2003 World Freestyle Kayak Championships – Report 2, May 5

I arrive in Germany and wait for my new Transformer to reach the distributor here. I discover paddling in downtown Munich.

I spent my first two days in downtown Munich, Germany, where, I swear to God, the biggest issues were the surfers! I mean board surfers on the river wave! They are as aggressive as the ocean surfers about letting kayakers paddle there. I got picked up by Tobi Bersch and he took me to this spot called the Eisbach (Ice River) in the middle of the city, where parking is usually taken by a fancy nightclub next door. To avoid the surfers we paddled at 10pm under the streetlights. Quite cool actually. The spot will humble anybody their first time there, and I was no exception. Half of the battle is attaining over these double railroad ties in your boat. The fast, “cool” way, invented by Tobi is to grab high on your paddle with one hand and put your other on the railroad tie then do an “L seat” and lift yourself about 2 feet up and swing over the ties. I am quite good at these things and it took me about 10 tries to get over the first one. I am suffering from tendonitis right now from doing this about 100 times, using all of my strength to overcome poor technique initially. The wave itself is fun, but more tedious to stay on than any wave I have played. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my Transformer and had to use a Kingpin, which is much harder for me to paddle in difficult places. Sorry, I don’t have any photos, but I was busy paddling. I am ready for a rodeo there now after the two days, even have the attainment down to a science.