So once again we're been fortunate
enough to represent New Zealand under the banner of Sport New Zealand,
Sir Edmund Hillary Adventure Trust, and this time it is in Brazil.
Thanks again for the amazing support - From the crew
Ari
Walker and myself went to Brazil in February 2014 and were amazed with
every aspect of the country. The climate, culture, biodiversity,
white-water and, more so, the white-water potential! A part of Brazil
that we kept hearing about... Granite, rain, waterfalls, bandits and
massive mountains... was Espirito Santo. Other than one stretch of river
the is commercially rafted below a reservoir, nothing in the state had
been paddled. The only catch is, there had has been a two year drought
in the state. With this in mind, we set a broad expedition goal of 5
First Descents and were set to meet in Sao Paulo just after Christmas.
But I figured I might go ahead and try organise a few things ahead of
the boys and catch up with some friends in Santa Catarina. It just
turned out that Chris Korbulic had the same idea as me, with his Kaiak
Season 7 filming, so we figured we'd link up and do some stuff down
south.
Jordy charging in Sanata Catarina in Feb 2014
Chris
and I had a pretty relaxed schedule planned for being down south, which
consisted of paddling when possible, doing our best to mingle with the
local paddling community and spending some time researching into our
individual projects.
Chris and I enjoying some Brazilian hospitality before heading on out
separate expeditions
As
it just so happened, the rains came and we did a lot more paddling than
we expected. We got a raging flow on the Rio Vermelho, but not raging
enough to turn us away. We had a nice padded run down the little mirco
creek and once we got to the first major confluence I looked up stream
in amazement. There was more water coming out of this trib than in the
Vermelho itself and there was a raging falls in sight. Chris and I
expected the falls, both deeming it good to go. I ran it first and Chris
styled it after me. A dream really, a first Descent within days of
being in the country. Stoked.
Jordy on the First Descent of 'Amarelo Marcelo Falls' - Photo Chris Korbulic
After
this was mostly laps of the classic Rio Benedito, but one particular
day our friend Fabiano Pasqualli told us of a potential first descent
just upstream. A little unmotivated but always curious, we decided to
head up and see what it was about. It was sick! A big slide with an
entrance, and you had to get left. Neither of us wanted to think about
the consequence of ending the slide on the right. After 5 minutes I
decided I was gonna fire it and was running to get my boat. Chris
decided he would sit this one out and would be there on safety. Ten
minutes, later Fabiano was helping me into my boat and I fired off
another first descent, which I called 'The Hardt Way'. Two first descent
in two days in a well kayaked state, incredible.
Jordy on the First Descent of 'The Hardt Way' - Photo Chris Korbulic
After
this Chris and I would just get some more Benedito laps, do some more
research and logistics before the boys would arrive to Sao Paulo. It was
a pretty successful time in the south for us. That said, I was amped
for the boys to arrive and get to work in Espirito Santo.
Showing Chris down 'Formiga' on the Benedito - Photo: Fabiano Pasqualli
Chris making the locals pay their dues
After all this we had some more good food at Marcelo Ludvichak's and then headed North to collect the boys then to ES... hopefully Ari has done his Google Earth homework!
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