Feedit-global - feed the need!.

“How I feed it? I'm part of what you might call the "freestyle-punk" whitewater subculture.

Most weekends you can find me out the back waiting for the next big wave at the beach or surfing the waves at Penrith while trying to dodge all the rafts.

Earlier this year I was off boating in Canada with the rest of the Aussie team where we tore up Bussy and instead of having to dodge rafts, we got to dodge icebergs the size of vans; I've now got a dent at the bottom of my boat from when I landed a clean blunt onto a berg that would shame the titanic!

Anyway, here are my thoughts about this stuff …..

"To feed it is is not optional. You cannot neglect it. Neglect it and it'll let you know about it.

It'll gnaw you from the inside out, until all you can think of is getting your next fix.

You'll simply be a quivering mass of wasted energy as your mind dwells on pushing your limits as far as they can go and then beyond.

Then when food is finally laid on the plate, nothing compares. The feeling unlike any other.

That you're doing what you were meant to do, while all the mundane sameness of society is erased from existence as you fly down the face of the wave about to launch yourself into the air, spiralling and twisting in an explosion of plastic, paddle and body.

Then the 'thud' of a perfect landing.

Then you do it again.

Only backwards this time”.

Cheers guys, James Rowlinson”

Report by James on the 2008 Freestyle Kayaking Nationals.

“In late April 2008, Australia’s best and brightest freestyle paddlers made the trek out to Penrith white water stadium to compete in the 2008 Freestyle Kayaking Nationals. With competitors all the way from Tazzy, Melbourne as well as Canada (yes, that’s right), we had perhaps the largest flotilla of playboats Peno has ever seen. I believe the biggest achievement of the comp however, was the fact that we had one of the largest number of junior paddlers ever to compete at an Australian competition, just two fewer junior men then the seniors, as well as some junior women. Here, the efforts of the Junior Development Programme can be seen, thanks to the hard work of the founder, Mark the Hammer, and the coaches: Jez, Liam, as well as me being the ‘unofficial’ coach.

For many, the event started before the water was even turned on, as the final tweaks were made to the course to try to allow competitors to compete at their best. Bollards were moved, features were changed, as well as ‘someone’ scraping some of the green gunky stuff off the bottom of the course in the shape of a smiley face, which led for many competitors looking down at the river bed through the green water wondering “what the hell is that....?” Many efforts also went into the moving of equipment, cameras, and sound systems; as DJ Tin Tin handled the tunes and MC Jez took the role of commentator.

First up were the junior men’s, stepping up to take on the feature of Skippy Wave, a friendly hole where all hole moves are possible. This section led for some entertainment for spectators, not only by some of the big moves being thrown, but as Skippy wave is located above a very sticky pourover, popular for raft play. It was not uncommon to see competitors knocked off the hole by upstream rafts, only to drift into the pourover, which was currently occupied by a raft full of screaming tourists.

The finals were a heated battle as some snappy cartwheels were thrown down by all, 13-year-old future-paddling-superstar Declan Czajkowski hucking airloops, as well as myself showing some of the newer, ‘tricksier’ hole moves like mcnasties, phoenix monkeys and backloops. In the end, medals went to Morgan James in 3rd for his crisp cartwheeling, Declan  coming in 2nd earning some recognition for his impressive looping, and a super stoked me taking the title with a total of 184 points in my shiny new rad.

Next up were the Junior women who needed some convincing to get into the unnaturally cold water, but once they got out there they fired it up for Emily Kaar taking the title, with second place going to April Moore.

Although the seniors were missing some big names with Anthony Yap and Sean Boz overseas, as well Australian Team member Lachie Carracher somehow managing to fall off some scaffolding and break his leg, the seniors were definitely keen to get wet after standing around in the cold wind watching the juniors have fun. For the event, the Deep Fryer had been turned into a bit of a strange wave, that would swap periodically from rooster’s tail into a munchy yet flushy wave-hole that could offer some freaky bounces. The comp went straight off with Adrian Keirnan going big; nailing his airblunts and donkeyflips just as the buzzer went to come in first, Liam Corr consistently hitting blunts and backstabs to make second, as well as fellow Bliss-stick paddler Rusty Boza being the only competitor brave enough to try for an entry move. He tried. And went huge.

I swear at one point his head was almost a metre above the water on his kick flip! He definitely earned his spot on the podium for third. Colin Furmston threw down securing a spot in the final, along with Nick Payne getting some nice airblunts despite a wrist that wanted to throw in the towel. As for me...I suffered many unfortunate flushes, coming in at a disappointing sixth place. A bit of a bummer but ahh well, just an excuse to party harder that night!

Jez took home the title for c1, securing his spot as Australia’s token c1 boater, with me doing what can only described as “something” in order to rack up a trophy move with a big bonus to take 2nd. Some day I’d like to know what the hell it was that I did. Or how I managed to fluke it on not only my first time in a c1, but also in the nationals. Cool. Anyways, Liam took 3rd for his cartwheeling, as well as 1st in Oc1 for being the only paddler in the country who knows how to paddle one of those crazy things! Silver and bronze were then divided amongst Jez, Russ, and I; using the most foolproof method of tiebreaking Freestyle Kayaking has ever seen: Rock-paper-scissors. That left Jez in second, me in third, and Rusty coming in fourth with an unlucky early elimination because my rock beat his scissors.

That night, the eyes of everyone turned to the Skippy Films boys; Jez, Adrian and Colin; who not only had been out in full force filming that day, but were going to launch a premiere of their highly anticipated paddling film, Down Under the Horizon Line. And the audience definitely was not disappointed! Harmonized ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’  were common throughout the night as they witnessed what Australian paddling has to offer. As I write, I expect them to be slaving away at the computer, hastily yet productively putting together a professional piece of film that will showcase the awe-inspiring highlights of the event.

Well... Either that, or they’re at the pub. Actually they’re probably at the pub.

I’d like to thank the Australian Freestyle Committee for putting in the hard yards to make this event possible, everyone who helped out with scribing and judging, DJ Tin-Tin for laying down the fresh beats like it’s nobody’s business, Maggie Crocker for the sweet pics the Skippy Films boys for their Saturday’s entertainment, Norm and Bliss stick for getting me a boat to paddle, as well as the bouncers at O’Donoghue’s who found it in their heart to let me in so I could see the movie!

See you guys out on the water, James”