Adidas Sickline 2011

With the Autumn closing in it was at lest time for the Sickline White Water World Championships, The event was due to take place in the Oetzal Region of Austria.
For 2011 we had a group of 8 Irish paddlers heading out all descending on Dublin Airport on the same flight, some good will and helpful Eir Lingus staff ensured out 8 creekers and kit all made it onto the same flight, Once we arrived in Munich a group of us had taken the option of booking 2 large vans which equipment could easily be thrown into and we could sleep in, after a couple of hours driving into the night we had arrived at the venue, a quaint Austrian town full of character and scenery. The Oetz Valley some 820m above sea level
After a first night in the vans we took to the water in some big bouncy warm up type runs with the majority of us having not seen big volume water for a long time we needed some acclimatising running the lower Oetz the Upper Oetz leaving a cheeky spin on the race course Wellerbrucken for last thing that day.
The paddling was great cool glacial rivers with bright blue skies and sun beaming down made sure kit dried quickly.
The evenings were spent cruising around the town trying the local beers by the bottle, half litre, litre, 2 litre or even 3 litre glass just so we had tried them all.
With more consecutive days paddling warming up to the event we were feeling good about the lines.
As the event drew near other paddlers descended from all over the world for video nights and ceremony's the atmosphere was buzzing,
As the competition day arrived everyone knew it would be close, one roll, one rock or one bad line would really mess up your weekend, We headed up for our compulsory practise run bright and early not sure weather this was our best idea putting on thinking of our warm sleeping bags, as we left the top eddy and felt the cool water hitting our faces we knew we were in the game, dropping over a sweet boof into the turbulent water below lining ourselves up for the champions killer a sloping drop with a compulsory late right boof stroke miss the stoke and melt the drop before getting spat out eyes to the sky, as always with practice runs we missed the boof  ending up in the cold glacial water stinging our faces but knowing we have one chance to get it right as we cruise through the rest of the course looking for clean fast lines trying to memorise the scenery. once to the bottom we make the long walk back up to the get in ready for competition runs.
As the timed runs kick off we see a mix some sweet clean lines and others melting and swimming the champions killer really is a chancer.
This time as we leave the eddy we know what we have to do adrenaline pumping through us pushing us on Bang we hit the boof looking onwards at the killer no time for thinking just from feeling knowing what we need to do, lining up at the top looking into the pit pulling through off the fast green tongue and driving up with the knees presenting the hull of our boats to the stopper as we use the speed racing towards the slot and onwards down the fast lines, As a group we had mixed fortunes during the day with 2 sets of broken blades a couple of rolls and a bit of rock bashing, PaddyTec forced his way into the next round leaving him in 70th overall with Barry and Neil 84th / 85th next up was Colm in 99th Adrian 107th Dave 112th and Ronnie down in 124th
With the whole crew out of the event we took to the town in true Irish style to find the biggest drinks we could (3 litres of Austrian Beer)
We spent the rest of the week paddling and biking through out the valley with loads of great runs with good levels we managed to take Macca for a spin on the Vent, seeing his nervousness turn to smiles and enjoyment after a great run, We managed a cheeky run down the middle Oetz a classic section with lots going on, Dave managed to break his boat on the get in and then Colm went for an early bath seeing the only swim of the week (He drank his bootie juice!) and Neil found a nice hole to test the Raptors play boating skills.
As we waved goodbye to an excellent event and epic party we can reflect on our performance and take positives forward to next year as we will definitely be back.
We spent the last days of the trip in Munich checking out the Galaxy water park with over 1400m of slides before taking to the Oktoberfest in Munich central for a spectacular night of heritage, culture, beer and dancing. A truly spectacular way to round off a great week away!

Heres the edits from Colm Healy

Bliss Stick Mystic Lightening

In preparation for the Sick line extreme race I've been looking for a new boat something fast something shiny and something light!, fortunately I kept coming back to my trusty Bliss Stick Mystic which is now over 4 years old but sill love it, The rivers we've paddled or the good times we've had I have a kind of sentimental attachment surely its not really that heavy….

At first look she tips the scales at a mega 25kg’s ouch yes she really is that heavy so I set to work weight saving,

After removing the seat, footrest, front and rear pillars, airbags, throw line, bit of water, random foam pads, Due to the big water I decided to keep the original thigh braces with cup and the backrest system as standard,

and back on the scales at 16.38 kg, right. now to keep the weight down

Firstly The Seat

So out with the old seat,

 

at 2.38KG she is a big plastic beast! So working with I-Canoe has its bonuses with some hunting we manage to find “here's one we prepared earlier” lightweight Bliss Stick Seat weighing in at only 0.68kg’s

Then I chopped down the Pillars

 

Starting at 1.14kg for the two I managed to take 0.16kg off the rear pillar and another 0.34kg from the front pillar saving 0.5kg

Next was the footrest,

Removing the standard Bliss stick footrest with its wide plastic and metal bars weighed in at a healthy 1.32kg this was replaced by foam blocks after making myself a template

Then cutting foam to fit

The footrest alone is now down to a tantalising 0.3kg

so with the boat back on the scales here is the moment of truth has the Mystic diet actually worked,

minus all of this stuff

 

she's down to…….

Just 18.6KG

 

Test

To obviously check how this was I rounded up some of I-Canoe’s Stock boats to test there weights

Lightened Bliss Stick Mystic	18.6KG
Liquid Logic Stomper 80	21KG
Wave Sport Habitat 74	20.55KG
Jackson Villain S	21.8KG
2011 Jackson Hero SL	18.8KG
2010 Jackson Hero SL	19.34KG
Riot Magnum 74	23.4KG

A successful days outfitting,

Worlds Day 5

The morning started bright and early after a wicked night session under the lights of Orkys Audi, with a chilled out session for the Irish Gate Crashed by by everybody else who saw the lights, a cool session.

