Corona Diaries #1, Adrian Mattern (Ger)
Outside, rivers are starting to flow and spring is around the corner, the sun is shining high in some areas, yet around the world, many are grounded at home, and it seems likely others soon will be. Which, though difficult, let’s repeat it, folks is THE THING TO DO! It is necessary and worth it! So, we at Kayak Session decided to take the opportunity to catch up with our friends in the whitewater community and see how they are coping across the globe.
We start with Adrian Mattern, who is stuck at home in Heidelberg, Germany, and who just returned from a trip to Indonesia searching for waterfalls.
Where are you and what is the situation like where you are?
A: How’s it going bro. I just got back to Heidelberg, Germany from Indonesia end of last week, thinking I’d head out to the US on Tuesday. Once I woke up from my jetlag nap I learned about the news that the US put a travel ban into effect and there was no way I’d make it over there. I started to think of a few backup places of where to go and sit this out but whilst making plans on maybe South America more and more travel bans got put on and I had to come to the realization that I will probably just have to spend some time in my old home town. Worst part about it is that I even have a flat in Innsbruck, Austria now I can’t even get to. Luckily I can crash at my dad’s flat in the spare room. Here in Germany we are just experiencing what has happened in Spain/Italy/France already with lockdown being put into effect. It’s definitely something crazy to witness but I do believe it’s the right thing to do in order to help as many people as possible and get back to a more controlled situation as soon as possible.
« I can’t get any kayaking in here which is definitely the hardest part for me… but I know that there are way bigger problems which have to be tackled right now so I try my best to maximize my understanding. ».
Where did you travel from most recently? How has Covid-19 impacted your plans for the season?
A: As mentioned I just got back from an exploratory trip in Java, Indonesia with Bren and Dane. Over there Covid-19 wasn’t really much talk to be honest, on my way home stopping over in Bangkok and seeing everyone with those masks on was the first time I gave it more serious consideration and once I got to Germany and seeing Frankfurt airport basically abandoned that’s when reality hit and I understood this is something serious. The season is now obviously completely up in the air, I don’t expect myself to be able to travel internationally outside of Europe anytime soon to be honest. Luckily we have plenty amazing rivers here too so I believe it’s going to be a mostly European based season for me once the situation is a bit more under control and borders can be opened up safely again.
How are you maintaining fitness and your sanity? Can you get any exercise or paddle at all?
A: It honestly is quite tricky. Luckily I have my old Gym tower in the room where I am able to do some bodyweight stuff which I’ll take anytime in a situation like this. I still have to make my mind about what I think about going running outside and keeping cardio up, it’s definitely something really important for me to do but just imagine getting hurt doing it – that would definitely suck. I can’t get any kayaking in here which is definitely the hardest part for me. In Indo we couldn’t spend a crazy amount of time on the water so now being stuck here rather than being able to go and paddle everyday in the US as I was planning to do- honestly sucks. But I know that there are way bigger problems which have to be tackled right now so I try my best to maximize my understanding. About the sanity…..well let’s not talk about that. With all this free time I actually even got back into gaming! I haven’t touched video games for years but with all this time now I gave it a go the other day… kids are on a different level these days!
« Let’s all be clever about this and just.stay.at.home so we can get through this together as quickly as possible and once that task is tackled it’s time to build everything back up. »
How do you spend most of your time?
A: Wake up, procrastinate, stretch, read, train, FaceTime my friends, make plans for 2021, watch kayaking videos, eventually make kayaking videos, work on some new SEND stuff, take my time to cook (that’s actually pretty cool!), eventually go to bed. I feel domesticated AF
What are you watching right now? Any (kayak) porn recommendations?
A: Big hole beatdown. On whatever video platform you would like to look that up … 🙂 Nah but seriously, Evan Garcia is dropping some really cool and even unreleased edit from the last 10 years and it’s amazing! I can only highly encourage everyone to go and check his YouTube out. Also Dane’s Highlight reel is releasing today and it will be one of the stoutest compilations ever created! Definitely check that one out!
Any words of wisdom for your fellow paddlers across the world?
A: Let’s all be clever about this and just.stay.at.home so we can get through this together as quickly as possible and once that task is tackled it’s time to build everything back up. I sincerely hope not to many people will be affected too bad but I know that is probably not the case. I hope our sport and the industry won’t get too much damage from this and we all will be able to share the experiences on the water again soon. Stay healthy everyone!
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