This year, i got the chance to come to California, a dream i had for over five years. I was really excited because i heared and read so much about it. All the videos i saw, brought my endorphins to go crazy. Classic and steep rivers, blue sky and sun every day.

My first impressions were a little bit different. The first 10 days it rained all day long and the temperature seemed to gain never more than 10 degrees. So, sometimes it was hard to be motivated to paddle. In addition the waterlevels are crazy this year. Since there is a weather measure, the land has never seen so much snow. In some regions of California there is still a snowpack of two or three meters. The last two weeks the weather went more then good, with hot temperature and no clouds anymore. But with all the sun the snow begin to melt and most of the clasic rivers we wanted to run, raise apocalyptic high. Anyhow it is not so difficult to find good whitewater in California and so i had some awesome days there.

I think when you see the pictures, you know what i mean…

Cheers Timo

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So, a quick update, there is a good chance the world championships will have to be compressed into 2 days due to a potential storm heading our way and the fact that the campsite and event ground is on the flood plain, so if the river rises we are all going to get pretty wet!

On the plus side, heres the live stream so you can watch from the comfot of your own home!

Webcam chat at Ustream

More later on who has made it through to the semis in the Mens, Junior ladies and Junior Mens, where we will be keeping our fingers crossed for our very own Brendon Orton!

Well it’s the first day of competition here at the World Freestyle Championships in Plattling, the weather has dramatically improved to the sunny hot June we all expect, the feature is running well and the crowd seem to be loving it so far!

Today saw the Ladies K1, C1 and Squirt prelims, and with only a few places available in the next rounds the competition was fierce.

The GB team are here in full force, with huge support from family and friends on hand and all the GB K1 ladies are through to the next round with Clare O’hara getting the 3^rd highest score.

C1 has never been so thrilling, massive Loops, Space Godzillas and Luna Orbits were the order of the day, all to a banging soundtrack and the infectious commentary of Arnd from Teva and Kipper from Total Experience.

The Squirt comp was up next with slow and graceful moves across the board and some awesome downtime off the flow the boys and girls chilled the mood for an evening in the sun with some German beer and the local band.

More tomorrow!

Back again here at Birol’s Greenpiece campsite getting ready to go to Georgia Phil Blain arrived last night and we will give him a couple of days on the Coruh before heading to Georgia. Just had a group of mostly US paddlers for a week. Seemed to tire them out as they were in Bed before 10 most nights! The Coruh is being dammed and they are putting in two dams one at Ispir and one at Koprugorem (halfway to Yusufeli) Both are scheduled to finish in 5 years. Yusufeli Dam is not scheduled to start for at least 12 years: people are building apartment blocks in town! In total they have 24 dam planned!

Still whilst it is here it is still a stunning paddle. and the Tortum, a tributary to the Coruh, has been running high – we had a superb paddle down it at the highest I know it to have been run: you knew it was a good run when everyone got off with huge smiles and blathering on about near misses and fast rolls!

This past weekend demshitz hung out in Salida, CO for the annual FIBARK.  Due to high water the usual punishing ‘Pine Creek’ Race was held on rapid #4 instead and the rodeo became a touchy wave rather than a hole.   But, FIBARK is always a good time with deep fried snickers, live music, and carnival rides!  Here David Fusilli and Mike Patterson lead the pack in a preliminary round of the #4 boatercross.  Dave finished 1st overall and I ended up 3rd.

Here’s an amazing high quality video of the boatercross: http://vimeo.com/25311854

Dave, Craig, and Mike taking their rodeo practice ride.  They all placed somewhere between 6th-10th and I ended up 3rd.

On Sunday Mike and I raced the FIBARK 26-miler, which is one of, if not the oldest whitewater race in the US.  Mike won the rec. boat class using a Speeder and I would have as well, but I used someone else’s bib so my official result was a DNF.  Regardless, it was fun in one of those painfully long with the wind in your face kind of ways.

While the rest of Demshitz competed in the Lyons Outdoor Games, Dave and I headed to Frisco, CO to visit Tenmile Creek Kayaks‘ owner Matti Wade and hang out at the local river festival.  It was great to meet a new group of friendly kayakers and check out their scene.

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The Pyranha Team van has had a great start to the European paddling season, roadtripping round Italy and Switzerland, supporting events and competing in races. Matt Bostock and I were the ones tasked with kicking off what is shaping up to be a very busy summer!

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It’s been a couple of years since I’ve spent any real quality time with the crew over on the Black River, in Waterown, New York.  I showed up on Friday evening to what turned to be part reunion, part summer kick-off party, and part revival. 

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