Playak News Flash 2010-10-31

Playak News Flash - October 31, 2010
The world's latest paddling headlines.

News Watch Headlines

Altai 2010 - 3rd Part Tomass Marnics - Continuation of the story about our trip to Altai.

Here Today Gone Tomorrow: Urban kayaking PDX River Explorers - This mission started with an email from my buddy Nate who informed me of a unique opportunity to paddle a short section of creek below Lake Oswego Lake. The email outlined that the City of Lake Oswego would be draining Lake Oswego Lake in order to remove and then replace an old sewage pipe that was located beneath the lake. Nate's email include some specific information regarding time and flow. He told me that the lake would be drained using large pumps and combined with the gate used to release water there would be adequate flow to run the creek.

ELFing Kokatat Blog - ELFing extends our boating season, and here on the Arkansas it is possible to boat year round. The term "ELFing" (Extremely Low Flow paddling) is a term coined by Jim Snyder, one of kayaking's founding fathers.

Kayaking and Conservation in Southwest China Astral Currently - Next week a team of 6 international kayakers will meet in Chengdu, to undertake 6 weeks of self-support paddling in Southwestern China. The expedition will be based on three rivers within the Hengduan Mountains, the third tallest and steepest mountain range on the planet. The rivers they will be paddling will soon become the highest concentration of hydropower projects in the world.

South East USA Teva Blog - My USA trip has been full on. Thousands of miles in only a few days has left me at the end of the journey for now in Asheville, North Carolina after an epic trip from Europe to Los Angeles, up to Canada into a car and onto a road trip back down the East Coast to Asheville. I will be here until the infamous Green Race coming up in 10days. Tornado warnings were in full force as a mighty storm swept over the Smokey mountains sending all the local creeks into overdrive!!!

UK Competitions - 1686 point ride... River Zoo - Our British Champion will be decided on the results of the UK freestyle league series (4 events best 2 count) and this overall standings from this league will also count as 1 event out of 3 for our GBR team selection for the Worlds in Plattling next year.

Adapting Your Plans: Youth Kayak Expedition Palm Blogs - For nearly a year I'd had been planning and working on a youth kayak expedition to the Ladakh area in Northern India, with a small group of dedicated and talented young people, with the objective of paddling the Zanskar River.

A Tale of Two Rivers – Parts 2 and 3 worldkayak blogs - Check out the video!

This mail contains a selection of the world's latest paddling news. To see all the latest news, videos, forum discussions and more, visit Playak News Watch.
To manage your Playak subscriptions, click here.

Playak News Flash 2010-10-30

Playak News Flash - October 30, 2010
The world's latest paddling headlines.

News Watch Headlines

Interview: Omer Stinger Playak - 12 years of running sea kayak trips in Greece, Scotland, Ireland, Seychelles, Japan, Alaska etc...we only use high quality kayaks and our clients are mostly experienced paddlers. we run 3 kayak centers in Israel (Herzeliya, Ashdod & Akko) were we teach sea kayaking, whitewater (on the Jordan river) and surf kayaking. We also have a kayak base in the Dodecanese Greek Islands and in the Seychelles (during winter)...

High water in Kilfinan Bay SeaKayakPhoto.com - Many people think that there are no sandy beaches in Loch Fyne. They are wrong, you just can't see them from the roads! Twelve kilometers after leaving Portavadie, we came to the beautiful, broad sweep of Kilfinan Bay.

Fest... Dave Goadby - Over the past few weekends I've been busy attending kayaking gatherings. First of all was the Wet West Paddle Fest in Fort William, then the Etive River Race and finally the Pyranah Fest in Bala.

EXPEDITION: Stikine, Sustina, Alsek Rapid Magazine Blog - Three rivers in three weeks doesn't sound too ambitious, or so I once thought. When the rivers are remote wilderness multiday trips though, things change a bit. The rivers after all are the Stikine, the Susitna and the Alsek.

Liquid Fusion Kayaking: Fall Whitewater Run on the Trinity River PaddleBlogs - We were heading north to attend the Traditional Arctic Kayak Symposium (TAKS) in Trinidad and managed to sneak away from the coast for a couple of days to go to the Trinity River. The flow was holding consistently at 575 cfs so we did " The Slot" run which is a Class III run from just below Pigeon Point to Big Flat.

Haley and Mike attacks the Z-DAM CKS Squad - DANGER!!!!! Nice video, check it out!!!

Kayak Kernow - the Cornish paddlers: Mylor to Devoran river 28th October 2010 PaddleBlogs - Unusually for a Thursday, we were turned out in force today - six paddlers (almost a first for us!). Weather wasn't brilliant, with a stiff south westerly breeze, so we opted to put in at Mylor where it is sheltered and also a tarmac carpark, so no sand at the end of the trip!

