Fluid Kayaks Team

Winter Trip the the White Nile, Uganda

Natalie Kramer — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:30:00 -0700

Leif and I went to Uganda from Dec 16th to Jan 18th order to escape the snow and overall winter conditions that he merrily pursued once we got back (see the Poland creek report). In a nutshell, the trip was all that we hoped for: WARM. Leif and I both had playboating goals to achieve during our trip, so accordingly, we spent most of our time on the Nile Special and the Club Wave. We stayed at the Hairy Lemon where we were treated quite well. Thanks Maureen and Michael! By the end of our trip, Leif was consistently throwing huge right and left clean blunts and I learned and actually stuck a few helices.

PLAYBOATING SHOTS

Unbeknown to us beforehand, fluid team paddler Markus Leppaenan and Maria Stelzig from Germany also came to Africa to escape the cold wintry conditions in Europe. You can check out Markus's blog about his trip at: soulboater.blogspot.com. We spent a good amount of time paddling with them in their styley matching small red Nemeses.

I would really like to thank Jaime from Kayak the Nile for lending us some boats during our trip. Although most of the time we paddled the Large Nemesis and the Small Flirt, we were able to borrow the some Spices to explore the back channels of Bugagali Falls. Since this area is soon going to be underwater due to the construction of a dam at Silverback Falls, Leif and I made sure that we explored all of the channels. Some photos of us sporting the Spice are pictured below. This was the first time that either of us had ever tried the Spice. We we both quite impressed. They paddled great, stayed online and were even more stable than the playboats in the big water.

RIVER RUNNING SHOTS

The Spicey thumbs up.

Bladerunner.

Brickyard.

Dropping into Widomaker.

We are actually both getting trashed in this photo. Widowmaker.

Dam construction at Silverback, December 2009.

This next picture of a bird (I believe a Kingfisher?) swallowing a fish bigger than its own body was just too cool not to include.

And, of course, if you want to see many more photos from our trip and a longer write-up you can visit our Uganda post at www.leifandnatalie.blogspot.com

Surf trip: Ocean

Valentin Grollemund — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:21:00 +0100

A little while that was in my mind... At the Sickline 2009, Steve Fisher presented us his new video where he surfed some huge waves in South Africa with his brother David and Andrew Pollock. After watching that video, Pierre Mahé (pro photographer) and I were so motivated to make something like that!!!! At the time, I had to try my new composite Element by FLUID kayaks... an other good excuse!!!

Little problem, I don't know nothing about ocean surfing... No matter, meeting on this Monday 8th of February at 8h30 a.m. with Jean Seb Etienne, who is a french pro surfer and knows the french Atlantic coast as his pocket!!!

We check 2 spots, the second one looks pretty good!! Pierre Mahé, our photographer of the day arrives with Nico Fayol, this last one brings all his kayak gears with him!!!! '' Spot of La Pointe, Capbreton, France:''

9 am 5°c... everybody in the water!!

Jean-Seb at home

First test on the Ocean..

...Ok, that's big!!!

It works for Val

Jean-Seb... Eaaaasy!!

End of the session, on the way to the bitch with shore break

Nico Fayol...

... Yep, he was also in the water!!

An other huge shore break for Val

Eric Deguil joined us the afternoon.

Many thanks to Jean-Seb Etienne, Nico Fayol, Eric Deguil and of course to Pierre Mahé!!!!

Pierre Mahé www.pimaphoto.blogspot.com

Jean-Seb Etienne www.jeansebestienne.com

Nico Fayol www.nicofayol.blogspot.com

Eric Deguil www.outdoor-attitude.over-blog.com

Mine www.valgrollemund.blogspot.com

Team Fluid-Bama Boys Update

Charlie Mix — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:34:00 -0800

I unfortunately have been in a kayaking hiatus; only getting to paddle one or two days a week while getting into the swing of grad school. The boys from Tuscaloosa on the other hand have been getting after it with the abundance of rain we have been receiving in the southeast. Check out some of their sick footy from The University of Alabama Kayak Club here:

Alabama Sieve Boating Update from sam on Vimeo.

Until next next, Charlie Mix

Poland Creek AZ: 2nd descent epic

Leif Anderson — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:42:00 -0700

The main point of this article is to warn people that Poland creek is NOT a one day run.

Taking a break from the drive.

It was a big shock to my system to go from paddling every day on the Nile Special to Icy Drytown USA (a.k.a. Fort Collins Colorado). However, winter break was over, and Natalie and I were needed back at school. However, the first weekend after I got back, there was a rare paddling opportunity. Arizona was pounded by a huge flood. I managed to convince my friend Nathan Werner to make the 14 hour drive through the night to try to meet up with Evan Stafford and Kyle McCutchen (legendary guidebook authors) to hit Christopher Creek.

Now, you might be saying to yourself, "wait a second, the title of this post has nothing to do with Christopher creek. Did Leif have some sort of double-epic weekend adventure?" Well, the answer is yes! (with exclamation point) but it turned out not to involve Christopher creek in the slightest. When we made it to the putin (an hour before sunrise), there was at least a foot of nice fluffy powder on the ground, making scouting almost impossible. So instead, Evan and Kyle pointed us toward some random creek at lower elevation. Nathan and I had never heard of it. Its name was POLAND. A name which is now seared into my memory permanently.

Christopher creek putin. Audio report indicates perfect flow.

A couple years back, Cody Howard and his Huge Hucking pals made the first descent. Their trip report is here: Poland creek 1st d, but of course, we had no internet access in Nathan's car, so we didn't know anything more than some vague rumor that the first descent had been overnighted out there. Well, we thought to ourselves, we'll just hurry through. Knowing that it's a full on run should be enough. Besides, looking at the map, it was only about 4 miles. Oh, we were such foolish, sleep deprived paddlers.

