Playak Weekly Digest - week 14

Playak Weekly Digest
The world's top paddling links in week 14, 2011.

News Watch Warmups for Freestyle Paddling Wavesport Blogs (Wednesday 6th) ** - Though these exercises are designed for freestyle paddlers in mind, these are exceptional ways to get warmed up in any boat.  This video tutuorial from H2o Dreams has that particular focus in mind.   Not all the lines are good Dagger Blogs (Saturday 2nd) ** - Check out the carnage reel from over the years, thanks to Chris Gragtmans.  And remember not all the lines are good:)   EJ Decides NOT to compete in the 2011 World Championships- Time to Retire Jackson Kayak (Saturday 2nd) ** - After much deliberation, and getting my butt kicked by just about everyone in Africa and now back here at Rock Island, it seems it is time to hang up the goal for world dominance in kayaking and just be a businessman.   So you want to go Creekin'? CKS Blog (Sunday 3rd) ** - Ten years ago it was one size fits all and one style fits all paddling disciplines. Your creek boat was your playboat and your river-running boat. Today there are more boat choices than most of us know what to do with. Duck … duck … kayak! Misc. (Monday 4th) ** - Kayak instructor Vaughn Corum bobs along with some of the 17,000 plastic ducks that were released during the 7th annual KinderMourn Hope Floats Duck Race at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C. Carbon River WA‏ Jackson Kayak (Wednesday 6th) ** - Wintering in Hood River, OR may not be as warm as the empanadas of Chile, or ever close to as sunny. Actually, I haven't see the sun in days, it's been raining for weeks, and everything seams to always be at a great level! So… Yeah, other than those tasty little pockets of goodness, the PNW has been a great Winter Boating Location. Varun + Grand Canyon = Great Time Team Pyranha (Wednesday 6th) ** - Hey, I just returned from a 21 day raft supported trip down the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. I was able to take the new Varun down, this was my first time getting to know this boat and I must say we became pretty good friends. The Varun had enough hull speed that I was able to keep up with everyone else on the trip but I didn't sacrifice any of my playboating ability.  This boat did it all fast on the flats, smooth in the rapids, responsive on a wave, and threw down in a hole.  Here is a video fresh from the Canyon enjoy. The Varun hits the Grand Canyon Freestyle Jam at Full James Martina Wegman (Monday 4th) * - Last Saturday I decided together with Lou Jull to enter the freestyle competition at Full James which unfolded last Sunday. It was the New Zealand selections for the World Championships in Plattling, Germany, which will be held in early June. Awesome New Colors for Kid's Boats! Jackson Kayak (Tuesday 5th) * - I just received my new Rasta (red, yellow, and green) Shooting Star kid's playboat and I love it! Jackson Kayak also has Goth available (green, white, and black) as a standard color for boats now. The first thing I did was ... New World Record: Longest kayak Level 6 (Monday 4th) * - Today is was the seasonal opening event of one of my sponsors, kanoshop.nl. To raise money for 'RightToPlay' they organized the a Guinness World Record by linking somewhere around 50 Fluid Locomotions to form a single kayak of 96,40 Meter! Every kayak was paddled by a kid, so at the same time 50 kids were introduced to our sport of kayaking! All in all a crazy event and a new world record: the worlds longest kayak! Who will beat this one? Adam Chappell Shows his Carbon All Star! Jackson Kayak (Saturday 2nd) * - Some sweet footage from Inner City- Check It Out!   Mother nature changed her mind! Plus a Project X review Wavesport Blogs (Wednesday 6th) * - I thought spring was here but was wrong. It only lasted for 3 days and right back to winter! I decided to head south only to PA and NJ which isn't really that south but a little warmer than VT not by much though. The temps here have been in the 40's but we did have 2 days of 50 but windy. Springa Here! Fluid Blog (Saturday 2nd) * - Spring has hit the NW which means its time to explore, huck waterfalls, and run laps in on our favorite creeks! Hagan Gorge and Canyon Creek WA are both classic NW creek runs. Canyon Creek is the perfect run to do laps on and is home to the NW Creeking Competition which takes place every spring! Wave Parks To Become The Norm? SUP UK (Wednesday 6th) * - With a initiative from multiple world champion surfer Kelly Slater and the recent realisation of the Wave Garden , are we about to see an abundance of artificial wave pools/parks, making wave riding accessible to those landlocked amoungst us?    A house gives birth and a maiden voyage!! Just Yakkin (Sunday 3rd) * - The big day has finally arrived. Two months to the day, the new boat is ready to leave the attic and hit the water!! I think the pictures speak for themselves . . .

