So in a move that Australian Canoeing may well regret one
day, I seem to have been taken on the media and reporting duty on behalf of
Team Australia for the 2015 World Freestyle Kayaking Championships.
The Ottawa River calm after the storm.
This year's Worlds is the big one - after six long years the
competition is finally back to high volume big waves, aerial moves and
spectacular beat downs that both the competitors and spectators have craved oh
so deeply. As a result, paddlers around the world have dusted off the paddle
and torn the garage upside down to find their kayak with the goal of
representing their country at the pinnacle of their sport, on the powerful wave
Garberator on the Ottawa River in Canada.
Australia has fielded the largest team I've seen since I
first competed on the World stage in 2007. We have a full squad of Senior K1
Men and Women, Jez rocking C1 as usual, as well as a fully stocked team of
Junior Men and Women ready to secure the future of the sport in our country.
The competition is due to start on the 30th of August, six days from now. While official team training is yet to begin, athletes from twenty five countries are already here in droves, while the athlete village has new tents sprouting up every day like mushrooms after a storm. With 184 paddlers expected here by the Opening Ceremony, each competitor is taking to the water each day eager to log as much time on the unique feature that is Garberator. And proceed to get completely obliterated.
While Garberator was chosen for its tendency to send paddlers airborne, it is also quite appropriately named after that thing in American sinks that whizzes blades around and grinds stuff into oblivion. The wave is formed when a hundred metre wide section of the Ottawa River crams itself into a channel about fifteen metres across, creating a torrential downstream V that leads straight into a frothy pit of chaos. This foamy mess is the thing we surf. While other waves, even much larger ones, offer a relatively relaxed surf with smooth carves and big smiles, surfing Garb takes every ounce of effort you possess and feels like you've been cable tied to the front of a Japanese bullet train. This wave eats paddles for breakfast, wreaks havoc on AC joints, and has a nasty tendency of seeking out any previous injury you may have thought was fully healed and reopening that can of worms. Popping Ibuprofen like tic tacs and exhausting the Beachburg chemists of medical tape, it seems a delicate balance between logging some practice time on the wave and not tearing yourself apart in the process. Freestyle's a peculiar sport where in the lead up to the competition rather than resting and tapering off your training, people tend to go hell for leather to spend as much time on the wave as possible to figure out its unique quirks. With the amount of limbs I've seen covered in medical tape it will be interesting to see if this is a wise plan of attack.
Here's a frog just to break up the text and make it look less intimidating for the Buzzfeed reader.
The competition is due to start on the 30th of August, six days from now. While official team training is yet to begin, athletes from twenty five countries are already here in droves, while the athlete village has new tents sprouting up every day like mushrooms after a storm. With 184 paddlers expected here by the Opening Ceremony, each competitor is taking to the water each day eager to log as much time on the unique feature that is Garberator. And proceed to get completely obliterated.
While Garberator was chosen for its tendency to send paddlers airborne, it is also quite appropriately named after that thing in American sinks that whizzes blades around and grinds stuff into oblivion. The wave is formed when a hundred metre wide section of the Ottawa River crams itself into a channel about fifteen metres across, creating a torrential downstream V that leads straight into a frothy pit of chaos. This foamy mess is the thing we surf. While other waves, even much larger ones, offer a relatively relaxed surf with smooth carves and big smiles, surfing Garb takes every ounce of effort you possess and feels like you've been cable tied to the front of a Japanese bullet train. This wave eats paddles for breakfast, wreaks havoc on AC joints, and has a nasty tendency of seeking out any previous injury you may have thought was fully healed and reopening that can of worms. Popping Ibuprofen like tic tacs and exhausting the Beachburg chemists of medical tape, it seems a delicate balance between logging some practice time on the wave and not tearing yourself apart in the process. Freestyle's a peculiar sport where in the lead up to the competition rather than resting and tapering off your training, people tend to go hell for leather to spend as much time on the wave as possible to figure out its unique quirks. With the amount of limbs I've seen covered in medical tape it will be interesting to see if this is a wise plan of attack.
Joe Dunne finding the sweet spot.
As this is my first World Championships in just over 6
years, it seems I missed out on the memo that in order to be considered competitive
you needed to have brought a carbon composite kayak that is often as expensive
as a second hand car and as fragile as a crystal wine glass. Approximately half
of the competitors seem to be paddling carbon, with the rest of us noble
soldiers still representing Team Plastic. This competition is no longer simply
between countries or rival companies, but between materials. Carbon boats being
about half the weight of a plastic boat and not constantly flexing under the
pressure of the wave, they have a tendency to make tricks snappier, bigger and
just generally more impressive. But where there are Have's there are also Have
Not's, and paddlers across the globe have united against these princesses in
their fancy schmancy carbon boats. That is of course, until I happen to get
one. I really want one. They look so wicked. But that's beside the point, Team
Plastic represent. I know it's the paddler who makes the boat and not the other
way around, but that seems only true to a certain degree - it will be interesting
to see the final rankings and the true extent of the material divide.
Dane Jackson: Current World Champion and Carbon Enthusiast
As our Athlete Village resembles something more of a hippy
commune of tents or a caravan park of travelling vagrants, it has been a considerable
blow to morale that over the past week we have been hit by a series of brutal thunderstorms.
In an afternoon, our idyllic camping field transformed into a mosquito ridden
swamp and our meagre possessions saturated despite being safely nestled in the cheapest,
finest Wallmart tents . An unfortunate German fella even had his tent crushed
by a loose tree, so they took this opportunity to strengthen their camaraderie
through the team bonding exercise, Rage Cage, which we were only too keen to
assist in. Morale was boosted sufficiently.
My good self pistol flipping to a classic underdog comeback story (maybe).
It's great being back at
a Worlds event - it's a reunion with old friends from a previous life
and a meeting place for new ones. Cheerful sledging of our national stereotypes
form the basis of conversation, getting a Canadian to apologise or an Irishman
gleefully asking for more potatoes is a constant source of entertainment. Even
in twenty person deep eddy lines the good vibes are strong - regardless
of country, helpful tips are exchanged, every paddler is cheered on and a dead
fish that floated to the surface was flung around the eddy with great
enthusiasm. The medals and formalities are only a fraction of the World
Championships, it's the people and inter-continental banter that gives the
event its life.
Designated team training slots started today and its dawned
on us that kayaking may well be the only sport in the world where Australia and
New Zealand can train together safely without it erupting into bloodshed. Though that's not to say that they're not
telling us to get our barbie and shrimps cranking to which we cheerfully
replied that we don't want none of their ghost chups bru.
But anyhoo, that's training week one done and dusted, six
days left now til the Opening Ceremony and then the competition gets underway!
Let's see what this week has in stall for us.
Also here's a cheeky flick of my latest Uganda training mission - I feel this hasn't had enough views yet. Another side note: the Ugandan Team totally got their visas approved, super keen to see those rippers out here!
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