Press/Television/Radio

To the website of DKV

Excerpt from the article:

KANU-SPORT: "What do I need to take on every tour?"

Sebastian Schmidt: "Chocolate, dried fish and people you can rely on. Solo tours also have their appeal, but I personally appreciate the sociability and growing together as a team on challenging tours. Otherwise, the focus should be on the things you don't need to take with you in order to keep your luggage weight to a minimum.[...]"

To the website of KANU Sport magazine

From minute 23:39, the film focuses on the Nahe Valley and Land Water Adventures. Of course, the rest of the program is also worthwhile as it is packed with exciting excursion tips in southwest Germany.

Watch the entire show in the ARD media library (German only)

Extract from the report:

"Packrafts turn the blue parts of topo maps into trekking trails. Whether it's the small river on your doorstep or the vast lake in northern Scandinavia, wherever there's water, you can make it part of the trail with a packraft (subject to safety and personal skill). Incomparable is the fascination to have everything with you in a backpack, not only to look at the water on beautiful shores, but after a short time to sit in a boat on the vastness of the water."

To the website of KANU Sport magazine

To the website of the magazine

Extract from the article:

"So in the following days in the packraft we get to know not only various whitewater sections of Soča and Koritnica between Trenta and Kobarid, but also many small trails, suspension bridges and parts of the famous Alpe Adria Trail. Experience nature and landscape up close, that's the order of the day here. Our days start relaxed with breakfast in the camp, backpack packing, a common daily briefing in the morning. And then off we go into a day full of waves, action and adventure, full of amazement at the beautiful sections and the impressive landscape of the Julian Alps in which we move."

To the website of the magazine

Extract from the report:

"Had it not been for the fact that before the Land Water Adventures tour, in that year 2020, special in all respects, the old boundaries suddenly became real boundaries again, we would never have sought the paths we found spontaneously 'freestyle', with paddles in our backpacks. What would we have missed!"

To the website of KANU Sport magazine

Extract from the report:

"At idyllic little "parking bays" between old, over-mossy willows directly on the shore we moored our boats and proceeded to survey the site and discuss the line. It did not take long and one after the other "plunged" down. What followed was pleasure cruising with some minor blocking, swells and occasional drifting until we were hungry enough for an extended lunch break. A small spruce shelter welcomed us comfortably at our mooring. A while passed until everyone was peeled out of the dry suits, all equipment was stowed away and a steaming pot stood in front of each of us - various variations of pasta - handed to us by clearing skies and the odd ray of sunshine. Yey!"

To the website of KANU SPORT magazine

Excerpts from the interview:

Why do you support the „Save the Blue Heart of Europe“ campaign?
Blech: As water sports and nature enthusiasts, a dam boom of course alarms us. Most of our rivers in Central Europe have been converted into transport routes or electric power sources. Dammed and fragmented, many have lost their wildness and much of their ecological quality. The question is: Don’t we have alternatives today?

What's it like paddling an untamed river?
Schmidt: What attracts me to natural rivers is how unpredictable they are. It’s an incredible feeling to ride on a river which is new practically every day because it has changed with the water level. New sandbanks have formed or whirlpools have rearranged the stones. The diversity of animals is tremendous. You simply feel that the river is alive. All this conveys a feeling of wilderness and freedom.

The complete interview online

Here are two excerpts:

“The sun is about to go down as the six exhausted packrafters arrive at the remote Schmidtburg close to Kirn. [...] In the middle of the ruins of a once stately fortress, they set up camp in the twilight.
The first day of the spring tour through the wild Hunsrück is coming to an end…”

“Together, they fought their way through the “jungle”, slept in the ruins of a castle with the sound of falling raindrops, sweat on a part of the Soonwaldsteig and finally surfed on the high water waves of the Nahe. Sebastian’s self-conception of leading the tour, but also leaving everyone’s freedom, is well received….”

You can read the complete article in the Kajak Magazine 06/2017.

Excerpt of the report:

“…but as the clouds dispersed in the evening, the sun floods on the Rappadalen and gave us a panoramic view to the mountain top. We finally understood why this National Park is so famous. Steep mountains with inaccessible valleys, and in-between the river Rappaädnö winds itself through a green delta.”

“On day 20 of our tour, the thought flaring up for the first time, that we might not make it."

“ We are paddling between the skerries, an archipelago made up of a number of islands, blocking our view to the horizon. Slowly we recognize. Did we…”

You can read the complete 5 page long article in the Outdoor Magazine 04/2016.