Status of the Brudermühl-Bridge Wave on the Isar (Munich)

Over the last weekend we had finally enough water in the isar for the fist time in 2009. Unfortunately the waves at the Wittelsbacher- and Reichenbacherbrücke are still gone. Either from the renaturation of the riverbanks or because of the construction site in the water by the Reichenbacher, which dams up the water and even might dam it back up to the Wittelsbacherbrücke. But instead over the period of three days we could paddle the wave/holes at the Brudermühlbrücke at three different water levels. Each level caused different features. Check them out below.


First (highest) level: 230 - 240 cm

First wave is too flat for a playboat. The second wave is catchable from the eddy and turns into a wave-hole. The further surfers right you go the meatier it gets.

Especially surfers with oldschool longboards were enjoying the first wave

Meaty foam-wave

200m downstream there is another wave which you can just catch on the fly

Second level: 180 - 200 cm
At this level the first waves breaks at the surfers right and holds a paddler as well. The second wave opens up more and it gets more wavy. Whereas the third wave turns into a river wide hole which is not too retentive.

Blunt setup

Blunt initiation

Do it

Landing

Relaxing or queing in the eddy

Maria carves up the second wave

Third level: 150 - 160 cm

At this level the first wave breaks even more and is the most retentive. The second wave is nearly gone as it has flattened out in the middle. Just the surfers left shoulder is still working. And the third feature has become a quite sticky hole where McNastys are possible, so probably all moves.

Left shoulder of the second wave

Urban put-in

First wave

Double surf in the first wave

Pictures by Mathias Blitz, Maria & Ellen Stelzig

Greetings from:
the Jolly Paddlers of the "Happy-Nookie-Van"

PS: We went to the Eisbach two days ago and Maria made it over the wooden planks by her own on her first session really fast, awesome stuff!

First goes at the Wave Monkey in a hole ;-)

A few weeks ago I saw the new move for the first time in a short vidoe-clip by Steven Wright. Funnily nearly the next day I passed through Augsburg and met Daniel Krummreich, a fellow Fluid paddler, for a session in the washing-machine and he went for the move, so I had to as well ;-) Never thought that I would first try that wave-move in a hole, but you can practice it there or say at least the basics of it. In a hole you go up the incoming green and go for the "blunt" but instead of the blunt you throw the initiation of the Phoenics Monkey into the green and there you go. Be careful as the move can be much harder on the body than doing it in the foam of a hole. Check it out if you can spot the efforts:



power on & have fun on the river!
Markus

Radetzky Wave on the Mur in Graz (Austria)

Two weeks ago Seppi Strohmeier, Maria and myself left for a prolonged paddle-weekend in Graz on the river Mur. The level of the Mur was quite high between 3,5 and 4m and therefore the spot under the Radetzky-Bridge worked well. A kind of slow wave with foam. Therefore basically all wave moves were possible although catching air was quite hard, i.e. Helixes rather resulted in Felixes and so on. The feature offers an eddy service on surfers left although you have to roll fast to catch it. If you can´t make it there is easy eddying out and walking back up on river left.
As on most river waves in Europe also in Graz river board surfers are enjoying themselves on the wave. But guess what, unlike in Munich all the surfers we met in Graz were all really friendly and there was no problem in taking alternate turns in the wave. There is still hope! ;-)
For more information on the playspots in Graz and the freestyle events there chech this out:
Kayak Freestyle in Graz

feature overview; eddy ends on the height of the paddler

familiar view for Munich paddlers; surfers ripping the wave

old school shudder rudder

nice angle from the bridge

first phase of the backstab

PanAm

Fisher King entry move

Fisher King from another angle

Cleaning it

Pistol Flip from the bridge

Pistol Flip from the shore

And if we got bored we played some ball

All pics by Maria Stelzig

cu on the river,
Markus

Easter on Hawaii

Over the easter-weekend we started our big wave hunt 2009 in Europe in Lyon on Hawaii-Sur-Rhone.
Unfortunately the level was not perfect and it changed a lot, to our dismay it went up highest during the night. The gauge changed between 0,9m and 0,5m and unlike in old times the wave didn´t run all the time in that range. Apparently one of the concrete pillars in the middle of the river above the wave has broken which has changed the middle wave. Sometimes the foam was big enough to hold you and sometimes it totally greened out and you couldn´t catch the wave as you were too fast coming from above. It appeared that the wave was more retentive when the level was stable or falling in contrary to the time when the level was raising. So don´t be surprised if you get there at a level which normally would have guranteed you perfect fun and now you might not be able to catch the wave at all or maybe just every other run. But still Lyon is one of my favorite waves even at a suboptimal level like this. Here some pics from the weekend:

