Action photos

Huh, here are some photos of me paddling... Thanks to all the people who took them...

Freestyle C1 outfitting

Hi again,
Since I have some time today I will post the promised articles... The first on the list is Freestyle seat design.

Firstly before you start the conversion you have to know that there is a simple rule: The better you fit into the boat the less comfort you have and the more difficult is to get into the boat. There are, however, few tips how to break the rule.
Almost everybody knows, how to make a good C1 seat and there are articles on this subject all over the internet. So let me just mention all these little improvements I made to my boat, which finally made it a snug while still keeping the performance.

1. Most saddles the C1 paddlers use have a fixed saddle. That means your back leans on a pile of foam that is stuck into the actual saddle. This is the easy way how to do it.

Picture taken from cboats.net

It has a lot of disadvantages.

1. The knee cups (tunnel design) can´t be deep enough for you to have them in the middle of your thighs, which offers much better control. If they were, you won´t be able to get into the boat because the saddle is fixed...
2. Thus only the like 10-20 cm of your knees are inside the tunnels and this is not enough...
3. Second problem is that if you use the hip belt, which you should, the strap straps you to a fixed saddle, thus transferring the strength you apply on it to the hull only.
4. Your butt tends to go out of its place all the same, if you use the fixed saddle...

The strap setting

My solution is basically that I use almost the same system the kayak paddlers do. I cut the foam pile that supports my back and I use it as a backrest. So the ratchets of the backrest pull against the hip belt thus providing better fit and better strength distribution. Moreover I can get into the boat comfortably and then adjust the ratchets of the backrest.
Thus I get a better fit and comfortable getting in. The kneecups (tunnels) hold my thighs for almost 35 cm so I get better control of the boat...



So this is the basic idea of a freestyle seat. It provides both comfort and performance. The only disadvantage is that there are two more ratchets in the boat, but it is worth it...

So long

Eurocup in Lienz

Hi everybody,
I ve just came byck from the first Eurocup this year and I must first of all say: Where the hell have all of you been?? There were only four C-1 paddlers on the competition. That is a shame!! But nevermind, it was a cool event none the less.
We arrived on Wednesday midnight and from the first moment it was obvious that the competition is once again going to be in a hole... oh my... and I ve been training wave moves all spring... nevermind...
On Thursday we wentsearching other playspots and we found two pretty nice ones: Ainetwelle and Dolomitenwelle. The ideal flow for the Ainet wave is 280 m3/sec and 260 m3/sec for the Dolomiten wave. The Dolomitenwelle is located under the last bridge in Lienz while Ainetwelle is in Ainet village 8km upstream from Lienz (turn left after a wood warehouse to the left of the road).
In Thursday evening there was a welcome party in restaurant Eck with a free meal for all... cool...
Friday was the pre-lims day... Since the canoist were this few there was to be only finals in C-1 category, shame, shame, shame. I went again to Ainet but the waterlevel was too low and the wave was breaking too much. So I went to the Dolomitenwelle. It looked awful from the bank but I went paddling all the same. But it was cool... High wave with a decent foam pile, a green right shoulder and an eddy... Air moves possible!! Only to the left though... So I was paddling for like two hours and then went back to the competition playspot.
In the evening there was an awesome party at the club Wha. The Czech team was more than visible and audible during the party... like always during the Eurocups...
On Saturday there was the men´s quarterfinals and semis. The judges were a bit incompetent, from my point of view, since they seemed to patronize the Adidas team, but the judges changed for the semis and everything was all right... But still, to constantly judge an aerial fisherking entrymove as a bare wavewheel is more than strange. The party in the evening was again awesome and it included a huge meal for everybody. But the prizegiving was a disgrace all over.... It was done in a tiny hall in the pub. The promised prizemoney was given to the first ones in every category but the prizes for everybody else somehow "disappeared" but who am I to judge the organizers... The second and third places were told that the first place should buy them a drink and this was supposed to be a prize... well this stinks...but nevermind...
It was a nice event and although it had its problems I enjoyed it...
Photos are here...