Hot Forum Topics Rand or Bungee? (Whitewater) Biss Stick promo (Whitewater) Blyde Xfest (2011) results (Whitewater) Prijon Soca (Whitewater) FOR SALE: Brand New BlackBerry bold 9780-$270 (Sea Kayaking and Touring) Top Videos Polly Green ~ Sustainability Vlog#1 ~ New York City Water (polly) Lol-Boating the Boyle River (tao) Folbot Jersey Paddlesports 2011 (scottrapidmedia) New Trail at 3 Rock (GoPro HD HERO) (shane little) Ben Brown: Salween River Video Blog (Ben_Brown) Upcoming Events Texas International Boat Show US, TX, , Apr 7 - Apr 10 Mures Marathon Second Edition Romania, Mures, Apr 8 - Apr 10 Kaiserklamm-Trophy Austria, , Apr 8 - Apr 10 Whitewater Triple Crown New England Championships US, CT, Tariffville, Apr 8 - Apr 10 New Haven Festival US, VT, Bristol, Apr 9 MACKfest Canada, Marmora, Apr 9 - Apr 10 East Coast Canoe & Kayak Festival US, SC, Charleston, Apr 15 - Apr 17 Kern River Kayak & Raft Festival USA, CA, Kernville, Apr 15 - Apr 17 Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race US, ME, Penobscot County, Apr 16 Northwest Creeking Competition US, WA, Yacolt, Apr 16 - Apr 17 Nene GB Freestyle league/open event UK, England, Northampton, Apr 17

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. 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, click here.

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

Playak Weekly Digest - week 13

Playak Weekly Digest
The world's top paddling links in week 13, 2011.

