Europe accounts for a small group of Open Canoe paddlers. The number of them that is paddling whitewater is even smaller. A couple years a go, the idea was founded to try to get those paddlers together on a meeting, an Armada, to American example.
This years armada was the first one I could join, and was organised in Lofer. It was a pleasure to notice I actually did know some of those people in real life. I did meet some of them a the Orb in France, but anyway.
We drove up from Belgium to get the maximum out of it. Driving up on Wednesday, 4 days paddling and back home on Monday. Not a bad idea to drive up on Wednesday, especially since it was a 900km drive and we had a nice traffic jam in the Muchen area. But no worries, we ignored the gps-thingie and took the tourist drive around. Being lucky to see part of the Lofer bach before arriving in Lofer! We did meet some kayakers on the Lofer bach, and they said it was heavy, a nice class IV run at that water level. Anyway, way too small for my viper11 canoe.
We arrived at the camp site, and apparently there were several groups of paddlers. We noticed when we arrived at the camping plane. Lots of boaters, but only one group of (O)C paddlers. I immediatly met some known people, having a nice chat. Getting to know other people from wildwasserboard and so on. The arrangments for the whole week. The evening we deiced which groups would go where the next day. Only the first day was prearranged.
The first day we were told, we would paddle something light. Ok, light, so no pump required I thought. Now I must say at that moment I had a different understanding of light. Not that this section was really pushing my limits, but I had something smoother in mind. Anyway, the Saalach from Au till Unken is a classic, and it's the name classic worth. There is some smooth flowing water, spiced up with some class II and class III sections. And yes, I did swim a couple of times, pushing the limits myself, by playing river features. Paddling downriver with a group of 30-40 boaters is a bit tricky, but soon some sub-groups were formed and watched out for each other.
The next day 2 groups would paddle something different. One would go for the Salzach, another for the Konings Aache. Salzach was pretty heavy. Still class III, but having close to or even high water. I thought it was wise not to push the limits with such a water level. Konings Aache then. After having some issues to find the put-in, or especially following the others of our group, we made it there. The section at the put-in was also having plenty of water, was quite rocky and there was some pressure on the river. Swimmers would have a nasty swim right at the start.
Not a section which made me afraid, but also not a section of which I was fond to start with without warming up. I forced my ventral muscles last year, and I don't want to go trough that misery again. Some other people really dind't want to paddle this section and suggested to paddle from Unken to Schneitzel-reut. I decided to join in there. Ok, it was a bit too calm, but I had my fun with the other Jan guiding the group down, setting up security and shooting some nice pictures and video.
Day 3: Entenloch klamm. That's my definition of something smooth. Although we got in, paddled 15 minutes, and then concluded we were 2 days too early to paddle that section and we should have taken the next put-in. Leaving us with a mixture of people getting cars, people walking 2km, people carrying boats for 2km. Anyway, as good paddlers we did not paddle the forbidden section but we went around it over land. Back in the boats for some really nice paddling. It made me think of the Ammer in Germany. Ok, the Ammer has some harder sections, but the Enteloch klamm also has his deal of river nasties. Especially curved currents, and unexpected river behaviour.
After this nice paddle we went once more for the Saalach: Au-Unken. It's a really nice stretch, and just as many others this time I wanted to get more out of it. And we did, playing around some more, catching harder eddies, ferrying at harder places, ... . On the way back we stopped to watch the slalom competition and had a glance of the devils gorge. Devils gorge is one nasty place where I wouldn't want to be, with many siphons and undercuts in it. The slalom area looked ok from the road level, but once we got down there, it would be pretty chalenging. Some nice class IV paddling would be required.
Day 4 some of us would go down to the slalom area. I decided not to. No need to push the limits, build up some river experience at first, next to the artificial whitewater experience. After that they would paddle Au-Unken once more, as we would do from the start. Pushing the limits some more on a section we were getting to know quite well. Water levels dropped a bit, but not that much. I found it a really nice paddle this time. Catching eddies in the harder sections, even attempting a surf (but failing and needing some serious work not to swim). Really nice was to paddle not just down at the cataract but play it, using eddies, current differentials and so on.
That evening already people were leaving to make it home that night. But not without leaving our addresses on a list so we could contact each other. The camp site was getting empty. But the remaining part of us had a nice dinner at the camping restaurant, talked over our 4 days of paddling and got to sleep.
I've put a video together from the material I gathered from the armada, and many people posted their links to their images. I've put them all together here:
Paddling blog 