"Poland creek, huh?" Nathan consults the map.

It turned out that Evan and Kyle had a bunch of other Colorado paddlers in on this crazy scheme, so while we were searching for takeout, our group doubled in size. After more than our fair share of shuttle shennanigans, we found ourselves back above snowline, at the trailhead to the putin. Our early start had somehow melted into early afternoon, we were all cold and tired from lack of sleep, and to top it all off, Nathan and I had no overnight gear. (And it was January. I mentioned the snow, right?) After some debate, it was decided that to try to put on for this run would be a pretty bad idea. After a little more debate, a small subgroup decided that they were going to do it anyway. This small subgroup was composed of 7 out of the 9 paddlers. Nathan and one of the other Colorado paddlers we didn't know had seen the light of reason, but the rest of us were committed to the run.

"So it's probably that drainage over there... probably."

We booked it down to the creek, and were rewarded by some pretty good paddling. It was especially rewarding knowing that most of the time, this was probably almost a dry creekbed. For all I know, it might only run once every 5 years. There were a lot of nice technical drops, and the signature 30 footer; the Big Dipper. We paddled as fast as was safe with a 7 person crew, but soon the sun had disappeared behind the canyon walls.

Photo by ES.

Big Dipper. Photo by Evan Stafford.

It was at this point that the bad decisions got worse. We were stalled out on a relatively easy portage. Tired, hungry, and cold, pondering a night under the stars in wet kayak gear, I somehow got the idea into my head that the takeout was right around the corner. It was clear that the canyon was widening out, and we had already covered a lot of distance. I decided that I wanted to try to paddle farther. Whether or not anyone wanted to go with me. Sure enough, the rest of the group recognized this as madness, and made the call that they were setting up camp. I dragged my boat down to the flatwater below the portage and started paddling. "If you don't make it, just hike back to the campfire," called Evan as I put on my skirt.

Well, as luck would have it, the action did not let up right around the corner. If anything, it got more intense. There were three noteworthy drops in the next half mile. One I ran, the others I portaged. On the third portage, I looked downstream and could just barely make out the fact that the takeout was nowhere within the next few miles. I had a little trouble telling for sure, because night had finally fallen.

Cursing my stupidity, I had a rough hike through the dark and cold back to the rest of the group. When I finally climbed and stumbled my way back to the fire, it was almost the best feeling ever. It would have felt better if there had been dry clothes involved, but fire was pretty awesome by itself. I begged some food and water off the more prepared members of the group, and hunkered down to one of the coldest nights of my life.

Our campsite, at dawn. Photo by Evan Stafford.

The ground was cold and there were a lot of rocks, so I spent a lot of time sitting near the fire. About halfway through the night I had this awesome idea. I decided to collect more wood, and build a little bed out of sticks. That way it would be flat, and I wouldn't touch the cold cold ground. It worked pretty well, and I was sort of able to get a little bit of sleep, but in the hours right before dawn, Kyle woke up, shivering, and started making stronger and stronger hints about the scarcity of firewood. Eventually, once I could tell that dawn was on its way, I gave in, and we burned my bed. Kyle immediately went back to sleep with a smile on his face. I tiptoed off and put a rock in his boat.

Shortly after the bed-burning incident. Kyle McCutchen photo.

Myself, cheerful and good looking, ready for day 2 to start.

Once the sun finally rose and the group crawled out of their sleeping bags, we got back on the water. (Well, I hiked the half mile or so back down to my boat first, but you get the idea.) It turned out that there was another full day of paddling left. We kept saying things like "looks like it's widening out. Probably just flatwater from here to takeout." Over and over again. At least once a mile. We reached takeout at 5:00 that evening.

One of the notable rapids just below camp.

Photos by Evan Stafford and Kyle McCutchen

Oops. The river turns left here. Photo by Evan Stafford.

All of a sudden everyone's smiling. Takeout.

Nathan was waiting there at takeout, a little peeved at the outcome of the weekend. He had driven through the night, not paddled, then spent two days thinking about how he wasn't paddling (and wondering whether everyone was okay), and now he knew that since I was so tired, he was probably going to be the one doing most of the driving as we drove through the night AGAIN to get back to work and school before the next morning. He was completely right. I drove when I could, but I spent most of the time stinking and snoring in the passenger seat.

Right back where we started, except without 3 nights worth of sleep. Photo by Natalie Kramer.

All in all, it was another great weekend. For a more detailed account (meaning, more photos) check out MY BLOG, and for a different viewpoint (one that's not quite so flattering about the bad decisions that I made) check out Evan Stafford's Blog writeup: Part 1 and Part 2. I want to thank Evan, Kyle and everyone else for feeding me and taking care of me that night, and I want to thank Evan a second time for all the photos that he took.

Best 2009 web photo album

Valentin Grollemund — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:44:00 +0100

Val Grollemund, web photo album

Check my best 2009 photos!!!!

Many, many thanks to all the riders and all the photographers for all these great moments around the world!!!! Let's do more, better and bigger in 2010!!!!

I you want some just send me a message.

Photographers: Raph Thiebaut, Jens Klatt, Thilo Brunner, Pierre Mahé, Gautier Grollemund, Marc Girardin, Max Mitaut, David Arnaud, Jean Grollemund, Eric Deguil, Fabrice Poueyto, Alex Thomas Keller, Susane Spoelmink, Julien Le Naour, Matej Brecel, Mick Flasher , Edouard Grosjean, Olaf Obsommer, Laurent Devigne, Antoine Guillaume, Aniol Sarrasolses, Todd Richery, Jakub Sedivy and Steve Fisher.

