2010 Pyranha Burn M Comprehensive Review ~ Fear Canyon of the Elaho

Playak Weekly Digest
The world's top paddling links in week 34, 2011.

News Watch 2010 Pyranha Burn M Comprehensive Review Adam Frey (Wednesday 24th) **** - After my Prijon Pure M finally bit it with my Ashnola swim it was time for a new creekboat. I was looking for something less expensive than the Pure, and wasn't sure whether to go edgy or not so edgy. I had owned and paddled, though briefly, a Burn before and liked it quite a bit (maybe should have ... Confluence Announces Expansion and Move to New Facility in South Carolina Playak (Thursday 25th) *** - Confluence Watersports today announced that the company will move to a new facility in Greenville, S.C. The new location is within 10 miles of the company's current operations. Fear Canyon of the Elaho Dagger Blogs (Monday 22nd) ** - I wanted to check in from the Whistler, BC library about some recent adventures that I have been having out here. Chris Korbulic and Ben Stookesberry Explore Evolving Class V and High Sierra Firsts First Ascent (Wednesday 24th) ** - First Descent Guide Chris Korbulic reflects on the state of California kayaking. Rio Claro (Pucon) Rivers of Chile (Sunday 21st) ** - The Rio Claro is a small creek in downtown Pucon..It is more of a novelty run for locals in the winter months or when everything else is too high.. Logistics are absolutely simple. The most hard core creek race ever!- The Callaghan, July 26, 2011 Kayak Hot Dogs (Saturday 20th) ** - The Callaghan Creek race has been in my sights for a long time. Endless Adventure usually attends a few white water festivals throughout the year but never a full on creek race making it a hard sell to the marketing department (my lovely wife). First Descents and Last Descents, Sri Lanka Palm Blogs (Monday 22nd) ** - Things are going well in Sri Lanka! More first descents, waterfalls and slides! Road Tripping – Random Encounters with 'The Law' 2 Ruth Gordon (Sunday 21st) ** - Sharing road tripping stories is a favorite past time of kayakers around the world. At a recent Canadian campfire I was reminded of two random encounters I've had with 'The Law' since I began kayaking. I've already posted the first, so here is the second. Upper Cherry Level 6 (Monday 22nd) * - This has been one of those seasons… that will be talked about for years to come, a once in 20 yr snow pack coupled with below average daily temps, combining for an epic, prolonged snow melt. It just also happened to be our (Louise Urwin and myself – Tyler Fox) first season in California. Score ! Can the Fun Runner boof well? Heck yeah! Jackson Kayak (Wednesday 24th) * - Once again the Fun Runner continues to impress me. This past weekend we headed out to the Tobin section of the North Fork Feather, a place in Cali that is actually warm enough to paddle in a rash guard! It is at fish flow or the moment, which gives us a technical boulder garden full of super sweet boofs! Noah Fraser, WK ambassador for Reno, was our test subject and here is what he had to say. Middle Cherry Creek Ross Herr (Wednesday 24th) * - So I am a little out of order on things here but Cherry Creek was one of my favorite experiences from my Cali trip and I think some of my favorite photographs as well. It was absolutely the most unique place on the trip. Middle Cherry Creek is a seldom seen section of the Cherry Drainage that begins right below Cherry Lake and above the confluence with the Tuolumne. The locals call it Nord Norge… Tom Parker (Tuesday 23rd) * - After another successful TPC steep creeking trip and the hilarity of the Sjoa Kayak Festival, it was time to head north. Proper north. We've always talked about it but inertia has always set in but this year we managed to get it togerther. First stop was Hatfjelldal (hatmountainvalley), a mere 9 hours north of Sjoa… The most hard core creek race ever!- The Callaghan ... worldkayak blogs (Tuesday 23rd) * - The bigger of the two drops on the Race. The Callaghan Creek race has been in my sights for a long time. Endless Adventure usually attends a few white water festivals throughout the year but never a full on creek race making it a hard sell to the marketing department (my lovely wife). This year I got the green light to promote our Ecuador tours and represent our company at the event. The plan was simple — Hector my Harry Potter look-a-like kayak instructor and rad paddler would partner me in the race. Colorado Treats Team Pyranha (Wednesday 24th) * - Just returned home from my adventurous summer in Buena Vista, Colorado where I worked for Kodi Rafting as a raft guide. Even with the season being as busy as it was and without a car halfway through the summer I was still fortunate enough to explore a lot of local gems in the area. Diary of an ageing kayaker: Inspirational paddling films - Dudh Kosi PaddleBlogs (Wednesday 24th) * - I recently picked up the DVD of the 1976 British Kayak expedition to Everest that was led my the late Mike Jones. It was one of a couple of films that was hugely inspirational to me as a kayaking obsessed teenager in Tasmania. Watching it for the first time in maybe 30 years brought back all sorts of memories. Seeing the film again now, accompanied by contemporary interviews with the surviving paddlers, and previously un-released 8 mm 'home movie' footage, was revealing on a number of levels. Most obviously, the amount of change in whitewater paddling over the years.

