WC I Millau - Update

On Sunday the official training started which means lots of people on the water and not much time for the individual on the wave.

So I decided to go for a hike in the morning – the place I chose is called Montpellier le Vieux. It´s a karst plateau with amazing rock formations.

It´s got a nice network of trails and all of the formations have been named by a local geographer.

Here are a few pics from the hike:

 Can you see the lizard hiding in the grass?

 Panorama shot

 Different view of the Viaduc du Millau

In the afternoon at 4 pm it was time for a training session – and it turned out a lot better than I expected: only 9 people in the group – that left more than 6 minutes to each of us! And after about 30 minutes some people stopped paddling so there wa even more time left for the rest of us!

Team Austria (Marcel and myself) paddled with the Polish and the Belgian Teams – some of those people also were in our training group at last years worlds.

Before the actual paddling I took some pics of the group ahead of us – Russia and Japan:

 Katya Kulkova in a Space Godzilla

On Tuesday our training was scheduled for the morning – so I took my camera with me to get some more pictures of the group ahead of us. This time the Czech team was there too so the eddy was a little bit more busy than the other day.

The weather looked like rain and is was quite dark so I had to get my good lens out to get some decent pictures.

Bartosz and Lucas´ dog have got everything under control!

Ondra in a McNasty

And here´s a nice Loop by Stas captured in 13 pictures:

(it´s a gif picture - you might need to right-click and reload it!!)

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WC I Millau

I decided to go to Millau on Thursday because I hoped to get some time on the water without having to sit in the eddy for hours.

The famous Viaduc de Millau

Different view

When I arrived today I went straight to the playspot after pitching my tent - and what did I see?

Already 8 paddlers on the water - well, it could have been worse...

So I got ready and jumped into the water. The water temperature is a lot better (colder) than in St. Pierre (where it was almost to warm) and I started paddling to get a feeling for the spot.

Hitomi in the late afternoon sun

Loop

It does look quite OK - but it´s really shallow - I had a few light impacts on my bow and also stern and even hit my paddle on the ground.

Then George from the UK tried an Entry-Lunar Orbit and broke his paddle and shortly after that one of the locals hit the stern of his boat really hard and through that had a small wound on his thigh.

After that I paddled very carefully but after like 90 minutes of paddling I went for a loop - not even plugging the bow deep - and got a nasty hit on the ground! So this meant I had to get the epoxy out and fix my boat... again.

Overlook of the area where the Natural Games will be held - kayaking is only one part of a big Sports and Music Festival!

Some of the paddlers training here I remembered from last years worldchampionship - especially Hitomi from Japan.

She came 2nd in last years worlds after ClaireO but I think - with ClaireO not here - she´s the one to beat! She´s been linking moves really nicely and her McNasties are huge! I can´t wait to see here in the competition!

Also George is going to be good to watch - he´s just got a unique style - I just hope he´ll find a spare paddle soon!

After paddling I went into the city for a short walk - Millau got a lovely historic center!

Here are a few impressions:

 

And some pics of me from Fridays first training session: 

 Loop - still afraid to damage my kayak...

in the middle of  Split Wheel

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Road to World Cup - St. Pierre de Boeuf

A few days in St. Pierre de Boeuf

On my way to Millau for the first of the 3 Kayak Freestyle World Cups I decided to stop in St. Pierre de Boeuf for a few days.

Not because it´s such a beautiful little village in France but because of the whitewater channel here!

After finding a campsite I set out to find the channel – it turned out to be just a short walk down a small side arm of the Rhone. And I could actually paddle this side arm down to the actual whitewater channel – straight to the conveyor that would transport me up to the channel!

Sunny days - thanks for that paddle Heli!!! ;-)

The playspot is a nice little hole – followed by another hole just 3 meters behind – that took some time getting used to! But it´s a good spot for training. Only in the high season you are interrupted by lots of rafts and hundreds (if not thousands ;-) ) of “hot dogs” - foam devices they use to swim down the channel. They even surf the playspot in 4´s and 5´s!

But you can tell everybody´s having fun there and enjoying the time in the warm water!