Thanks to my bro Gautier to make this website and for all the rest!!!

Fall report

Valentin Grollemund — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:14:00 +0100

Hi all,

I know, I know... you didn't see more news from me since end of August 2009. But I was really busy because of European promo tour with sandiline on September where I was the photographer. Then Adidas Sickline - Extrem kayak World championship - where I competed. And then my great travel in Chile. So, I take now the time to write some blabla for you and post many photos, yeah I know you prefer check my photos than read my blabla... Ok... too much blabla, read down...

First step of my European tour was the freestyle kayak World championship in Thun Switzerland. David Arnaud and I drove to Thun, Switzerland, and found some team members there training for Worlds!!

These Wordls organized by Simon Hirter were awesome!! A great show!!!!! Ok freestyle is a bit boring to watch, but it's the same for all sports... don't say me Snowboarding half pipe is not boring... But, I was impressed by the quality of runs since qualifs to finals. And the finals were HUUUUUUGE!!!!!! The public liked that and the guys from ICF too... What a good news!!!

You know for sure Mat Coldebella, Fluid Team member... oh yeah, he's french!!!

After the freestyle Worlds in Thun, sandiline crew and I headed to Seu de Urgell in Spain for the slalom Worlds!!

We enjoyed beautiful weather, drinking sangria and watching top paddlers going fast on the Olympic (Barcelona Olympic Games) artificial slalom course of Seu de Urgell.

* There were tons of spectators under spanish sun to see the show, the finals day was the best show ever with live results and all organized to make pressure on crowd and paddlers!! Just great!!!!

After the slalom Worlds, we drove to sandiline office in Slovenia to pick up all we needed for the Kanumesse in Germany, Yeah 2700km in 2 weeks for me... Wait, that's not the end...

The Kanumesse is the Best Trade Show in the World. Was good to see what's making for 2010 and for sure what's new for FLUID... But I'm sure you already checked the post about new composite boats and new "sit on top" production previously on this blog.

We enjoyed a great party, the music was mixing by our dear, great, awesome team manager, please, Mr David Arnaud!!!!!!!!!!

Directly after the Kanumesse, I spend a night at Oli and Ingrid's place close to Munich, Germany. They proposed me to compet at the 1st freestyle event in Munich the next day!! I accepted it for sure!!!!!

I finished 3rd of the event in K1 senior, and my friend and Fluid team partner Markus ended 5th!! Yeah two Fluid team paddlers in final!!!!!!! Was great to share that event with all that germans and have great times... great beer and food also!!!

The next day, Simon Hirter phoned me and the afternoon we drove to Otztal, Austria. The place of the adidas Sickline, the extrem kayak World championship.

I enjoyed a full week training and paddling the Oetz river with Simon!! Was great!! Thanks also to Schorshi for the bedroom!!!!!

I don't wanna say more about the adidas sickline, I'm quite sure you checked the previous post of Ralf Schaberg on this blog. Was again a good event and it's always pretty good to share good moments with friends on events!!!!!!

David Arnaud was also there as video maker for the adidas. Finally after the Sickline, David and I came back home in France. I spend few weeks at home where I enjoyed mountain biking with my brother Gautier. It's good to do something else than kayaking sometimes, especially when there isn't good water levels!!!

I also competed some slalom races in France. It was actually pretty hard to paddle well and found back all my slalom skills after few weeks traveling and creeking. I wasn't pretty bad but not pretty good at the same time... no matter, was fun!!!

End of october, Mariann Saether proposed me to join her for a trip in Chile. So we left on November 18th. Many thanks to Mariann for all!!!!

We spend 3 weeks in Pucòn, enjoying chilean summer and awesome rivers over there!!!

We paddled everyday with different groups which is pretty nice!!!!! Thanks to the czeck guys, Demshitz, canadians, americans and others....

Jakub Sedivy, Mariann Saether, Steve Fisher, the legend Kurt Cassey and I opened the Trafanpulli river!!! http://riversofchile.com/rio-trafanpulli/

I also paddled often with Steve Fisher, who is probably the best kayaker in the world!! So I learned tons of news things about creeking, river running, partying... Thanks buddy!!!!

The last 2 weeks I was in Futaleufu to paddle the legend river!! It was just awesome to be there enjoying everyday the best river in the World!!!!!! My first time in Terminator section was just amazing, I wasn't used at all of big waters so I was completly lost, juts following Mariann and be impressed by these few meters high waves and holes. I learned a lot with Steve, so now I feel quite fine on big waters!!! thanks!!

One of my best moment was probably the Middle Palguin waterfall, a 22meters/70feet. I did a great line and the landing was so smooth. Just a perfect drop!!!!! The photo of Steve speaks alone!!!!

Mariann and I came back in Europe the January 1st, enjoying New Year Ev' in the flight... yeaaah... It's so cold in Europe after few summer weeks in Chile. Now I'm planning some good things for 2010... I'll let you know in time!!!!!

Enjoy the river and seeya on it!!!!!

Val

2009 Wrap Up - Happy New Year!

Lachlan Carracher — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:05:00 +0000

Happy New Year! I have just completed an amazing world tour for Fluid kayaks. Spent my time in locations such as the Australian Kimberley, British Columbia, Switzerland, Nepal and Indonesia. I got over 160 days on the water spread over almost 40 different runs across 4 continents! Thanks to everyone that has supported me, and shared the good times on the river. I look forward to a bigger better 2010. In the mean time check out my first project for the year at www.kayakthekimberley.com and some of my personal highlights from 2009.

