Pat Keller’s vision on river safety
Earlier this week I read an 'open letter' from Pat Keller (25 year, USA) where he asks for people's attention on a crucial point of code in the wild world of water.
Earlier this week I read an 'open letter' from Pat Keller (25 year, USA) where he asks for people's attention on a crucial point of code in the wild world of water.
At the fifth edition of the adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championship in Tirol’s Ötztal Valley, Sutton defended his title with a new course record of 55.84 seconds, undercutting the record he set in 2010 by three seconds.
The countdown is on. In ten days, the best of the best in kayaking will meet in Austria’s Ötztal valley for the 2011 adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championship to crown the world champion in extreme kayak sprint on the legendary Wellerbrücke rapids.
As the two-week tour of competition comes to a close you might be able to accuse the Grand Prix of a lot of things: a skunk reeking havoc in a hotel room, broken beer glasses in a bar in La Tuque, egos bruised, goals realized, lines missed and stomped, but no one can claim the whitewater was anything less than representative of the top end of our sport.
A wave on the Ashuapmushuan River was chosen for today’s freestyle competition and showcased athletes’ wave skills, which were honed to a fine point. The features called 'Pillars’, which has been surfed on previous 'Stakeout's', but never at this level, gave competitors two waves to surf.
Today the river Petite Bostonnais, chosen as the site for the Grand Prix Time Trial Race, made the best kayakers in the world think twice about climbing in their boats. The day started with a thick fog in the forests that lifted into a blue sky around mid-day.
The Grand Prix rolled straight into the Big Water Boatercross event only a day after the Gladiator freestyle competition on the Ottawa River.
Competitors awoke this morning sore after a full day of Gladiator and the inevitable beat downs that accompany any surf session on a wave of that size.
I chose Quebec as the location for the Grand Prix for a few reasons: its unique abundance of high volume rivers, our knowledge of its rivers in flood, the diversity of styles of rivers (high volume + steep creeks), and simply because it's proven to be the best place for advanced freestyle features.
For the fourth consecutive time the adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championship took place in Austria’s beautiful Ötztal valley.