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Kayaking has taken me to some wild places and confronted me with many challenges. What I’ve began to realize is more of those obstacles are off the river, not on. I love kayaking far to much to consider a hard rapid or a tiring portage a challenge. That’s my life and what I dream about all day, so it’s not a task, rather an opportunity. The challenges come in when I mix my insanely powerful passion for the sport into my everyday life with the outside world. Interacting with people who don’t have a clue what I do or don’t give a rats ass about it, can make simple things difficult. I have been so intertwined in the kayak world and lifestyle for so long now that when I step out, I am challenged to be a happy and positive person.

 What does this mean?… Leave planet earth and go to Boofenland? I wish, but that’s not option. None of us are making much money in the sport. The longer I commit to being a whitewater athlete, the less time I have to start a career or find a real job. This is where I have to gather my feelings and make choices that will not only benefit me in the present moment, but also the future. Does this mean I’m going to quit kayaking to go make lots of money…NEVER! I am just trying to find a balance in my life and some sort of exterior stability or like Tupac said, “A Thug’s Mansion” where I can go once my life becomes less “BROWN”!

 I want to be a kayaker forever…I can foresee myself running the White Salmon, North Fork Payette, Futaleufu, and Cherry Creek for decades to come. It’s truly the love of my life. With how hard we are going these days decision making skills are almost as important as the paddling skills. I have to be in it for the right reasons. Personal goals and Fun! These days I’m trying to make money kayaking, but I really don’t want to turn boating into a “JOB”. I want to do what I do, because I know I can stick it, and I am going to have a hell of a time doing it. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to take risks and maybe hurt myself on the path I choose. All that means is I’m going to do my best to leave my ego behind and boat as hard as I can for all the right reasons.

So I know it’s 2012 and none of this is going to matter when the world ends on the 21st of December, but this is something for everyone to think about. Kayaking is a full on ego driven sport, and I am a part of the game. I love how it works, when I see something big or amazing happen, it pushes me to go out and do the same. I want to draw my line where I stop going out and pushing myself for fun and rather for a pro-status or bragging rights. I make movies about kayaking hard whitewater, but I boat 100% with my heart and soul, I suggest doing the same. It truly is my religion…Church!

Here are some shots I just edited and want to put up!

Ryan "Baby Bird" Lucas enjoying the friendly mosquitos of the Californian highlands

Ben Marr running one of the best drop of the North Fork of the American, California.

A sequence shot of my 2012 line of Cascada Bonito in Argentina.

Throwing the ever so awesome "brown" off one of the best boofs in the world. Rio Nevado, Chile!

Layin' Treats on the biggest drop of the Rio Turbio in Pucon, Chile.

Lane Jacobs getting through the Box canyon of the Clarks fork in Wyoming.

Sam Friehofer on the edge of Toketee Falls in Umpqua, Oregon.

Todd Well eating sh*t off his baby...Skate Park Falls, Summit Creek, WA.

Baby Bird in the after the 4th descent of Twin Sisters on Fostall Creek, BC.

Dj Stoneman on the 5th Descent of Lower Pinkston Falls, BC.

2007 lap number two with the Kiwi Crew on West Cherry Creek, CA.

One of the most tranquil and beautiful pieces of water in the world...Nymph Pool, Tatlow Creek, BC.

 Later E.G.