B.C. - Photo: Jack Dawkins

B.C. - Photo: Emily Bakker

Switzerland - Photo: Val

Nepal - Photo: Sean Boz

Indonesia - Photo: Puji

Kimberley Region, Australia - Photo: Sean Boz

Nepal Photo Update!

Lachlan Carracher — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:59:00 +0000

So I have just left Nepal after spending 3 months working on the rivers. I have had an amazing time and got around 65 days on the water working for Paddle Nepal (www.paddlenepal.com) They were great guys to work for and I have made many new freinds! Unfortantly when on a multiday run out there my Nikon D80 digital SLR camera took a fatal swim! So allot of the photos here are from a point and shoot. Thanks to Ollie, Monica, Teru, Sveta, Sean, Ashley, Stan and everyone else that passed there photos onto me. CHEERS!

Himilayain White Water Challenge

Next 7 images are one big long rapid, defiently one to get the adrenaline going after hiking for two days up a remote gourge in the Himilayas

Full Moon Party On the Kaligandaki

Did not hurt as much as it should have.

The next 6 photos are from the Upper Seti Canyon - This was first run last season by Will Clark and Anton, Allot of rocks have moved in the recent monsoon from the looks of the photos, the boys last season had a portage, we ran everything, Not sure if the rocks have moved in a section or the water was different. Pretty terrorising canyon with just two paddlers in there, no room for error.

Myself and the boys I have spent the last 3 months living and working with!

New Zealand - Warming up!

Sven Perschmann — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:44:00 +0000

Hey Guys!

First of all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I am set up in Christchurch, New Zealand now, working for paddlerzone, the NZ fluid distributor and one of the biggest kayakshops on the island(s). Life is treating me well, living in a house on the beach, get to take the Element and Nemesis out for some good surf sessions and spend at least two days a week on the westcoast. Hiking (with kayak), climbing (with kayak), flying (with kayak) and kayaking (with kayak!).

After about a month of rafting, getting certfified and practicing my rescue skills (sieve diving on a rope - anyone keen? NZRA) on the North Island I quite enjoy this lifestyle! However, so far my focus for boating was a very personal one, I didn't take too many pictures but rather went back to worry free entertainment, which was very rewarding! Not too great for you though, so I will get the camera back out as soon as we start exploring all those long heli runs a bit more! I got a good crew coming over on New Years, can't wait to get back out!

These were also the first real runs in my Solo L, and I am quite impressed! After a summer on the Ottawa surfing waves all day I was a little worried that I lost some creeking Mojo, but it still works... And the boat performs! Easy to boof, predictable, forgiving and enough of an edge to still make it fun to paddle!

And no worries, I wouldn't put up a post without any eye candy at all!

Enjoy!

Styx, classic hike in run! pic Kevin Smith Toaroha, screwing up my freewheel, got sacked hard! pic Kevin Smith Arthur's Pass - every week again, Christchurch to Hokitika New Zealand traffic jam! 10 mile creek - little too much wood and metal on the last rapid! pic Jye Mitchell beautiful, isn't it? 10 mile, pic Jye Mitchell Bruce Dando bringing our boats up! Toaroha.

Stay tuned - either here or on bootfahrer! Peace, Sven

Thanksgiving Blitz

Natalie Kramer — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:38:00 -0700

Leif and I just got back from our Thanksgiving break. We tried to pack as much boating into the nine days as humanly possible, given a 22 hour car ride from Colorado to the west coast. We left Fort Collins at 8pm on Thursday night and managed to make the 7pm ferry on Friday out to the Sunshine Coast, BC by NEVER stopping except for gas. Amazingly, when we got to the ferry we were only a few cars away from the second half of our group who drove up from Arcata, CA. Anyways, I'm quite proud of our team driving effort which allowed us to get up at 4am to surf Skookumchuck in the pre-dawn light on Saturday. We spent four days surfing that beauty of a wave. Leif was killing it with big airblunts, some clean blunts and quite a few nice helixes (really it should be helices). I got some really nice airblunts and worked on the donkyflip/faceplant. Below are some photos.

SKOOKUMCHUCK

I highly recommend renting a cabin at the back eddy marina. They aren't too pricey and you can fit six people in one cabin if you don't mind being comfortably close. They also have a shower and a kitchen. The cabin was awesome for softies like us who didn't want to camp for four nights in the rain.

After saying goodbye to our sweet cabin which kept us warm in the chilly rain, we packed up the playboats and got out the creek boats for three full days of awesome creeking. We started off with a fun run down the east Fork of the Lewis, then stepped it up and ran the Green Truss, then stepped it up once more and polished off the trip with a run down the ever so classic Little White Salmon. I then spent the whole car ride back grading intro geology labs, ugghhh.

GREEN TRUSS AND THE LITTLE WHITE

A fuller write-up with more photos can be found at our blog.

Fluid Europe squad in search of the sickline...

Ralf Schaberg — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:10:00 +0100

The first weekend of octobre, the extreme kayak world had one place to be – tyrols oetz valley, where the Adidas Sickline extreme kayak world championships took place for the third time. Over 100 top kayakers from twenty-two countries, among them Olympic Champions and World Champions in canoe slalom and winners of the latest extreme races of the season, had travelled to Austria to compete for world championship honours.
Some shots from the course

No question that Fluids european team members Valentin Grollemund (France) and Ralf Schaberg (Germany) didn´t hesitate for a minute to join this wicked event, accompagnied by team manager David Arnaud, a well-known face in the Adidas Sickline media squad. While the frenchies enjoyed a beautiful preparation week in the oetzvalley running all the various sections the infamous oetz river offers to the class V paddler, you could find Ralf doing his final training sessions on the picturesque but very quiet fuschl lake. He finally arrived wednesday catching up with some whitewater warmup-runs on thursday, and finally the squad was on fire and keen to race.
A sweet preparation Valentin is enjoying there...

