Iceland Park & Huck video

I just put together a short video of our trip to Iceland. We did not film much at all!
But here is a little edit with all our useable shots put into something…

Iceland waterfall hucking!

This summer I spend a great week in Iceland with the 3 most bad ass chicks! We had a perfect team, with Mariann Saether being the sickest team leader, the legendary waterfall hucker Shannon Carroll, rowdy Katrina van Wijk and me.

I flew in on Friday night and got picked up by Katrina. The next morning we met up with our crazy French Film crew and took the 1 up north to Godafoss – a 12m waterfall over a width of 30 meters.

 

After a 5hr+ car drive we were fired up to get on the water and to ran our first Icelandic waterfall. We got a bit slowed down by our film crew, setting up the camera in between the high number of tourists. 
On my second run I broke my paddle and ended up with two massive carbon splinters, which went all the way through the tip of my finger. The ladies hit the fun right line, keeping the middle line for the next day.

After an amazing sleep we geared up again for our second session on the Godafoss waterfall. Once the frenchies had enough footage we continued down the river were another rowdy rapid/waterfall was.

In the evening Mariann took us to secret hot pools, which was incredible!!

On the third day Mariann and Shannon hit up a rowdy drop with a crazy lip on the entrance!

After the third day the frenchies left and we continued our road trip around Iceland. Our next stop was Aldeyjarfoss, a perfect but very powerful waterfall! We had heard a lot of stories of people getting hurt by just the impact off this waterfall, with an injury count of 3/5. Shannon was super fired up to give it a go. Unfortunately we were running out of time and Shannon had to let it go and come back next year!

Unfortunately the water was super low on the east coast of the island, leaving us unable to paddle the sick river runs around! On our way we met up with a super friendly local family giving us the latest updates about the rivers.

Iceland is beautiful it is real bare, there is still lots of snow and the massive glaciers are incredible! We stopped on the south coast to paddle between the massive icebergs, which was a lot sketchier then we thought.

We have done a lot of sightseeing and watched so many waterfalls! Unfortunately most of them had not enough water, which forces us to come back to Iceland next year! We also experienced the geo-thermal activity by visiting an impressive geyser, mud pools and enjoying the hot springs!

On our second last day we headed up to Thief Falls, which was low but good to go. Mariann and Shannon hit up the left line ending up with two swims and a broken paddle. Katrina and I took the middle line. It was crazy how many flies there were that day! Almost unbearable!

Iceland has been serving up some goods in our kayaks! Stoked to be paddling with these rad chicks!

 

 

THE MURCHISON FALLS SECTION ON THE WHITE NILE

Murchison Falls is a well renowned place in the kayaking world. Committing, full on and in the outback of Uganda’s Africa. The Murchison section on the Nile has the largest concentration of Hippopotamus and crocodiles on the planet, plus some other epic wildlife such as elephants, lions, hyenas, snakes and buffalo’s. The whitewater is epic, more than 1500 Cubic meters of water twist and turn their way down countless blind channels launching off unscoutable horizon lines, passing by all elements of the African wilderness, which meant being on constant edge 24 hrs. a day.

Flying into Uganda I was nervous and apprehensive, due to the stories of countless hungry croc charges and hippo attacks. I wasn’t sure at all if I was keen on this trip.

Arriving in Jinja, we caught up with Trip Leader Anton Immler. He has done this trip twice before and provide us all the useful and interesting information we wanted to hear and not to hear.

 

After 3 days on the commercial section of the Nile around Lake Victory (The source of the Nile), learning drills, talking about wildlife and whitewater scenarios, swimming rapids and first aid, we were ready to set off to one of the most intense experience of our lives!

An 8 hours drive in TIA Adventures massive 4×4 Army truck, brought us to Kurma Falls and to one of the only 4 bridges crossing the Nile. Here we were exposed to the raw power of this section. The entire river squeezed between a 50m riverbank making huge wave trains, surging holes, and boily messy rapids.

We packed all our gear the day before to be on the water the next day as early as possible. Rafts were pumped and loaded. Spare oars, water pumps, air pumps, sat phones were checked, GPS’s hidden away, cameras, food, tarps, matches, maps and the kitchen.

The next morning we set off. Instantly the water grabbed us and dragged us downstream around the corner. The waves and boils were that much bigger from water level than looking down from the bridge. Anxiety was high, the last trip had two rafts had flip in the first 5 minutes. Everyone was on edge. The long rapids flow into large pools inhabited by hippos and crocs. Swimming is not a very wise thing to do.