Cleaning it up

PanAm

different angle from the island

Still lovin the backstab

And the well-deserved sip from the magic potion

all pics by Maria Stelzig

Enjoy the river!
Markus

Finally: Day-One Section & "My Top 10 Uganda Tips"

Finally I came around to write my last part of our Uganda-Story. After a really awesome stay at Hairy Lemon for nearly two and a half weeks we`ve taken a Matatu
full of kayakers to change camps to Eden Rock which is located at the beginning of the day 1 section of the White Nile. Left with a few days we run as much of the
whitewater as we could in that short time. Unfortunately we didn´t shoot much footage as our time was quite limited. Below you can find some impressions.
Besides the nice White Water lines the day 1 section also offers a really big variety of good food opportunities compared to the good but limited choices at
Hairy Lemon. If you´ve tried everything what the bar/restaurant at the NRE (Nile River Explorer) has to offer ask for the Green Latern. On our last night we
were really lucky and got invited to the home of Harriet who works at the NRE bar and got serverd the most delicious foods I had during the whole trip,
7-9 different dishes, all really tasty. Big props for the good food and thanks for your hospitality Harriet.


Here my top 10 Uganda-Tips:

1. In my opinion Malarone is the best Malaria Prophylaxis at the Moment. And in addition to Malarone never pass out drunken in a bar and always wear longsleeve shirts and long trousers after it get´s dark.

2. Change 100 US Dollar to Uganda Schillings before you travel and pay attention that the notes are not older than from the year of 2000.

3. Arrange a driver to pick you up from the airport before you leave your home.

4. Properly tag your luggage with your name and address before checking in at the airport. Ideally take all essentials in your hand luggage.

5. Take with you your old shirts and cloths and give them to the local kids before you leave.

6. While paddling the day one section stay at Eden Rock if you prefer the more quiet place (just 5 Minutes walk to NRE) and if you prefer the direct party location stay at NRE.

7. While paddling Nile Special stay at Hairy Lemon!

8. If you want to have a dorm alone with your better half make sure to book in advance: http://www.hairylemonuganda.com

9. If going to Hairy Lemon take out as much cash from the ATM in advance as getting to an ATM from Hairy Lemon and back will cost you one day. Hairy Lemon will cost you around 35.000 - 80.000 Uganda Schilling a day, depending if you stay in a tent or what kind of dorm and also depending on how many beers etc. you´re going to dring in the evening...

10. Last but not least always shake out your paddling shoes properly before putting them on, i.e. beware of the small frogs ;-) And be careful where you dry your paddling gear as the termites like to make small holes in your gear.

In the entry of the hump

Going for a kinda wavewheel after the main part of the hump

Throwing some ends in the wrestling-hole

Final hole on the right side of bujagali falls

Cutting the diagonal above the final hole

Hitting the bottom hole at the far left while running bujagali blind at the first time

The Bottom hole flipping a raft

Having dinner at Harriet`s place

Harriet`s Family loving the digital camera

Nice air roof rack on our shuttle back to the airport

Back home I just can tell you, go visit the White Nile as long as it is paddleable and not every rapid is flooded because of a damn-project!

All pics by Maria Stelzig or myself

Power on!
Markus

Change of Camp - Uganda Part 5

This time I´ll devote the second last blogpost about the Uganda-Trip to the people in Uganda and the country.
Talking about the country what is amazing is the number of kids with so young mothers it is hard to grasp, actually being just kids themselves. Check out the pictures we mostly made on the trip from Hairy Lemon to Eden Rock, our base camp at the day one section.

women excursion to Nile Special with their kids

Many fishermen working on the nile

Always people washing their clothes at the river

bird flying low

resting on a tree

beaming cloud

Apes just in the trees above our hut

Monkey in mid-jump

Beautiful sunsets

Boat shuttle of the island

Loading of the Matatu at the Lemon departure

Full Kayaker shuttle

Mostly dirt roads

And long roads

fast food along the road

local high school

Getting water

can you find the canister in the picture?

