Playak News Flash 2010-08-12

Playak News Flash - August 12, 2010
The world's latest paddling headlines.

News Watch Headlines

Cornwall living adidas Sickline - After fifteen years with no UK summer, I thought it was time that I made the transition and tried one out. It's been strange not to be amongst the mountains and white water, but it's also very refreshing to have some change and explore the UK in more depth.

Not Necessarily Narrowly Navigability L.A. Creek Freak - Here at L.A. Creek Freak, we're very excited about the EPA's determination that the Los Angeles River is navigable and is protected fully under the Clean Water Act. It's a welcome decision, strongly supported by the river's past, present, and planned future. The determination got the L.A. Times out kayaking the river (watch their excellent video!) and sparked off mayoral, journalistic, and advocate discussions of the river's bright future.

Gene17kayaking River Flow – August 2010 Gene17 - The hazy days of the Summer are upon us, where the peak of the runoff has long done by, the excitement of Spring is has given away to pleasures of a fun Summer harvest of many fun river days had. For us at Gene17, Summer always means Sjoa in Norway, for an adventure paddler, it's a slice of perfection. Surrounding the Sjoa area are numerous runs, you can choose between, big volume, steep creekin' deep canyons, open pool drop, plus a few world class play waves to surf.

2010 Middle Fork Salmon, Idaho-trip reports DeRiemer Adventure Kayaking - We haven't posted here for some time now and it hasn't been for a lack of material. Feels like we've been full-on since we returned from Ecuador the first part of March. It was upon our return that we learned from our Middle Fork of the Salmon outfitter that the snow pack in the Pacific Northwest was looking bleak. It seems that all the winter storms had been swinging further south, dropping their snow on southern Oregon and much of California.

The Lech Gorges Part 1... Steve Brooks - In the far west of Austria lies a gem of a river. While the Lech is well known as a class II easy intermediate river with lush alpine meadows and mountains all around, the Upper Lech Gorges are very unfamiliar to the English speaking kayaking community!

Versaboards on Shoshone, Stand Up Paddling is here to stay Ross Herr - About a month ago John O'Neill and I headed down to the Shoshone section of the Colorado river for some SUP action. Luke Lubchenco came along to document the spectacle. Going into the evening John had only Stand Up Paddled once on the pond in his neighborhood. Why not just go straight for some class III?! Giving him the Liquidlogic Versaboard I knew he would do just fine.

Girls at Play Summer Tour Recap! Dagger Blogs - What a summer! The Girls at Play Summer Tour traveled up and down the East Coast visiting retailers and kayak schools in NC, PA, VT, Canada, VA, WI, GA and KY. Over one hundred women treated themselves to a day, weekend or week of kayaking — some events even included yoga, massage and wine and cheese! The energy and inspiration we received from the women we met continues to fuel our passion for paddling and adventure. Not to mention the personal growth, confidence and joy we witness and share.

Pine Creek Gorge Part 3: Return of the Eddy Down River Kayaks - Where were we? Oh yes! Our hero had narrowly avoided being scorched by his co-pilot as their canoe was cruising into the first night's camp. To those of you who are amazed that I've stretched this into four posts and we haven't even camped yet, fear not, we're almost through.

Pictures from Seamasters 2010 Global Surfski - Here are a bunch of "pre race" pictures from the days before the Seamaster race… Enjoy! All photos by Peter Ekström.

Safety boating the open water swim The Lake is the Boss - For the second year in a row a number of us served as safety boaters for the Bayfield to Madeline Island open water swim, an event to benefit the rec center in Bayfield. This event has grown geometrically from 24 people the first year to just under 300 this year. Rumor was that over 60 people were turned away when the event hit the Coast Guard mandated cut off number. One of the key safety elements is lots of folks in people powered craft keeping an eye on, guiding, and encouraging the swimmers. They are supported by power boats with EMT's as well as Coast Guard craft. The whole exercise seemed to me a lot like herding cattle. I was then corrected by one of my fellow safety boaters. No, she said, it was like herding cats.

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