Ammer river in danger - You can help!

I just saw on the website of the Kanumagazin an article of Judith Prechtl, where she writes about eleven planned small power stations on the Ammer river, one of the favoured creeks in the Alps, which would endanger this classic Bavarian white water run. The river is mostly rated as class II with some spots of class III-IV.
Those power stations would not just endanger the river but also the wildlife habitat and many plants. And for what, just a really small power gain which does not justify any of the drawbacks.
If you have ever run this classic river or want to run it in the future please help to stop the destruction of it. In order to do so, just print out the pdf of the “Ammer Alliance”, take it to your local club and sign the petition with as much people as you can. And maybe the Free State of Bavaria can be convinced of the stupidity of the idea to build the power plants.

As the pdf is in German I give you the meanings of the data fields in the order of appearance:
Last Name; Street & Housenumber; Email-Address; [checkbox for further information]
First Name; Postcode & City; Signature

Download the PDF for the petition here: petition

After you have signed it please send it back to the following address:
Ammer-Allianz
c/o LBV
Klenzestr. 37
80469 München
Germany

or fax it to this number:
+49 – (0)89 - 200 270 88

Last but not least something enjoyable. Just before the first snow arrived in Munich we had a last weekend in Kuchl and I could for the first time try my new dryjacket “Assault” from Nookie. Man, I was so stoked, an awesome jacket. Very good fit, splendid material and workmanship. Not to forget the guaranteed Nookie style factor ;-)
And unbelievable, Kuchl is the perfect example for a friendly coexistence of paddlers and river-surfers. Everybody waits in line until it is their turn. Check it out below:

Pan-Am with surfer waiting in the background for his tow-in

Chowing down a deserved Powerbar after a long session

all pics by Maria Stelzig

Happy Paddling!

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Help save the Rizzanese river in Corsica island!

I just got an email of Peter Lintner concerning the dam-project on the rizzanese river and the effort to save the river. Read the email below and please sign the online petition at the bottom:

Stop the building of the dam on the Rizzanese in Corsica island
If we do not react, a 131 feet high dam will tower over the bed of one of the most beautiful wild rivers of Europe.
We call for a halt of the works on the Rizzanese, in order to discuss properly other options less harmfull for the island.
The hydro-electricity is said to be green and sustainable: it is not so obvious.
The truth is that a river with a dam is a dead river.
The works on the river's site have started, justified by a technocratic gibberish that tries to turn this looting into a good thing.
The Rizzanese doesn't belong to us, neither it does to politicians and opportunists.
The Rizzanese belongs to nobody, it is a free river and a treasure that we should be able to share with our children, great-children, great-grandchildren...
Big dams are the last resort, when there is no other possibilities, when different choices have been discussed; this is not the case in the Rizzanese.
In order to face the real energy problem in Corsica without destroying an exceptional river.
In order to face the real employment issue while being respectuous of the nature, producing sustainable jobs outside the cities.
In order to avoid the desertification of villages becoming a fatality
We ask for the cancellation of the works, in order to discuss properly other options less harmfull for the island.

Please give your "signature" here:
Online petition

And here some pics of our Kuchl-Session in Austria last weekend:

Mid Air in the sidekick

Landing of Pan-Am and Toby in the waiting position

start of Cali-Roll

can you spot Toby? Nice sun-set in the mountains

tired at the end of the session ;-)

all pics by Maria Stelzig

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Hawaii Sur Rhone at a low water level

Finally I got around to edit the footage of my first couple of sessions in my new Fluid Nemesis M early this summer on the right channel of Hawai Sur Rhone at a low water level.

Check out the video-clip:



Happy paddling!

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Augsburg World Cup Pics and Low-La Malate - Salzburg - Saar-Splash Video-Mix

Just got a few pics from Peter Lintner of me at the Augsburg World Cup (Thanks!). Although I was quite dissatisfied with my rides as most of my moves got a little of track and were not counted by the judges, I on the other hand was really stoked about the fact that I started to stick phoenix monkeys and mc nasties at my "offside" during practice rides.
Below I put together some video-footage of the La Malate wave at the lowest level I`ve ever paddled it this spring, some action rides of the hardcore rodeo at Salzburg and the final rides of the German Big Air Championchips at the Saar-Splash.

All pics by www.peterlintner.de

check out the video:



cheers,
Markus

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La Malate Spring-Session 2008 Video clip

After the first day of surfing on La Scie the water droped and the level for La Malate reached the optimum. Here the video clip of the second day of surfing and flying high on the Doubs river at La Malate.
Enjoy:



cheers,
Markus

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La Scie Spring-Session 2008 Video clip

This last spring it was time again to react fast, the Doubs was high and we decided to leave for La Scie and La Malate immediately for the weekend.
Unfortunately I´didn´t have my own boat ready to leave at my place and therefore I was really glad that I could borrow the boat of Ingrid. That´s why I cut this short clip to say thanks again!
Although it was a kind of quick and dirty job check out the clip of the first day of the weekend at the La Scie-Wave. It was the warming up for La Malate the following day (I´ll try to cut that footage in the coming week). As it was the second time I was there that we got too much water for La Malate on the first day, therefore having a blast on first and getting the right level for La Malate on the second day, which is equivalent to time for collecting airmiles. On that weekend Stephane Pion also organized that the French TV was there covering the story about the "fight" to save the La Malate-Wave (www.sauvonslamalate.org) and filming the board surfers and kayakers having the time of their lifes. So check out the clip:




happy boating,
Markus


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Dutch Champs Freestyle/BoaterX & Best of Thun pics

Just got an Email from my bro Casper van Kalmthout and he told me that the shit is going down soon in the Netherlands. Here his short intro, a letter from the organizer and at the bottom my best of Thun pics.