Hot Forum Topics Nepal in February (Whitewater) Enter contest to win a free Johnnie Kayaker Tshirt (Whitewater) would you like to race in Greece next year? (Sea Kayaking and Touring) Liquid Logic Big Wheel (Whitewater) Cross River (CR) 125 (Discuss) Top Videos UMC - Upper Middle Consumes (1596Productions) Youth Freestyle Series - Washburn Highlights (JamesB) Creatures of Habit trailer Re-Entering a Sit Inside Kayak (The Heliconia Press) Over the Edge trailer Upcoming Events Devils Extreme Race Czech Republic, Loucovice, Aug 26 - Aug 28 Oregon Open Ocean US, Oregon, Newport, Aug 26 - Aug 28 Riverstar Festival Austria, , Aug 26 - Aug 28 LargeOutdoors Summer Party UK, Wales, , Aug 26 - Aug 29 Reuss Cup Uri Switzerland, Erstfeld, Aug 27 - Aug 28

To see all the latest headlines, videos, forum discussions and more, visit Playak News Watch. This is the standard version of the newsletter, covering all paddling disciplines. To change the tailoring, please login on Playak, and then click the yellow triangle at the very top of the page to set your interests.
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Today's News Editor(s): bartw, Allen.

How to Flip Turn ~ Redesigned 2012 Mamba Series Details ~ Nord Norge

Playak Weekly Digest
The world's top paddling links in week 33, 2011.

