Playak News Flash 2010-07-14

Playak News Flash - July 14, 2010
The world's latest paddling headlines.

News Watch Headlines

My Home Jakub Nemec - This July I am based on the Arkansas river in Colorado. Its great out here. I work almost every day as a safety kayaker for Timberline Tours. In my time off I go kayak somewhere else or work on my videos, designs and gear improvement for next years..

The Callaghan Creek Race LiquidLore - By now it's not hot off the press news, at least if you follow the internet kayak chat board world - the Callaghan Creek Race will be held at the crack of 2 pm on Saturday, July 24th. A couple of us local BC lads this past winter talked a bit about trying to revive the Whistler Creek Cup of years gone by - I wasn't living here when they went down but rumour has it they were a great time. Not wanting to organize essentially three different races we planned on having low-key race and party only on the Callaghan - initially slated for the second weekend of July.

Dinkey Creek - Waterfalls Section Jordan Searle - Well the name of this run sum it up really... waterfalls! Plenty of clean waterfalls over 6 miles, in one of the coolest places I have paddled. Once you've got the shuttle sorted, thanks Airika and Katie, you have a 45 minutes hike (try do it faster) down to the put in. Due to a fast pace and fading light, thats what putting on at 4.45pm does, we didnt get many photos of day one's bigger drops but I tell you its all good! Here are some of the photos of our trip.

Ekstremsportveko 2010 Palm Blogs - We travelled out to Norway last week for the annual Ekstremsportveko. Established 10 years ago by a group of adrenalin nut-jobs, Extremsportveko has grown to become of the worlds largest Extreme sports festivals. With two kayak races (one head to head on class 3 and one full-on class 4/5 time trial) and some of Europe's best whitewater paddlers to contend with, I flew out to fancy my chances.

Mission: Italy Team Pyranha - Well, Italy was obviouslythe place to be in May. Four separate blog posts from for separate Team-Pyranha paddlers in the last few months. I've heard plenty of people rave about the place in the past, and have been desperate to get out there for a while now.

Rapidfire Whitewater action Imagine Surf Blog - My last chance to run the Rouge river before heading to California, here are just a few preliminary photos of the board in action on a fun few drops.

Locals Only Sneek Peak Kayak Hot Dogs - When Kelsey asked me to help him with his movie "Locals Only" I was stoked, I could be a part of a cool project without all the work it takes to finish such a big project. In short I get to help with all the fun stuff, paddling and filming and I don't have to do any of the boring part soliciting sponsors and finishing the project. Here is what Kelsey has to say about the film.

BCU Freestyle League – Boulters Rodeo Team Pyranha - On Saturday Marlow Canoe Club hosted the 2nd BCU Freestyle League Event, held at Boulters Weir. The results of the summer league will determine the British Champion and count towards GB team selection for 2011 World Championships.

Immersion Research Kling On Spray Skirt Review CKS Blog - Kayak design has become a little bit "cockpits gone wild" in the past few years. There seem to be more and more boats with funky designs (like really flared knee wells for extra volume), XXL oversized and elongated cockpit rims, etc. It's often tough for spray skirt manufacturers to keep up with the latest boat designs, create skirts that will stay on the boat in all conditions, and keep you dry.

LAKE ERIE ISLANDS: 2010 KAYAK TRIP REPORT Chicago Area Sea Kayakers Association - When Dave Kaknes promised to "sing" the story of Oliver Hazard Perry and the Battle of Lake Erie around the campfire I knew that the Lake Erie Islands trip was one not to be missed. Unfortunately, we never got the hear Dave emulate Homer. The skeeters and the allure of a nearby bar and grill kept us from gathering around a campfire. Yet, a dozen of us had a fine trip to the Lake Erie islands on the weekend of June 25, 2010 and we even learned the story of Oliver H. Perry and the Battle of Lake Erie.

Thompson Reaches the Podium in France USA Canoe/Kayak - Hailey Thompson (Stevens Point, Wis.) placed third in Women's C-1 on Sunday at the 2010 ICF Canoe Slalom Junior World Championships. It was the first podium finish by an American in Women's C-1 in a fully contested international competition. It was the first time Women's C-1 was featured in the Junior World Championships. A veteran of two World Cup races, Thompson finished 21.23 seconds behind first place finisher Jessica Fox of Australia.

Cetus MV Impressions P&H Paddlers - Took a vacation up to my homeland of Massachusetts last week and got a chance to paddle the Cetus MV a good amount. What an amazing boat it is. My friends at Osprey Sea Kayaks at the head of the Westport River in Westport, MA were kind enough to provide me with a demo MV to paddle for a couple days. A big thanks to Sam and Carl Ladd for the use of the boat and for being and awesome group of people. I urge anyone to check them out if you are in the area.

Zen Paddling Through Berowra Fog Fat Paddler - With Grumm having a hard curfew of 11am for his paddling due to kiddie bday party commitments, we decided to go for a very early paddle in the nearby gorge of Berowra Waters. Fortunately we live on the same street, so met out the front of my place just before 5am with the Fatmobile already packed and ready to go.

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