Here’s the Open Canoe Festival 2024 video.
This year, we wanted to show the OCF’s DNA, what we want to share with this event. Only the international side doesn’t stand out, but we haven’t forgotten our many foreign coaches and the 13 European countries taking part.
Thanks to all of you!
The Drôme is one of the last wild rivers in Europe, with a natural, torrential flow. It meanders for 106 km from its source to its confluence with the Rhône.
As a result, it is home to some exceptional flora and fauna, and in particular to two experts in camouflage:
On the banks
The ringed plover: this small bird lays 4 eggs on the ground among the pebbles. Their camouflage colour means they can be mistaken for the river’s pebbles. Be careful where you step!
In the water
The zingel asper: this small fish endemic to the Rhône basin is in danger of extinction. It only survives in rivers with a natural profile and was reintroduced to the Drôme a few years ago. Here’s a hint on how to spot it: lying on the bottom of the water, its eyes glow in the night like a cat’s!
Take advantage of your stay to admire the biodiversity that surrounds you and treat it with respect.
Enjoy the descent!
To find out more, go to:
https://www.lagaredesramieres.com/fr/
https://aprondurhone.fr/
The Open Canoe Festival is proud to welcome a new partner: Atlas for men.
Founded in 1999, Atlas for men is the leader in outdoor clothing and accessories for adventurers, explorers and amateurs alike. Soft and warm for winter, lightweight and breathable for summer, their clothing is comfortable to wear and easy to take care of. With a timeless and authentic style, their menswear collections are inspired by the great outdoors, prioritizing practical cuts for complete freedom of movement. Under the Atlas for women label, their womenswear boasts quality and elegance!
In 2024, Atlas for men become our official supplier, equipping our 30 instructors with a magnificent flannel shirt (canoeists love that!).
Numerous prizes will also be offered by Atlas for men in our grand prize draw.
The Open Canoe Festival 2024 lottery promises to be a memorable one! Our partner Destination Rivières is giving away an 8-day canoe trip to Swedish Lapland (excluding travel). How to win? Register with OCF to enter the grand prize draw.
The Far North, just a stone’s throw from France! For 7 days, we’ll be paddling in complete autonomy on the Abyalven, one of Lapland’s most beautiful rivers. Winding its way through the boreal forest, also known as taiga, the Abyalven awaits us with its grandiose landscapes, arctic fauna, calms and rapids. Perhaps the river will offer us one of its salmon to make the evening’s bivouac even more memorable. Whatever the case, we’ll be in good spirits!
Lapland is Europe’s far north. Lapland is home to the ancient Sami people and their transhumant reindeer herding. Lapland is the taiga and its pine trees as far as the eye can see. Lapland is the midnight sun and the northern lights. Lapland is a land of pristine rivers. Lapland is another world, just a stone’s throw from our own.
If the mere mention of the region’s name sends a thrill down your spine, don’t hesitate: we suggest you discover it by canoe. We’ll be canoeing down the upstream section of the Abyalven, a dam-free river that flows all the way to its mouth at the Baltic Sea.
You’ll return home feeling relaxed, with a change of scenery and a wealth of new skills. Let yourself be tempted. You won’t regret it.
You’ll be guided by Aurélien Rateau, a qualified river guide (BPJEPS CKDA), open canoeist, experienced naturalist and experienced expedition organizer.
The emblematic brand of inflatable canoes and kayaks GUMOTEX joins the main sponsors of the Open Canoe Festival! Numerous test boats will be available, and as always, several workshops will be dedicated to inflatable boating.
The Open Canoe Festival 2024 kicks off on Thursday, April 25 (21H30 in the tepee) with an extraordinary adventure film.
In 2021, two childhood friends from Quebec City set out on a never-before-attempted adventure that now ranks among the longest wilderness expeditions ever accomplished in Canada. Advancing by ski, canoe and bike, Nicolas Roulx and Guillaume Moreau are the first people to cross Canada in the North-South axis. It took them 8 months to cover 7600 km by human power: a distance equivalent to 19% of the Earth’s circumference. Along the way, they soon realized why no one had attempted this feat before.
“Canada Vertical” is the story of this extraordinary expedition, which can be watched like a breathless thriller as we discover that the worst obstacles are not the ones we think they are. The film offers a refreshingly humble perspective on modern ways of looking at our adventures in the 21st century, far from the well-documented routes to the poles and the 7 summits, at a time when (almost) the entire planet has already been mapped and traversed.
A film by Laurent Poliquin.
Screening in French with English subtitles. Thursday, April 25, 2024, 9H30, under the tepee.
A recent call from someone who had just registered alerted us to the fact that registering as a “Non Paddler” is not always easy to understand.
For those of you who are more visual, the difference between the 2 types of registration is summarized below.
In other words, people who don’t want to take part in the workshops at all sign up as “Non Paddler”. These include, of course, people who don’t canoe at all. But we know that there are also regular paddlers who prefer to take advantage of the weekend just to explore the various sections of the Drôme, without taking part in any workshops.
This is a perfectly legitimate choice, but we’ve noticed that those who make this choice are often clubs whose members, often good paddlers, feel they have little more to learn.
We’d like to insist on the fact that one of the OCF’s greatest assets is the hundred or so workshops on offer over 3 days. 30% of them are dedicated to technique (for beginners / intermediates or advanced). The remainder deal with safety (10%) and canoeing culture in the broadest sense of the term (60% of workshops).
No other festival will offer so many workshops on leadership, live no trace, the art of lighting a fire in the rain or using a tarp, canoe fishing, energy management and phone applications, river fauna and flora and many other topics.
So, if you register as a “Non Paddler”, you won’t be taking part in the workshops, and frankly, you’ll be missing out!
We have the great pleasure to announce our long time partners Canoe Diffusion and Esquif canoes will offer a splendid “Prospector 16” canoe (2 530 € value!).
This legendary model will be equiped with airbags plus some protective skid plates, making it the perfect white water canoe!
No doubt the suspense will be intense at the saturday big lottery where more than 8 000 € in prizes will be offered to the luckiest participants.
Many thanks to Pierre Orban / Canoë Diffusion and Jacques Chassé / Esquif for their support from the beginning of the OCF adventure.
Record for the longest title! All this to tell you that we’ve created a new FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section.
Can I bring my dog to the OCF? Are canoes provided? How do I win the lottery? Do I need to reserve a campsite? How do I register for workshops? Why is the OCF called the OCF… You’ll know it all!
And if you don’t find the answer you’re looking for: contact us and we’ll fill in the FAQ.
The Open Canoe Festival is proud to present its new sponsor: Zulupack.
The founder of Zulupack is a French adventurer who, after making bags for major international brands, decided to create his own: waterproof, ultra-resistant bags perfectly suited to extreme sports, whether on land, in the water or in the mud!
Zulupack: waterproof bags for adventure.
Zulupack offers bags that make users feel “free to”: free to ride, free to paddle, free to trek, free to explore, free to travel, free to skate, free to swim…
They’ve developed a range of bags perfectly suited to adventure here or elsewhere, with attention to detail to ensure optimum performance. Zulupack knows how important every moment is when practicing your passion: their bags allow outdoor enthusiasts to live every moment to the full.
A brand synonymous with freedom and exploration: Zulupack and the Open Canoe Festival were made for each other!
The entire Zulupack range will be visible at the Open Canoe Festival.