The first day was short with Anton knowing a lot of lines. Every flat pool we (Anton Immler, Mike Dawson & Martina Wegman) jumped out of our kayaks onto the back of the raft to avoid run ins with Crocs. We were then launched back into the river just above rapids to run first and act as a probe checking out lines and looking for ways down the maze of holes and waves.

For Camp we choose an island right above a rapid named Hippo Walk. An island is safer from the big 5 African beasts but more likely to be home for Hippos & lurking crocs. Pete, Alex, Davey & Anton went straight into the bush to check for signs of life before giving us the all clear.

 

Day two was my favorite day as it was almost continued whitewater, meaning we did not had to stress to get in and out of the rafts and were less likely to run into hippo’s and crocs as they mostly hang around the flat pools.

Day 3 had four massive rapids. Puzzle, Vanguard, Vidiot & Supernova awaited us down stream. All have lines but the share width of the river means scouting without a helicopter is impossible. Roping rafts & running surgy chicken shoots were the order of the day.

Day 4 was the crux. A blow out here, a flip, a swim, any mistake could be deadly sending us down the wrong side of the river or worse into Murchison Falls.

After 4 days we survived and completed another successful decent down the Murchison falls section. 10 people, 85kms, countless rapids, 1000′s of hippos, 6 crocs and no close calls!

Here is a little 1 min. video of the trip:

 

Thanks to This is Africa adventures & the entire crew for making this happen.
www.tia-adventures.com

Mexico!!

In the beginning of March, I went on an epic trip to Chiapas, Mexico!! After a couple weeks of editing the crew pulled off a fantastic edit! – Beyond the Drop.

This trip to Mexico was amazing!! Mexico is incredible – The culture is great, the people are friendly and the rivers and surroundings are stunning!!

A 30 plus hours flight brought me in Chiapas, were I teamed up with the Teva crew and started the 7 days journey in Mexico! After an epic six hours drive we found ourselves in Aqua Azur, a cute little village at the foot of the beautiful Rio Aqua Azur! Paradise!

We had a super solid crew of boaters with Rush Sturges, Evan Garcia, Aniol & Gerd Serrasolses, Casper van Kalmthout and our local guide Rafa Ortiz rounded up with a sick media crew and Mexican driver! It has been an interesting experience being the only chick on the crew and surrounded by 13 men. Full on, but super much fun

The Azur River has 5 main drops followed shortly after each other, with the highest being a 50fter. The color and temperature of the water, makes you love kayaking at every stroke. After the run you can look back upstream from a viewing platform, which gives you the most amazing view of the river!

Off the river, the historical Maya ruins showed the level of civilization evident in the region thousand years ago, providing entertainment plus some cultural education about the live and history in Mexico.

It was great being on an other adventure living better stories!
Check out www.teva.com

 

 

GoPro Mountain Games 2013

The GoPro Mountain Games are the nation’s largest celebration of mountain sport, lifestyle and music featuring top professional and amateur athletes from around the world. The environmentally-friendly adventure sporting event hosts approximately 3,500 outdoor athletes, along with an estimated 45,000 spectators. 

 

Yesterday the GoPro games kicked off with the Bud Light Lime Steep Creek up in Redcliff. We had a beautiful day with sunshine and juicy water levels. The race format was different than previous years as an extra run was added. All the racers have two runs and only the top 3 women and top 5 men made it through to the finals for a final run.

 

At 10am the chicks started the race, with me being the very first racer on the course. We had a great high flow, which made the steep course even more full on. I had a couple of little mistakes in my first run, but made it safe to the finish. Despite spinning around at the top flat part of the course I had an awesome second run, dialing in my lines and scored the fastest women’s run of the day, 1.58.91.

Usually this is the final result of the race, but this year we were half way and had one more final lap to go. Nathalie was off first and had a solid run, not making many mistakes. One of the most solid chicks paddlers around Adriene Levknecht, had an unlucky run as she got pushed off line and was surfing a hole for quite a while.

In the men’s Mike Dawson managed to pick up another back-to-back win in, winning the Mountain Games for the 4^th time. His fiercest competition Dane Jackson had a very unlucky first run taking a swim at, leap of faith, the bottom drop of the course. Bryan Kirk and Nick Troutman finished up the top 3.

- Photo’s by James Dawson

For complete result, click here (pdf). For more information on the GoPro Mountain Games go to www.gopromountaingames.com.

 

 

Island living

I haven’t spent a lot of time in my creek boat lately, but I have another awesome season coming up! It will be hard to beat last years season, but with a 2 month roady around New Zealand, an epic Mexico expedition and holiday in Vanuatu, I’m on the right track!.