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2009 der zweite Versuch: Der Pegel sah ganz passabel aus, weniger allerdings der Ölverlust des Bullis. Der verreckte nämlich am Einstieg und vermasselte den Jungs beim zweiten Anlauf die Tour. Ärgerlich! Und zwar so ärgerlich, dass Matthias nie wieder nach Portugal wollte … Doch 2010 war es dann wieder so weit. Matthias hatte wieder schlaflose Nächte. Die Bilder des Castro brannten sich in die Träume ein. Also wurde wieder geplant. Freunde wurden für den Plan begeistert, wieder waren Till und Picco von der Essener Kanuschule am Start, aber auch  Micha, Ise und Christian von der Outdoordirekt-Kanuschule wurden an Silvester mit Rotkäppchen abgefüllt und von der Teilnahme überzeugt. Auch Dany Frenzl war schnell von der Idee begeistert …
»Wir brauchen auf jeden Fall zwei Autos«, so Matthias. »Damit uns dat egal is, wenn wieder eine Karre am Einstieg explodiert, bevor wir den Castro wegverhaftet haben.« Gesagt getan. Ende Februar war es nun endlich so weit: Die Karren waren gepackt und es konnte losgehen. (Und ja: Beide Autos haben wieder ordentlich Potenzial, das Land am Westzipfel Europas  gar nicht erst zu erreichen.)

Portugal Kajak-Land? Die Jungs sind noch nicht so sicher…

Auch eine weitere Angst blieb: Zwei Wochen vor uns waren Max Eberl & Jonas Grünewald in Galizien und Portugal unterwegs und berichtete von trockenen Flüssen und schlechten Wasser-Prognosen. Doch wir trotzten diesen düsteren Aussichten und machten uns im strömenden Regen auf die Bahn. Nach 32 Stunden erreichten wir Santiago de Compostela in Galizien, von dort aus ging es zum Warmpaddeln auf den ersten Bach. Und was uns hier überraschte, war Wasser satt. Auch die nächsten Bäche waren voll bis oben hin. Da wir aber nicht wussten, wie viel Wasser der Castro Laboreiro wirklich benötigen würde, machten wir uns schleunigst zum Einstieg auf, um den Pegel zu checken. Und was sahen wir da? Es war zu viel im Bach. Und zwar deutlich. Aber die Autos fuhren noch. Also weg vom Castro Laboreiro und erstmal noch ein paar andere Bäche paddeln. Nach einigen Tagen ließ dann der Regen nach, die Sonne übernahm die Kontrolle über den portugiesischen Himmel und die Pegel fielen. Also wieder zum Castro. Und jetzt stimmte auch der Pegel.

Fetter Boof auf dem ersten Wasserfall des Rio Vez

Eine weitere schlaflose Nacht stand bevor, dann ging es auf den Bach, der das Leben des Matthias in den letzen Jahren so arg beeinflusste.

Rio Laboreiro - ein Traum für Wildwasserpaddler

Fieses Wildwasser im vierten und fünften Grad erwartete die Freunde. Dann tauchten Sie auf: die drei Wasserfälle des Rio Laboreiro. Nach einigem Gescoute und den darauf folgenden, spektakulären Befahrungen folgte die »Umtrage der Hölle«. Durch Unterholz und Macchia mussten die Freunde ihre Boote um den vierten, unfahrbaren Fall umtragen. Mit zerrissenen Jacken und blutigen Fingern kamen sie schließlich am Ausstieg an. Zerkratzt, zerschunden aber irgendwie doch glücklich endlich den Laborairo in seiner vollen Pracht erlebt zu haben …

Suddenly they´ve been everywhere. In every kayak-magazine, in every calendar and even in the playboy. Three clean waterfalls in an awesome surrounding. But where are they? In California? Corsica? No! You can find them on the west-edge of Europe, in a small country, nearly unknown for whitewater-kayakers – in Portugal.
Surrounded by Spain, small Portugal always stood in the shadow of its tall neighbor. More and more paddlers visited Galicia (northern Spain), but only a few paddlers crossed the border to check out the rivers of Portugal. But they found what paddlers all over the world are searching for – three beautiful, clean waterfalls on a small river called “castro laborairo”.
However, little Mathieux saw the falls on the pictures and immediately he was on fire. In the year 2008 he took his boat, his stuff and also some friends and began his long journey to the Castro Laborairo. But after 3200 kilometers he reaches a very dry river. “It´s been the driest winter in Portugal since decandes” said the old man with his house near to the castro-river. Mathieux had to go home…
Second Try. In February 2009 Mathieux took the same friends for the trip, but another bus – a very old bus. After 2000 kilometers the oil of the bus was boiling. With the last power they reached Portugal, but the way up to the river was too much for the old car – mission failed and Mathieux decided not to visit beautiful Portugal again – “not in my life”!
2011: “We need two cars, al lot of spare-boats, spare friends and we have to pray to the god of rain”. With a huge window of time to catch the right waterlevel Mathieux and his hundert friends in twenty cars started to castro-mission number three. But when Mathieux arrived at Castro Laborairo there was too much water in the small creek. Kayaking impossible!
Kayaking impossible because of heavy rain and cumecs of water in the rivers? Not really. The friends decided to check some other rivers and came back to Laborairo in a few days.
A few days later, after tons of sun and clear blue sky, the Laborairo had the perfect level for Mathieux and his friend. No broken car, only one broken boat and one broken finger was the result of the third try to paddle the Laborairo – mission complete!