But before being allowed to nail down the steep and technical Wellerbruecke section, the competitors had to pass the qualification. Only 48 of them would enter the quarterfinals. Without any problems, Valentin and Ralf passed this small barrier and focussed on the preparation for the quarterfinal.
Valentin speeding down the qualification

On saturday, the Oetz valley presented itself to the competitors and spectators in brilliant conditions - a perfect race waterlevel and the sun was just about to come up, when the first starters launched into the quarterfinals from the 6 meter rock drop throwing themselves down the course. With the new race format, the finals day started off with 2 rounds of head-to-head heats. Number 1 competed against number 48 of the qualification to go through to the 2nd final round, number 2 battled number 47 to progress and so forth. This was repeated with the top 24 contenders. This new knock out system was supposed to ensure that the midfielders have a fair chance to use good technique to get decent rankings, and it also ensured that the fast guys didn’t battle each other until the final round. As a result, the Superfinal line up of 15 was indeed the best of the best. In a field of this kind, no one could afford to make even the slightest mistake.

The truly unfortunate sufferer of this system was Fluid younggun Valentin Grollemund, who met a fit and famous quarterfinals-opponent, US-kayaker Andrew Holcomb, winner of the prestigious green narrows extreme race. Val, nailing an awesome time of 1.05,39 was kicked out by Andrew, who flew down the course with a time of 0.59,50, one of two riders who stayed under the magic mark of 1 minute on the course. Pour Valentin, next time kick some butts, dude!
Valentin and his strong opponent Andrew Holcomb

Ralf was luckier with the rivals and fought himself through the quarter- and semifinals straight into the superfinal, with having an amazing 1.01,88 time in the quarterfinal.
An extreme kajak world champs course demands for a crazy start - Ralf on the ramp

In the supertight and thrilling final on the legendary Wellerbruecke course it was eventually German slalom kayak olympic goldmedalist Alexander Grimm, who scored the fastest time and won the adidas sickline worlds, 68 hundreds of a second ahead of New Zealand’s Mike Dawson and Jakobus Stenglein from Germany on the 3rd place. Fluids representant Ralf finished 11th, with less than 5 seconds distance to the 1st place. In the overall result, Valentin still finished 26th, which means that both Fluid riders stayed in the first forth of all the competitors. Being equipped with standard production SOLOS, this should give you the right hint which boat to choose if you want to fly down the rapids in your next session.
Su-Su-Su-Superfinal - Ralf on the course

Enjoy your ride and meet us at next years´ Adidas Sickline extreme kayak world championships.

Event infos:
www.adidas-sickline.com

A full length video documentary of the finals:
http://freecaster.tv/kayak/1009273/adidas-sickline-2009-presented-by-tirol-replay

2009 Summer on the Gatineau River by Mat Coldebella

Mathieu Coldebella — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:40:00 +0100

A small video of my summer trip on the Gatineau River. A full camping week on the sand next to the High Tension wave, grilled fishes, sun and friends. Perfect life, you shoud try it !!! No Hype just FLUID...

Fluid High tension from Mathieu COLDEBELLA on Vimeo.

Also, here is the video of our Corsican trip last April. The video won the Jury Price of the 3rd Kayak Film FeSteve'al organized in the French Alps beginig of July, check this out!

The Gipsy Family in Corsica from Mathieu COLDEBELLA on Vimeo.

Kayaking in Alabama? by Charlie Mix

Charlie Mix — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:58:00 -0800

Team paddler Charlie Mix checking in.

When most people think of Alabama, they think trailer parks, tornadoes, and confederate flags. Not beautiful 500 foot deep canyons, mountains, and burly class V drops. Little River Canyon is a beautiful gorge nestled in the foot hills of the Appalachian mountains in the northeast corner of the state. LRC offers all of this; including confederate flags.

The truth is Little River Canyon is just the tip of the ice berg of hidden gems that Alabama has to offer to the adrenaline seeking enthusiast. During the peak of the season, winter and spring, one can almost always count on Little River to be at a runnable flow. This makes it a great place to train for creek boating. It offers large technical rapids and waterfalls to challenge even the most experienced paddlers and also has easier rapids for those that are just learning how to boof and rally.

Each water level offers it's own set of challenges and dangers. Little River Canyon is an excellent place to get comfortable boofing over sieves and undercuts in normal Alabama fashion.

As stated, this is only a sample paddling that Alabama offers. There's a variety of steep creeks that flow into the canyon itself and in the rest of the state.

Here are some pics of Little River Canyon at a low flow:

Charlie Mix entering Terminal Eddy

Tuck on Pin Ball

Another 'Bama Boy, Tyler Phillips, on Humpty Dumpty

Yours truly at Pin Ball

all pics taken by me and Ben Berhard.

For more info on Alabama kayaking go to: www.alabamawhitewater.com and check out my blog: www.bama-boys.blogspot.com.

Stay tuned for more updates throughout the season.

-Charlie Mix

garburator!

Sven Perschmann — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:13:00 +0000

while i am sitting here on new zealand's countryside at mohaka rafting, enjoying good food (sheep), nice views and learn some technical rafting so that i shall become a kiwi raftguide i got this mail with pictures of micha schomann.

micha visited me in canada for two weeks midseptember to bum around a bit and enjoy the eastern canadian playboat classics... and boy did we get lucky! our adventures included but were not exclusively limited to: sleeping on a roof downtown montreal, enjoying huge bonfires at big owl's rafting, driving through (rotten) cornfields, getting bitten by cats and....

