KARMA!

It's been over ten years now that I've been running whitewater and thus been traveling and living out of cars quite a bit. I never had anything happen to me, Cameras, travelgear, kayakgear, whole lives carried around in a car are obviously quite attractive for the criminal mind.

So I guess it's just been a matter of time until what happened would happen.

A few weeks ago I went for a hike. I'm not much of a hiker, but there was no water in the rivers to begin with so I decided to give it a try. Croesus Track, crossing the Paparoa Range near Greymouth, West Coast of New Zealand. A good friends recommendation, supposedly one of the most beautiful spots he's seen!
I started late, busted up the track and loved every second of it. Arrived at a hut just before sunset, got invited for some food by the couple that was staying there and as I was wondering why I didn't see their transport in the carpark they mentioned that they had been warned by locals that this exact spot was prone for break-ins. I was worried, but shook the thoughts off. 7km rough gravel, mid week, main tourist season over, I convinced myself that my car would be alright.
The next morning I continued the track, parting from the two, they went back to the carpark. I made good progress, scenery was stunning, just myself on one of the most stunning ridges I've seen! After making it down to the sea I hitchhiked back tot the carpark. No more than five minutes wait for any of the three rides that would get me all the way back to my truck. I would be there the same time the two others would be! I was stoked, everything seemed to be running so smooth.

Until I got to the carpark. When I checked the spot where I parked my car I instinctively looked around to see where it could be. There was a car in the same spot, but not a lot reminded of the big black and white Mitsubishi Pajero that I was so proud of.

The fire had only left metal, even the windscreen was melted down, well, you see the photos. The rock on the passenger's seat killed the thought of accident or self inflicted fire pretty quickly.
In the car was my complete kayaking gear, boat, paddle, pretty much everything that I owned and couldn't fit into the daypack I was carrying. My whole life gone in an instant!

Quite a while later I am sitting at the desk at PaddlerZone, the kayakshop I'm working at.
The past weeks have been an amazing display of openness, friendliness, helpfulness ot of everyone I know. PaddlerZone was helping me out with gear, friends gave me clothes, invited me for beers, even offered paying for my Laser Eye that was so close but now moved into a far distance again. I am now playing a new guitar, signed by seventeen friends - my little washburn disappeared as well. Sponsors offered to help out. At this spot:
Thanks so much to everyone!!!
Funnily enough losing pretty much all my possessions made me realize that I am still very rich. Living a restless lifestyle like I do these days it is incredible to see that kind of support!

And the mail I have in my inbox makes me smile! Satisfaction overcomes me, a bit of an evil smile, too. The police has found my paddles and camera lenses on someones property. The first person is arrested, they're trying to find the rest.
It is Karma. What you deserve is what you get!

Being aware of this I am looking forward to one and a half more months in New Zealand! An incredible country with outstanding people.
Next weekend I'll be attending the infamous Bullerfest, I'll be seakayaking for a week, hopefully hit some more rivers, hike (why did I never try that before?). Wow!

Okay, thought I'd share that story, but I also owe a few pictures. This time I included a bit more than just the standard kayak shots. Being able to live the life I'm living is definitely worth the hassle I went through! This place is stunning!
Bare with me if they're all over the place...

Parked quite well, don't you think?
Only metal left.
In the foreground you see a bit of a burnt bush.
It was really dry the weeks before, so not only did those people screw my life over but also almost set the hill on fire!

The Croesus Hutt!
In any other situation I would have said this was worth any trouble!
Stunning spot - Thanks DOC (department of conservation)

Same spot, now how is that morning view?

Tree on the track.

Work: Guiding the Waimakariri.
70km of class I-II, the kayak leg of the infamous
coast to coast race.

Max Siech styling as usual.
Upper Kakapotahi

Thomas Voessing: last stroke before the blind mandatory.
Upper Kakapotahi

Following shots in reverse order:
Nils Moeller, Upper Styx

Milos Trnka, Upper Styx

A throwbag. That's right Nils! Used to rescue people.
Good boy!

Richard Bax Clark, First Rapid Upper Styx

Waiting for Milos. Worse places to hang out.

Another team on the Styx.
One crew lost and broke a total of four paddles!

Best seats! Cheers Dando!

The master at work.

Nils, you really should focus more if you're flying a chopper!

Different day. Beer and good river days are always good!
Crew: Me, Gaz, Sam, Kev, JV, Jye
photo jeremy holiday

Oh, yeah, another Croesus view

Local fun: Nils rappelling off Castle Rock, Christchurch

Occasionaly I have somewhat nice views from my house.

Suggested Actionlines should not be ended upside down in rocks.
The price you pay: A snapped brand new paddle!
Check the flex on that spare!
Upper Kakapotahi, blind mandatory boof next to sieve...
picture courtesy of max siech

Peace!
Sven

Kober Scorpion EFC!

Carbon is sexy!

Thanks everyone at Kober,
that was quite the Christmas/New Years present!
Can't wait to take it out to the coast!

And yes, I didn't really do much today... That's what the 1st of the year is for though, right?

Happy New Year everyone!

Sven

New Zealand...

Warming up!
I guess it's been two months that I've been here and I still didn't write a thing! Well...
That is a good sign you know! My mum would say: If I don't hear from him he's doing well!

After spending a few weeks rafting, getting certified and doing a rescue course (NZRA!) with the boys from Mohaka Rafting on the North Island I am now set for the winter, working for paddlerzone in Christchurch, living on a beach with decent surf and creeking two days a week at least on the coast. Not too shabby!

Got to take out both the Nemesis and the Element out in the surf quite a bit and loved it! Can't wait to get my hands on some composite!

