Playak Weekly Digest - week 51

Playak Weekly Digest
The world's top paddling links in week 51, 2010.

News Watch Top 5 Rolling Myths Busted! Dagger Blogs (Friday 17th) **** - Rolling is a big deal in whitewater kayaking because it's an important self-rescue skill that can skyrocket your confidence, which in turn helps improve your skills. When you're confident that you can get yourself back up after flipping over, whitewater doesn't seem as scary and, mentally, you're more likely to try new things. Why I Hate Kayaks Misc. (Sunday 19th) *** - ...Shift to Colorado, Independence Day, 2008. I arrived at the Denver International Airport (landing through a brown cloud of smog that makes an autumn afternoon in Los Angeles look healthy), rented the cheapest vehicle I could get my hands on, and started the trip up I-70 to work near Vail for the coming week. Imagine my surprise to see a traffic jam that pretty much started in Denver, and went up the mountain as far as Breckenridge. Even more surprising, was the fact around 85% of the traffic jam consisted of SUVs and trucks, with at least 50% of those trucks sporting kayaks strapped to the roof... 1st Descent Waihi Stream, NZ's sickest Wavesport Blogs (Saturday 18th) ** - Waihi Stream is a Kayaker's dream, a 1km stretch of whitewater that drops 100m's over smooth Papa (A soft, clay like rock found in abundance on NZ's east coast), with road acess put-in and take-out. Josh Neilson and Matt Danes had scouted this Jem a couple years back and have been waiting for a rain event big enough to over-flow the dam at the put-in. Mwave 2010 Leif and Natalie (Wednesday 22nd) ** - The famous M wave, located near Montrose Colorado, is probably one of the best waves in the world. Perhaps not the absolute best, but definitely in the running for the top ten. Considering the fact that it's located in the middle of the desert and runs consistently well into october, it could be the worst wave in the world and it would probably still be one of my favorite spots. Montrose is only about 7 hours from Fort Collins, so I consider the Mwave sort of like my backyard spot. Natalie and I get out there as often as we can during the late season. Nile Kayaking Festival - Photo Competition... the nile progression (Monday 20th) ** - For the last few years we've been running a photo competition at every kayak festival here on the Nile. The competition is in memory of Ben Holland - a great friend of ours who was an amazing photographer and lived here on the banks of the NIle, but sadly passed away a few years ago. Winter Weather Advisory Team Pyranha (Tuesday 21st) ** - Typically December is great month to be a kayaker in Alabama. Frequent rainfall and mild temperatures usually result in lots of river days without much discomfort. However, December 2010 started out with a deep freeze that swept mercilessly across the southeastern United States. Alabama is typically around five to ten degrees warmer than the rest of the southeast paddling scene, but even here nighttime temperatures dipped into the single digits and daytime temperatures stayed below freezing for days on end. Tips for a Rope Tow Dagger Blogs (Monday 20th) ** - If you don't want to get out of your boat and hike or don't own a jet ski, there's an easy, affordable and relatively effortless way to surf the wave of your dreams. A rope tow is very similar to water skiing or wakeboarding except the rope is permanently fixed to a rock or tree. On the opposite end is a small handle, just wide enough for a single hand. Traditionally, attached to or near the handle is a second length of rope that is used to pull the rope back to shore. 20 days in Mexico – emerald blue cascades, tacos, jungle, beach, waterfalls and losses Teva Blog (Saturday 18th) ** - After the Green Race Mariann Saether (NOR), team TEVA athletes Mike Dawson (NZL), Seppi Strohmeier (GER) and me decided to head to Mexico for a three week kayak adventure. At the airport in Mexico-City we met with young gun Pirmin Dlugosch, the Norwegian Benjamin Hjort, and Mikes brother James to complete our international team Hagen Gorge in Southern Washington Wavesport Blogs (Sunday 19th) ** - The level was a little bit low, but still a super fun day. Hagen Gorge flows into the Washougal River which is just outside Portland, on the Washington side of the Columbia. The Washougal was running near 2000CFS. I'd like tohead back and run the same section when the Washoulgal is at maybe... 4000CFS. Here are photos of Euphoria and Crack in the Earth, the two largest rapids. Nick's Greeter Falls Mission adidas Sickline (Saturday 18th) ** - This past week we got 3 inches of rain here in Rock Island. Though it wasn't just us, the entire South Eastern United States got slammed. Everything thing was running, and the question was where do we go? Gym exercises for kayak strength Daily Paddle (Sunday 19th) ** - Spending some time in the gym is good for you: To become stronger or to prevent injuries. But what excercises should you do that are good for your paddling? Personally I find it hard to be creative. But…as a blessing the internet is full of information if you know where to look. Krom River – a Rare Descent Adrian Tregoning (Saturday 18th) ** - When you live in the Western Cape of South Africa, paddling options are a little limited. This is not to say that the paddling is bad, it certainly isn't – but this sometimes makes one look to something, well, different. The Krom River is a very short river that flows into the Smalblaar, just upstream of the confluence of the Smalblaar and the Elandspad where it strangely becomes known as the Molenaars to most people, and maps. I heard about it from Johnny Heatlie so we just had to investigate it. Marvelous Adventures of Millissa Martin (Mil) Girls at Play (Monday 20th) ** - Many of you have had the privilege to meet the marvelous Mil when you travelled to Mexico to paddle with Girls at Play. Besides being an outstanding kayak instructor, she is amazing for so many reasons. She keeps the music playing, keeps you laughing, helps you stay right side up in your boat and can boof and dance like no other. Her vibrant smile and energy are contagious. For all of these reasons she is perfectly qualified to be helping us, but also for what she does when she's not helping out Girls at Play. The Upper Dart in ELF conditions worldkayak blogs (Monday 20th) ** - A few weekends ago some friends and I went to Mr Westgarth's G17 Adventure Paddler's weekend. Temperatures were low; very low. River levels were low; very low. Did we care? Not one bit. Tonnes of people made the effort to get down to River Dart Country Park and Friday evening kicked off to a great start with a talk by Olaf Obsummer (which I missed), followed by a late night of socialising in the bar. Fun in the surf homemade kayaks (Friday 17th) * - Nice photos!!!

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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.
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