Here is a little video clip which I created out of some GoPro footage I took in Russia and Iceland. Enjoy watching!!!

More...

Lipno Devils Extreme Race

For one weekend the small town Loučovice, usually a calm place to be, was overcrowded with kayakers and rafters from all around Europe.

Everyone came to be part of the "Lipno Festival", which is the biggest kayak event in the Czech Republic.

Lipno is a small creek witch flows through a national park. There is not enough water for kayaking but once a year towards the end of the summer they release water from the dam and this small creek becomes a wild river.

There you can find many rapids, holes and jumps. Mostly its rapids vary from class 3+ to 4 but there is also one rapid class 5. This river is very nice and not very dangerous while you sit in your kayak but as soon as you are up side down or you got out of your kayak it starts to be quite dangerous due to many rocks under the surface.

The best known rapids are čerťáky, škvíra and vrata. We avoided škvíra because it is a very narrow place where it is easy to scrape hands, hit heads or hurt oneself more seriously.

This river has quite a big gradient so there are not many eddies. The water flows fast. You can run it several times a day because it is not long. From the top it takes about 45min-1hour to get down.

You can run the river just for fun with your friends or you can compete in various competitions such as the Extreme Race, rafting, slalom or down river race. You need to be very careful because while you are on the water there are hundreds of other paddlers around you. On the one hand it makes it more dangerous but on the other hand there are more people to help in serious situations - and everyone is keen to help!

As every year some accidents occurred. Fortunately nothing serious just some dislocated shoulders, scratches and some swimmers.

It was my first time there and I enjoyed it so much. I met many good friends, whom I could paddle and of course party with! I am really looking forward to going there again next year.

Nina

My first paddle stroke to the european white water mecca

I've heard so much about Norway. The wilderness, the huge rapids, the big waves, paddling in the Fjords... I had it on my mind and didn't find a good context to make the trip yet. This year we planned on going to Zambezi in August, find Nico Chassing there, discover one more african place after Kenya and Uganda and spend hours in this legendary kayaking place.

After finishing tough work at the Natural Games, with such a busy time that I just couldn't plan anything for the trip, I realized that my passport was not valid anymore and so I was stuck in Europe. I saw the Zambezi flying away from me, and found a way to huck something despite the administrative boundaries: NORWAY.

I talked to the friends who had normally gone to the Zambia with me, they were up for Norway. We rented a van in France, took our creekboat stuff, changed the short sleeved shirts for long sleeved ones, and began driving to the north for 3 weeks. 

I was really excited about the last minute destination change because it has something deeply free to change your plan radically and have no problem doing it. I had heard so much about Norway, and now I was on my way there because we decided to do so a few days ago!!!

We bought the bible of paddling in Norway: a topo written by Olaf Obsommer and Jens Klat, a must buy before getting there, and began our trip to Voss. We did some great warming up there on the Roundaselvi before heading to Lom and Skjak. There we found paradise: beautiful setting, a base camp right by a world class wave, and tons of great creeking of all kinds and difficulties around. We spent more than one week there, on the Skjoli (which we paddled twice: once in 4 hours and half, and once in 1 hour 30!), the Sjoa, the mighty Tora and many others. After a nice creek every day, we were doing a freestyle session on the wave, then lit a fire and slept close to it. That was one of my favorite places to visit, and we got friends with Yan, the owner of the campsite and his rafting guides, who welcomed us with lots of joy and friendship. Thanks to them!

We spent time in Sjoa with Spanish friends, paddling the Lagen and the must-do Ulla, then went to the north to paddle the hugs lower Rauma, one of the toughest rivers I've ever paddled.

I'm now back in France, Lyon is running and life is good!

I'm gonna be there next year again, that's for sure.

Mat

For more pictures go to our Gallery.

In 1976 a team of Russian Kayakers tried to make the first decent of the gorge on the lower Bashkaus River in the Altai Mountains in Southern Siberia. In the early stages of the gorge, the team struck tragedy when six out of ten were swept away to their death by the powerful river.

The next year the four survivors retuned to the gorge to place a memorial plate, as well as a book at the point in which they lost their lives. In this book the names and the story of the tragic but heroic explorers was left to be seen only by those that have the courage to take on and conquer the mighty lower Bashkaus. After every decent the names of those that survive and the stories of their decent are logged into the Book of Legends.

On the 17th July 2010 seven of the Adidas Sickline team, along with three of the best German kayakers headed to the Altai Mountains in search of kayaking the hardest rivers that Altai has to offer and to test them selves against the mighty Lower Bashkaus, in the hope to add their names to the Book of Legends.

Over the course of a month the team of Olaf Obsommer, Tomass Marnics, Florian Dillier, Stéphane Pion, Jared Meehan, Bernhard Mauracher, Thilo Schmidt, Timo Köster, Philip Baues and Sam Sutton, found more than they had anticipated, from huge rivers with sticky holes, mountainous landscapes and of course allot of stumbling russians. 