Vanuatu has been great! It has been very interesting coming tot his country. Arriving in Vanuatu made me think of Africa, lots of jungle, humid, markets, dirt roads with heaps of taxi busses, warm weather and friendly locals who are very keen on making some money out of us.

We have done heaps of snorkeling, spending almost 3+ hours in the water each day. The water is beautiful blue and crystal clear, full of fish and sea life. One of the highlights in the water was to see a fully-grown grey reef shark on only 3 meters distance!!! Our accommodation came with glass bottom kayaks, which were awesome to take out for a short paddle over the km of reefs Vanuatu has to offer!

Only a couple more days before I’m flying back to Europe and start the Northern hemisphere season.  Bring on the endless summer!

NZ Summer

The New Zealand summer has been great!! We have had awesome sunny weather the whole season, but unfortunately most of the rivers were dry.

This year my older sister took the journey oversees to see where I spend my European winter each year. Together with Mike Dawson and Kathrin Bickel we have been exploring the whole of New Zealand in prime conditions. My sister flew back in the beginning of March and since then I have been paddling a fair bit of slalom together with Katrhin and Mike.

Over Easter we raced the NZ Slalom National Champs in Kaweau. Kathrin raced slalom 6 years ago, with the NZ nationals being her last race. This made us both decided to enter and give the race our best shot ;). I had my first slalom experience in 2011 on the Kaituna river here in New Zealand and enjoyed this challenging new discipline. I haven’t been able to practice a lot of slalom since than but I have enjoyed my time in a slalom boat heaps.

The racing over the weekend was great! Both days I had pretty sweet runs, with only a couple touches and little mistakes. On Saturday I ended up in second in the Pre-Nationals and on Sunday I managed to get in third, with seven seconds behind NZ Olympic paddler Luuka Jones in first. Young Australian Kate Eckhardt became second.

Soon I’m heading off for another holiday trip to Vanuatu before the Northern Hampshire racing season starts.

Whitewater Grand Prix!

The  2012 Whitewater Grand Prix has come to an end this week in Chile. A massively huge thanks to Patrick Camblin for his inspiring and ambitious dream and pulling together this fantastic event together with Emily Meredith!! Also shot on the media crew, who did a fantastic job capturing the epicness! In last shot to the most amazing bus driver Carlos, we could not have a Grand Prix without him!

STAGE 1
The White Water Grand Prix started with an epicly epic first stage on the Rio Gol Gol, 300km south of Pucon. A rain front covered the valley and gave the river a juicy flow! The race course was a 4 to 5 minutes course with 6 main drops followed closely after each other, including a 20-footer closely after the start and ending at Princessa another sick 20-foot waterfall.

The day before the race the river came up heaps and the consequences of massing up your lines were getting bigger! Everybody had two race runs spread over two days. After the first stage Mike Dawson (NZL) and Nouria Newman (FRA) came out on top and in the lead for the 2012 White Water Grand Pirx!

Videos of stage 1!

STAGE 2
The second stage of the Whitewater Grand Prix was held on an intense course on the Rio Puesco. The rain was still poring down and provided juicy flows in the whole area. This intimidating and technical course challenged all of the competitors and provided a tight race.

At the end of the day Eric Deguil (FRA) managed to get the top spot, closely followed by Evan Garcia (USA) and Todd Wells (USA). In the chicks Nouria Newmann (FRA) crushed it again in her second run, taking her second win in the WWGP.  I (Martina Wegman) placed second and Katrina van Wijk (CAN) in third.

Videos of stage 2!

STAGE 3
River Levels have risen like crazy and the original giant slalom course planned for race 3 was no longer an option. The stage 3 site was set for the Rio Nevados. This is one of the most epic creeks around. Super clean slides drops and boogie water. The course included a sick 15 foot drop into a rowdy slide with a narrow must make slot at the bottom for a fast line.

Team Liquid Logic paddler Isaac Levinson (USA) ended up styling the stout course and taking first place ahead of Dane Jackson (USA) with Frenchman Eric Deguil coming in 3rd place. The women were crushing it. Nouria Newman posted a super fast time coming in 1st. I got in 2nd with Katrina Van Wijk in 3rd.

Video of stage 3!

STAGE 4
The second to last and last stage of the Whitewater Grand Prix were held on the Fualeufu deep in Patagonia. Both stages where totally different than the previous but equally as epic! Stage four and five were held on a pushy and unpredictable roller-coaster ride down the minefield of massive waves and huge holes.