"Hot Dogs" at the playspot

Working on those McNasties 

and the loops - trying to go huge!

Going fof the Back Loop

Another Loop...

Space Godzilla

The village itself is actually really pretty – with lots of old buildings right at the waterfront.

And as you can imagine - the local whine is really tasty!!! ;-)  

PS: Those Frenchies during the Soccer Worlchampionship: just closing the Bar at the campsite up so                                                        they could watch soccer undisturbed....

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Dolomitenrodeo 2014

Finally - the first competition of the year!

I was really looking forward to compete here again after last years event where I managed to participate in my first final round!

On arriving here on Friday morning I was surprised by how high the water was - the hole had changed shape  - now looking more like a wave-hole.

I still went for a paddle and the wave was actually better than I had thought! You could do hole moves but also wave moves on both sides although it was a little bit flushy - especially for the more technical moves like McNasties. In the afternoon I decided to go for a run instead of another paddle - it´s an amazing scenery here in Lienz along the Drau and surrounded by the Lienzer Dolomiten.

On the next morning the venue was fully prepared for the "2014 Dlomitenrodeo" and the Teva Pappbootrennen where everybody could sign up and build their own cardboard boat and paddle down the river Drau!

Thank you very much for the organisation Thomas "Zimml" Zimmermann - it´s been the 15th Dolomitenrodeo in 15 years!! That´s quite impressive and we all look forward to next years event!!!

Unfortunately only 7 kayakers showed up to compete - we all tried to show our best moves and to entertain the crowd! 

When the Pappbootrennen started the crowd was really huge and they cheered their teams on to make it through the wave and into the lower eddy - on their cardboard boats! This year people were really creative - from swimming tanks to ducks and airplanes - and they all swam! 

A duck - made of cardboard!

After the Pappbootrennen we had our finals! 5 out of the seven paddlers had each three rides of 45 seconds and only the highest scoring run would count! After 2 runs I was in the lead but Marcel used his routine to throw down a really nice last run! Congrats for the win Marcel!

Me doing a Loop

And a right Blunt

Marcel Bloder in the middle of  Splitwheel

Marcel inverted

Thank you very much for the scoring system Alex - great job as always! 

Alex Meindl

Matthi was the only one to score a McNasty and managed to step up from 4th place in the prelims to the 3rd over all!

Matthi Zeiner going for the McNasty

Andi was the only junior competing - but he some amazing rides! If he keeps training for freestyle he´ll definitely be on the top at some point! Keep it up!!

Andi Brunner going for a Loop

The award ceremony was held in the close by Tennis Club and the top 3 each got a pallet of Red Bull and some beer and then the party started!!! Zimml had a nice stage there and 3 bands to play into the night!

We definitely had a blast - rocking with "The Kronskies" and "The Kill Candys" and grooving with the main act: "Jimmy and the Goofballs" - what an amazing day!

Jimmy and the Goofballs

The Kronskies

Results:

1 Bloder Marcel 

2 Zach Tom 

3 Zeiner Matthias 

4 Brunner Andreas 

5 Lindsberger Peter 0

6 Meindl Alexander 

7 Jehle Frederick 

And as usual a big thank you to my supporters!!!

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Good´n´Bad things...

This year´s competition preparation seems like a long and winding road...

The 2 competitions I wanted to attend till now have both been cancelled - so there was no "competition practice" for me.

I did get quite some time on the water though and I can tell that I´m progressing!

I´ve been paddling my spare paddle for some time now and was waiting for my new paddles from Mitchell Blades - but a very unfortunate incident happened: Lance - owner and designer at Mitchell Blades had a bad hand injury and had to undergo surgery - all the best and a full recovery to you Lance!!

So that meant I wouldn´t get my new paddles ahead of the upcoming competitions - and my 45° spare paddle definitely is not the right paddle for Freestyle Kayaking!!

But Heli Graf from Helliwelli Wildwasser Shop decided to lend me a paddle till I´d get my new ones!

So I proudly announce a new sponsor:

Helliwelli Wildwasser Shop

Thank you very much Heli!!!

And don´t forget this years Helliwelli freestyle Competition!!!