Playak News Flash 2010-09-16

Playak News Flash - September 16, 2010
The world's latest paddling headlines.

News Watch Headlines

The Grand Canyon of the Stikine Kokatat Blog - While the paddlesport industry's summer Outdoor Retailer show was in full swing in Salt Lake City, another meeting was taking place nearly 2000 miles away, in the upper reaches of British Columbia's vast northern wilderness. Two of western Canada's big water veterans, Corey Boux and Mark Basso, along with Jamie Wright (UK), Ricky Lambert (NZ), and Benjamin Hjort (NOR) headed into the depths of North America's biggest whitewater beasts…..the Grand Canyon of the Stikine.

Il bello Ticino (video) Team LiquidLogic - Some of the best white-water pearls are found for the European paddlers in Ticino. On our last trip to the Swiss Confederation, we have Ribo, Verzasca and Co.

Fourty 2 Fourty Teaser Blair Trotman - So I have been super slack with updates over the past two monthes. None the less I have been doing a bit of creeking and had a couple of wicked trips with work. I am currently just going through all my photos and working on a little video. I will have a sweet update of the past couple of monthes shortly.

Teva Life Agent Honza Lasko report about the Devils Extreme Race 2010 Teva Blog - Main white water event in Czech Republic is like every year during end of summer. Last weekend in August was water release from biggest CZech dam Lipno. During three day is below Lipno dam so many white water event`s, race`s and so many people on the water. You can see here white water slalom, ww down river sprint, raft competitions and for sure extreme race "Devil`s race" .

Thailand's Mae Sa River Wavesport Blogs - The Mae Sa River is a quality stretch of white water within 30 min's of the city limits of Chiang Mai. The put in is located at the Queens Botanical Garden and is literally on the side of the road, so much so, that it is more reminiscent of a ditch then a river. However, the river quickly veers away from the road and starts it descent.

Some pictures from the last weeks.. Team Pyranha - After some heavy rain, we were able to paddle some "Salzkammergut" Classics again, which we can paddle normally only in spring … For me this region is one of the Best in middle Europe !!!

The Right To Float- Colorado Rivers Immersion Research - John Grace has put together this little clip to bring a very touchy subject to light for public awareness. The clip explains the jist of what is happening in Colorado right now- Basically, private land owners are trying to prevent the right of passage on public waterways that are flowing through their land, and is creating quite a stir as you can imagine, as the rafting and whitewater industry is a major contribution to the CO economy each year, and a huge part of the whitewater market in the US- the decision that the courts make in this case could have a pretty large effect on the WW market in the US if this passes.

C-1 Nemesis in action Fluid Blog - Here are a couple videos of me having fun in my nemesis. I recently returned from a creeking trip to new york with north american team manager Bobby Miller and will hopefully have an edit from that trip in the not too distant future as well.

Online Video Coaching - Canoe & Kayak Magazine Simon Willis - Shawna Franklin and Leon Somme, owners of Body, Boat Blade on Washington's Orca Island, have shot some instructional video with Bryan Smith. The video works with articles in Canoe & Kayak Magazine and can be found on their website along with a discussion forum. For now it's a three-part video, but looks like an excellent way of combining media.

Five Star Training with Skyak Adventures Simon Willis - There is no time for larking about on five star training, as you can see. Gordon Brown and Ken Nicol drove us so hard, these two chaps almost wasted away. Poor dears. Every five-star training with Skyak Adventures is different, tailored to the conditions. But this is what we did.

Paddling for First Descents at the USNWC First Descents - Two weeks ago, at the United States National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC, our new friends Jonathan and Samantha Miller organized the 2010 USNWC / World Kayak Pro-AM to raise funds for First Descents. Jonathan and Samantha are avid paddlers who got wind our work and decided they wanted to do something to help our cause.

Kayaking in Croatia, Part 3 New Foundland Neil - Ysabelle and I took a hike up behind Sipanska Luka. Lots of olive groves and great views.

Voyage of the Shearwater Dash Point Pirate - Ricardo finally launched his skin−on−frame version of a Joel White Shearwater double−ended sailing/pulling boat at the Tacoma Maritime Festival two weeks ago and is now sailing up Puget Sound to spend a few weeks gunkholing around the San Juan Islands. Although a little tender at first, the Shearwater settled down with the addition of 150 pounds of steel fixed along the keel. Ricardo demonstrates how easy it is to row from the rowing station at the stern in the video.

Clear skies over Gigha SeaKayakPhoto.com - The forecast for mainland Scotland was not looking good; with the possibility of torrential rain and thunderstorms but lightish winds. We looked west to Gigha, which is a beautiful low lying isle of the west coast of the Mull of Kintyre. I reckoned it would not have enough area to create a thermal uprising for a thunder cloud.

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