Playak News Flash 2010-10-16

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

News Watch Headlines

Big Wave Kayak Surfing in South Africa with Steve Fisher Go Kayak Now - Steve Fisher in this short trailer for the film Wild Coast Heat is out riding giants in a surf kayak. What's amazing to me is that his boats are a hybrid between whitewater and surf kayak. Not sure I could even get up to speed on those monsters without getting munched. I began day dreaming about escaping to South Africa before the world cup. Might have been a hoot, surfing in the morning, soccer in the afternoon. From the looks of it, it might have been all round USA beat down.

Few new videos Jakub Nemec - All good here. Check out few videos I was working on for last couple of days. Here is Bryan Kirk on the Gauley river with prototype of Wave Sport Project X styyyling macho move off the wave.

Kanumesse 2010 MDAC - One of the main reasons everyone goes to Kanumesse is the parties, stand parties each evening, and one big party in the week. But there was also lots and lots of new toys to see. Here's what i found interesting at the show.

Smalblaar River - Waterfall Mission Adrian Tregoning - A while back I paddled the Molenaars with a good mate of mine, Braam Rademeyer. It had rained the previous day but was then was sunny the following. For the Molenaars River, this means very low levels as it drops fast, and when we got to the river, it was low. But that didn't matter and we got on to the river anyway. It's always great to get out and paddling in sunshine in the Western Cape province of South Africa is also a treat!

Big Water Weekend River Left Productions - With Moosefest coming in this weekend, heres a flash back of some high water a couple weekends ago.

Mzimvubu River Fluid Team Trip – Day 3 Adrian Tregoning - The third morning was a chilly one. We had camped in the lee of a hill and there the sun wouldn't have been able to rouse us for quite some time, so we had to get going without its warmth. April is encroaching on winter time in South Africa and mornings can have a bite in the air. It looked like another excellent day ahead.

New York At It's Best Team Pyranha - This weekend we saw Northern New York Boating at its absolute best. Between Inner City Strife Wave being at a perfect level, and other area runs coming in we couldn't ask for anything more. Top it off with beautiful fall foliage, and blue skies, and you have sheer perfection.

"Facing East" on NBC! Level 6 - Level Six Global Team Member and good friend Tino Specht has informed us that "Facing East", a massive film project he was involved in, will be showcased on NBC on Oct. 15 at 11:30 pm EST and again on Oct 16 at 3:30 pm EST! Be sure to check it out!

CaliBurnFest 2010 Results Kokatat Blog - his past weekend was CaliBurn Fest, a weekend long kayaking festival on the Trinity River, about an hour east of Arcata – Kokatat country!

Cali BurnFest '10 Immersion Research - With water levels on the west coast winding down, paddlers are flocking to the few damn release rivers with gradient for entertainment. Paul Gamache, an Arcata, CA local has been putting on BurnFest on the Burnt Ranch Gorge section of the Trinity for the past few years to feed the hunger of the paddling community out here, and doing a great job at it. This event was one of the best grass roots events I have ever attended.

Mutale 2010 Adrian Tregoning - promised myself that I would never paddle a river with crocodiles again. I now know that never is not a very long time." These were the words of Paul Marais as we drove to the put-in of the rarely run Mutale River, in the remote northeast of South Africa.

Haakgat – Best Surf Kayaking Session of the Season? Adrian Tregoning - I'd been checking out Haakgat for quite a while. When it gets big and there is SE wind blowing a couple of windsurfers and kiters hit that spot and ride the left that runs just next to a patch of reef. The launch has some shore break but it's manageable if you time it right. Once out it isn't too hard to get to the backline, on a given day. Many times I had stood there and checked it out. No wind, but closing out right across and no ways of getting to the backline – damn. On another day, it just wouldn't be happening, or a NW wind would totally ruin it, or too much SE wind. Or the tide would be wrong and the evil kelp would be sticking out, waiting to cane the unsuspecting kayaker. Until July this year.

Sacramento River kayaking - Anderson to Balls Ferry - California whitewater trip report BRT Insights - My wife Sharon and I are new to kayaking. Our opinion of what is easy or difficult water is based on very little experience with moving water. We drove up to Anderson CA a day early so we could check things out. We found two different put in spots. 1) We had read on the internet that we could put in at the end of North St. There is a small parking lot where North St comes close to the river at the end of Downing St. where you can walk down to the river bank. It is fairly easy access to carry a kayak. 2) We launched at the Anderson Public Fishing Access ramp next to Anderson River Park on Rupert Rd.

VIDEO: Married to Kayak Fishing Kayak Angler Magazine - John and Helen of Anglers Afloat UK literally tied the knot this September in Ladram Bay, Devon.

Westward Waters: The Final Day Adventures of Burgess - Waking from our warm lodgings in Vail we aid our goodbyes in the early morning sunrise and caught breakfast at the local grub-ery. The night previous our we had amass a crew of paddler and agreed to run Bailey's Canyon of the North Fork of the South Platte River (about 1 hr to the Southwest of Denver). Bellies content we headed South and Easterly headed for the small town of Bailey where rendezvous with our crew of paddlers and set shuttle. Myself and John joined up with our ring leader and veteran Ian, Thomas, and another paddler (I can't recall his name).

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