Hypoxia 2 has been shortlisted for the Adrenaline Award by a panel of judges at the Wet West Film Festival, Hokitita, New Zealand. Hypoxia 2 and Where the Sun Never Sets were both screened as part of the film festival. Apparently Hypoxia 2 went down particularly well with the kiwi audience.
In-Flux eventually won the Adrenaline Award, just ahead of Hypoxia 2 and Tweaking the Nose of Terror
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The last weekend in November saw paddlers descend on the Annamoe river in Wicklow from all over Ireland and further afield for the Big Boat Bonanza. Despite low water levels hundreds of paddlers competed from beginner to pro, and the atmosphere was unmatched at any other kayaking event I’ve ever been to. Having the craic was the name of the game, and Olli Grau, Raphael Thibaut, Deb Pinniger, Andy Phillips, Cheesy and many more were treated to a weekend of Irish style humour. The carnage was unsurpassed, with a certain nameless whitewater warrior having a very unexpected out-of-boat experience. He had the very unusual experience of swimming under a very large manufacturers banner with his photo on it!
Needless to say those who attended the party will never forget it.
Sickboy and Andy Phillips
Liveonce Adventure Media teamed up with Steve Rogers of Bread & Butter
Productions to film some world class kayaking in the Voss area of Norway.
Early June saw some record waterlevels, and we teamed up with the whitewater
warriors, Allan Ellard, Mikey Abbott, Andy Phillips as well as Benjamin Hjort
for some hair raising whitewater. How hairraising? Well during the Voss extreme
race on the Brandseth, Alan Ellard and Raphael Thibaut (among others) both
swam. Enough said. (I wasn’t very fast, but hey, I didn’t swim). The rivers
were cold, it rained a lot, and most of the time our eyes were out on stalks.
The rivers started out high, then it rained for a couple of weeks. Spicy!
July saw water levels drop off in Norway so we headed north towards the arctic
circle for some exploratory boating. Liveonce Media and an international crew
of Sam Hughes, Rosie Cripps, Simon Westgarth, Ali Donald, Matt Tidy and Dan
Cassin completed several first descents and shot plenty of footage for an
up coming road trip film. 5, 000 kilometres and around twenty new rivers later
we arrived back in Sjoa for the Sjoafest. Team member Rosie Cripps continued
to take the kayaking world by storm by winning both the freestyle and boater
x events.
This was undoubtedly some of the most beautiful and enjoyable paddling I
have ever done- a great crew of people running everything from big volume
to steep creeks in the most pristine environment.
Rob and Jonno Church, Photo by Tyler Curtis
Oh yes, then I broke myself. After two amazing months creeking everyday,
my paddles broke just above the bottom drop on the triple waterfall drop on
the Songdalselva. As a result I blew the line, and hit rock at the bottom
very hard.
For the second time I teamed up with Dave Carroll, Colin Wong, Simon Westgarth to
competed in the Teva X-treme Mountain Games held in the beautiful Val Sesia
Valley, Italy. Despite a late night the night before I was stoked to make
the semi-finals against very strong opposition. An awesome event, an awesome
weekend!
Results here
Liquidlife Festival, Scotland
May 2005 Together with Bob Campbell, Ali Donald, Shane Cronin and the Pyranha landrover we drove from Hollyhead to Scotland for the Liquidlife
festival held on the Tummel river. Despite some rough weather, the event
was a great success.
Ali
Donald
After fours years of planning, two members of the Blue Nile Expedition successfully
reach the Meditareanean, in doing so becoming the first people in history
to kayak the Blue Nile from source to sea. Over the coming winter Liveonce
Adventure Media will be editing a documentary of the expedition for television.
International interest has followed the trip including features in National
Geographic Adventure, Paddler (US), Kayak Session, Canoe and Kayak (UK) and
Outsider.
Together with Simon Westgarth and Kala O’Riordain, we spent five weeks in
British Columbia filming for Hypoxia 2, a whitewater kayaking documentary.
We teamed up with Patch Bennett, Mark Basso and loads of BC locals who showed
us around the best rivers in North America. Committing class 5 wilderness
boating at its best.
For an guide to boating in British Columbia that appeared in Outsider click
here
Rob on the
Pingston , BC
Diego
Valsecchi
Check out Diego’s latest crazy exploits
Liveonce Adventure Media took part in a gruelling month long expedition to
the Lorestan Mountains in Iran to film a documentary on kayaking the Baktiari
River, which expedition legend Dave Manby describes as the most "full on river
I have done in 25 years of expedition boating". The trip turned out to
be epic, with first descents, robberies, and some of the most remote whitewater
any of us had ever paddled. Over the coming winter we hope to be involved
in the post production of the documentary of the trip for the BBC.
Liveonce Adventure Media teamed up with Gene 17 for filming footage feature
on Genes and Neva Foreva. High water levels made for some exciting days, especially
high water runs on the Travo and the Codi.
Irish Creeking August 2004
Who said we don’t have world class rivers in Ireland? When it rains hard,
we do, for about six hours. Here are a few photos from a mid summer mission
on the Dargle, our local creek, with party boys Dave Carroll and Nick Doran.
Dave
Tec
Dave
Rob
Warm water boating in Ireland. Don’t get too used to it!
From 1997 onwards, I have been travelling the globe in search of whitewater.
Here are a few photos and video clips of two video kayaking Zambezi seasons,
a season rafting and safety kayaking on the Coruh in Turkey, a spell on the
White Nile in Uganda, and numerous trips around North America and Europe.
Rob on the diagonal on Rapid 9
Opening the centre line on Rapid 9, 2001. The most incredible line I have
ever run. Get it right and your hair stays dry. Just don’t get it wrong.
On the Coruh, Turkey 1999 Photo by Steve Rogers
On Itanda, White Nile 2001
Safety kayaking on the Zambezi, 1998. Boating on a daily basis with Steve
Fisher and Nico Chassing, I had no choice but to learn quickly. Go big or
go home was the way it was.For more photos of that time, click
here
