More Info about Olaf
I come from a canoe sport family. My parents have canoed for decades. I almost had no choice. They introduced me to the sport the old-fashioned way, through a club. In 1985 we spend our vacation in the Durance valley in France. My parents weren’t particularly good whitewater kayakers and couldn’t be our guides. But the canoe association offered trips for families lead by experienced guides. My brother and I always took off with the guides. Back then I ran my first difficult whitewater, up to level V. However, by that time I was already addicted to the sport. I had been infected by the whitewater virus and I wanted to go kayaking as much as possible.
In those years Hans Memminger made it big. He was one of the pioneers of the sport, made expeditions and shot 16 mm films all over the world. I always visited his film shows and knew I wanted to make such expeditions one day – discovering foreign countries, cultures and whitewater.
What has always appealed to me is discovering new, unknown rivers. Of course that involves a lot of time and effort, because you have to climb a lot, search and explore. But that was my exploration fever. At the same time I was keen to try out new paddling techniques. I watched different movies, tried to adopt these techniques and to improve them.
I realised that in order to run more whitewater I need another income source. Friends of mine, Manu Arnu and Michael Neumann, took photographs and refunded their trips by organising slide shows and selling their pictures to canoe magazines. In 1997 I thought that I could start doing that, too, in order to get a little sponsorship. However, since the market is so small the guys said we would just compete with each other and suggested I should buy a video camera instead and start filming.
I filmed for two years, from 1997 to 1998. Then it was time to do something with all my footage. I couldn’t afford a fancy edit. Hans Mayer, the owner of La Ola, Europe’s coolest kayak shop and one of my motivators and mentors, encouraged me to produce a film. I had financial problems, but he had motivated me so much, that I pushed it through anyway. Through Horst Führsattel I got in touch with Udo Neumann. He produced rock climbing movies and he edited my first film – Boof Chicken Boof. At that point in time it was clear in my mind that I would not become a professional kayaker and that I have to live off something. So I started an education as professional elderly care nurse which I completed in 2000. At the same time I produced four movies (Boof Chicken Boof, Sickline 1, ‘Richtig Rodeo Fahren’ and Sickline 2). Sickline 1 I still edited with Udo Neumeann. With that film I won several prizes at adventure and mountain film festivals. However, I was always hard-pressed for money and Udo said I should buy my own MAC, because now I knew how to do it. He still supported me, of course, but I started editing the movies myself.
However, the development with my films Sickline 2 and ‚Richtig Rodeo Fahren’ went so well that I decided to give it a chance and try living off my projects. I gave myself a deadline of five years. After five years I had to be in a position to create financial reserves for the future and not to live from hand to mouth so I could support a family one day. Now I have my ten years anniversary.
For me, the fascination of the kayak sport lies in the combination of nature and sportive achievement in a moving element. It creates a prickle of excitement that brims me over with enthusiasm. It is also the experience to have mastered something difficult. You learn to make decisions. And you instantly feel the consequence if you have taken the wrong one. Trough kayaking I’ve learned a lot for life. In extreme whitewater it is also the adrenaline that gets you addicted to the sport. You simply want more.
Visited countries:
Chile, Pakistan, Gabun, Greenland, Canada, USA, Turkey, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Russia, Norway, Spain, Austria, Italy, Réunion, Zambia, France, Malawi, Slovenia, Croatia, Czech, Switzerland, Montenegro
Expeditions:
Pakistan “Taiming the Lion II”, Gabun “Labyrintht”, Canada “Stikine – The great river”, Siberia “Into the unknown”, Malawi “Shire – Land of crocs”, Norway “On the road – 7,5T red fire truck”, Turkey “Crescent”, Sumatra “Into the jungle”
Films:
- Boof Chicken Boof
- Sickline 1
- Painkillers 1
- Young Fresh `n´New
- Sickline II
- Painkillers 2
- Richtig Rodeofahren
- Sickline 3
- Stikine “The great river”
- Extreme Harmony
- Sickline 4
- Painkillers 3
- Bowron Lakes
- Skook “Magic Wave”
- Slave River
- Zambezi “Mosia Tunya”
- Turkey “Im Land des Halbmonds”
- Pakistan Taiming the Lion II
- Gabun “Labyrintht”
- Chile “Vuelta Vertical”
- Sumatra “Into the jungle”
- Tessin & Piemont
- Siberia “Into the unknown”
First descents...you never know who was first….each river, drop or waterfall which I kayak in my life the first time – is a FD for me. It doesn´t matter if somebody did it before or not ,-)
