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“Lipno dam in Czech Republic is releasing only once a year and just downstream is a section of whitewater called the Devil’s streams. Annually there has been a race held on this stretch and so Devil’s race was born. This year was the 6th annual race and also part of the AWP series which attracted many world class kayakers and competitors. For me it was also a chance to catch up with many friends as I haven’t got to hang out much in Czech in the last years.

Train Shuttle

Honza from ZET kayaks supplied me with a boat and soon enough Willz Martin and I were off to the south of Czech. The water was releasing for 5 full days this year and so there was plenty to train or just cruise down the river. The accessible free train made it super easy to run the shuttles, allowing paddlers to get as many runs as you could handle.

The racing series this year has been fierce with a very high level of competition. After the initial extreme slalom and semifinal run, it was Mike Dawson who took first in the long race finals. Overall the event was amazing and big thumbs up to all the organizers!” Jakub Sedivy

Back on the blog

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Hello everyone, slowly getting back on the blog, my web dropped and I lost most of my reports and blogposts last year. Now I am trying to recover as much as possible and also get the page up to date. Hope to see you here

Jakub

Langu Khola on Kokatat web

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Langu Khola Expedition 2012

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Lisa There have been 0 comments

Jakub Sedivy – Kokatat Ambassador

Seasoned whitewater kayaker and Kokatat ambassador Jakub Sedivy is set to embark this October on an expedition down the Langu Khola River in Nepal’s remote Dolpo region, near the border of Tibet.

Sedivy (CZE) and his teammates composed of Ron Fischer (CH), Raphael Thiebaut (F), Stefan Pion (F), and  Francesco Salvato (I) are on a quest to paddle the remote tributary Og Mugu Karnali, between Nepal and Tibet completely self supported.

The expedition is scheduled to include three weeks of trekking and paddling through non-accessible wilderness at high altitude to the inner Dolpo region. The area sees very few visitors, due to the remote location and cultural values.

“What we know are stories about deep boxed canyons, breathtaking scenery, cold nights, big rapids, some hard portages and weeks spent on the water;” Sedivy said. “Langu Khola with its length, location, difficulties and hard access, makes this modern kayaking trip feel like those of early explorers.”

After landing in Kathmandu and acquiring the necessary permits, the team will travel from Pokhara to Jomson to begin a ten-day journey along the Great Himalayan Trek. Their river journey will likely cover 500 km.

Futafest 2012 on Kokatat web

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FutaFest 2012 with Jakub Sedivy

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Marta There have been 0 comments

In my opinion almost every whitewater kayaker knows Rio Futaleufu in Patagonia, Chile. It is arguably one of the best pieces of whitewater anywhere. Almost 50kms of great rapids with azul warm water flowing through a pristine Patagonia nature are hard to beat! Every year at the end of the season, there is a gathering of kayakers and rafters on the banks of Futa. People come down to catch up with friends, take a part in one of the many competitions or just have a good time.

Futafest this year had been ace. This event is getting bigger every year and the organizers had done a great job. The infamous camping at Cara Del Indo has been the host of the festival and Friday’s party. The turn up is larger every year and so the camp was buzzing with activity every day of the festival despite the {atagonian rainy weather, which was turning the trails into mud slides. There were 3 days of competitions. Thursday was taken by the sprint and boater cross event. The competitions were held back to back with some of the kayakers taking a part in the rafting events as well. Hard work to say at least but great fun and entertainment for all the spectators.

Friday was the day of the main competition. The famous mass start Puente al Puente competition through the most known part of Corazon de Futa. The stretch is close to 8km and takes over 20 minutes to race. It has been one of the most entertaining and fun races I have ever done. The first three places were taken by Chilean kayakers Lorenzo Astorga, momo catillo and Pangal Astorga.

Saturday was much more mellow with a freestyle contest after which everyone left to the town of Futaleufu for a big asado and final price giving and party. FutaFest has been one of the biggest highlights of my trip to Chile this year and I hope to be back. – Jakub Sedivy

Devils Extreme Race

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River Moldau (Vltava) is the longest river in the Czech Republic and so is mostly dammed, but on its top part right under the Lipno dam is an amazing stretch of Class 4-5 whitewater called the Devils Streams. Most of the year this amazing part of the river is dry and has enough water to wash your hands. The last weekend of August, it’s all different story, boaters all over the Czech end Central Europe come under the Lipno dam to enjoy the annual release of warm water.



Devils streams were also a site of the 4th annual Devil’s extreme race. This year we have seen many competitors from and also other countries than Czech Republic. Friday was reserved for training, registrations and also catching up with old friends over a jug of great czech beer.
There was a ZET kayaks stand ready for the whole weekend for anyone wishing to test the new Raptor for free. Most of the Raptors were on the water the whole weekend and sometimes there was even a line to demo this kayak. Raptor is surely turning heads.


The competition started on Saturday with individual slaloms. Spectacular ramp and quite a big hole at the gates 3 and 4 did not leave the crowd quiet and everyone got cheered at. Combination in the gates 3 and 4 also shook with the expected results as some of the favorite paddlers did not make it and ended low on the time sheet.

The slalom was followed by a sprint. Sprint was started also from the ramp, but went on through some of the greater rapids downstream, as well as the famous “window dam” chute. After the race most of the competitors enjoyed the rest of the river running through rapids like Bloody fingers or Stairs and experiencing easy shuttle option by the local train. Simple and easy. After the water was switched off, we all met in the camping ground to celebrate and party hard.
The most expected boater cross took a place on Sunday with the first half of the competitors going into the battle. After a few rounds Viktor Legat took the first place, closely followed by Palo Andrassy, both on their Raptors showing off the speed of the Raptor design.

After we all regrouped and got ready, the competitors lined up for the great team race, paddling the Devil’s streams top to bottom through all the rapids including the infamous Bloody fingers rapid which had seen a lot of carnage, broken paddles and peeled off skin. The winning team was of Honza Lasko, Palo Andrassy and Tomo Andrassy, all on ZET Raptors, closely followed by team of Viktor Legat (ZET), Honza Kolar and Jakub Sedivy (ZET).


After the race, there was a prize ceremony at the campground and with promises about the next event most of the competitors got on their way home.

It was great to see so many Raptors at once on the river. Not only amongst the competitors, but also amongst many of those who just went to paddle and enjoy this festival of great whitewater in Czech. Nice to see the Raptor going so strong and fast…
Cheers
Jakub  

Raundal never dries :)

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Norway this year is awesome. 

After coming back to Voss I got back to rafting and safetykayaking on the Raundal. Sweet. The rivers here go up and down with almost regular rain and so far there has been always something to paddle. The water was low, so we went to run the lower canyon of the Raundal as the waterlevel dropped quite a bit. Teamed up in the morning with Eirik Overreide, Dag sandvik and Julian Stocker and drove a short while to the put in. According to the boys the river was on the high side of good and we cruised through the lead in rapids to entrance of the canyon. This is a must run rapid/ waterfall with a sieve at the bottom. The river was pretty high so we decided to hike out.








Some photos from the same day











The next we were about to drop back in the canyon, but the motivation was kinda lucking the drive so we settled down for the local hole which got into the prime level, check out the photos. 






On my way to Czech for a visit soon and then back to Norway for a wee while :) Life’s good :D