SURFING. A LOT!

Lachine, Habitat, Cornerwave, Babyface, ran the Rouge and then BOOOM! Garburator came in! last time i surfed this wicked wave was in 2007, and i had almost forgotten how it feels! well, easiest way to explain it would be: FAST! like really fast. while you don't have a lot of time to setup as you're screaming down the pit it does allow for some good air. other than a lot of waves i know you always project forward, upstream, which makes it hard for combos but a lot of fun for airscrews, cleans, back pan ams etc... anyways, micha in the end sacrificed some precious surfing time and busted out his photo skills! and as photos really only make sense if they get looked at: HERE YOU GO!

all pictures courtesy of micha schomann

peace, sven, -> bootfahrer <--

Natalie Kramer joins Team Fluid North America

David Arnaud — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:59:00 +0000

Hi all,

We're very happy to introduce Natalie Kramer as a new Fluid ambassador for North-America. Natalie is definetely a very avid paddler, equally at ease hucking waterfalls in the Solo and airblunting her Nemesis on the M-Wave.

Here's what Natalie says about joining Team Fluid:

I am very excited to be joining by fiancee, Leif Anderson, on the ranks of the Fluid Kayak Team. I have been greatly impressed with how the fluid boats paddle, especially the medium solo. I love paddling through tight, technical and gorges which never fail to astound me in their beauty. I also really enjoy big wave surfing and the mad air that comes with it. One of my goals as a female paddle is to inspire more of my gender to make the jump from class III to class V; becoming a fluid team member will definitely help me work towards this goal . I have posted a web album on Picasa of my favorite photos which you can view by following this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/nettleus/NatalieSChoicePics2009?feat=directlink

You can also check out my (and Leif's) kayak blog at www.leifandnatalie.blogspot.com.

Leif and I have many trips planned in the near future including a trip to the White Nile this December. Hopefully I will get to meet some more of the team while I am there!

Take care,

Natalie

Welcome onboard Natalie! No doubt we'll hear more about those two in the near future. Here are a few action shots of Natalie. Pretty impressive!

Bama Boys Colorado Video

Charlie Mix — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:22:00 -0800

Here's a video of the Bama Boys-Fluid Kayaks Team charging the best kayaking that the Four Corners area of Colorado has to offer and some local bama gnar. Huge thanks goes out to Four Corners River Sports for giving us jobs and beta!!!

Bama Boys invade SW Colorado from 4Corners Riversports on Vimeo.

Until Next Time,

-Charlie MIx

hand paddling by Hendri Coetzee, and a video

Hendri Coetzee — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:08:00 +0000

Look mom no paddles

I started hand paddling rather abruptly and unsuccessfully after loosing my paddle on a class 5 run. The carcass of my boat is still lying next to the Shirley in Norway. The silver lining is that I was alive to nurture my bruised ego. What followed was a terrible few months without a boat, during which I got so desperate that I was often forced to borrow Piranha boats from friends while waiting for a proper boat to be ship from the Fluid factory. The lesson was clear. Learn the basic of hand paddling. Sooner or later you will find yourself up a creek without a paddle. It was way to cold in Norway to really experiment but as soon as I got to the Nile I thought I would take a week to learn the basic’s with my state of the art NRS web gloves. (liberated from my previous employer and promoted from their commercial body boarding duties.)

A video of Hendri running some Norwegian creeks, handpaddling

I immediately realized how absolutely terrified I was at not being able to roll instantly. I learnt to paddle on the Zam, where you could run almost anything with a good roll. ( almost, I have scars to prove it) The confidence of a good roll is pretty much what my boating is based on. Suddenly I had neither confidence or a good roll. I could hardly remember the last time I had missed two rolls back to back. Now I went down the river floundering from left to right in search of a great big gulp of air to power the next round of splashing about. Small rapids consisting of two parts became mayor challenges. Long rapids became multi-sports event of freediving and swimming. Turns out pro kayaking is for pussies, if you want real terrorization go kayaking without a bomb proof roll.

My sudden and rapid decent back to gumby status wasn’t pretty but in a sick sort of way it was fun. In my new world I got “the buzz” from most rapids. There was no need to risk my life anymore. I had my hands full with the commercial rafting run. I started leaving the paddles at home more but it wasn’t until I swapped the gloves for some proper Power Paws that I realized there was more to hand paddling than a bit of fun. Apart from the fact that I feel like The Wolverine every time I strap those bad boys on there are some other pretty cool aspects. Rolling? fugedaboutit. Any place, anytime. It is two paddle blades for support instead of one. Submerged into a seam line or melting the top drop? Paddles don’t come close, dual suspicion wins every time. Boof? Latino style baby, slap your hands down like you mean it, thrust your hips and send postcards to the ladies. Running waterfalls? Say goodbye to those nose breakers on a misplaced shaft. Lose my paddles? I don’t think so. They are strapped to my hands. It takes the Shirley episode that got me into hand paddling in the first place out of the equation.

Which bring me to a important question, Will I run the Shirley with hand paddles? To be honest I would rather have my paddle, but that’s just because I am not tough enough, yet. One day when I am big (and on a lowish flow) I hope to do so. Hand paddling is fine for creaking and big water, in some case preferable. The most notable drawback is powering through holes. You simple don’t have the punching power, meaning you have to avoid them. A clever trick on that off-road track called the Shirley.

Which brings us to why? Why give up all that leverage? Why loose all that power? Why make it harder?

