T-Minus 120 Hours! By Ken Whiting and Kevin Varette June 20, 2001 With only 5 days to go, the small Pyrenean town of Sort is beginning to show signs of being host to the 2001 World Freestyle Kayak Championships. Multicoloured gear hanging from balconies contrasts the grey and brown of the old stone buildings, small groups of tanned bodies in surf shorts and shades can be found in most markets and restaurants and the play spot right beside the main street is a zoo. "2001 World's" Posters are hanging in all the stores and this afternoon, a voice on the town microphone could be heard announcing the upcoming event. Today was another perfect blue-sky day (about 25°C or 82°F), the weekly street market opened up, somebody's birthday is providing a good excuse to party tonight and everyone I talked to is pretty happy to be here! The water level fluctuated a bit throughout the day, starting higher and dropping by late afternoon before rising again this evening. With a 24-hour floodlight, competitors are free to train any time that the water permits. At today's level the hole is pretty chunky, with flushy corners on both sides and a big nasty Pit in the middle. Terms such as "Pit Monkeys" and "Pit Wimps" have resulted! The river left corner is the favourite spot for spins, cartwheels and blunts - a good spot to rack up some points while staying fairly conservative. Moving in from the left corner allows for moves like Super-Cleans and Tricky-Woo's. The more spectacular moves are definitely coming from the Pit though, rewarding only those who are brave enough to go there! Aerial Loops, Air Wheels and Space Godzillas are the ones we'll be writing home about! Scheduled training times for the national teams begin on Thursday morning and will be in effect until the event officially starts with preliminaries on Monday, June 25. Day 1 Videos 2 versions available: Cable or High Speed (better quality, slower upload and larger) Modem (smaller, lower quality, faster upload) Some of the practice action today! (Cable AVI 4.8 MB) An EJ Trickywhu (Cable AVI 1.8 MB) | (Modem AVI 777 kb) Jimmy Hucking at a Juicy Level (Cable AVI 1.3 MB) | (Modem AVI 947 kb) Ken Whiting Back Loop (Cable AVI 1.6 MB) | (Modem AVI 1.1 MB) Steve Fisher huckin ends (Cable AVI 3.3 MB) | (Modem AVI 1.5 MB) Many ways of coolin down in Spain (Cable AVI 4.8 MB) | (Modem AVI 3.3 MB) Wick huckin as well! (Cable AVI 3.2 MB) | (Modem AVI 2.4 MB) Back to Worlds Main Page

Kayak Futaleufu Follow Kayak the mighty Futaleufu river in Chile each winter with World Champion Ken Whiting, Instructional guru Kevin Varette and World Champ/Olympian Eric "EJ" Jackson! Check out the site kayakfu.com! Liquid Skills Canada's Elite Kayak School on the Ottawa River! Join Ken Whiting, Kevin Varette, Tyler Curtis, Chad Hitchins, Joey Hitchins, Ruth Gordon, Paul Harwood and a host of guest instructors at Liquid Skills. Join courses The Essentials, The Quickening and The Edge and bring your paddling skills to new levels on the phenominal Ottawa River, Canada!