News Watch How to Flip Turn Wavesport Blogs (Sunday 14th) ** - Oh how I love to Helix but I also really love to Flip Turn. Here's some input on how to Flip Turn which is such a cool feeling when you get one! Definition: Rotation of over 90° at a horizontal angle followed by a rotation with a vertical angle over 45° on the stern in one fluid motion. This is a green water, aerial maneuver. The boat must land in a front surf within 45° horizontal angle range ... Redesigned 2012 Mamba Series Details Dagger (Sunday 14th) ** - The fully redesigned 2012 Mamba series keeps all the hallmark friendliness of the iconic series, but with a performance-infused redesign to take kayakers to the next level. With a Team Tested, Paddler Proven heritage that's trusted by the most renowned instructors and pro paddlers in the world, the fully-redesigned 2012 Mamba whitewater series offers serious refinements that will make it the top river runner in its class. It features a larger-sized lineup with improved volume distribution, increased speed and crisper control, with added safety features and even more durability. It's the true wonder boat. The Elusive Left Line LL Ladies Lounge (Monday 15th) ** - Ok so I did tell everyone that I would do my next blog post on South Silver but I got a request to do a post on the Elusive left line of Sunshine. So here it is. I've been running the left line for a few years now with many different variations of the line. I started in a long boat and then slowly ... "We're leaving tonight for Upper Cherry!!" Whitewater-Koa (Monday 15th) ** - Sometimes things don't go exactly to plan. I had such good intentions to get back into kayaking in an orderly fashion after my surgery in January. The Dr said 3 months till flat water then another 3 till I could start getting on some rapids and building up from there. The first 3 months went past and i went kayaking on flat water for the first time which felt good. Chris Gragtmans Travels Westward! Immersion Research (Tuesday 16th) ** - I'm happy to be checking in from a cross-continent kayaking road trip. The first stop of the trip was the Payette River Drainage near Boise, Idaho. Nord Norge Ron Fischer (Tuesday 16th) ** - The last two weeks, Mariann and I have been on a road trip to "northern Norway". Even the world's best have bad days on the river. Team paddler Dave Fusilli loses some gear. Werner (Saturday 13th) ** - In one day of running the Crystal Gorge in CO, with fellow Team paddler Nicole Mansfield, our hero Dave Fusilli lost his carbon Powerhouse, his throw bag and his Pyranha Burn!  Words by Dave Fusilli-"So I was letting some folks demo my Burn on the river, we were all swapping out above drops. Well one guy swims and in the process my throwbag washes out ... Norway 2011 Wrap up Sweet (Tuesday 16th) * - It's been a lot of up and down this season. It all started really good with an early spring with rivers flooding all over the country and we ran some really good waterfalls, shooting pictures together with the Friflyt magazine. The next 4-6 weeks were again really dry due to cold weather and my back was bad after boofing Spånemsfossen in Telemark. Then the summer came and it was time to chase waterfalls all over the country again. Best of The Bitterroot - and The Bitteroot Creek Race Jackson Kayak (Thursday 18th) * - Located in the Bitterroot valley is some of the best whitewater in Western Montana. There are two creeks in particular that draw attention, the Kootenai creek and Bear creek. This summer we had our annual Best of the Bitterroot creek races down these rocky creeks. Due to high water the race dates were pushed back week after week and were finally held a month after the original planned dates. The Kootenai creek race was held first and after enough people showed up to have it, it was literally off to the races. Road Tripping – Random Encounters with 'The Law' 1 Ruth Gordon (Saturday 13th) * - Sharing road tripping stories is a favorite past time of kayakers around the world. At a recent Canadian campfire I was reminded of two random encounters I've had with 'The Law' since I began kayaking. The first was early in my life as a kayaker. I was driving a beat up old VW Jetta and although it began its life a nice shade of white it was definitely more of a solid rust color by the time it was in my possession (a kayaker does not complain about hand me down cars). Are you ready for the Gauley yet? worldkayak blogs (Friday 19th) * - Hey paddling pals for the fifth year running World Kayak wants to help boaters answer this very important question. Pairs of world class guides will once again volunteer their time to help boaters step it up on this amazing river. Each team of guides will work with a group of 5 first timers to ensure that we have the most fun possible on the Gauley. If you are lucky enough to win one of the coveted spots get ready to learn all of the lines and play spots that the Gauley has to offer. Sjoa River Festival 2011 Images Gene17 (Tuesday 16th) * - Another great week in Norway... West Kootenays: St. Leon Creek LiquidLore (Monday 15th) * - Galena Bay ferry...the boat you need to get from Revelstoke to the river. The mountains in the Monashees are just as big as anywhere else in BC. ... Anza gold Zet Kayaks (Sunday 14th) * - Spring 2011 in the alps could have been better seen from the kayaker's or skier's eye. Dry winter months, the smallest snowpack since many years, hence no water in the rivers during the spring time. Checking the water levels online was mostly frustrating, except from a few weekends when long-awaited rain fall helped to raise the flow on some creeks. For sure, this year`s kayaking wasn't as exiting as most other years in the alps Bad, Bad, Naughty Cam KayakQuixotica (Monday 15th) * - As a sea kayaking coach I see lots of kayaks & gear on the water each year. I have the opportunity to see how students actually use their gear, how it works for them and how sometimes it really fails.  Take these Cam-Clips for instance.  I've ranted about them in the past, but they ...

Hot Forum Topics Enter contest to win a free Johnnie Kayaker Tshirt (Whitewater) New Activity Centre looking for kayaks and canoes Nice playboat for £400-£500? (Whitewater) Nepal in February (Whitewater) Past kayaker deaths, troubles on Lake Superior fuel call for prep, safety Top Videos Short edit to wait the biggest (dalso) Final K1M Run 3 (robvanbommel) Norge Jentelag Rafting 2011 (PLANET RIVER) Christine Gauthier - World Champion Paracanoeing (K1 LTA) (robvanbommel) Ken Wallace MPEG 4 Upcoming Events Ohiopyle Over the Falls Festival USA, PA, Ohiopyle, Aug 20 Devils Extreme Race Czech Republic, Loucovice, Aug 26 - Aug 28 Oregon Open Ocean US, Oregon, Newport, Aug 26 - Aug 28 Reuss Cup Uri Switzerland, Erstfeld, Aug 27 - Aug 28

To see all the latest headlines, videos, forum discussions and more, visit Playak News Watch. This is the standard version of the newsletter, covering all paddling disciplines. To change the tailoring, please login on Playak, and then click the yellow triangle at the very top of the page to set your interests.
To unsubscribe from this newsletter with only one click, click here.

Today's News Editor(s): bartw, Jean-Ellen M. Trapani.