Nile with Quim Fontané Maso
Nile with Quim Fontané Maso
I recived my brand new Helixir M+ with the custom made design by Katyla Kulkova just a few days before the competition season in Europe started.
I already had the chance to try the last Guigui Prod weapon on several spots and even competitions in both France and Spain with awesome results anb even better feelings about this boat; going way more aerial than in my old Easymix 2008 L, ease on combinin moves in the hole and making rotations look effordless and with super Sharp precision and control over the verticallity of the ends.
Anyway I still had to try it and see how that Machine performed on waves, specially regarding to the next World Championships that will take place in the famous Garburator wave in the Ottawa River.
To test the shape and the new construction, with only 7,2kg it’s by far, the lightest in the freestyle kayaking market and moret han 1 kg lighter than the last construction, I went to Uganda, the winter paradise for freestyle paddlers as part of the team that run the “World of the Champions – ADP Programme” organized by Jacko Jackson and Dennis Newton, 2 of the most talented coaches out there.
The water levels during the 10 days that we spent on the wàters of the Nile River were relatively low, so the flows were perfect during the morning for the Club Wave but a bit low for the Nile SPecial, that had a tinny foam pile and which was always tow-in. So we had quite a sticky, fomay wave and a flushy fast and green wave to do the test.
The first of the waves I had the chance to surf was the Club Wave, I first centered on throwing all the wave moves one by one, the first impression was great, the boat is super-lose and fast that makes it a bit hard to control at times but that als ogives you the chance to go airborn!
The edge transfers make all the difference compared with any other boat out therem the release is smooth and it’s very easy to go vertical in the blunts and backblunts and gives you the oppotunity to invert even with little air in your trick.
Everyone thinks about the Nile Special when going to the Nile, but this wave is just awesome too, specially when water rises and Nile Special is paddeblish, it forms a huge wave that was my absolute favourite: it’s supposed to be called Club’s funnel.
It’s quite a hard wave to catch as it forms right in the middle of the ràpid and you need to start the ferry high in the eddy, surf the big hole just behind the Nile and ferry to the wave from there, rides there were just bad-ass and I threw the cleans of my life.
In the afternoons we had some scenic sunset sessions on this the famous fast and spicy Nile Special, the carbon feels super fast here and landings were loud as the hull is super stiff, it was specially good for spinning combos and massive air, but rides were generally short.
Rush Sturges who was totally crushing it out there also wanted to try in several occasions the new Guigui toy, and was not disappointed, he wanted to order one straight away!
I can’t wait to get back to the Nile, it’s been a huge personal and paddling experience, improving a lot on my paddling skills but also learning a lot from my coaches and over life in general.
vendredi 20 juin 2014