Playak News Flash 2010-08-09

Playak News Flash - August 9, 2010
The world's latest paddling headlines.

News Watch Headlines

Skookumchuck & British Columbia Team Pyranha - With plenty of creeking, Skookumchuck Narrows, Big D's Cafe, and rope swings; British Columbia is one of Demshitz favorite kayaking destinations. Read on & check out the rest of the photos.

A Pasty-Sized Good Time: Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium 2010 Chicago Area Sea Kayakers Association - This is an appreciation of the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium, which is held each July on the south shore of Lake Superior in the town of Grand Marais, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Norway 2010 Part 1 Team Pyranha - Like every time Norway is one of the Best places in Europe, the problem this year was, that we had very rainy weather. But paddling makes still fun !!! Two days Nils Kagel joined us to make some nice runs around Voss.

A Monster Slide In Central Norway… Palm Blogs - This was Hugh's opening gambit, and the first thing I heard of the slide. He and Finn had been on a hiking mission and discovered what sounded like an absolute gem with a short hike in. Two days and a short-ish hike later, and we were stood looking at the thing. 100 m it turns out, was a conservative guess, and 'clean' had been downgraded to 'pretty clean'.

A Monster Slide in Central Norway… The Video Palm Blogs - A continuation of Nick's post below -- I've spent the last couple of days going through and editing the footage from our latest mission here in Norway. Enjoy.

Werner Paddles Team update-Nicole Mansfield blogging from Cheeseman Gorge Werner - Here are some killer shots from Nicole Mansfield's, Werner Paddles, Pyranha, Demshitz, first trip down the Cheesman Gorge in CO.

Running Out of Options Immersion Research - With the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market show the next day, and water levels dropping fast, some friends and I knew we had to get out on the Lower Wind River in WA before the levels dropped out, as everything else around Hood River had gotten pretty low. Its a fun little tech-y class 3-4 run with a happy ending….a 4 tier series of good fun, consisting of a little 12 footer, a 15 footer, and a nice chunky slide, followed by a 8 ft boofy boof.

Self Support first timer DeRiemer Adventure Kayaking - ...I flew down to California for some boating with long time friends Phil and Mary DeRiemer. I spent the first two days doing local runs with them and the next three days with Phil and company doing the Middle Fork of the Feather. It was a great way to start the summer, going from cold, wet Seattle to sunny, hot (but not too hot) California...

Laird Hamilton Puts On A Clinic at Outdoor Retailer Tradeshow Paddling Life - The Outdoor Summer Market Retailer Tradeshow is in full swing this week in Salt Lake City, Utah. PL is on the scene, and yesterday witnessed the open-air demo from Jordanelle Sate Park. Stand-up paddleboards were all the rage at the on-water demo, with appearances by gurus Laird Hamilton, Chuck Patterson and Slater Trout among others.

Werner Paddles supported fall sea kayak symposiums, start your planning now Werner - Weekend events or one day stops are easy to hit up in your region, not much planning just load up the boat and head out. However when you are looking to find that right combination of coaches/instructors and conditions to take your paddling to another level, a bit more planning and perhaps some travel is required.

2010 USNWC / WORLDKAYAK Pro-Am Throwdown WK Throwdown - Saturday August 28, 2010 starting at 12 noon at the United States National Whitewater Center (USNWC) in Charlotte, NC. It's all about fun and a good cause. Last year at the USNWC Whitewater Festival we hosted a Throwdown and a number of pros were on-site and decided to compete in the Throwdown, which turned out to be the best one of the year. The idea of a Pro-Am event grew from that. Being a typical weekend warrior boater and sitting in the eddy next to some of the best paddlers on the river and Throwingdown with them was a blast.

Chilliwack River Throwdown #2 WK Throwdown - On June 19th Purple Hayes School of Kayaking hosted the second of three World Kayak Throwdowns that will be held on the Chilliwack River in 2010. The turn out again was was fantastic. Results and photos are below. Enjoy!

Funny Story: Rolling at the Y paddling.net - There comes a time for all kayakers when we begin to think about learning how to roll our kayaks. Maybe it would be better to say, learn how to roll our kayaks back upright, as it's pretty easy and straightforward to simply roll them over. For me that time came when I lived in Hartsville. A flyer from the local YMCA listed 'Eskimo' rolling classes as one of their offerings.

"Saturday At Bay Bulls" Stan Mac Kenzie - It was a foggy day indeed but we were spirited and really that's all that matters. The plan was to head up the north side and poke around the headland but we decided to cross over to the south shore and paddle to Witless Bay

Kayak/Ride for Cancer Outside Blog - Kayaker Thatcher Bean will race in the Class V Gore Canyon Whitewater Race on August 28 and the Wapiyapi Classic Bike Ride in Aspen on September 26 to raise funds for the cancer organizations Camp Wapiyapi and First Descents. Both nonprofits offer weeklong camps to young cancer patients to give them a respite from the day-to-day concerns related to their illness.

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