I think it's safe to say that we all saw more in one month in Altai than we thought we would see in a life time, there are countless stories but they will have to wait until you see them in a magazine stand near you. Or when you see one of the boys at the bar telling their heroic stories.

Thanks to adidas, HF and all those that made this the expedition of a life time.

For more photos go to Sam's Blog or check out the Gallery.

Thursday morning we drove to Plattling. The water level was quite high, so we expected to have a nice small wave there. When we got there, the water was somewhere between hole and wave. We were surprised how many people we met there. During the night it was raining heavily. On Friday the water rose a lot, so the small wave became a quite nice wave, where all the tricks were possible. Friday evening our friends came. During the day we had nice weather, but at the evening it started to rain again. We rather moved up to a hill because the water started rising rapidly. At the morning, the whole meadow was under water. The same like it was during the WC in June. We decided to move to Munich to check if the famous Reichenbacher Welle was running. We were lucky and the wave was running and it had an optimal high level. We were there for the first time. Honestly I was quite afraid. It for sure isn’t for beginners! It is quite difficult because you need to be quick to catch the eddy and be careful not to fall over the dam. Actually there was a line trough the dam (if you miss the eddy), but it was shallow, so not for a carbon boat. Another thing is that you need to look out for policeman. It is not allowed to paddle there at this water level because it is a flood. But anyway the wave was perfect! We had a perfect session there. We finally know this awesome wave which people were talking about. The next day the water dropped a bit, but the wave was still running. It was lower but on the other hand it had a nice eddy so we didn’t need to walk out of our boats after each ride. I hope we will have the opportunity to paddle on this rare wave again some time.

After fifteen years with no UK summer, I thought it was time that I made the transition and tried one out. It’s been strange not to be amongst the mountains and white water, but it’s also very refreshing to have some change and explore the UK in more depth. 

I’ve been based in Cornwall, which has been a real pleasure, the most Southerly western point in the UK, surrounded by close to 500km of coast line, it practically picks up any swell that is heading across the Atlantic, meaning there is always some kind of wave to surf.  From the south to the north coast it’s only 15km in distance, meaning that we are always accessible to good waves across the county. Cornwall has a real feeling of organic nature to it, life here is much more outside, traditional fishing and farming still thrive, tropical plants grow in their own microclimate and there’s an abundance of open space. 

The summer so far, has been spent with a mix of working, surfing, sea kayaking running and getting ready to head out to Ladakh with a group of kids for a trip down the Zanskar, in a weeks time. I’ll stay in Ladakh until the end of September and paddle the Tsarap Chu, with some friends once the kids have left.

In the mean time I’m keen to get my hands on something a little more dynamic for surfing, ready for the fall and winter back in Cornwall, either a ski or a surf kayak.

Here’s a few photos of the summer in Cornwall, hope you enjoy

Deb

So after all the competitions finished in June, I based myself in Sort ready to work all summer long as a river guide in the Noguera Pallaresa river. 

I'm working everyday guiding rafts, hidros and open kayaks down some rapids and doing some kayak courses as well. We've been lucky this year with the waterlevels, as there was lots of snow the river was high till mid July, so we could go kayaking whenever we wanted. There are two great holes in Sort, just right in the middle of town. As well, there are a few spots to have some fun paddling down the rapids.

On the 24th of July during the International Rally of the Noguera Pallaresa (a week long event with lots of other events and competitions: eskimo roll comp, slalom, wild water racing, freestyle, team races, rafting and some other activities) we celebrated a freestyle competition at the spot in Sort. 

However a lot of people worked during the day and couldn't come, we were a good bunch of guys there and it was a really nice event with some good rides and moves! At the end I managed to win and my bro Aniol got second, while Cristian ended in third place. 

We also did something special in the night, while some girls were doing an acrobatic show on a rope tied from the bridge, we did a rapid racing down a little rapid and the holes, where some prizes were hanging in the air, so you needed to take them when passing the hole. It was really good, and I ended up winning a dinner for two!! After that we did some freestyle exhibitions with some fireworks going on at the same time what made it really cool!!

The only bad point is that during my first run on the finals something broke on my right ribs and abs, so there is one spot that hurts a lot, so for the moment I can not kayak freestyle… It's really annoying, and the pain is not really going away… hope it will get better soon!

Here is just a promo video from the All Star 2010 for Spain, and most of the footage is from Sort. Check it out here!!      

Here are some random photos from the hole and the night event. A video from Sort is coming soon!

Photos by: Laura Mas and Laura Arisa.