Today saw the reopening of all the local stores after Sunday and bank holiday closing so off to Globas the biggest store in the world to restock and replenish! picking up supplies for a couple of days.

We had a chilled day in the sun with the lads spending a couple of sessions on the water whilst it was quiet,

For the afternoon some of the group cruised to the pool for a much needed shower whilst others relaxed before a small BBQ and evening paddle.

ICF World Championships Day 1

 

Today myself and Brian ‘Bowsie’ Cahill left Dublin for Plattling, Germany for the World Freestyle championships,

Brian had a nice early start with a 7am bus to meet me at Dublin airport for 10:30am,

Check in was awkward with both hand luggage and boat all overweight but with some switching of stuff and wearing a lot of kit we got through with no extra charge.

After a short flight we touched down in Germany’s west Munich airport to be greeted by Tom Dunphy our taxi to Plattling,

A dinner stop and a long fuel stop later and we had arrived in Plattling to meet up with the rest of team.

Kanumesse 2009, Part Deux

Ty Warp have a new foam core paddle "The Fire". Finish is nice and looks a lot better than before. Production facility has changed so that has something to do with it and assembly technique is more normal than in the past. They have also lost the destinctive "nose" on the tip of the blade and the graphics have matured (slightly).

The new Native Mariner comes with either the pedal-drive or electro-drive and judging by the size of it, it'll need more than a paddle to power it. Also available for either the Mariner or Ultimate is the new sailing rig so it looks like they're attempting to give Hobie a run for their money. As usual, all the bells and whistles are available to add on - deck covers, deck bags, cooler bags, etc... Bi-Hull should give extreme stability while fishing.

New Commander from Wilderness Systems (another of the new boat style Sit On Tops) with tracks to bolt on as many accessories as you can shake a stick at and a rather funky style sliding seat to allow a low paddling position and a high angling position.

Possibly THE most comfortable sea kayak in the world - the New Native Inuit with Bad Ass Outfitting (yes it is comfier than it looks and sounds!).

Liquid Logic are re-entering the sit on top market with the Coupe which features a similar hull and lines to the Remix but in an easy to use sit on top design. Optional drop-skeg, hatch and Bad-Ass style seating round out a package that could finally bridge the gap between sit-in and sit-on-top whitewater. Also available in a 2 person version.

Das Neuer Robson Funky Paddels mit ein Super Cool Grafix. Made in four standard prints but the limits are endless. Blade material is similar to laminate sandwich (Mmmm) found in snowboard industry).

The Pyranha Fusion series with new Small Size in hot pink colour in Angling(?) spec! Also includes detachable bow pod.

Folding canoe anyone? Great idea, shame about the 3000 euro price tag!

New brand Duemstuff - bringing the street to da river. Yes these guys have more attitude than sense but you have to admit they're probably THE most original thing in kayaking-wear at the moment. Pornstar imagery and marketing mixed with some innovative ideas and a non conformist attitude - or something like that.

Kanumesse 2009

Well Kanumesse 2009 kicked off last Thursday (18th Sept) to showcase what's new and innovative in the world of paddlesports. As it turned out there were few major, big name product launches although there were a few unexpected surprises (a new Jackson Fun anyone?), stand up paddleboards coming out of every angle, pedal-drives and electric engines, kayaks that look more like a small boat, and folding or sectional or 2-piece surfboards, sit on tops and sea kayaks.

Composite is IN for 2009 (especially from some notable experts):

From left, Prijon Pure Creekboat (prototype), Pyranha "PDX" (rumoured to be going to production in composite), the Lettmann "?" (prototype) and lastly new kid on the block, Titan Kayaks "?" in close to production spec and rumoured to be available in both composite and plastic in time for next summer - along with more sizes, more models, incl. a creekboat.

Riot came back out of the woodwork after a year in hiding showcasing their "new" range of Chinese produced kayaks - well as far as whitewater is concerned, it was just the Astro, Magnum and Thunder (and no sign of the elusive composite playboat - as you can see from above, they were one of the few company's without a composite kayak on display). They had a full line of sea kayaks and sit on tops on show too which are now embraced under the Riot brand as they had previously been marketed under Azul in the past.

PFD's were also hot to trot with new offerings from Stohlquist, Sandiline and NRS.

It's been a while since Stohlquist have released a new WW PFD on the market (esp. a rescue equipped one - think X-Tract circa 2000) so now they have a replacement which is available as a river-runner/playvest and a rescue jacket (i.e. with or without QR belt). They have also developed possibly THE most complicated adjustment system in the world with 6!, yes 6 webbed adjustments on EACH side - so that's a whopping 12 in total! It's a zip entry so once you get the fit initially dialled in it shouldn't be a problem but it still leaves a lot of webbing tails flapping around.

Sandiline came up with a reasonably well looking PFD but I can't help but feel if the basic cut and shape has been borrowed from someone else - any suggestions???

And last, but by no means least we had NRS's new Ninja PFD which should give the Astral Willis/Bella and Kokatat Orbit a good run for their money in the river-runner/freestyle section. It's a side entry style with good adjustment webbing where needed and an unrestrictive fit. It has a dual front plate (similar to Newton, Willis, Green, etc...) which doubles as a hand warmer and a front lash-tab. Tiny, tiny pocket and lack of reflective striping let down what is otherwise one of the best looking PFDs of this year. All NRS PFD's will be CE approved for 2010 which means these babies will be readily available on this side of the pond from March/April onwards.

More to follow in the sit on, stand up and sea kayak ranges later...