One answer is simplicity. By removing the paddle you become closer to the water, which was the original goal in kayaking after all. By having both hands in the water you can feel the currents better, and rotate your body around them more intimately. The fact that you have less power makes you boat smarter. I would like to say that hand paddling has made me a better boater but to be honest it probable hasn’t. It has only made my hand paddling better. The best thing hand paddling did for me was to force me to re-read the local runs and to recalculate my limits. Dressing kayaking up in a brand new red ribbon.

It has taken me a while but for the first time now I feel that I can run almost at the same level without a stick that I can with one. Not that it matters one bit. I am learning as much as I did in the first few years and having more fun in my boat than I have for years.

In fact now that i think about it, paddles are probable for girls...

What's new at Fluid Kayaks: outfitting, composite boats - and hot babes

David Arnaud — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:45:00 +0000

Ok, let's get down to it straight away: since a few pictures have been out on the web already, I know that probably half of the people reading this article are here to see more pics of our Fluid Babes. After some hesitation I've decided that I'd do an update specifically on that subject some time later. Right now I'd rather have your full attention to introduce the new Fluid toys.

As you may know, the Kanu Messe has become over the past few years a "must" for most companies, and the place and time when new products are unveilled. Celliers Kruger, our fearless leader and designer, has been working his a$$ off over the past few weeks to have everything ready in time for the show. We offered him a well-deserved beer for this achievement, which he declined for a glass of milk. Go figure.

Fluid boats were exposed on the Rokxat booth. Rokxat is the European distributors for Fluid as well as for many other paddling brands, and they've done a fantastic job once more at this tradeshow, making our booth one of the most attractive of the entire show (and now you're thinking about the babes AGAIN - stay focused please).

So what's new for Fluid?

NEW OUTFITTING

First of all, the new outfitting that will equip our entire range from now on, the Mod3. Why Mod3? because as you can see on the pictures below, it is composed of 3 different pieces only.

There are multiple benefits with this new system:

lighter: less parts, less plastic, less weight
stronger: no small parts that break easily
better hull support: oil canning, already rare on our boats, is even less likely to occur
seat position is extremely easy to adjust (any easier solution on the market? not to my knowledge).
good comfort and greater "feel" of the boat due to a more ergonomic shape of the seat and hippads

We kept and improved the front plastic pillar as well, for the same reasons we had it in the first place:

it provides a very convenient "handle" while portaging the boat
in case of emergency (typically, in a pinning situation), it can be used as a "step" to exit the kayak more easily.

This new outfitting system will equip all of our boats from now.

COMPOSITE BOATS

Another big attraction on the Fluid booth was the new line of composite boats. 2 models will be produced in composite: our surf kayak, the Element, and our freestyle boat the Nemesis. Only the Element could make it to the Kanu Messe in time, but the Nemesis is now ready too and we're working on the last details before shipping it out to dealers.

The Composite Element is available in M size, just as the current plastic version. Isn't it beautiful?!

The model shown at the Kanu Messe was one of the first out of the mold. We noticed the hull was a bit too flexible on this pre-production version. The production version will be improved and stiffer, and will also offer the fins setup. We won't release boats that are not up to our standards in terms of constrution and durability, unlike stories we heard from some of our competitors... ooppss!!!

The Comp Nemesis is available in M as well, and interestingly a S/M version is currently in the making. This size will fit right between our current plastic Small and Medium sizes, and will be the boat of choice for mid-sized paddlers around 60-75 kgs. This is the Medium version, very comparable to the plastic version, with only minor tweaks here and there to make it ideal for a composite construction.

What about the pricetag of these fantastic toys, you may ask? Well, the idea behind the composite boats was to make them accessible. What is the point of building a composite boat if only a handful of people or team paddlers can afford them? We want to see our boats on the water, not only on a fancy booth on a tradeshow or in the delicate hands of our Fluid babes. That's why we worked hard on the pricetag with our providers and distributors, and as a result the Fluid Comp boats will be available at a retail price barely superior to what you'd pay for a plastic boat. Ask your nearest Fluid dealer for a more detailed pricing.

That will be a little bit more expensive than our plastic versions, but we believe that the advantages in terms of performance and weight will be well worth it. To give you an idea of what to expect with those boats, have a look at what the plastic models are already capable of here: Element in Hawaii sur Rhone and Mat Coldebella racking up 1500+ points in the Nemesis.

Our team paddlers are very excited about the Composite boats and I guess the first pics and vids should be available soon enough. The production boats will start shipping this falls to dealers.

SOLO

Our reference creekboat, the Solo, also enjoyed a lifting with a new logo and two new colors, lime green and grey. And from top to bottom, the 3 sizes: small, medium and large.

Check out Val Grollemund in Austria, training for the Sickline race in his fancy new green Solo. Beautiful, isn't it?

NEW BOAT: THE DETOX

Also missing at the Kanu Messe, but coming out of the mold in a couple of weeks is our new creekboat, the DETOX. The Detox, with its lenght, volume, and general forgiveness, is aimed at running rivers and creeks alike. While the Solo remains the boat of choice for the harder stuff, the Detox will spice up your paddling on the class III/IV/V runs with it's playboat hull and rails, making the occasional surf much more enjoyable. The added carving and edging capacity will make for a more enjoyable ride down the river, wheither boofing waterfalls, ferrying or catching eddies along the way. As I said the Medium Detox is being finalized these days. The Small and Large Detox will be next and will be available by the end of the year, so they should reach a dealer near you by february/March next year.