The results:
C1

1. Nico Fayol (France)
2. Lukas Cervinka (CZ)
3. Me (CZ)

K1JW

1. Martina Wegmann (Netherlands)
   
2. Hanka Vackova (CZ)

K1JM

1. Jiri Langer (CZ)

K1M

1. Jon Best (UK)
2. Seppi Strohmeier (GER)
3. Simon Strohmeier (GER)

I will get the rest of the results soon... Sorry to have forgotten them....

So long, and see you on the water...

Training in Prague

Hi,
I ve just quickly stitched up a video from the spots I ve been training at. There is the Kadan hole and a few spots on the Troja slalom course.
The Slovenian championship was great, five days of hanging around.... the spot was painfully shallow so there wasnt much paddling at all.... but the more hanging around hehe...
Tomorrow I am going to Karlovy Vary to participate on an exhibition during a downriver event. I hope it will be great.

As soon as the exam period is over I ll send more articles...

Here is the video:

Kadan- The competition- article + photos

Hi again...
I have finally managed to get my hands on a bunch of photos from the Kadan rodeo competition. The official results also appeared so now I am able to summarize the event for you.
The surroundings of the Kadan playspot are awesome... the spot itself is localized at the location of a former mill. And it is most easily accessible from a small island that is between the main river and the mill-race. (BTW- a complete article on the spot by the locals coming soon)
The event took place on Saturday (prelims, kayakcross, PARTY) and Sunday (finals). My friends (The Bubnik family and many more) and me arrived already on Thursday though... On Thursday and Friday we were training a bit and having great fun in the evenings. Since we used to train here regularly over the past few months we felt to be well prepared for the competition.
There were 5 categories for holeriding - K1m , K1w, K1juniors, K1OB (old bastards 35 years old and more...) and C1 of course....
In the C1s there were just 8 competitors, but the competition was tough though... In the prelims you had to get 320 points and more to make it to the finals... I had 385 so I made it, fortunately.... In the prelims I was really disappointed with my rides, because I wasnt able to try the harder moves, since I had quite a few washouts....
In the finals I did much better. I flushed only once in the four rides of the head-to-head finals. And I managed to score 290 points on the average, which is good but I still know I can do much better....
The junior category was dominated by Jirka Langer, one of the two Czech participants on the Worlds 2007. In the old bastards category my frien Dusan Bubnik (age like 50 + ???) didnt make it... THat was very surprising since he rocked the whole last season and won the series....
The girls didi really good... I was surprised at some of their rides. Lenka Kucerova-Novotna won the finals with lots of cleans, supercleans and stuff.... I wish I could cartwheel like her... Betka Brabcova took the second place with huge airloop in each ride... she jumped really HIGH:...

Finally the men category. The top three places were all taken by the members of the BIG BLUNTS team
Jan Spidler took the fourth and Martin "Maty" Kucera the fifth. It was an awesome finals since all the guys were landing great tricks and fighting hard...

Thats all for now... in few hours time I am leaving for Ljublan to participate on the Slovenian championship... Jan Bubu Bubnik and Kuba Micka are coming with me. I would like to thank the sponsors of the trip, without them we wouldn´t be able to participate on the Slovenian rodeo race.

The main sponsor:

The medial partner:


Prague kayaking shop :

Here are some photos from the Kadan competition. A guy called Kralik made the photos... Thank you very much.

So long, bye

Kadan competition

I ve just returned from the Kadan freestyle event. It was an awesome weekend among friends, great competition, party every evening... simply AWESOME. I managed to win the C1 category so I am really happy. The event included a kayakcross with a start from a three - meter ramp.
On Wednesday I am going to Slovenia to participate on the Slovenian championships.
Photos from Kadan event coming soon.

Results:
K1men: 1. Stepan Vohradsky
2. Jan Bubnik
3. Jakub Nemec

C1: 1. Zoid
2. Michal Pinc
3. Lukas Cervinka

K1women 1. Lenka Kucerova-Novotna
2. Betka Brabcova
3. Hana Vackova

K1juniors 1. Jiri Langer
2. Wally Valenta
3. David Felgr

K1old bastards (35 years old and more :)) : 1. Vendy Jezvina
2. Pavel Lichtag
3. Carel Boukal aka Jan Bouchal

So long I hope I can post some pictures soon.