Here you can read an excerpt of Bernd Mauracher's travel diary:

July 24th 2010
I managed a solo-ride through a very dangerous chasm of the Chuya at high watermark, which reminds me of the Kühtrain Chasm. Afterwards a very long and exhausting drive on potholed roads took us up to 2500 meter level, through heavy rain and with two break-downs. That was the beginning of our multidaytrip to the Haragen (small river, growing bigger and bigger).
The second day we reached the Arbuc river with its monstrous rolls and dangerous and tough rapids, Indus-Style.
Today is the third day of our trip and we‘re camping close to the kazakh border.
We‘ll reach the exit tomorrow evening.
We‘re all fine.


July 26th 2010
The 1st multidaytrip is over.
We all reached the exit all right. We have experienced a whole lot in the chasm.
Scenically the chasm is a beauty. On the left and right side there are 4000 meter high mountains and on 2km full of heavy rapids. At the end of the hardest rapid we unfortunately found the body of a russian rafter on the left waterside. We took a note of the location‘s GPS-Data and informed the russian police.
Furthermore three of us got into a huge roll where Fabian was hit on the head by the boatpeak and got a laceration.
We lived trough a lot at the Arbuc River, now the next multidaytrip is coming up. It will take place in the northeast of the Altai mountains, Florian Dillier will join us there again.


July 30st 2010
Our trip at the Chulishman is over now. The Chulishman is a very big river, with massive water like the Oetz - only twice as massive. In a heavy cataract I was pulled into a return flow and swam for my life. With the last bit of my strength I was able to reach the bank on my own. While swimming I lost my paddle, another one got carried away while recovering the boat - but everything else remained undamaged.
Yesterday we went to the Kurkure, a waterfall creek. We had to hike up very far, it must have been about 500 meters in altitude! There where many waterfalls up there, between 2 and 10 meters in hight. It was gorgeous and we did a lot of filming.
Now we‘re sitting in the prairie and just had some yummy food. Tomorrow we‘ll continue our program - two more rivers to go.
But I‘m already looking forward to going back home!


August 6th 2010
We‘ve managed to successfully finish the last multitrip at the Bashkaus River. 60 km of toughest whitewater in a deeply carved gorge. We made a horrible discovery in the canyon; another dead body. Already the second one during this expedition. This one was no whitewater sportsman, but a local from an upper village. Then we were at the Chulcha Creek, which is a river like the Wellerbrücke, only far from any kind of civilization and 10 kilometers long.
Now we were able to paddle seven rivers successfully. The rivers here in the Altai are very tough. All of them have massive water - heavy stuff. We are now heading back to Novosibirsk where we are going to hit another river we already paddled at the beginning. On August the 10th we‘re going back home and everyone of us is looking forward to it! It was an awesome trip full of impressions.

After the European Championships we could once again rest from serious competing and enjoy kayaking. There aren’t any further big freestyle competitions on the schedule this year, so our plan for the rest of the season is just kayaking for pleasure.

We spent some time training in Plattling, where we’ve already been twice before. The weather was nice, so we could also enjoy bathing in the river. Next year the World Championships will take place here, so we will be around more often this year.

This weekend we went to a Czech freestyle event in Sopotnice together with our Slovak friends. This playground is one of a kind. Two big boat engines move the water in a small pool. Good friends, paddling and party were the guaranty for a cool weekend.

We are also training at our local spot. Our slalom course is well known to slalom paddlers all over the world. Now it is tough to train there because next week the slalom European Championships will be held there and right afterwards the Slovak Open. So it is booked almost 24hours a day. At that time we plan on training in Plattling again or elsewhere with a good water level.

So see you on the water!

Park & Huck is followed by Jump & Run. Having just arrived from their Iceland adventure Olaf Obsommer and his team are already on their way to Siberia, where a lot of water, Vodka and wild animals are waiting for them.

In between the two trips the guys had just about time to do the laundry and recharge their body’s and camera’s batteries. Then once again it was time for the group of ten to pack their bags and say goodbye to comfy beds, filled fridges and the beloved ones at home. But a real adventurer feels best under starry sky anyways...

The journey guides them from Moskau / St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk to the Altai, Siberias highest mountain range. After having made more vertical than horizontal paddlemeters during waterfall hopping, in the borderland of Russia, Kasachstan, China and the Mongolia the expedition group can expect more diverse tours of several days duration. Starting from 60 km long rapids in Zambesi-style to extremely steep creeks and a few first rides, the Altai mountais offer a whole lot of potential to jolly the guys along and hopefully keep them away from the Vodka! In case bears, wolves and some other predators decide that paddlers don’t match their diet, we certainly can expect breathtaking pictures and reports from the heart of Sibiria!

On board are: Olaf Obsommer, Jared Meehan, Sam Sutton, Thilo Schmitt, Florian Dillier, Timo Köster, Tomass Marnics, Bernhard Mauracher, Stéphane Pion and Philip Baues.