News Watch My Carbon Rock Star- What can I say besides, "HOLY #$%#@!" Jackson Kayak (Friday 25th) *** - I am still flying high on my Rock Star M from Africa. It is one of those times where you are so impressed and fired up with your new boat that seems to be an answer to all of your dreams, that the idea of having something else come close is hard to believe.    Well, the Carbon Rock Star is just that. Breaking in the paddling season Dagger Blogs (Thursday 31st) *** - The last week as been a hectic one I have to say. I set off from Montana in hopes of catching high water on the west coast for the third annual Northwest Huck Fest. Upon arriving in Hood River we found exactly what we were looking for: lots of water! The Huck Fest is notoriously ... Look Down! Kayak Yak (Wednesday 30th) ** - Here's a quick little video that's been around that's been making its way around the Interweb during the last few days. In Florida, a kayaker had a very close encounter with a basking shark . Check it out: Does the Math, Walks Away From a Kayak Descent Record Attempt First Ascent (Sunday 27th) ** - Story by Ben Stookesberry; photos by Chris Korbulic Twenty-six days into the filming of the Brazilian reality TV series, I am standing at the brink of a 40-meter monster. Cali Crunch Time Team LiquidLogic (Monday 28th) ** - As of late, I have been pushing myself to progress as a kayaker. Moving to Nevada City, California has put me in a position to paddle amazing whitewater almost every single day of the year. While most of the stretches of river in the area have been run in the past. We have begun exploring places that no other kayaker has gone before. Luckily, there is a great crew of paddlers in the area who are motivated to seek out and test these virgin waters with me. Eagle Creek, Oregon (3.19.11) Nathan Pfeifer (Monday 28th) ** - One of the first things that Emily and I did after moving to Oregon was go backpacking up Eagle Creek, in the Columbia River Gorge. I remember being completely blown away by the massive waterfalls and moss covered cliff walls and trees. It was a stark contrast from Arizona,... Skirt-rack-zilla Immersion Research (Sunday 27th) ** - Over the years I've never quite seen a good way to stock or display sprayskirts.  I know it's about as nerdy of a topic as there could be, but being a seller of sprayskirts I keep an eye out for such a thing when I visit retail shops.  Sprayskirts typically hang like a limp, wet, droopy noodle from a display rack or grid-wall hook, and there's really nothing very appealing about they way they are displayed in shops.  To be fair, it's a product that is very difficult and awkward to display and it takes up a lot of space.  Again, it's terribly nerdy, but this bothers me, and for a couple years I've had an idea to make a sprayskirt display rack kind of like the poster display racks you see in records stores 6 Questions with Team Dagger's Brendan Wells Dagger Blogs (Thursday 31st) ** - Brendan Wells answers a few questions on paddling and himself. Where are you from? Where do you live? I was born and raised in the small town of Trout Lake, Washington and still live there today.  How/Why did you start kayaking? It all started with my p... Carbon Rock Star is Lightweight Freestyle Heavyweight Jackson Kayak (Saturday 26th) ** - The following is the official press release about the new carbon Rock Star. Just in time for the competition season, Jackson Kayak introduces a carbon/Kevlar version of its new generation freestyle playboat, the Rock Star. Middle Fuy; Huilo Huilo... Evan Garcia (Sunday 27th) ** - I am missing some very needed updates and they will be up soon...in the meantime go ahead and enjoy this video I put together from our last day of class V paddling from this Chile season Darin McQuoid and Friends Net a Kayaking First Descent in the California Snow First Ascent (Tuesday 29th) * - By Darin McQuoid Who would have thought, two first descents in one week and both in the mecca of kayaking, California. It's normal for our schedules to be dictated by weather in this wonderful sport. Isn't it great to live in Western PA worldkayak blogs (Tuesday 29th) * - The Slides are FULL ! While you may know all the great paddling destinations : North Carolina, Colorado, Cumberland Plateau, California Siera's, Idaho, and the list goes on. Many boaters never realize that one of the best places to paddle in the mid-atlantic region is Pennsylvania. With ample east coast gradient, year round whitewater, and rivers with a proclivity for running after heavy rains PA boasts some of the most diverse paddling for any boater from big water play to the steep and gnarly ( insert brown claw here ) . We've been blessed this year with abundant rainfall which has kept water levels at near epic season status... Death in Ardlamont. SeaKayakPhoto.com (Tuesday 29th) * - We paddled towards the mouth of Loch Fyne along a raised beach until we came to Kilbride Bay. The sad remains of a dead whale lay beached on the shore. The smell of death hung so heavy in the air that we could not approach closer to investigate its species. We paddled over huge detatche... Jackson Rock Star (now in stock) – Ryan Liquorish: First Impressions Desperate Measures (Tuesday 29th) * - Late on Friday (25th) our first batch of Jackson Rock Stars arrived at the shop. By lunch time on Saturday morning we'd sold out! Luckily, we arranged another delivery, and we've got stock of Rock Stars in small and medium – and a demo in each of these sizes... Villain S vs Villain review Jackson Kayak (Wednesday 30th) * - Just finished writing a long review of the Villain in french on my website. I'm putting an english resume for those who can't read french. You can also use an online translation site like google to have the full article translated. When the two models came out last year, I didn't know which one order for myself.

Hot Forum Topics Boats & Boards: Project X 56 (Sea Kayaking and Touring) Rand or Bungee? (Whitewater) Summer Sessions Paddling in Portugal in April !!! (Europe) Italian view about California ;) (Surf) Top Videos Untitled (simon2000) Flatwater Kayaking (burke) Pringle & Katya: Destination Galicia (JamesB) 2011 Cascades Race on the Nantahala River (liquidlogicwoody) Goodbye Silverback (DanH) Upcoming Events Fourth Annual Spring Paddle US, FL, , Mar 26 - Apr 2 KASK National Forum New Zealand, Anakiwa, Apr 1 - Apr 2 King of the Harbour Ocean Ski Race New Zealand, Auckland City, Apr 1 - Apr 2 Cameron County Canoe & Kayak Classic US, PY, Cameron County, Apr 2 Mures Marathon Second Edition Romania, Mures, Apr 8 - Apr 10 New Haven Festival US, VT, Bristol, Apr 9

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. 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, click here.

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