Playak Weekly Digest - week 33

Playak Weekly Digest
The world's top paddling links in week 33, 2010.

News Watch Event Report: Outdoor Trophy 2010 Playak (Sunday 15th) ***** - Report from the 9th Outdoor Trophy in the Bregenzerwald, Vorarlberg, Austria. Jason Craig On Upper Cherry Creek Kokatat Blog (Wednesday 18th) **** - Kokatat Ambassador Jason Craig shares his experience on Upper Cherry Creek. "Recently I had the chance to paddle Upper Cherry Creek; which was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and some of the best kayaking I have ever experienced." words by Jason Craig, photos by Darin McQuoid. Rider of the Year Mike Dawson (Friday 13th) ** - Check out this video. It's about 15' long but features some wicked footage from around the mix. The Grand Canyon Nick Troutman (Tuesday 17th) ** - This was my first trip to the Grand Canyon so I had no idea what to expect, except what I had heard, and what I had seen from a couple pictures. Though no picture or story can come close to experiencing it first hand. The name Grand Canyon is almost an understatement, being that this was probably the best river trip I have ever been on, which says a lot because I have been on a fair amount. Hamma Hamma Falls CKS Squad (Sunday 15th) ** - This spring Evan Garcia, Pat Keller and Candace Sanders rolled up to the northwest on an epic stouting mission. They called me up and told me to meet them out on the OP to check out Hamma Hamma Falls, first descented by Todd Gillman a couple years back. The falls is a stout 20 footer into a 60 footer. Its stout. Pat ran first and killed it, Evan ran next and styled it as well. 2010 adidas Sickline Book of Legends Expedition adidas Sickline (Wednesday 18th) ** - In 1976 a team of Russian Kayakers tried to make the first decent of the gorge on the lower Bashkaus River in the Altai Mountains in Southern Siberia. In the early stages of the gorge, the team struck tragedy when six out of ten were swept away to their death by the powerful river. How we were on the Reichenbacher Welle for the first time adidas Sickline (Saturday 14th) ** - Thursday morning we drove to Plattling. The water level was quite high, so we expected to have a nice small wave there. When we got there, the water was somewhere between hole and wave. Keeping your end up Palm Blogs (Saturday 14th) ** - I've recently had quite a few friends asking me for tips to nail the flat-water loop, and it seems like a skill that a lot of people are keen to get under their belt. In the build up to doing a 'floop' it's essential to have a sturdy bow stall dialled before hand, so first things first, a look at the basic principles of keeping your end up. Low Impact Rolling – Mary's New Found Roll KayakQuixotica (Friday 13th) ** - So I know lots of folks who've been following along with the "Low Impact Roll" series are not rollers, or at least are not confident rollers.. yet. Since it's Friday I want to take a break and share with you a bit of encouragement by way of example. Normally in the "biz" we're in the habit of showing you experts and athletes who've got rolling down to an art form. While that can be encouraging it can also be a bit intimidating as well. So here's a "real people" example of where we're going. Pushing the Envelope: Playboating in the Detox Fluid Blog (Friday 13th) ** - After the Outdoor Retailer show, Natalie and I found ourselves transporting a Detox Large to the Colorado rep, Dan Glauser. For those that know us, it should be no surprise that we stopped off at the mwave for a couple days before actually delivering the boat, and while we were there, this funny thing happened where I got all confused and thought I'd try playboating in the Detox. Running ST Chute OKS Keener (Sunday 15th) ** - On friday morning the decision to go to the middle channel was announced to all the keeners. Everyone was excited for the change of pace and the opportunity to run ST chute in the Garvins rapid. Villain S meets Crystal Punch Bowls Jackson Kayak (Tuesday 17th) ** - With things getting low I decided to try for the punchbowls from the Crested Butte side, the easy way, especially since my Tacoma is a bit low and only 2WD. We got shut down on the first attempt by snow over the road early on. We went back a few days later and some more defined ruts in the snow (not in the video) made it a bit safer to cross. After hiking in we were met with the thunderstorm/slush/hail storm from hell…it got cold fast and we were pelted with large slush/ice balls mixed with rain and strong wind. New Sweet Gear in the Gorge Sweet (Wednesday 18th) * - After a nice time at OR show in Salt Lake City I made my way east to the land known as Colorado. With a gear bag full of new Sweet Gear I was ready to test some stuff out and look amazingly good while doing it! Staying in Gnarbondale with my good friend Fred Norquist we were fired up to go into the mountains and find some brown to run. Colorado is normally dry this time of year, but as you have seen in all of Jacub's updates there has been a lot of water in the state this year. Thailand-Part 2... Mae Sa Upper, Middle and escorted out from the lower!!! Whitewater-Koa (Saturday 14th) * - After a fun park and huck session on Si Dit we were ready for more! With the drops in Si Satchinlai National Park Un-Runnable we decided to high tail it to Doi Intanon National Park to what I thought would be a sure thing... Turned out that there had been no rain in the area and we were looking at a half dry river bed. The Lower part of the Lech Gorges! Steve Brooks (Wednesday 18th) * - With our kayaks stashed from the previous days adventures it was a nice mellow walk down to the start of the lower Section. This Section of the Lech Gorges has some of the best whitewater in Austria. The action comes thick and fast with some cracking drops, boofs, slides and all set in one of of the most picturesque gorges!

Hot Forum Topics New Play Boat (Gear) The Ultimate African Kayaking Holiday (Africa) Big wave waveki'er and all round soul surfer Youth freestyle pics (CIWW, Wales, UK) (Events and Results) Looking for a Paddling Partner (Ottawa) (North America) Top Videos Some of the gNarGA crew head west for their first Cali Creekin' trip The Megatron - A Monster Slide in Norway Fahrweid Wave, August 2010 @245cumecs (Jeroen) Creek Kayaking Japan (LincGD) Team River Runner (martakokatatcom) Upcoming Events 7th Annual Midwest Freestyle Championships United States, Wisconsin, Wausau, Aug 19 - Aug 22 Hanko Sea Kayak Gathering Finland, Hanko, Aug 20 - Aug 22 Devils Extreme Race Czech Republic, Loucovice, Aug 27 - Aug 29 6th Annual Homegrown Photo/Video Contest USA, GA, earth, Aug 28 - Aug 29 Puget Sound Challenge-Segment 10 USA, Seattle, Aug 28 Sonic City 5000 SUP Race USA,FL, , Aug 28

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