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.

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