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Swiss Open Kayak Freestyle & Big Air Championships

As an replacement for the cancelled "Mammut Masters" in Thun, the mighty town of Bremgarten was this year's host of the Swiss Kayak Freestyle Championships.

It also honored Roland Gasser, the organizer of the incredible Thun events such as the glamorous European Champs in 2002, who passed away in a mountaineering accident not long ago.

In only 3 weeks this event was organized and kicked off on Saturday morning. The upper wave in Bremgarten is one of the finest spots in Europe. A beauty of a hole at higher flows, and an unbelievable fast and kicking wave on the lower end. Using so named "wisers" we were able to improve the wave massively, it's insane and the limits are not reached yet for sure...

In the last 2 weeks we've had those perfect water levels, and combined with the the new wisers, this gave us a wave almost twice as high as in the past. So I invited lots of my friends, some followed, lots couldn't. Arnd Schäftlein showed strong skills on the microphone again, whereas Muppet of England had another training run, this time as a head judge, before the Worlds in Australia. My favorite Norwegian paddler Mariann Saether also packed her boat and toothbrush and decided to drop by for this little first-timer.

Because of heavy thunderstorms on Thursday, the "lake"-district decided to open the gates of the "Vierwaldstättersee" of close Lucerne. So right on Friday we saw the wave washed off, leaving place for the hole-like spot. No worries for the competition, although it would never be as when the wave would be up! For the Big Air though, hmm mm.. we would see during the day.

Photos

Pictures say more than a thousand words...

After a cold, rainy week it became summer again on the competition day and the event started early in the morning. Due to the late decision to organize such an event, a maximum of 48 paddlers from Switzerland and Germany, but also France, England, Holland and the above mentioned Norwegian queen showed good skills in the feature, improved with 2 wisers.

Right at 6 pm the finals kicked off and the warriors battled their fights under spotlights.

The water level hadn't dropped during the day, and so Arnd and I decided to have the Big Air replaced by a "King of the Wave", also because this used to be Roland's favorite event.

Final Results

Men K1

1. Jobst Hahn (GER)
2. Phil Haussamann (SUI)
3. Basti Striebel (GER)
4. Felix Bischoff (FRA)
5. Beat Rüttimann (SUI)

K1 Women

1. Sarah Hangartner (SUI)
2. Anita Vollenweider (SUI)
3. Anna Münger (SUI)
4. Tony Drinnenberg (GER)
5. Mariann Saether (NOR)

King of the bremgarten wave 2004

1. Phil Haussamman

Right after the competition we gathered on the wooden bridge. We wanted to say farewell to Roland by letting lots of candles downstream. Wind again right in this moment was the reason that out of the hundred, maybe 10 candles made their way but still, they did! In between the upper and the lower spot we decorated a little beach into a beautiful BBQ place, and instead of the normal parties or concerts, enjoyed some hours full of spirit and respect.

Reef as the main sponsor of this event but also Palm Equipment, Mammut, Ajungilak, Oakley, HF, Sweet, Kober and Swiss Kayak opened their present bags and nice prizes were given to the participants.

Future

In 2005 the beautiful medieval city of Bremgarten is going to host one of the most spectacular events in the European circuit, combining different sports and possibly welcoming their best athletes. More details will not be given away yet, but mark the 10.-12th 2005 of June red in your agenda and STAY TUNED!

Simon Hirter

RIP Roland Gasser