Chile kayaking with Kayak School Arlberg
At the end of the Austria kayaking season, I was on the phone with Paul back in the UK, saying that I had a few days chilling at our lodge in Pucon before our Road Trip from Santiago down to Pucon started. He asked whether I would be able to get some images of the new women’s kayaking kit that Peak had back at the factory in the UK. I was more than happy to help out and so with just days to go before I fly out to Chile, the kit arrived in Austria.
The journey is a long one to Chile, luckily for me David and Fran were waiting with my truck at the airport in Santiago and it was another 7 hours of driving to finally get to our lodge in Pucon. I already had a kayaker in mind to get the images that Paul was after, it was Yiyi. Yiyi is a local girl from the banks of the Rio Fuy, just a few hours drive from Pucon. Rather than tell you about Yiyi, she is going to write a blog for Peak about herself!
The first day I caught up with her while she was coaching on the University of Pucon’s Outdoor Education course. She is one of the main coaches teaching students rafting, kayaking and everything about whitewater. The coaches from UFRO were taking the students to the Rio Liucura for their first taste of whitewater. The Rio Liucura is a tributary of the Rio Trancura and is a nice class 2 river with a sweet wave that has eddy access. I also caught up with Christian who runs the courses, I have known Christian for many years and always try to visit him when he is based down by the Rio Fuy.
The day was proving very productive and not only did I manage to get some sweet shots of Yiyi in her Peak PS women’s paddle equipment but I also managed to get some nice shots of the students on their very first river adventure!
Yiyi also works for Kayak School Arlberg on our Chile trips as a second guide. Her kayaking style and love for life really helps our guests calm their nerves where they end up paddling with big smiles on their faces. As I can no longer kayak waterfalls due to the abuse my body has taken when I was in the army, I asked David to grab some photos with my GoPro.
That evening when I was checking out the footage, David had nailed it! The images were incredible, the light, water colour, location, waterfalls and Yiyi in her Peak PS kit just stood out.I was supper happy and I am sure Paul would be happy with what we had managed to get in this kayaking mecca that is Pucon, Chile.
So with Yiyi heading back to the Rio Fuy to work in January, Ute decided to come out for a long overdue adventure. We decided to head into Chile’s Patagonia, avoiding the incredibly busy Futaleufu and instead heading to the Rio Figueroa further south.
The Figueroa is a stunning river nestled in one of the most beautiful parts of Chile’s Patagonia. A 3 day self-support with just us in the middle of Patagonia, life is good!! With the colours of the water and the glorious sunshine we had for the 3 days I managed to get some nice photos of Ute in the new women’s whitewater kayaking kit. Ute was putting it all to the test in the rugged environment of Patagonia. I wrote an article about our trip to the Rio Figueroa that was published in The Paddler magazine in the UK, you can even read it online for free! (Link HERE)) Again the photos I got of Ute kayaking should keep Paul happy for a while and hopefully it does not give him too many headaches on choosing which ones to use!!!
With testing, research and development now pretty much finished, the majority of the new women’s whitewater kayaking equipment is going into production and will be available later on in the year!! I know both Ute and Yiyi are looking forward to wearing it all on the river!
