Mick Flacher, a longtime friend and also an excellent kayaker, had this idea about 3/4 years ago. He set up a rope on a small bridge just above a long but shallow wave located on our local artificial course, and started surfing it using his small surfboard. He spent quite a lot of time at it and became good enough to throw impressive aerial moves.

He's now very fluid and very interesting to watch. You can really see the influence of skateboarding & snowboarding in his style, 2 disciplines that he also practices. The whole mix is pretty cool ! I gave it a try a few times, but I can tell it's really not as easy as it seems, and the wave being quite shallow doesn't add to your self-confidence.

Here's a pretty nice move. It probably has a name in wakeboard or surf, but as a kayaker, it reminds me of a blunt :




Now here's a sequence of a move Mick has been working on lately - one of the most impressive. I shot this just before leaving to Russia, and since then Mick greatly improved it : he goes higher, and the landing is now softer. Consequently, he doesn't break fins as often as before...



All this with 40/50 cm of water under him ! But the man is solid enough ;-)

Oh, and here is Mick posing as a true surfer wouldn't even dare :


Everything's in the attitude ;-)