Playak News Flash 2010-09-04

Playak News Flash - September 4, 2010
The world's latest paddling headlines.

News Watch Headlines

How to Throw a Throw Rope Wavesport Blogs - This "how to" is a little tid bit on safety on the river. One of the big things that needs to be part of a boaters knowledge is how to throw a throw rope. It can help you in emergency situations and just help pull your buddy out of the river quickly.

Cafe falls Kayak Thailand - Over the past few days, we have paddled the Mae Taeng several times which is a supper fun boulder garden run, at this time of year it always seems to have plenty water, and means we can hang out with the Siam river Crew (who as I have said before are lovely people)

Chris Morelli Sends in Some 1st Descents Footy Astral Currently - Check out this footage sent in from Chris Morelli, Northeast regional team paddler. His crew has been putting down some first descents lately, chekk it.

How to do the "draw rudder" Wavesport Blogs - The stroke I'm going to present now has been one of the most complicated maneuver to teach and to learn. The aim of this post is to put order and, why not, physics, to understand what I call the draw rudder. I use basically only this stroke to change direction because is the most efficient way not to loose speed and to avoid the drifting effect.

Matt Young Back From Quebec Werner - Matt Young just got back from an epic trip in Canada. Here is a quick report and some pics from him....

La Riviere Romaine Team Pyranha - Quebec is known for two things. Poutine and Water. On a recent trip to the eastern reaches of this candian province 9 kayakers found both to be spectacular. The Romaine river provided us with 6 days of unbeievable kayaking in a vast setting that is threatened by a massive hydro power project.

Cheeseman Canyon WRSI - Cheeseman Canyon is a great run, I would highly suggest a good guide, and a small crew to attempt this amazing sieve laden playground. Driving into the Cheeseman Canyon is a little erie, the forest burnt to the ground only a few years back and as far as you can see it is burnt trees, baby aspens, and a lot of bed rock.

Devils Extreme Race 2010 – Open European championship duemmstuff - The nice weekend full of paddling and parties is gone. Under the dam – Lipno on the Vltava river is ussually competiton in slalom, rafting, wildwater canoing and mainly: extreme kayaking!

A Few Shots of Bailey Fest 2010 CKS Squad - If you weren't able to make it to Bailey last weekend you really missed out. This ended up being an awesome event with great flows and a great turnout. Thanks to Ian from Denver (I never got your last name, sorry), and thanks to all the other organizers who I wasn't fortunate enough to meet. Ian did a tremendous job getting the event organized and working with AW to make this recreational release a huge success and an event I'm sure will continue on into the future.

Athletes Finish the 2010 Season with Big Wins Playak - Wave Sport Athletes Finish the 2010 Season with Big Wins. Team Wave Sport finishes the 2010 season strong, with several of the athletes racking up big wins both domestically and internationally. Just days ago, Wave Sport athlete, Kelsey Thompson paddled the Wave Sport Project 52 to victory at the Canadian Freestyle Team Trials. Not only did he succeed in making the team, but he also won the Men's Open K1 Final and was crowned the 2010 Canadian National Champion.

Mzimvubu River Fluid Team Trip – Days 4 and 5 Adrian Tregoning - The fourth morning arrived with one of the most beautiful sunrises I've ever seen. For those few that were lucky enough to witness those five minutes of beauty it was well worth it. The photographs don't even do it justice. The normal rigors of camp life rolled by in the way of boiling water for oats, drinking water, preparing more drinking water, packing up all the sleeping gear and stuffing everything back into the boats. It's a good life.

Quick Trip Report: Surfing and Teaching on Lake Superior Paddling Instructor Blog - Here are a couple photos from a trip last week up to Lake Superior last week. I had the pleasure of being invited to teach a Paddle Canada Level 2 sea kayaking course at Naturally Superior Adventures with my co-instructor; the very funny and hugely talented Rev. Bonnie Perry. Long-time readers will remember a piece I wrote a year ago when she was nominated to be the Bishop of Minnesota.

Indigenous Boats as Propaganda (Dragon Boats in Rhode Island) Indigenous Boats - Funny how just about anything can be put to use to make a political point. Offshore drilling causes an environmental disaster, and one of America's most popular idiots, a proponent of offshore drilling, claims that it proves she was right all along. Another idiot consistently argues against civil rights in detail, then stands in front of the Great Emancipator's statue to make the point before an audience of bigots that they're all for civil rights in theory. Sigh.

Scillies Week 3 Sea Kayaking Cornwall - We had an Advanced course and an intermediate week durning the last week of the Scillies. Here are a few images of the week.

Sea Kayaking Adventures, Home & Abroad Mark Tozer - Sea kayaking is a very popular outdoor activity and has an ever growing fan base; it has become one of the more popular water-based outdoor pursuits in recent times. The sea kayak is a versatile and challenging craft that can be great fun. Although the sport's popularity is seeing an upsurge, the sea kayak also happens to be one of the oldest known forms of transportation. If you have a love of the great outdoors, sea kayaking should be on your list of pastimes.

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