SUP Mexico…the rivers of the Huasteca worldkayak blogs - This year we have been rediscovering our local class 2-3 river. This section of river only gets run when the water is too high everywhere else. Not this year! We have been paddling Stand Up Paddle boards for the last couple days. It is a perfect stretch of whitewater for SUP. Today we had some awesome falls. Check out the pics below. If your interested in SUP in Mexico, let me know..

Kayak Huasteca: Lower Micos SUP.. Stand Up Paddling PaddleBlogs - The lower Micos is a gem of a run here in the Huasteca region of Mexico. It is often overlooked, much like the Lower gauley, because of the 7 waterfalls upstream. The run is an amazing class 2-3 section with about 25 rapids. Since river SUP came on the scene, it has given us a new means to enjoy these easy sections of river.

Lock 32 WW Park Total WW Fun - They did it low cost, grassroots, turning a forgotten, overgrown backwater into a terrific teaching and training spot.

Freya: Why Not Australia? Canoe Kayak - C&K's Adventurer of the Year Reflects on the Beauty and Challenge of her Australian Circumnavigation. Check out the video of Freya Hoffmeister on Australia at Canoe & Kayak Magazine online.

SWSK v2 SW Sea Kayaking - It is actually a blessing in disguise; it's enabled/ forced me to sit down and put a good few focused hours into editing the second version of South West Sea Kayaking; the structure/ format of the book will be exactly the same, but there will likely be many hundreds of alterations, updates and corrections.

Reviresco on the Loch Fyne Riviera SeaKayakPhoto.com - Kilfinan Bay is a really beautiful part of Loch Fyne and the sun shone down on its golden sands which stretch for 1.2km. We had it all to ourselves as we crossed to its northern boundary...

Seals, fluffy white pups, and superb sea conditions Adventurous Experiences - Following the yoyo forecast recently has made deciding on adventures even more interesting. We ran the beginners and improvers sea kayak training sessions from Laxey on the Saturday, completing the October 'Discover Sea Kayaking' course and some small swell meant we could also practice surf landings too :)

Time on the water SUPadvisor - Time on the water. A pretty simple concept with such a profound effect. Why does everything change when you get in the water? I'm not sure of the scientific effects but I sure know the emotional ones along with the physical benefits. That's why some of us just feel that need to jump in sometimes. Obviously my mental picture while writing this, is of stand up paddle surfing, but it certainly isn't restricted to stand up.

This mail contains a selection of the world's latest paddling news. To see all the latest news, videos, forum discussions and more, visit Playak News Watch.
To manage your Playak subscriptions, click here.

Playak Weekly Digest - week 43

Playak Weekly Digest
The world's top paddling links in week 43, 2010.

