In the middle of Dezember the temperature suddenly rose in France and a lot of snow in the mountains melted. In addition it rained and the water-levels of the Doubs and the Rhone shot through the roof. Hence we adhoc took two days off work and did our season 2010 closing 4 days paddling-trip to France. Well first we had to wait in Munich for our friend Toby Hüther who had quite an odysse with the ICE (fast train in Germany) through Germany and therefore we started our trip a little late around 4 o`clock in the morning instead of in the evening the day before. And as you can see in the picture it was cold in Munich.
Our first destination was the La Malate wave on the Doubs. Unfortunately we missed the perfect level for the La Scie wave by one day. But when La Scie goes down La Malate starts to kick in and La Malate is the sicker wave anyway. Just the small hole next to the shoulder gives your head some kind of tense feeling when throwing some moves ;-)
We met at the wave with "local" Stephane "Stefun" Pion. The hole looked too intimidating for Maria and Toby, so they left for the Deluz-Wave which is situated around 30 Minutes upstream. The wave is really nice and smooth, easy to throw moves and land them in the foam. On top the feature provides a nice eddy service. They both got company from two Munich board surfers who also had made a short trip to the waves. Check out the pics from the Deluz-Wave:
So Stefun and myself were left by ourselfes to surf the La Malate Wave alone. I have to say, really nice without queing but although quite physically and mentally challenging to shred that wave without long breaks. See here some pics from the session:
On the second day the water had dropped some more and the wave had gotten much smaller and the whole as well. At this lower level one can enter the wave through the hole and therefore an eddy-service is possible. Now also Maria and Toby joined in and Maria had her first La Malate session. Wicked!
After the session we decided we would leave for Lyon for the next two days as the level should be good there. Stefun lives just between La Malate and Lyon and he invited us over to stay at his place the night. What a lovely place he has built himself and his family I have to say! Thanks again for the hospitality of the whole family! The next morning we left for Lyon straight after we`ve played a football match in his garden. And the picture gives a false impression, we
did not all play against his small daughter, I was in her team ;-)
In Lyon we teamed up with David Arnaud and I got to paddle his carbon Nemesis M. What an awesome boat, so light, stiff and fast. I had so much fun although the wave was really difficult. The middle part with the foam was really trashy and it was hard to do moves on the shoulder as the green was quite flat. As well it was really hard to get on Wall B.
After the session we were invited over by Sonja Jankowfsky and Vincent Mercier, big thanks as well! The next day after another session it was unfortunately already time to hit the road again and head back home.
Goodbye France, cu again in 2011!
All pics by Maria Stelzig and Stefun PionPower on,
Markus
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