Fluid Kayaks Team

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

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

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

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

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!