yellow is one of the favorite colours of houses

the other one being pink

old Singer sewing machinge still in use

The only public transport - Mitsubishi Mini-Buses all over the place

We never saw any herds but one finds cows flocking around everywhere

driving school transformed into a shop

butcher African style

food at the market

getting busy at the market

premises at Eden Rock

Last but not least always check your shoes for frogs in Africa

All pics by Maria Stelzig or Jan Grünwald

Happy Paddling!
Markus

Uganda Part 4, Isar Renaturation & WRSI

Because of the current snowmelt the German Team trials for the Kayak Freestyle Worlds in Thun (CH) this year had to be postponed. Spontaneously Seppi Strohmeier, Maria and myself decided to use the free time on Saturday to check out the Isar south of Munich, from Unterföhring to Garching. The level was quite high (around 140 cm) and there should be some riverwide small playholes on that stretch. We never paddled that part of the river before at this level as before the renaturation there have always been nice waves and holes right in the middle of Munich. As the renaturation in the city has by now destroyed all playspots we thought it would be time to check out something new. Well wishfull thinking, we encountered on that app. 7km stretch around 10 small weirs or rather the spots where they have been. They would have been playspots in the past, now renaturated there was nothing, just a small rapid grade 1. Well done, Munich is on its best way to degenerate from Germanys Kayak Freestyle Capital No. 1 to in worst case szenario a city without playspots at all. We´ll see.

Anyway I was able to check out my new WRSI helmet and I´m super stoked as it fits really snugly on my head. 100 % no more shifting of the helmet on your head, which means more security on the river! Big props and thanks to WRSI (Whitewater Research & Safety Institute)!

The other day I also posted the fourth part of our Uganda story on the Fluid blog. Check it out here.

Pic by Maria Stelzig

Stay safe, power on and have fun!
Markus

Uganda 3, Africa Revolutions Tour & Sun Catchers Project

Before I divulge in my fond memories of Uganda here a most recent update.

Last weekend I had the pleasure to attend the 12^th International Kayak Film festival in Rosenheim. Besides some really interesting newcomer clips, Bernhard Maurachers documentation about his Nanga Parbat expedition, the classical »Family Mad« movie from Jochen Schweizer, the quite intense big water “creeking” movie »Empire« from Vasili Porsev it was the most outstanding new movie »African Revolutions Tour« by Rush Sturges which claimed the most props at that evening. Check out a clip of the movie here: watch video clip

Also very appreciable is the fact that all the money from the sales of the movie will go into the Sun Catchers Project which is a non-profit organization dedicated to supplying developing countries with the ability to use solar technology to cook food and boil water. Check out more of their work HERE.

Their work in Africa leads me back to Uganda.
I think this last year was the quietest New Years party I had so far. Most of the people staying at the Lemon decided to go up to NRE (Nile-River-Explorer) for a couple of days, which is one of the camps at the day one section, and by far most the camp with the biggest party potential as there are often loads of raft and other tourists to party with. But don´t be surprised or shocked, it really can get quite wild at those parties a the NRE ;-)

Well as our time in Uganda was quite limited with three weeks we decided to stay put and enjoy the empty eddy at Special and get more air time on the wave.
So it was a really exclusive company we had our New Years dinner with and the obligatory shots at 12 o'clock (if you ever encounter flaming sambucha, make sure that you put out the fire with the full palm of your hand and not with half of the palm and half of your fingers, as the fingers may not close out the air properly and you might get some burnt fingers ;-). The company was comprised of Lee, Vito, Pete, the Wall-Family with Sam Ward, Maria and me.
Before New Years Maria went to town with Pete to do some shopping for the feast. Here some pics from the tour to get a picture about the life outside Hairy Lemon:

With an AK 47 armed guard sitting in front of each supermarket

Believe me, you don´t want to see the butcher stands in action

Uganda style fast food: chapati-time

Very refreshing and inspiring to see how happy one can be with so little

Getting some more pigs

Getting back the groceries to the island

New Years dinner

Lee and Vito preparing the flaming sambucha

Once again some more Nile Special action:


