Happy New year

Hi,

I am just sitting behind the computer after a while and I want to wish you good luck for a 2009 year. I already finished 2008 season with the awesome run of Huka falls. Unfortunelly, I have just couple of pics and now I am more tired than I would like to be. I am working near Napier and i stay by my mates house and it is really good place to be. Today after work I have tried a water ski and it was really good fun. If someone will have an option to try it, just do it!

Otherwise, sorry that I didnt post pics from Huka falls but I want to go to the bed. Have to wake up at five am so i will do it as soon as possible...

Party hard

Jakub

Video from kaituna...

...with a head camera. Check out http://playak.tv/view_video.php?viewkey=7f6a2822bf4c61f9dc4a

and enjoy

Jakub

X-mass update

Heya,

After couple of weeks I finally got to some pictures of me and my mates Martin Bednar and Pavel Hurtik. I have met them in Auckland and it was random as hell. I was out of money and they had a car. Finally they said I can join with them in a car so we work and paddle together.
Now, based at a Papamoa beach and building a house. So we can go to surf the ocean and Kaituna is still just 40 mins from here. Last weekend we have been on Wairoa and I hope you will like the pictures from there. Otherwise, still collecting money pretty much to have enough for live and way to the west coast. Cant wait for it. hope all of you guys are having fun at the Christmass time.

Check out some pictures from last days and stay tuned for a head cam movie from kaituna. Trying to upload now but we are connect to some wireless around here and it is pretty bad connection...

Merry X-mass

Paul at the wairoa

Me and Paul on one of the nicest drops

bush section of Wairoa

Rotorua lake

Painting hard :)

McLaren falls, can u find my paddle on the top?

Last drop on the Wairoa

Beautiful landscape around Tahepe

me at the Wairoa

pictures by Martin Bednar - Thanks!

Kaituna update

Ciao,

Right now having a lunch brake in Sunspots kayakshop where I make paddles. Awesome time because after work i paddle couple of runs on Kaituna every day. I guess will stay here for one or two weeks and then go to do some classic north island stuff like Huka falls or Wairoa. Hopefully will do some pictures to post. :) After New years party and after i have some more money will move down to the south island to paddle some hard shit. Cant wait for it. Then, I hope will find some good job near Queenstown so will be able to earn some money and move to BC and California.

Otherwise, for Czech guys bored in their sofas. On Sunday 21st you can watch some footage and talk about Nepal. it is gonna be on TV Prima at 9 am. Svet 2008. Enjoy...

Then I wish Merry X-mass to all of UUUUUUUUUUUU guys. have a nice time and party hard. :)

Peaaaaaace out bros

Jakup

Auckland 6.12.

Aloha,

Finally, based in Auckland for tonight and checking out some wreck cars. Then I can go down the island and find some job and kayaking. Hell yeah.

New zealand seems pretty good about the people and scenery but I am still stucked here in a city. I am pretty much looking forward to see some mountains and rivers but this is coming. Soooon!

Peace out
Jakub

Upper upper Bhote Kosi

Ciao,

Right now we are hanging out in a Kathmandu after cool three days of kayaking on the upper section of Bhote kosi river. River is flowing from the Tibet and right after borders there is a power station. First possible put-in on the Nepali side is behind the power house so we put-in up there.

First part of river is really nice class 4 4+ boulder creek style. It is like four kilometers and then is upcoming class 5 rapid with hard entry and hole in the first slide and quite rocky drop is right behind it. Good rapid. After one portage (possible runnable but too rocky) there are some nice class 4+ rapids again for like 5 ks. Around the middle of this part there is a big syphon but with easy chicken line on left. Right behind is coming really nice gorge with some easier rapids and a suspention bridge at the top that is used for bungee jumps and swings. Really nice place.

me at the first rapid

Ron at the second drop of a first rapid

Behind the gorge the river turns into the left and makes two class 5 rapids with two trashy holes. Definitely not good place for swimming. :) Behind this part is coming the borderland resort that is put in for the classic part down to the dam lake which is still really good these days but no more that funny class 4. We have paddled the upper section for the first time on Sunday and took us almost all day. On Monday we did the second run double fun and on Tuesday Ron and Luke went for a bungee swing and jump and I paddled myself because Basti was just hanging.. Bhote kosi is really one of the best rivers in Nepal. Together with Humla and upper Karnali definitely one of my most favourite rivers over here.

me at the last hole of the upper section

Lukas boofing one of the trashy holes

Ron sliding down to the river after portage

Tomorrow we are heading off to the Trisuli event. This year called Mountain dew himalayan whitewater challenge. Hope it is gonna be good fun. There are Xslalom, freestyle and downriver race and you are able to use just one kayak so I am looking forward some newschool freestyle with my Habitat 80 haha.