"Read the txt below! It is going to be the biggest kayak event in Dutch history :) a perfect opportunity to visit the Netherlands for once to go kayaking!!"

Hi paddlers!

We’re organizing the Dutch Championships Freestyle, Slalom, DownRiver and BoaterX at our whitewater course Dutch Water Dreams.

This event will be on 19, 20 and 21th of September, @ Zoetermeer, the Netherlands.

For Freestyle, DownRiver and BoaterX it’s an OPEN Dutch Championship.

Dutchies can subscribe at:
Subscribe here

International paddlers can subscribe at:
Subscribe here

You can find the program here(it’s Dutch):
Program

You can stay and sleep at our area. There will also be a big party with DJ MAC FLY (David Arnaud).

So, hopefully we see your subscription @ WWW.KAJAKFESTIVAL.NL.

Friendly regards,
Paul v Boerdonk

Best of my Thun pics:

Nick Troutman backstabbing

Peter Csonka cleaning it up

Simon Strohmeier lands the backstab

Mat Dumoulin cleaning it up

Nick Troutman going for the airscrew

Markus Hummel C1 style

Dustin Urban in mid Helix

What would be Thun without a busy eddy? ;-)

Flying high again, guess who, Jason Craig

Emily Jackson at the backblunt

Ruth Gordon throwing down a backblunt

Stephen Wright going huge: air loop deluxe

Nouria Newman at the big air contest: who needs a paddle?

All pics by http://soulboater.blogspot.com

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Thun World Cup wrap up and DEVILS EXTREME RACE

I just got back from 1 week of "paddling" in Thun. Unfortunately I got ill on the second day and coudn´t paddle for the rest of the trip. Nonetheless it was an awesome event and it was nice to see a lot of friends again. The wave was better than last year (see pic below) and should even get better next year for the worlds as the city is building an extra tunnel to regulate the waterlevel of the lake. Therefore I got really motivated to qualify for the worlds next year. We´ll see. For sure the competition and performed moves will be at a very high level, as the US boys already stuck impressive massive and highly dynamic pistol flips/mc nasties and combo moves like air blunt into pistol flip/mc nasty this year. It will be interesting to see how far the level will be pushed next year.

paddler: Mathieu Coldebella

I also met my old czech friends around Jakub Nemec and Jirka Kopecny who are organizing a superb kayaking event the coming weekend. The Devils Extreme Race on Vltava river (moldau) at the Lipno dam. The event consists of a extreme slalom race, a team race and a boatercross. Besides the races the social framework of the weekend is really big, with good food, music etc.
Check out their website below for more information and a video of the race last year.

http://devilsextremerace.com



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Outdoortrophy 2008

Last weekend I had the pleasure to make a kind of guest appearance at the kayak endurance race of the outdoortrophy in lingenau (vorarlberg, austria). The kayak stretch is about 6km long and the fastest pro paddlers do it in around 31-32 Minutes. I needed 35,19 min and considering the fact that I didn´t have the time this year to paddle any distance training sessions this year I`m relly happy about the time and I´m highly motivated to cut the time by some minutes next year. Our amateur team "DJ´s Bikeshop" consited of the following athletes: Thomas Summer (mountain running, AUT), Reinhard Höfle (paragliding, AUT), Markus Laeppaenen (kayaking, GER) and Daniel Flatz (mountain biking, AUT). The different sports have to be done according to the appearance mentioned above. Check out the results and more info about the amazing and challenging event here: http://www.outdoortrophy.com/home-engl.htm

Last but not least the event had an amazing closing party. Cu at the race and party again next year!

Right after the start there is a small weir

In mid way and at the end you got a few slalom gates to master (up- and down-river)

Our "Dj's Bikeshop-Team" at the party

Still rocking

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Saar-Splash 2008 - Big Air Contest take two

Yesterday I came back from two days of big air competition in Saarbrücken where the second German Kanu-Freestyle-Big-Air-Championchips were held. The Saar-Splah is integrated every year into the Saarspektakel a really big town-festival with a dragon-boat-race, music and all kind of stuff. Over the period of three days there are around 350.000 thousand people visiting the event.
For me it was the first time ever going over a artificial ramp with a kayak. Therefore I started slowly and tried to get used to the height of the ramp. Additionally I found it not to easy to initiate the moves without an active edge change. But after a few tries I started to get the hang of it and made the final with Martin Koll and Tobias Hüther. Martin, who has been able to start training on the ramp one day earlier with Tobias who is one of the organizers of the big air contest and therefore even had some experience from last year pushed the moves to a really high level. And I think that even with the same amount of training I wouldn´t have been able to challenge them both this year as I was too hesitant to initiate the move on the edge of the ramp. But next year I know what to expect and I´ll be back for sure! ;-) In the end it was a really close desicion with the happy ending for Tobias who is the German Kanu Big Air Champion of 2008 leaving Martin with the Silver Medal and me with the Bronze-Medal.
Besides the competition Saarbrücken is a really nice city and has to offer a sweet night life which we had the pleasure to experience as Tobias showed us some bars and clubs. Thanks for that Tobias and the effort you always put in the event!
Here some impressions:

Getting ready on top of the ramp

Amphibian cars in different styles in the background

Martin Koll going for the back loop

Toby working the mike

Toby in mid air going for the title

Martin and Toby after the last jump

Toby receiving kisses at the prize-giving

The boys happy about their prizes
Third place: ipod nano 4 GB, Second place: ipod nano 8 GB and first place ipod touch

Nadine Krämer happy about her new Teva shoes which she got because she was the only girl brave enough going down the ramp with a snowboard

All pics but last one by Nadine Krämer

cu there next year!