Stage four was an exciting boater cross down the infamous Meso y Menos rapid on burly big blue whitewater! The field was stout and the boatercross was definitely a hard race to win! In the end the men final was packed with the current 5 overall leaders of Eric Deguil, Todd Wells, Isaac Levinson, Evan Garcia & Youngster Dane Jackson. It was Dane Jackson who took the win and became a hot contender for winning the 2012 Grand Prix. The chicks’ race was also on fire, with tight lines and tight racing. In the end it was Katrina Van Wijk who took the win, with me in second and Nouria Newmann in third place, but still on the leading score board.

Video of stage 4!

STAGE 5

Tiredness and soar bodies definitely hit some of the competitors after the 4 stages, but couldn’t dampen the spirit as people were super fired up for the last race, stage 5! On an overcast Friday the 2012 Whitewater Grand Prix came to an end in tight to the wire enduro race on a massively high Futaleufu River.

The general mood was amping as each paddler knew where they stood and who they had to beat to move up places before the race. This set the scene of a hugely competitive race with numerous mini battles taking place throughout the pack.

Dane Jackson dominated his way to the finish line to not only claim stage 5 but also to be crowned as the Whitewater Grand Prix Champion for the 2nd consecutive time. Eric Deguil fought hard with Evan Garcia to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively in the race & overall in the standings. Isaac Levinson & Todd Wells rounded out the top 5.

In the women French flyer Nouria Newman showed why she had won 3 out of the previous 4 stages and fought hard for this stage title and the overall.

Check out www.whitewatergrandprix.com for the video of stage 5 and the latest news about the WWGP. Also check out www.facebook.com/whitewatergrandprix for tons of amazing shots and updates!

Sickline The Extreme Kayak World Championship 2012

Early October held the fifth edition of the annual Adidas Sickline World Championship! Despite flooding the week before the water level was perfect during the race. The race kicked of on Friday with a brutal qualifier round with the 150 athletes culled to just 48 men and 3 chicks after two runs of the 75 sec qualifier course. This created tight racing with favorites and 2011 medalist Michelle Ramazza being knocked out.

The Sickline race uses a unique format not found in any other kayak event. After the qualifier there is a heat-to-heat on time, with the fastest racing the slowest, using the international ladder system. This cuts the field down to the top 15 for the super final Down the class V Wellerbrucke rapids.

The men final were super excited to watch. It is amazing Sam Sutton took the top spot three times in a row! And it was nice to see Dejan on the podium this year, as he just missing the podium by a spot for the last three years. Mike was the last one coming down in the finals and as he came down it looked like he got it, until he made a mistake at the bottom, screwing it up at the Champions killer, but still making it in third place.

For the first year there was a chicks final, with the top 3 chicks charging down the Wellerbrucke! I was super stoked we finally had this change and was keen to go hard. The whole week I have been paddling the top of the Wellerbrucke section, which leads in to the race section. The top section is super nice whitewater but really full-on. After a couple of laps I felt super confident running the top and the race section. I never screw up my lines and out of all my runs I never had a surf in ‘Champions Killer -1’, the new hole in the race course. (which I guess was pretty rare this year). I wasn’t nerves or scared for my race as my lines had been sweet and I was confident running the section. I have no clue what happened in my race, but basically everything went wrong!!

I was definitely a bit guttered after my race for a few sec… but in the end of the day it is just another race ;-). I had such a great week lapping the upper Wellerbrucke section with the boys and had a great time in Oetz. I’m also more motivated to come back and try again next year! Hopefully with better lines during the race :-).

Big Air Lyon

Last weekend Lyon became a center of atmosphere as kayakers from around Europe journeyed to challenge the French for a €1000 big air title. A Big Ramp was build at the Confluence of the Saone and Rhone River in downtown Lyon.

The 10 meter long ramp caused some serious air and a couple of concentrated faces too. Sliding down goes so fast, the ramp is high, super steep and give you so much speed! The impact on your body landing from this high on the water can be enormous. A couple dented boats from smashing into the water and some soar backs for sure! Nothing to bad or serious though! To soften the landing, the organization blows air the surface, giving us a big air bubble to land in.

 

In the end it was Casper who won the show with a massive backflip! French Mathieu Coldobella was unlucky in the finals as he was charging super hard in the prelims, being the only one able to consistently make double airscrews. Canadian Ben Marr ended up in third and won his share of the 1000 euro price money.

The event was held in conjunction with a 10km race trough the city of Lyon on Sunday morning with over 1000 of paddlers showing up at the start of the race. A good vibe and tons of spectators makes this an amazing place to keep kayaking in the eyes of the public.