Later
Jakub

Karnali - Simikot to Chisapani 385 km and 2 weeks of kayaking

Aloha,

After three weeks we are back in Pokhara enjoying proper food and relaxing after long multi day trip. We started the mission with a busride to Nepalgunj that was the most possible place to get a flight to Simikot. After two days of waiting and hanging out we could finally leave dirty Nepalganj and get to the beautiful mountain village Simikot. There we had to hang out for two days because Basti didnt take his passport that you need for entry to this area. We were managing photocopy of it by fax for long but then we could finally walk down to the put in of Humla Karnali. Three hours of walking wth kayak (me) or with a portrers (the others) and then we finally started with kayaking.

Simikot airport

Trekking down to the put in

During the first days there were some unrunnable rapids and some long portages but that was a fee to the river. After that there were coming more and more nice rapids and just little bit of portaging. After one week or so we get to the confluence with a Mugu Karnali and river was getting bigger and bigger. So coool. On the tenth day came the final part of upper Karnali and the rapids were just awesome. Big water and big clean rapids all the way down for like 30 ks.

river was getting bigger haha

awesome part of Humla - Ron

cooking breakfast

After this part came a long flatwater. (sometimes class 2-3, what a whitewater:)) we paddled it two days and then we got to the put in of the Lower Karnali which is a classic bigwater run with some nice rapids in nepal. Thats what I heard before I came to Nepal and I am pretty happy that we did the Humla and upper section. Lower part was like class three four and nothing special. Then after next long flatwater (100 ks) we got to the Chisapani and took a busride to Pokhara where is a good food and some beer of course. After two weeks of kayaking and eating just instant noodles, milkrice or cookies it is time to hang out little bit and have some easy days here at Lakeside of Pokhara. Such a nice place to be.

Now we are finding some small mission for five next days before Himalayan whitewater chalenge on Trisuli river. Stay tuned

Jakub

Pictures by: Sebastian Striebel

Lukas - first gorge

one of the best parts of the river - Lukas

local boaters

Campfire

Basti flatwater day

Taking off to the Humla Karnali

Hey,

After we stucked in Nepalganj with Soluting flight tickets to Simikot (put in of Humla) we finally go to pay it and tomorrow morning we are taking off. :) It means 10 days trip. We already have a pot, spoons, sugar, tea, biscuits, instant noodles, milk powder and peanuts. Haha I am looking forward our healthy food. :) After we will pay the tickets we will pack up the kayaks and here we go...

I will write after Karnali
CU
Jakup

Mission changed again :)

After a cool hang out in Pokhara during the day we changed our plans. Madi khola is like 10 cumecs creek and we came for some bigger rivers so we go to the Nepalganj where we will take a flight to upper Karnali. After that the water drop little bit down and we will go to the upper Khali Gandaki which is one of the deepest gorges on the world and volume is over 100 cubics. The gorge is situated between Annapurna and one another 8000 mountain. Sounds good because it is pretty steep and there is a lot of possible runnable places. Hope we will do most of them... Write more later

Mission upperupperupper Madi khola is beginning

Ciao,

Yesterday evening we spoke with one local guy and he advised us the first descent fo Madi khola from Annapurna basecamp. That means 5 days of hiking up and then serious whitewater kayaking. Today we have a day off because Luke and Basti feel quite sick and tomorrow morning we start the mission. I am looking forward to paddle something big. It is already time for it. :)

Later

Jakub

Pokhara 31.10.

Ciao,

We came to the Pokhara yesterday and it is a beatiful place to be. Nice lake, mountainviews, and lot of good rivers near from here. Today, we did a local river upper Seti in team race style and it was good. For good fun you would need like 200 cubics but 15 was also good. In a couple of minutes we have an appointment with one local kayaker so I think tomorrow morning we are going somewhere close from here to do some good kayaking.

Otherwise, everything is going well and we are ready to huck. Tamba kosi was good but still not enough for four adrenalin junkies. :)

Check out some pictures from Tamba and Marsyandi. Nepali lifestyle including.

Pictures by: Lukas Wielatt

Peace out

Jakub

Tamba kosi

mountain view from terasse of our hotel

Kathmandu bus station

Ron Fisher - nice big hole :)

Our room and sleeping Basti

Suspention bridge - Ron

me freewheeling on the Tamba, unfortunelly last picture of sequense

Basti - Marsyandi

Nepali sunset

Warm up pictures

Hi,

Finally we have a rest day beacuse of Napali banda, which means that the roads are closed and there are some demonstrations going on. So here are some picures from the warm up week. Tomorrow we are going to upper Bhote kosi and Tamba kosi which should be fun bacause of high water. Then it is time to go to Pokhara and wild west.

