Hey all,

If you followed these pages last summer, you probably remember the reports from my siberian trip around the lake Baikal, in Russia (if not, you can still browse the archives), or maybe you saw the article in the latest Kayak Session issue. This expedition was a blast, and that was largely due to the excellent logistics provided by Rashit Yahin. Now the time has come to start planning your trips for 2005, and that's where Rashit can help !


Rashit owns a small company which operates tours and provides logistics to tourists in the north of the lake Baikal. He also speaks a very good english, which is quite rare in the area ! So whether you're into trekking, rafting, paddling or simply hanging around, his knowledge of the Baikal and its surroundings will certainly be helpful.

You can visit his website www.gobaikal.com to check the ready-to-go tours, or plan your own itinerary in this superb region. And trust me, a trip there will look like no other !

So, I'm back home after a week spent in Morocco, shooting climbing and mountain biking in the Ouarzazate area. The place is pretty different from what I saw last year during my paddling trip in the Atlas. There the land is much dryer and desertic, and we could even enjoy the beauty of the dunes in Merzouga, a village far east of Ouarzazate, close from the algerian border.


[Read more...]

Well, I'm off to Morocco for a little more than a week. I'm going there to shoot some mountain biking and climbing around Ouarzazate. This is definitely going to feel strange tomorrow to be in an airport without a kayak and all the problems that go with it! I'm even afraid I'll feel a bit too "normal".

Since my return from the Reunion island, I've been continuously working on my new film and on the tens of hours of footage I've brought back from last year's trips, so this is gonna be a much appreciated change to be on the field again, camera in hand. I'm pretty happy to go back to Morocco too, since that was one of my most enjoyable trip so far !

ps : I added a Unicef banner on the welcome page for the tsunami victims. You're just a click away from a good action !

Yes, this is possible. Check out this impressive video clip of a whale litterally jumping and landing on this poor guy in a sea kayak...
Click here for the video clip

In the "silly kayaking clip" category, I must say this is the most impressive I've seen so far. The link was posted on the French forum eauxvives.org ; thanks Fredo !


And by the way, happy new year to all !

That's it, I'm back home after the few months spent on the Reunion island. This puts an end to a basically 6-month long period of summer weather for me, if I combine the northern hemisphere's summer and my stay on this wonderful island. And that's pretty hard, to say the least. No more shirts and sandals, time for Goretex !

Ok, enough complaining now. Apart from sunburns, I'm also bringing back some very cool footage, and here are a couple of stills to give you an idea.


[Read more...]

Well, what was supposed to be a paddling trip on the Reunion island suddenly turned into a remake of "The Crusoes" or "Cast Away". Two days ago, after weeks of rumors, we heard in the news that the airline company Air Bourbon had gone bankrupt, leaving about 900 passengers and tourists trapped on the island with no possibility of refund. And that includes the 4 paddlers who joined me last week and were supposed to leave end of this week. Doh !

[Read more...]

This picture has been on the internet for a while, but I think most people haven't seen it yet, so that's why I'm posting it again.


This phenomenal loop is performed by french junior Benjamin Durand, a Riot team paddler, on the famous Rabioux wave in the French Alps. And here's a direct link to the corresponding video clip : huge loop

Benjamin is one of the most promising european paddler. He won the junior category of the Lyon River Festival in both 2003 and 2004 - and he did it with style.

Way to go Benji !

Paul Villecourt, aka the man behind the camera, will arrive next week on the Reunion Island. He'll be accompagnied by Mika Hyla (2nd Lyon River Festival 2003), and Jay Sigbrandt (a local of the infamous www.hawaii-sur-rhone.com) and his girlfriend Karine, who is a fine kayaker too.


Paul is certainly one of the best whitewater and outdoor photographer out there. You've certainly already seen some of his work - check out the photo credits next time you read your favourite kayak magazine, and you'll probably see his name more than once.

So, the gang's 4 boats are already waiting for them here - are we lucky, or are we getting good at dealing with logistics ? the airline company agreed to transport them in advance, for free. Thanks to Air Bourbon for being helpful with its customers ! We now have all the ingredients for a successful trip around the island - get ready for some updates over the next 3 weeks ! We will also shoot video for my next movie, "Momentum", due out next spring. More about this later !

Oh, and here's my new friend Albert, the kind of chameleon you can find on the island. This animal is also locally called "endormi", litterally translated as "asleep" :

Wow, it's already been a month since my arrival on the Reunion Island. No need to say I'm having a great time ! I rapidly met the (few) island's WW kayakers. They helped me discover some of their rivers (les Roches, les Marsouins and Langevin) but we're still waiting for better waterlevels to go paddle on the Riviere du Mat and several other rivers.


One of my trip's highlights so far has certainly been the deep and scenic Takamaka Gorges, the upper part of the "rivičre des Marsouins". After the new gallery I added last week in the photos section of the site, now here's the full story !

[Read more...]

For the second time this year, an article will feature our kayaking adventures in l'Equipe, the major French daily sports journal.

The first article was all about Hawaii-sur-Rhone and the local paddlers, and explained how cult this wave became over the years in the international paddling community. This time (next saturday, November 6th), the article will feature my trip to Morroco last May with a bunch of good friends and photographer Paul Villecourt, aka the man behind the camera (search the news for the Morrocan story and some pics, and look at the videos section too).



So, apart from pleasing our egos and eventually our sponsors, why bother ? Well, I find it very encouraging that major newspapers start talking about freeride disciplines. Getting exposure if you don't have a medal around your neck has always been challenging, but things are starting to change.

In a country overhelmed with soccer, tennis, rugby or Formula 1, it's good to see that we, paddlers, can still exist from time to time, and more generally show that sport isn't just about getting medals or scoring more goals than the other team. It is actually much more than that, and I hope that with such articles, people will better understand that freeride is not a fashion or a marketing trend, but a way to explore both your sport and the world you live in. That's what we do, anyway. And it certainly doesn't hurt to get some exposure and recognition from the public and the authorities, when fabulous rivers such as the Rizzaneze in Corsica are endangered by unjustified and absurd dam projects.

Such articles might not save the Rizzaneze but maybe, somewhere, it will inspire a few people, and that's a good start.

Spread the good word !