The theme of the "European Scene' was never meant a regular report like 'The Week in Review' from Hendrik of Hiking in Finland. It just happened to come by after the initial introduction. Unconscious inspiration not unlikely of course, but no chance to match his pace anyway ;) No guarantee it holds either. If we manage a quarterly report, I 'd be happy. More likely to be a irregular series upon collected content. So we go here with:
First of, Libertist from ODS is organizing an open Packrafting trip in Austria (Kärnten) over Easter holiday (April 5th-11th). The 4 guys (currently) are about to run Class II-III rivers (Möll, Gail, Drau, Isel). If you want to join, follow the (German) discussion on ODS. I think they would be open to international participants too, if you don't mind the journey to Austria. We would help out with used boats, if needed.
Second, the American pioneers think of Europe. Roman is dreaming about it and Forrest McCarthy is coming for sure. Forrest will be heading to the Balkan region (Creotia/ Bosnia) for Packrafting in between (after skiing in the French Alps and before sea kayaking in Greece).I am very keen to hear what he says on Packrafting in Europe. There might even be chances for a meeting, as we are considering a packrafting trip to the Balkans in May too (Albania again).
Third, us in the US. Marc and I will be heading to the States next week. See if we can bring news.
Winter and the British
Other than that, there is a lot of other folks active despite being winter. Above all the British:
Rob's Youtube chanel contains "Chilled Cairngorms packrafting with mountain bikes", which I can't watch being banned by GEMA in Germany :(
Colin from Tramplite went on a winter hike and paddle along the river Spey in Scotland.
Nik's new Bike blog has a lot to do with packrafts. He uses winter for reflection on his summer trip.
Chris continues to look for the limits of cheap Sevylor inflatables as Quasi-Packrafts: "Testing the Sevy Slackraft"
Packrafting Variations
I call it "Trailscouting". Jo combines jogging or trailrunning with one of the most packable boat. Joggypaddle qualifies likewise, as the paddling remembers of doggy style swims ;)
In the last scene review, I reported on Jens, who took his boat to Dubai and the Seychells, rather unusual packraftig destinations (not the reason he got arrested). He now provided me pictures from beach hoping and surfing (all pictures in this post).
Same kind of replenishment did Sebastion on his video channel. He finally managed to work up his former trip to Greenland and Patagonia.
With Jaroslaw Zygmunt Wieczorek we again have a paragliding variation in packrafting.
Steve an Kattrijn from Belgium got their Packraft "Water Walker". To do so, they roll out the two person, one boat theme and tried it out as a double right away. Go on!
Lastly, Alex shared some of his MYOB plans with me (sketch below):
"I'll be trying a design of my own. I come from sea kayaks and paddle only flat water. I can't make an inflatable hull faster but can make the ergonomics more efficient for paddling. So I'm designing a Sit-on-Top Packraft (2,5 metres by 70 cm) with a minimal frame made out of a part of a walking pole and sections of ski poles."
Undisclosed Participants
There is a lot of other guys too, mainly from France lately, who checked in on the Facebook Group of Packrafting in Europe for non public identification and informal discussion.
Missed anyone? Comment here or check in above!
