SVEN LÄMMLER
Kayak Session: Rumor has it you’ve been paddling practically since birth. How old were you when you first started kayaking?
Sven Lämmler: I can hardly remember the first time I sat in a boat, so it must have been really early. I had my first whitewater experience around six years old when my dad took me on the Moesa in a tandem kayak. I was hooked right away!
KS: Your dad, Felix, is a well-known and respected kayaker in his own right. What was his teaching methodology? Were there any lessons he drilled in from the get-go?
SL: My dad never followed a specific philosophy, per se, he just wanted my brother Lars and me to feel confident on whitewater. To achieve this, he recognized that nothing is better than spending a lot of time in the boat and on different rivers. We never had a training schedule, we just went kayaking. We paddled a lot on our holidays but soon wanted more. We were pretty ambitious and felt that the harder the whitewater, the more fun we would have. Our old man always encouraged us to get better. To this day I still utilize one of his tips: Catch as many eddies as possible. This will extend your paddling time on any river, and it will help you control your kayak.
KS: Some critiqued your dad’s approach, calling it irresponsible to bring you on Class V so young. How do you feel looking back on your experiences?
SL: Our parents introduced us to all the sports we did, including kayaking, with caution. Paddling whitewater was a continuous process for Lars and me. We started from scratch and worked our way up. Felix had a ton of experience, and he knew better than anyone what we could handle.
KS: Many find water foreign or frightening. Were you and Lars comfortable in water from the get-go? Where do you get your superhuman confidence?
SL: We’ve never been afraid of water. Probably because our mother, who is a swim instructor, taught us how to swim when we were toddlers. But whitewater is different, and I was definitely scared in the beginning, though the more I dealt with the river,
