoe Kayak Ελληνικού, May 5 - Jun 6 Ross Island SUP Series USA, OR, Ross Island, May 8 - Jun 12 Southern Outer Banks Sea Kayak Symposium USA, NC, Swansboro , Jun 2 - Jun 6 Teva Mountain Games USA, CO, Vail, Jun 3 - Jun 6 ICF Freestyle World Cup Germany, Plattling, Jun 3 - Jun 6 PowerUP Symposium USA, NY, Jun 4 - Jun 6 Windy City Sea Kayak Symposium USA, IL, Illinois Beach State Park, Jun 4 - Jun 7 Wyoming Whitewater Championships USA, WY, Jackson Hole, Jun 4 - Jun 6 Puget Sound Challenge-Segment 5 USA, Seattle, Jun 5 Hoa White water Challenge Japan, Hidaka, Jun 5 - Jun 6 Shiawassee River Paddle Event USA, Holly,Michigan, Jun 6 Round Bowen Outrigger Relay Canada, BC, Bowen Island, Jun 6 Tybee Race USA, GA, Tybee Island, Jun 6 Wenatchee River Festival USA, WA, Cashmere, Jun 11 - Jun 12 Battle of the Paddle USA, HI, Waikiki, Jun 12 - Jun 13 Puget Sound Challenge-Seattle Police Foundation Paddle USA, Seattle, Jun 12 Sea Symposium UK, Southampton, Jun 12 - Jun 13 Kayaksurf Session Portugal, Figueira da Foz, Jun 12

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