Innehållsförteckning för Summer 2024 från Kayak Session Magazine

GIVING BACK. This year is a big one for the Kayak Session Team, with the launch of the first-ever Paddle Sports Film Festival, held this September to kick off the 2024 Paddle Sports Show. Like every half-sane organizer, once past the initial exhilaration of starting a new mission (and more so, launching it publicly), a common sentiment arises:What the hell did we just do? Why add another load of work and stress to our lives when it already feels like there isn’t enough time in a given day to accomplish what we’ve already committed to? Many of you are familiar with this feeling—the frustration we feel when we’re overwhelmed and wonder,“Why take on more?” As if the existing pile on our plate wasn’t enough. The answer is actually easy to…

DESCENDING THE LAST PEICE OF THE PUZZLE, SOGNDALSELVA, NORWAY, APRIL 2024 The Sogndalselva in Western Norway has seen countless descents over the years. Sogndalselva is tucked away in a small valley and runs out into the Norway’s longest fjord, the Sognefjord. On the classic eight km long section all but one rapid is run frequently.The rapid has been run before but it has a very tricky line into a sketchy pocket that feeds directly behind the falls. A perfect room of doom. It is an easy hike around the rapid and this makes the decision to portage simple, until portaging is a well-known habit. Local kayakers Eirik Hansen and Victor Mœhl were there in 2020 when the rapid got its name. They came up to the rapid they had been…

HOT QUITE SECRET Every summer, social media feeds are flooded with photos and videos of people falling, flipping, and sliding down Norway’s iconic slides, waterfalls, and drops. There is seemingly endless potential: At the right flows, places like Voss offer dozens of rivers within short driving distances. And Norway has places like Voss all around the country. More, there are amazing rivers to paddle almost any time of the year. With many of those rivers and features close to the road, it is even more tempting to go big. As most people who travel to Norway do not have an endless amount of time to spend exploring, they rarely venture beyond the so-called "classics." Fair enough: They offer world-class Whitewater with reasonable consequences, stunning scenery, and easy photo ops. There…

DANE’S WORLD When it comes down to it, it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t love kayaking to their core. Be it a weekend warrior or someone who wants to make a career out of it, a new kayaker or lifer, you rarely run into someone who doesn’t just simply love the sport for itself. At every skill level, kayaking can become a habit that we try to feed whenever and however we can. People make it work in dozens of ways, and it’s always awesome to see each person’s approach. Some take summer jobs, others teach between trips or pack the car on Thursday night so they can hit the water ASAP Friday after work. Others find ways to make kayaking pay the bills, traveling year round. Some people…

NEWS AND HAPPENINGS NRS DURANCE FESTIVAL 2024, JULY 12-14TH The Durance Festival is back for Bastille Day weekend, with an extra day dedicated to gear testing! The Durance Festival is a gathering celebrating all river and paddlesports lovers (kayak, canoe, stand-up paddle, raft, packrafts).The program includes a creek race down the Chateau Queyras Gorge (Class IV), a packrafting meet up, a Rallye Run & Ridedu bas Guil - run up the river and paddle down! (Class II/III), a downriver SUP race, and the “Grande Descente,” a multi-craft flotilla stoke-float on Sunday. Plus, there is a Testival where paddlers can test all the latest gear, clinics all day Friday, an open-air cinema (Friday night), a concert (Saturday night), an exhibitor village, and good-spirited people! There is something for everyone, so bring…

NEW WAVE “Yaku Churis” in Quechua means Children of the River. There could not be a more aptly named group of young paddlers. In this New Wave column, we are not highlighting a single paddler but rather The Yaku Churis Youth Kayaking Team of Napo, Ecuador. Maikel, Victor, Tupac, Jair, Lenis, Nelson, Diego, Marly, Latika. All aged 10 to 16, all born and raised on the banks of the rivers in the province of Napo, Ecuador. They came together to learn how to kayak, to create a team, to learn practical skills like sustainable carpentry,and to work on mental strength and focus. However, these children of the river are being asked to take on a difficult task: To defend the rivers of Ecuador and the Napo province. The Yaku Churis…

FRIEND OF THE FEARLESS Lying down, I find no relief. My joints scream, “FUCK,” and I can’t sit up. “How many Tylenol have I taken?” My sore stomach says too many. I’m freezing, and the shivers of “breakbone fever” are shattering my thoughts into hallucinations. How else can I explain this uncontrollable thirst in this dry river bed? Suddenly, my body is imbricated in boulders. I crawl up to a two-liter bottle of Doctor Pepper, which is my only drink. "You’re in a shitty airport hotel. That dry river bed is just a bad dream,” I tell myself until the muscle spasm once again kicks my attempt at rationality. Down again in that dry river bed, I find residual water. I drink until I choke on battery acid. My reasons…

CITROEN RACE, KAWARAU RIVER, CENTRAL OTAGO, NEW ZEALAND, MARCH 2024 On March 9th, 2024 the New Zealand kayaking community came together for the Citroen Extreme Race, organized by Harry Hasselman,Tyler Russell, and Max Rayner. The Citroen Extreme Race takes place annually on the Kawarau River, Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand. The “Citroen” is a 300 m-long high-volume rapid that takes its name from a Citroen-sized boulder. This year, the organizers decided on running only a simple boatercross.Three kayakers in each heat, the top two go through and repeat until the final three have been determined. The race course starts with the infamous starting ramp with just enough space for three racers. A ten-second warning, then “GO!” After the first 20 m, all racers must go left of the central…

DOCTOR RIVER WHAT’S UP DOC? Ever feel really tired paddling even though you are not ill and have had plenty of sleep, good food, and no alcohol? Your body may be trying to tell you something. You could be iron deficient or even have anemia—aka not enough red blood cells. A lack of this key cofactor impacts the quality of your life much more than you realize! WHAT IS IRON DEFICIENCY VERSUS ANEMIA, AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Iron deficiency is, as the name says, a lack of iron in the body. This deficiency is much more common than modern medicine acknowledges and can significantly impact essential body functions and any activities you may do-most certainly kayaking. Iron deficiency can occur long before it progresses to a more serious condition,…

Paddler: Oliver English Location: Trout Pool Falls, Kaituna River, NZ Photographer: Rod Hill Paddler: Ashu Rawat Location: Reykjafoss, Iceland Photographer: Mirto Menghetti Paddler: Joel Kowalski Location: Bus Eater, Ottawa River, Canada Photographer: Casey Bryant Jones Paddler: Landon Miller Location: Nantahala Cascades, NC, USA Photographer: Rob Giersch Paddler: Heidi Walsh Location: Money Drop, Rock Creek, WA, USA Photographer: Sage Donnelly Paddler: JT Hartman Location: Punch Bowl Falls, Eagle Creek, OR, USA Photographer: Riley Seebeck…