Have a look at the specs:

SMALL DETOX

Length: 215cm/7’1”
Width: 62cm/24.5”
Volume: 235l/52gal
Weight: 13.5kg/30lbs
Paddler weight range: 50-85kg/110-190lbs

MEDIUM DETOX

Length: 230cm/7’6”
Width: 64cm/25.25”
Volume: 250l/66gal
Weight: 15kg/33lbs
Paddler weight range: 60-95kg/130-210lbs

LARGE DETOX

Length: 245cm/8”
Width: 66cm/26”
Volume: 270l/71gal
Weight: 15.5kg/34lbs
Paddler weight range: 70-115kg/180-250lbs

And some CAD drawings to wet your appetite:

And since you've paid good attention to this article, here's a pic of what you came for in the first place: a Fluid Babe ;-)

Thanks to all the Fluid / Rokxat for an awesome show, thanks to Val Grollemund for the pics, and stay tuned for more of the babes!

David Arnaud

hi, my name is... by Sven Perschmann

Sven Perschmann — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:04:00 +0000

first post up on the junction, so i think i owe everyone at least a little introduction. no worries, i'll include some shots to make this more fun too... sven perschmann. 26 years old. german.

i've been boating for thirteen years now (really? wow, sounds like a lot when you actually write it down...) and am now at a point in my life where i kinda focus all around the river. i'm writing this from the banks of the mighty ottawa during a little bit of spare time between rafting, kayakinstructing and boating my face off on some of the worlds sweetest waves! kayaking has brought me to a lot of sick places all over europe so far, as well as canada and last winter to costa rica. living the riverbum style is doing fine for me right now, just planing my winter in new zealand. bring on the goods!

the last few years i've been paddling with riot kayaks, which was sweet while it lasted. so thanks to everyone there, hope you guys get back on two feet. however, it was time for a change this year and luckily i was able to spend quite a bit of time in daniel krummreich's fluid nemesis m. i was sold. so i tried and somehow convinced david and celliers that i really need to paddle their boats from now on!

after tons of emails, a roadtrip to vermont and some awesome smuggling i am now the proud owner of a wonderful pink nemesis and this huge solo l. and so happy with it! the first time i tried out the nemesis was on buseater. i guess almost everyone in the playboating world knows this wave since "dynasty" and at least since the worlds 2007? for anyone who doesn't, buseater is a super dynamic wave with a face of up to 12 ft depending on levels, eddy access and just twenty minutes away from owl rafting, where i work.

coming from an astro 58, which is quite the big/forgiving boat with my 180lb, i wasn't quite prepared for the nemesis on my first rides. being just as fast it was so much more edgy and bouncy! after a few rides i had it figured out though and it proved to be an amazing platform. within the first day i managed to stick more new tricks than in the whole last year! especially combos are so much easier! on big waves the nemesis really wants to take off again immediately after landing. flash forward to backstab, bread'n butters, ka-y's... after buseater slowly disappeared with sinking levels i tried the boat on smaller waves, too. same thing. it rocks. and even for riverrunning it's great. the kickrocker keeps your nose from pearling, inspiring confidence on those bigwater lines we have in spring.

well, and as the summer went by i had the boat out so much, got it into a little comp against the jackson clan and could keep up, had people try it out and got wicked responses from everyone. there's actually a whole bunch of fluids out on the ottawa now, and that river needs more variety for sure! now that the season is over and i am organizing myself for the winter it feels weird to leave the boat behind in canada. but then, when i look at my SOLO i just get pumped for another summer. this time full of creeking!

anyways, here's a few shots from the summer... enjoy...

montreal, habitat 67, surfing is sooo dynamic... picture micha schomann, freestylefoto.org

garburator! been waiting for that wave all summer. came in in september! picture micha schomann, freestylefoto.org

cornerwave. just love this shot. picture tiia koskela

dragon's tongue, ottawa. picture fernando torres

elevator shaft, ottawa. picture fernando torres

buseater. did i say edge? picture john jennex

bussy. picture caley mulholland

iron ring, ottawa, high water picture fernando torres

BIG BUS! picture emre bosut

buseater. picture emre bosut

peace,

Sven

Europe and Worlds Update by Lachie Carracher

Lachlan Carracher — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:07:00 +0000

I have just hit Nepal after being in Europe for worlds. I know worlds was a couple of weeks ago but today is my first day off the water in almost two weeks here in Nepal of Multidays and home runs. I am working for Paddle Nepal www.paddlenepal.com as photographer this season and loving every minute of it. (Nepal Update Soon)

Europe is an amazing place, I was lucky enough to get a lift through Holland on my way to worlds, There I stopped in to see Eric at Kanushop. They are the European importers of Fluid and have a great set up climbing wall, and a big range of boats and outdoor gear.

From Holland I drove to Worlds, only to be stopped by a German reporter and was asked the question "You know that kayaking is illegal on this river, What do you say to the police?" Self restraint was working over time and but I gave a proper answer.

Worlds was the best worlds ever, I have not been spending much time on small features and didn't do so great at worlds but it was great to see many old friends and paddle with fellow Fluid members, Paulo, Ibra, David - Our fearless team manager and Val. I made it my mission to get down the local creeks as much as possible and in the end was sprinting the home run out of Interlarken catching no eddys.

A day of amazing canyoning in central Switzerland with the boys gave me a last little bit of adrenaline to leave Switzerland. From there I manager to get a lift to Plattling the site of the 2011 worlds for a quick look. Thanks to Eric from Kanushop for the help and to all those that supported me, looked after me, gave me lifts and partied with me in Europe. Cheers! Lachie

Photos of Mathieu, Paulo, and myself. Photographers:Anthony Yapp, Lachie Carracher and Adriene's Mum!