Stay tuned :)

Pictures by: Sebastian Striebel

me on the Balephi kola

me Balephi kola

bus ride back to Kathmandu

little hiking to Marsyandi

Nepali boy with Sebastian' s sunglasses

easy rapid on Balephi kola

bus ride up to Balephi

Beach break

Waiting for the bus

Marsyandi river

Hey all,

Right now back in Kathmandu after 50 kms of paddling on the beautiful Marsyandi river. Marsyandi is middle volume class 4 4+ but just awesome. There is still something going on and you have a lot of fun out there. Right after this post we are leaving to east again to paddle upperupper Bhote kosi and Tamba kosi which should be fun. For the next eastern rivers we need a lower water so we will come back there in four weeks or so.

After upper bhote and tamba we go to Pokhara. To paddle something around and then we go to upper Karnali and also some mission on the west...

Stay tuned for the pictures. Waiting is getting shorter no worries :)

Namaste from Nepal

Last week I have spent on the Bhote kosi river and Balephi kola river. We paddled with Sebastian Striebel from Germany and were having good fun. We lived in a hotel for 1 euro per person, ate for 2 euros per day, took a bus rides for 50 cents and then spent the same money for two or three beers. :)

Otherwise, the rivers are quite bigger thean they seems from the bus, haha. Asia is so nice place to be for kayaking and taking busrides on the roof which is like local adrenalin sport.

I just came back from Bhote kosi river to the Kathmandu for pick up Ron Fisher and Lukas Wielatt from Switzerland. We are leaving to Marsiandi river and something around for the warm up with them and also paddle the beautiful Marsiandi. Then we are planning to paddle Sun kosi and all the inflows of it.

Stay tuned for some pictures. The connection is pretty slow and we have not many good shots.

See yah bros and sis! :)

Bahrain 12th October

Heya all,

I am waiting in Bahrain for the flight to Kathmandu and getting looking forward to this trip. After bullshits on Check-in in Frankfurt where I had to pay 370 USD for an oversize and overweight and forgot it and hope that everything will be OK since know..

Stay tuned for updates from Nepal kayaking.

Jakub

Video from Lipno dam

Hi all!

Finally, here is a short movie from the Lipno dam. Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8TTBNOL1ak

Devils extreme race and the FIRST DESCENT of Lipno dam

I just came from the Lipno event which is a big celebration for all kayakers and rafters. There was Czech slalom championship, Czech cup in down river, rafting competition and also DEVILS EXTREME RACE…

Lipno is situated in the south of the Czech Republic very near of the borders with Austria in direction Linz. We came on Thursday night and there was an opening party on. Next day we had to build the rest of ramp for competition. Our deadline was at 2 pm because that was the time when the dam opened water. We did few runs and then most of riders started coming to Devils X race. The campsite was a football ground where was also a bar, plenty of banners and the stage with a DJ…

DJz and party

On Saturday morning we had to build a race course for slalom (Touch the banner style) and hang the banners all around the course. Then the extreme slalom started. Men category first and then were women. I did a third place. Second was Lukas Horyna and the winner was experienced whitewater kayaker Eda Sluka. Out of women Lenka Borovickova was on the third place, second Betka Brabcova and Lunka Novotna won. After slalom event (at 11 am) was a free riding until 6 pm when the dam stopped the water. I enjoyed the rest of the day with riding down the Devils rapids behind the race course. It is probably one of the best parts to paddle in Czech. And you don’t need rain or snowmelt because of the dam. Around 5 pm I decided to do the first descent of the gate where water overflows the dam. It is like a big slide into 8 meters waterfall but on the edge of the slide are four concrete tables so only four places to go. (each like 1 meter wide). It was quite crazy to do but I had a good day full of paddling and I wanted to do something big in the end. ;) Lot of people had thought about this run for a long time so I thought it was a right time to do it. But it is pretty dangerous and I don’t want to do it again for long time.

Some of the best pictures from the dam

Then there was an afterparty on Saturday as usual with DJs, Czech beer and a lot of happy kayakers.. On Sunday morning kayakcross with the touch of banner started in the middle eddy. I was going good until quarterfinals. There I came to the eddy on the first place but I took a bad line too much upstream and the other guys bet me. Semifinals and finals were really nice to watch because there were a lot of fast kayakers. In finals were Honza Bubnik on fourth place, Tomas Cernohorsky on third, really good Swiss paddler Severin Haberling on second place and the winner was Viktor Legat. In women was on the third place Eliska Beranova, Lenka Borovickova on the second place and Lenka Novotna won again. The overall winner of the race is Viktor Legat in men and Lenka Novotna in women. After pricegiving on football ground most of people left home. Devils extreme race is behind us and we could speak about another event in this year.

Kayak cross

Main stage on camp site

Big thanks to main organizers Mira Kodada and Jirka Kopecny. Good job guys. See yah next year!

Photographers:

Martin Nykles, Karel Kubovy, Misa Hradkova - Thanks!

Here are some more pictures from the event. Stay tuned for a movie from the dam. Next weekend is a Czech championship in freestyle so I think I will try to post something from there...