I was once told, “you could paddle a new river every day for the rest of your life and still not paddle them all.” This was the spark that interested me in India as a destination to explore for kayaking. I mean of course right? The country is massive, with seemingly almost unlimited rivers, why wouldn’t it be on my radar. So for me it seemed liked a no-brainer when I was invited to come and take part in the Malabar River Festival this July.
Now, like all things, sometimes it seems easier in theory to pack up and travel half way across the world with my kayak. Though as a seasoned veteran I have had some experience traveling with a kayak. Still never the less it is always the challenging part to get the boat checked in at the counter, ask Dane about it, he was denied and ended up having to buy a new ticket with another airline. Or take one of the British paddlers, who actually paid 900 euros to get his boat on the plane, ouch. After scouring the internet and several phone call, I finally got a flight with Air Canada, and secured my boat on the plane. Easy, I though, as I left the check in country and boarding my first flight, only to realize once in Delhi that my boat didn’t arrive, and I still had another connection to Kochi in the south of India. As it turns out, when a ton of kayakers fly in for an event, I guess its bound to happen that several boats might not make it, as mine was one of at least 5 athletes who didn’t have their boat arrive.
Well, life goes on, so once in India I gathered my bag, met up with Kalob, Bren and Adrian and we crammed into a shuttle heading for Kerala.
For some reason we were all thinking the drive was around 4 or 5 hours, which dragged into 8 hours. As we drove I watched out the window as it seemed like the population of one town spread out until it blended with the next, with a never ending sea of buildings, home and people. I was starting to grasp an idea of the massive population of India.
Once we made it to Kerala, we checked in, ate some food and got some rest, concluding my 4th day of traveling to the destination. I continued to call the airlines trying to locate my boat, and luckily, only was 2 days without, though the local community was more then willing to set with up with a kayak to use while waiting. Our first day on the river was an eye opening experience for me. We went to the put in and quickly realized the water was quite high, and might not be a match for the beta we had received about the local “creek run”. Our group was Dane, Kalob, Bren, Adrian and myself, which become coined the ‘Send Crew’. We immediately started off trekking through the dense jungle trying to scout a line through the flooded boulder gardens. It became apparent that it would be a slow moving day for us, as we were 2 hours in and maybe only a couple toured yards down stream from our put in. We slowly eddy hopped and scouted our way down the consistent gradient, twisting corners, and high volume river. I think the whole group was a bit on edge, as we didn’t quite know exactly what we were getting into, and it was apparent that our beta was not super accurate. We had also been warmed about flash floods, and at one point the sky turned dark, and we found ourselves in a torrential down pour. Still not knowing much about the rivers, we all jumped out of our boats and scrambled to higher ground. The river didn’t end of flashing on us, and continued on. Though we still managed to miss our takeout and had to hitch a ride back into town. It was an eye opening experience for a first day in India. I learned to listen to beta, but know that it could also be completely incorrect, and that we should paddle as if it was a first descent, moving slowly and cautiously in these flood conditions.
The next day we decided to do the “chill section”, which was described as a ‘class 3 joy lap.’ Though again we learned about the monsoon season, as it poured down on us all the way to the put in. Once up top, we realized the river was 3 feet higher then the day before, and the class 3 joy section became a gripping non stop roller coaster through trees. It was pretty full on, and we started off with a pretty big hole surf and swim at the top, as Kalob Grady and Nouria Newman ended up in a hole together. Once we got a grip on what we were if for, it turned into an epic book and rally section, and we headed back up for more. By the time we got off of our second lap the water had continued to rise another 1.5 feet for a total of 5 feet high then the morning. It was appoint just how much rain we were dealing with, and what the monsoon season really was like.
Our next couple days were filled with more ‘normal flow’ and it was mind blowing the difference from the flooded river we had the days before.
The style of paddling was fun boulder garden style, with consistent gradient, and some slides and drops in the steeper sections.
The India lifestyle was quickly growing on me. Our days would consist of curry for breakfast, paddle a lap or two, curry for lunch, paddle some more, and curry for dinner. Then regroup at the hotel with everyone and make a plan for the next day. It was fun getting to hang out and paddle with a ton of international paddlers, and the local Indian paddlers seemed ecstatic to hangout and paddle with us.
Next up was the Malabar river festival. The kickoff was the freestyle event, which was a couple hours away. We all shuttled together in 2 giant buses, and were introduced to Indian dubstep, which was blasting through the speakers in the bus starting at 7:30 AM! The Freestyle event was held on three waves. It was a cool format because you could use your
45 second time on any or all of the three features. After the day was done, it was tight finish, though Dane won, I took 2nd and Bren Orton edge out Kalob for 3rd.
Following the freestyle was the giant slalom race, which started with a big ramp and had 7 gates spread out through the 90 second course. The format was 2 runs, best count, followed by a single run 20 person finals. The times were tight with top racers from around the world, and the likes of Mike Dawson, Gerd Serrasolses, Aaron Mann and Phillip Baues to name a few. I had a great finals run, though I had a slight spin out only a couple feet before the finish. It was just enough of a mistake to push me into 4th place behind Dane, Gerd, and Mike Dawson.
The third stage of the event was the Boater-X, which was held on the same section as the slalom, though most of the gates were removed and a touch eddy was added to try and build carnage for the crowds. We battled our for 3 rounds of heats. Though once the dust settled the podium was set with Mike 1st, Dane 2nd, Gerd 3rd, Kalob 4th and myself 5th. As always, the Boater-X was a crowd favorite, as people lined the banks of the river to watch 4 paddlers race head to head in a battle for the win.
These crowds were committed as they hung out in the rain to watch us compete. We too, would spend day in and day out in the rain, and with constantly being wet I was quickly starting to have an issue with river rot on my feet.
Our final event of the whole show was the extreme race held on the lower section of the flooded river we experienced the first day. Though this time around it was 5 feet lower and quite a bit more manageable. It made for a great race course which was about 1.5 minutes long. The format was similar to that of the Sickline race, 20 racers, with head to head times, 10 move on for a single race super finals. Times were tight, and were separated by tenths and hundredths of a second. As I made it to the super final race I decided to put it all out on the line and push for my my fastest possible line. Though as it turns out when I push too hard I seemed to make a couple micro mistakes which ended up costing me. I didn’t end up on the podium though I was still proud of my performance, and stoked to see olympian Mike Dawson take home his 3rd race win and the overall Champion.
All in all India was an incredible experience. I loved the food, the rivers, and the locals. Everyone was super nice to us, very accommodating and happy to see the kayakers bring in some tourism to the town. The organizers Manik and Jacopo also worked hard to put together what is called Asia’s biggest whitewater event, and I was stoked to be a part of it. I am now signing off as I write this on my last flight of my
40 hour trip home, though what I can say for sure is, “India, thanks for the good times, I’ll be back.”