News Watch I love the Fall in New England! Wavesport Blogs (Sunday 24th) *** - We got more rain just as promised! A bunch of us planned on going to the Moose Fest but then we bailed when the rivers around my house in VT came up. A bunch of friends came over including my brother Mark. We paddled the West Branch of the Deerfield River at 3ft on Saturday. We had a great time paddling my home creek. While we were boating Jeff took a ride to the hardware store and picked up some insulation so when we got back everyone was put to work putting up insulation in the basement. I'll run it next time… River Left Productions (Tuesday 26th) *** - For many paddlers like myself, we have told ourselves "I'll run it next time." We might be talking about an intimidating drop or a creek as a whole. Being afraid to run the hard drops and creeks is a good thing, and each paddler should take their time and decide if they should run or walk a certain drop. Raymondskill creek is one of finest creeks in PA; I first dipped my paddle blade in the tanned waters of R-kill back in 2006. A short trip to Slovenia David Fairweather (Monday 25th) ** - I have just got back from a short visit to Slovenia, although the intended purpose of the visit was research, whilst there I managed to successfully combine work with a little bit of paddling and some sightseeing. Project X at Diagonal Ledges Wavesport Blogs (Friday 22nd) ** - So if you haven't heard already the Project X is where it's at. This boat is the best playboat I've ever paddled, hands down! Lately I've been paddling a lot with Bryan Kirk on the Upper Gauley and hitting up all of the little holes along the way. Wanting to get the X out on a wave lead us to Diagonal Ledges on the Lower, we liked! Here's a little video I put together of Bryan getting his groove on at Diagonal Ledges, enjoy! Dry season boating in North Queensland Jez Blanchard (Thursday 28th) ** - After returning from Tassie we have been super lucky to score some very wet days during what is normally the driest month of the year up north. With everything pumping we hit up Josephine falls and behana gorge, along with a few other rivers. Here is a short vid I made up from the last few days of paddling. Skook in October Jackson Kayak (Wednesday 27th) ** - Here's a quick video from my recent trip to Skook (my first video!). The weather was nice and the tides were great. I worked on blunting all summer just to get ready to go back to Skook, it sure was fun! Last year at Skook I was still using a star, but now that I have moved up a boat size I'm even happier. The all star is perfect from holes to big waves! 12 days to go.....GREEN RACE BABY!! Photo Update Charlie Simmons (Wednesday 27th) ** - With only two weeks to go until the race, the chargers are starting to turn out....and not just the locals. Even with less than ideal river flow the monkey got spanked quite hard this passed weekend; though it did bite back on a few just to show its teeth. Here are some photos from the past few days. The Slave Survives! Level 6 (Saturday 23rd) ** - After several years of protest, meetings and incredible white water paddling festivals on the Slave River in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, the official announcement regarding the proposed dam was unveiled. There will be no dam on the Slave! Uganda 2010 with Brandon Hepburn Kokatat Blog (Saturday 23rd) ** - If I had to use one word to describe the whole trip it would be outstanding! We got our A360 flight to Dubai, then straight onto Entebbe. Emily Wall picked us up and took us to the best place on Earth: Hairy Lemon Island.We got there late at night and couldn't see a thing, but settled in anyway. The next morning our alarm was banging on the roof, crazy monkeys! After one amazing breakfast we hit the club wave. Man, it was a big difference from being on holes most of the year to some big Africa waves. Two hours later we break for lunch woooo! Altai 2010 - Part 2 Tomass Marnics (Wednesday 27th) ** - Continuation of the story about our trip to Altai Mountains this year. Easter in Nepal – the Thule Bheri River David Fairweather (Tuesday 26th) ** - One of the things that I like about foreign kayaking trips is that I get to see new places, meet new people, and learn new things. One of the new things that I learnt on this particular trip is the meaning of the phrase "continuous grade 4 paddling". The educator in this case was the incredible Thule Bheri River, which flows south from the mountain region of Dolpo in Western Nepal to the Terai. Lachine Dave Crerar (Sunday 24th) ** - Lachine located on the St Laurence, only a short drive from Montreal's downtown, is one of the best waves I have ever surfed. However, not really knowing where we were going, it took a little longer than usual to get there. Montreal being a big city, it took us a while to find our friends house, who turned out not to be there. So we ventured to the car park by Lachine. Norrish Creek BC Go Boating AU (Monday 25th) ** - My exited first day with my new Go - Pro HD, On a medium'sh volume Norrish Creek run. This was my first creek run i ever did in when arriving in BC and is still a favourite. Tay Descent 2010 Simon Willis (Thursday 28th) ** - Check out the video! Mexico Y La Revolucion Evan Garcia (Tuesday 26th) ** - Well there's not much to say at this point. Mexico is the bomb and there is a lot of kayaking to be done here. Beers and big waterfalls! The mixture happens to be a good one...lucky for us. After a whole day filming in Mexico city, the largest in the world, we finally bounced out of the siphon of 27 million people and off to the country, the city of Tlapacoyan, and the home of the Rio Alsaseca.

Hot Forum Topics New to Paddling (Ladies) which paddle werner or AT ???? (Gear) Gear: Paddling Partner Ballast System (Gear) Edu Etxeberria / Waterman Ocean Spirit Festival 10 are you an instructor????? Top Videos Best of kayak carnage & beatdowns (JVil) Trailer 'beyond the season 2008' (Mone) Asian Invasion Dream Result Edit (NickDoran) Fall SUP.dv (martakokatatcom) BottomsUpKayaking - Better Then You Imagined - Trailer4 (five2nine) Upcoming Events Teifi Tour UK, Wales, Oct 29 - Oct 31 Greenland Week Programs & Competition USA, WA, Issaquah, Oct 30 - Nov 7 Tybee Island Paddle Surf Jam USA, Tybee Island, Oct 30 ACA National Paddlesports Conference USA, NC, Asheville, Nov 5 - Nov 7 NZ Pyranha Tekapo Throwdown New Zealand, Tekapo, Nov 6 - Nov 7 Green River Race USA, NC, Green, Nov 6 Kayakinpy Race France, Pau, Nov 6 PaddleFest USA, CA, Hunting Island (Beaufort), Nov 6 The Great Potato Race USA, MA, Hadley, Nov 7

The Playak Weekly Digest is a special Saturday version of the News Flash, containing the most popular paddling news of the past week. To see all the latest headlines, videos, forum discussions and more, visit Playak News Watch.
To manage your Playak subscriptions, click here.