Snow to Jungle and back to Snow, good start to the season! ~ Cascada Bonito

Playak News Flash - April 28, 2012
The world's latest paddling headlines.

News Watch Headlines Snow to Jungle and back to Snow, good start to the season! WRSI - 2012 has been very generous thus far! Since January I have been fortunate enough to paddle many new places with a whole lot of great people. Hinterrhein Gorge - Switzerland Mark Basso - Early Spring and great views in the Rofla Gorge of the Hinterrhein - Switzerland Switzerland's Hinterrhein river valley drains north from the San Bernandino pass and adjoins the Vorderrhein confluence near the city of Chur. However as most paddlers familiar with the Swiss Al... Cascada Bonito Wavesport Blogs - After a long stint down in Patagonia, we ( the blue balls crew) started heading North, Back to Pucon. After getting another round in on the Rio Manso just south of Barriloche, we decided it was time to head home. The whole crew had planned to fly out with in the next week and we needed to organize... Kern River Festival and Gold Medal Camp. Jackson Kayak - It has been an awesome 2 weeks in Kernville, California, with sunny weather and rising water. I attended the Gold Medal Camp for a second year in a row to refresh my paddling skills before the season started. Pringle & Katya in Uganda:- Opening our eyes to the Wild Palm Blogs - We're now back home from our Winter in Uganda. We spent the last 3 months there paddling the White Nile river, now one of the most popular winter destinations particularly for us freestyle paddlers. Stormy skies beyond The Stacks Will Herman - While sorting out images for a long term project I'm trying to make some progress with, I came across these which I thought I'd share - taken at the end of an extremely cold trip around The Stacks - Anglesey - during the winter of 2010/11. Dramatic skies looking out into the Irish Sea..... Old School Series – Dagger Kingpin unsponsored - I haven't really seriously paddled a Dagger kayak since I owned a Vertigo years back. At the time I was pretty happy with the outfitting although I did change the back band. I was therefore very interested in giving the Kingpin a go to see how things had developed over the years. The Shasha - An Arabian Bundle Boat Indigenous Boats - "On Oman's Batinah coast fishermen still use the shasha , one of the oldest boats known to man, made of a bundle of palm fronds tied together." (From The Sindbad Voyage by Tim Severin. Click image to enlarge.)  I've never heard of this boat and know nothing else about it. It mak... Upper Nevado Log Extraction Pucon Kayak Hostel - ... The log underwater was vertically pinned in the middle-landing zone, limbs sticking out as flags. The word portage need not be uttered. We studied the straight up walls. Neither of us wanting to hike, climb, and drag kayaks up a slick, dirty embankment to the road. Ian announced, "You want to throw boats or swim and catch?" I replied, "You've probably got a better arm than me. I'll go first and catch."... Boardworks Raven Review Mountain Surf Adventures - I have had the 12 6" Boardworks Surf Raven for over a month now and I thought I would take this opportunity to do a review on its performance. Boise River Park at its Best! Jackson Kayak - We are within weeks of the grand opening of the long awaited Boise Whitewater Park! The first phase of constructions of the WaveShaper is finished and the scenic Boise Greenbelt paths have been repaved. Building a Cedar Strip Stand Up Paddleboard: Installing Ribs Dash Point Pirate - Unlike typical production SUPs, which are a fiberglass layup over foam core, this board is hollow. One major disadvantage of a hollow board is that if there is a leak, water will accumulate inside. Since the wood inside the board will be left unsealed, the strips will warp if they get wet. Five slalom canoeists in Team GB BBC - Great Britain will have five canoe slalom entrants at this summer's Olympic Games in London, confirms Team GB. Rafting with Children worldkayak blogs - My friends know I am such whitewater junkie that anyone involved with me is going to get introduced to rivers and that is pretty much a fact. So when they found out that my wife and I were having kids that joked about how this would affect my whitewater lifestyle. "What you going to do with kids?" Navy Officers Stuck in the Sand Freya Hoffmeister - I forgot to mention that last night my Navy officers really got stuck in the sand! But instead of pushing, they released some air out of the tires, and the driver was slowly digging it out – even without the two guys pushing. This morning, I saw them doing the same *before* they came down the beach! Clever…but I can't tell if they made it out safely, as I was afloat.

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Today's News Editor(s): bartw.