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Episode 7 “Minor Fails and Epic Wins”

Later E.G.

A budding forecast (yellow). The usual gauge is around 80cm

Philipp is a young gun from the Munich area and absolutely motivated at any conditions. We started one day before Christmas Eve and had an impressive flow of 152 cm, usually you run this section at a gauge if 80 cm.

Boofing the weir at the beginning // Max Eberl

At a normal flow run the entrance weir on the very right. In that case it is more or less a slide. But a higher flows you need to run it a bit more left, so that you are jumping from 2 meters directly to a concrete surface which is slightly covered with water. My body pitched to the deck of my Remix when I landed. Just after that concrete slide you will find a big stopper…

The hole after the weir // Philipp Much

Both, Philipp and me had a deep dive at that point and got spit out like a rocket. My sprayskirt (no it was not a LevelSix sprayskirt) popped in that whole and my boat got flooded. For me there was no chance to catch an eddy so I had to run the next rapid without scouting and with a slightly maneuverable boat. It went out good but anyhow it was my first swim in 2011…so close to the end of the year.

Some slide in the middle // Philipp Much

After some time there is the big slide. For Europe it is one of the bigger ones and pure fun.

Big slide on Eistobel // Max Eberl

I ran first and Philipp second. Then Philipp got the idea to perform a Blue Angel run. Awesomeness Check the video.
Even if I had a swim, I would say it was the perfect pre Christmas day. Thx to Philipp.

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Sorry for the poor sound quality…

Cheers,
Max

Once the first HD Hero was released it quickly was seen in every extreme sport across the board, all the biggest names in surfing, motocross, skiing, mtn biking, and even kayaking wanted to get their hands on them. When I first met Nick Woodman (the creator of GoPro) back in 2006 his enthusiasm and aggressive marketing style blew me away. From the beginning I knew GoPro was going to go BIG but I had no idea they would grow so fast, especially during the extreme recession of the US economy. In the past 5 years GoPro has dominated the helmet camera market with many competitors continuously chasing the coat tails of this innovative company. The Hero 2 is no different. This camera will set the new standard of high definition (still under $300) with the capabilities of 11 megapixel photos, 120 fps in SD, and wireless technology coming in early 2012. If you have not gotten on board yet I suggest you do, affordable, dependable, with amazing customer service, GoPro continues to be at the forefront of wearable camera technology.

Here is a short video testing new mounts up in Mt. Shasta over winter vacation. With LOW WATER in Nor Cal and being full time in film school at UC Santa Cruz, sometimes you just gotta take what you can get. Check out some low water Sims Falls laps with the new GoPro Hero 2.

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Just to show that the original Hero is still EPIC, here is a Slippery When Wet GoPro Reel featuring all GoPro Hero shots, just in case you don’t want to spend as much money on the Hero 2, we used the original Hero for the whole film.

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Big shout out to GoPro and all my sponsors that have made 2011 unforgettable, my opportunities with kayaking would be significantly limited without your support, so thank you for the resources to make all this possible. I am very grateful for everything my life and look forward to the 2012 season, hope to see you all on the water.

For more visit www.shastaboyz.com