Big Silver Creek – (Divided We Falls) ~ Gauley Festival 2011

Playak News Flash - September 26, 2011
The world's latest paddling headlines.

News Watch Headlines

Big Silver Creek – (Divided We Falls) Fraser Valley WW - The Divided Falls run on Big Silver Creek gets its name from the ultra clean 12 foot split falls.

Say Goodbye to the Riverside-Figueroa Bridge L.A. Creek Freak - It's not the greatest of the Los Angeles River's historic bridges. The L-shaped Riverside Drive Bridge that connects Elysian Valley with Cypress Park is one of at least five Riverside Drive Bridges in Los Angeles… so it's commonly called the Riverside-Figueroa Bridge. It's sort of a patchwork bridge, with parts from 1928-1929, 1930s and 1950s. And it's going to be demolished… very soon.

Gauley Festival 2011 Titan Kayaks - Every Fall, in the Appalachian mountains around the towns of Summersville and Fayetville West Virginia, whitewater kayakers, rafters, and whitewater enthusiasts from around the world come together for the Gauley River Festival, or Gauleyfest. One of the biggest and better known whitewater festivals in North America, Gauleyfest is a must do for kayakers of all ages and abilities. Whether its the classic Upper Gauley big rapids like Pillow or Broken Paddle, or the long mellow stretches of playspot peppered Middle and Lower, the Gauley has something for everyone...

Royal Gorge, California Team LiquidLogic - This summer was the best summer of my life. We started out having a nice long PNW spring/summer with plenty of flow up here in WA, and then we continued our stoke into the best place to kayak ever, California!

Why Stand Up Paddling is So Healthy Radio Segment with Suzie Cooney of Suzie Trains Maui SUP Fitness - There's something happening world-wide on lakes, oceans, streams and even on the Colorado Rapids, Alaska and now, even on mainstream TV, like Bravo TV's Millionaire Matchmaker, and that is stand up paddling! You wouldn't be reading or listening to this segment if you too weren't drawn into the explosive new craze of stand up paddling or SUP as is it a great way to get healthy.

Canada Cup/Canada 2011 SquareRock - This August I was lucky enough to get back to the Ottawa River. I was so excited to be going back to Canada; I had been 4 times before but I hadn't spent a summer there since 2006. I was looking forward to, and to curious about, what the river would seem like having now spent so much time of the big volumes rapids of the White Nile, Uganda. Thankfully it didn't disappoint, it was cool to go back and actually be able to do some tricks on all the waves the Ottawa has to offer, whereas last time I was there I was just spinning and doing roundhouse.

California Sunshine !! Wavesport Blogs - After 2 years of failed / aborted Cali trips, I was finally able to pull it together. Everything came together, and on top of that Mother nature stepped up to the plate to play as well with a 200% snowpack in the Sierra's.

Canada 2011 – the warm up Andy Wicks - This trip had been a long time in the planning. Some time towards the end of 2010, Simon Knox somehow persuaded Martyn Read, Doug Johnson and myself that we wanted to travel to Quebec to paddle the Magpie river. Despite Simon mentioning the 26 miles we would have to paddle down a lake, it still sounded like a good idea and during the following months, the remaining spaces on the trip were filled by Nick Smailes and Richard Morley. This first post is a write-up of my diary for the first part of the trip, before we flew in to the Magpie.

Gauley Festival 2011 worldkayak blogs - Gauley festival 2011 is officially in the record books, and the WK family had a great time and hosted some sweet events. I want to give a big thank you to all of our Gauley first time guides (Clay, Em, Andrew, John, Jim, Wes, and Rick).

Riley Adams checking in from his trip to New York/PA Immersion Research - Some footage from Riley Adams on the bottom moose and hornbeck's creek.

Variations on a Contact Tow KayakQuixotica - The other day a coach that I was paddling with showed me his fancy new quick release on his contact tow. This is certainly a heavy-duty bit of gear. Just what I was looking for to connect my Jeff Allen throw tow to my PFD. I'm sure there are probably lighter quick release clips out there, but these are available locally at the old Farm & Fleet store.

C4 Waterman Announces Re-Launch of Core Brand SUP Surf - C4 Waterman, Inc. announces the re-launch of its C4 Waterman brand of boards and paddles with a streamlined list of refined models and color ways, which it will manufacture and distribute directly along with its recently released SUBNINE performance series.

Camping interupted A whole bunch of Ing's - A camping trip was contrived as I wrote the previous post. Of course a early morning packing of kit was in order. By noon I was paddling down Witless bay Brook into the beginnings of my trip; which truthfully had the same amount of planning as a car accident. A draconian wind from the west constantly increasing was a welcomed aide; propelling me out of witless bay to continue my open ended trip south.

Disaster At The Aquapac Office [Creative Marketing] :) Paddling Instructor Blog - Aquapac just posted what I think that this is one of the funniest press releases I have read in a very, very long time. A very nice change from the boring and stuffy ones usually passed around...

Review: Fuselage Frame Boats: a Guide to Building Skin Kayaks and Canoes PaddlingLight - Fuselage Frame Boats: A guide to building skin kayaks and canoes documents S. Jeff Horton's, Kudzu Craft, method of building plywood-framed skin-on-frame kayaks in a similar method to those developed by Tom Yost of Yostwerks. The idea is to connect a series of frames with stringers to make the basic shape of the kayak or canoe. Over the frame, you sew or attach a fabric skin that you waterproof with varnish or two-part polyurethane. By following the process, you can build a boat quickly and inexpensively. This is my Fuselage Frame Boats review.

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Today's News Editor(s): Allen.