Anyways, my focus for now, especially after talking to my closest friends that were involved in a whitewater accident lately, was more on personal boating. I didn't take pictures, did a few runs on the westcoast but really just enjoyed hiking up, being all exposed out there and then picking some sweet lines down. I also paddled with a bunch of different people every time, which doesn't make the media easier. All apologies but no regrets.
So for now there is only a few shots from my trip so far, I have a good crew coming together for after new years, so we hopefully will be able to get some good runs (heli, maybe multiday...) in!
Enjoy!

Toaroha, First drop out of the canyon, pic: Gareth Cox

Gareth "Gaz" Cox, same drop!

Jye Mitchell enjoys the westcoast's beauty

everybody looking up? put some work in.
fly, walk, paddle, walk, scramble, paddle - westcoast!

bruce dando on his way up

gorgeous! 10 mile creek
kevin smith and myself, pic Jye Mitchell

order reversed: still 10 mile. a bit too much wood and metal for me!

in graham charles' words:
kayaker's nightmare number? traffic jam!

arthur's pass: views like this make the weekly 3 1/2 h drive fun!

kevin smith, pic sam?

me, about to get sacked landing upside down
damn freewheel attempts!

styx, classic run!

Peace,

Sven

garburator!

while i am sitting here on new zealand's countryside at mohaka rafting, enjoying good food (sheep), nice views and learn some technical rafting so that i shall become a kiwi raftguide i got this mail with pictures of micha schomann.

micha visited me in canada for two weeks midseptember to bum around a bit and enjoy the eastern canadian playboat classics... and boy did we get lucky!
our adventures included but were not exclusively limited to: sleeping on a roof downtown montreal, enjoying huge bonfires at big owl's rafting, driving through (rotten) cornfields, getting bitten by cats and....

SURFING.
A LOT!

Lachine, Habitat, Cornerwave, Babyface, ran the Rouge and then BOOOM! Garburator came in! last time i surfed this wicked wave was in 2007, and i had almost forgotten how it feels! well, easiest way to explain it would be: FAST!
like really fast.
while you don't have a lot of time to setup as you're screaming down the pit it does allow for some good air. other than a lot of waves i know you always project forward, upstream, which makes it hard for combos but a lot of fun for airscrews, cleans, back pan ams etc...
anyways, micha in the end sacrificed some precious surfing time and busted out his photo skills! and as photos really only make sense if they get looked at:
HERE YOU GO!

all pictures courtesy of micha schomann









peace!

sven

another season done...

nobody around anymore at big al's rafting, so i found some time to go through a few of those pictures of this summer. not too many, i've been working a lot lately and didn't get to do a lot of big trips, but that is about to change. RIGHT NOW!
another month of bumming around and putting those ninja wave tricks out on some big stuff before i take off to New Zealand!

just for technique this summer has been wicked! learnt a lot and definately changed my style of boating quite a bit. i guess it was just a different mindset coming from a very relaxed environment here. i still can't believe how easy life is around here. nothing really to worry about, go rafting, kayak after, have a beer at the fire, good people everywhere. i kinda wish this would last longer.
anyways, enjoy the shots...

mr. patrick carter slaying the mighty phil's hole

cornerwave. favourite trick of my summer.

love that shot! pic tiia koskela

pic tiia

alex davies throwin down

wipeout

this was a great view on the way to our put-in

fernando torres, dragons tongue

me. same.

dropping the elevator shaft, pic fernando

peace, out!
Sven

i love pictures!

just really wanted to share those, super stoked on them!
i was out surfing odyssey, a nice little wave that is not being surfed too much as few people know about it. the sun was setting and there was no good photo light at all, so my friend hadleigh thompson tried playing around with longer exposure and i think the shots he got are awesome!
thanks a lot buddy!
no too many, but here you go.

i guess you could tell that i'm having a good time.
yeah ottawa!

yep, right. different wave.
stumbled upon this while cleaning my computer.
buseater
that boat flies.
photo daniel inskip.

off to the sauna.
more soon.

peace,
sven

cornerwave and competitions?

i just got a bunch of shots from colin moneypenny on the oks competition on cornerwave last week. thanks a lot!
cornerwave is one of my favourites on the ottawa. quite the dynamic wave with a sweet surfer's left shoulder, fast and incredibly steep and green in the right levels. competition levels were a bit too high, so it was comparably slow and foamy but still good enough to throw some stuff on.
i've been learning a lot on that wave lately, so i tried to put a few new tricks into my rides.
in the end it placed me 4th, which, considering the other competitors, is quite alright i guess.
i guess they didn't even score some of my tricks (flipturns i think), which might have put me even further up. final ranking for the top five was EJ, Stephen Wright, Joel Kowalski, me, Nick Troutman and Moe Kelleher.

it was a small event, mainly organized for a bunch of juniors paddling with the keeners and also part of the junior olympics or something like that, so there was a lot of waiting and cheering for those kids involved. this also made the pro mens class pretty small, and i guess a delay of 4(!!!) hours until the whole thing started didn't make it any better.

it's weird, cause i usually don't consider myself a competitor, but this time, on this wave, i really wanted to go out and see how good i can do. which means that i was keen!
however, from showing up at 9:30 in the morning and finally competing at around five there was too much time wasted! sorry wilderness tours and oks, nice that you were organizing this, but some preparation and a clear schedule would make this whole thing way more enjoyable!
seeing good boaters as well as spectators leave because of so much waiting makes me think that this is not the greatest way to push our sport. it would be easy to get people involved, especially on a spot like mccoys on the ottawa, so many people came paddling through, got excited that there was stuff going on and then left kinda disappointed when they realized that nothing was happening for the longest time.
anyways, in the end i had a blast and was happy with some consistent rides.
and i think next time there's a competition around i'll still go out. i always do.
i just hope that more people will do so as well.
for the fun of it.

anyways, here are some of colins shots.






peace,
sven