All pics by Maria Stelzig

peace and out!
Markus

Christmas at Hairy Lemon

After New Zealand in `99 this was my second hot Christmas without snow. Always a hard decision what to do in the winter-holiday, as I love skiing but paddling in winter with warm air temperature and as now in Uganda even really warm water is just fantastic as well. Such a good feeling to paddle with as little kit on your body as possible. Often it is so warm, that you just wear your PFD, spray-skirt and a boarder-shorts. This is a good cue, as you might notice at the pictures that I sometimes have got on some long sleeve shirt and this is just to give your skin a break from the intense sun exposure on the water all the time. I experienced that I got the most sun and felt it on the skin the day after I paddled Day2 section. Probably caused on the various flat water stretches on that section. So after the white water sections I always wore long sleeve on Nile-Special for 1-2 days to give my skin some recovery time.
Back to Christmas at the Hairy Lemon. It all started with Pete, Vito and Lee (all staff at the lemon at that time) giving out a big basket full of Christmas decoration. After that the girls got all exited and spread the Christmas decoration to get in the right Christmas mood. I have to admit I really got a hard time feeling like Christmas. Nevertheless Jan and me came up with the Idea of decorating an old long boat ,which normally is stuck to the roof of the eating area, as our Christmas tree substitute. Food wise Christmas was the highlight of the stay at the lemon with a special breakfast and the biggest variation of dishes during lunch and dinner we had there.
Before lunch it was time for a kind of secret Santa. The difference was just that the staff had bought all kind of stuff, wrapped it up in Christmas paper and then handed out the parcels to each guest. You could be lucky to get an aerosol of artificial snow, body hygiene products, Barbie dolls... but the real treasures were Pringels, chocolate and anything special to eat what you otherwise have difficulties to get hands on on a remote island ;-)

Christmas-Kayak as Christmas-Tree substitute

Enjoying Christmas dinner and some bubbly with Jan and Will

Will getting a snow-shower

Tom aka Santa

Peter, Vito and Lee giving out Secret Santa presents

Finally some more loaded action pics:

Rope-Boy doing his thing

They also like taking a ride

At Special more than the boats are upside down

All pics by Maria Stelzig

peace and out!
Markus

Uganda, Nile Special or just beeing a crazy Muzungu

A few weeks ago we came back from our first trip to Uganda. We, that is Jan a friend of mine from Munich, Maria my girlfriend and myself spent three weeks at the White Nile. Awesome three weeks I have to say!
Before we went to Africa and after the trip I´ve seen and read quite a few interesting websites and blogs about the different campsites and rapids and things to do etc. Therefore I won´t describe all the different places in vast detail but as I was asked some questions from friends who plan to go to Uganda in March I´ll try to recap them and write them down here so it might be of benefit to some other paddlers as well. Most of them are really basic things and you just realize you don´t know what to pack when you start wrapping up your "suitcase".
As I´m quite limited with time at the moment I´ll divide my Uganda story in 6 parts (each part of course packed with stunning wave action pics ;-) :

1. Arrival
2. Christmas
3. New Years
4. Day-Two Section & Local Paddlers
5. Change of Camp
6. Day-One Section & "My Top 10 Uganda Tips"

So today I´ll start with the Arrival-Part:
First of all, if you arrange a driver to pick you up from Entebbe airport with one of the kayaking- or raftcompanies beforehand, which is a really good thing to do, as there are loads of shady looking cab drivers at the airport waiting to rip you of and believe me, even if they are telling you "yes, yes, I know the place veeeery well", they don't have a clue what you're talking about. Make sure you also print out the telephone-number of that guy or the company before you fly. As it is always possible that the driver does not show up, which happened to me. Guys, this is Africa which means everything is slower to say the least.
But if everything works out and you get your lift to Hairy Lemon straight (which is what we did) you can get on the wave straight on the first day, after around 3-4 hours drive. Oh boy, I tell you driving is an adventure on its own in that country.
Really scary driving habits, loads of shitty dirt roads, cars with nonexisting suspensions and a public transport system solely existing of Mitsubishi Minibuses. I`ve never seen so many Mitsubishi Minibuses in my life before, let alone so many people in one minibus.
So after an exciting drive you get to the Hairy Lemon Island. In order to get to the island you´ve got to bang on an old car rim and then wait 5-20 Minutes until somebody comes over with a wooden longboat and gives you a ride over.

hut with "calling-device" for shuttle-boat

The boat-beach clearly signals where to take of for Nile Special from the island:

After just 10 Minutes of paddling, the ideal warm-up, you´re already at your desired destination. And in order not to bore you, now that we´ve reached our main destination Hairy Lemon here some first pics of the wave:

righty Air-Blunt

sidekicking it

right Pan-Am

left Pan-Am

midway helix

One of my Ugandan goals: get safer with the cleans:

cleaning it on the left side

doing the same on the right

still one of my favorite moves: the airial backstab

low paddle-position to protect the shoulder at the california-roll

a concentrated face always helps ;-)

All pics by Maria Stelzig

almost after each session it was time to visit the chill-out-area to get some rest and relax your muscles

peace and out!
Markus