Welcome to the new packraft community!

Hello 👋

I'm Sergi Tur Badenas ( aka acacha) and I welcome you to this new community!

The aim of this community is simple: share, share, share!

Resources, routes, meetings, expeditions, blogs, books, ideas or anything else related to Packraft and other water related activities (Kayaking, Rafting, canyoning).

As my colleague - 🪵 trunk as he says 😂 - Curro Gonzalez (blog sobreescalada)once baptized me , I'm spontaneous combustion, I'm up for a bombing and that's probably the reason why I always need to be close to the water to get an almost perfect balance!

In the last two years (2022-24) I've been really into Packraft! Since I saw a post on Instagram by what I now consider a very good friend CesarPasadas (don't miss his report "a tocar de l'aigua"), it was clear to me that this toy was made for me.

But you know the difference between a child's toy and an adult's toy, don't you? yes? Exactly, the price! 💵

It is also true that unlike children's toys, this one you can get to amortize it for everything it brings and the number of hours that - at least for me - you use it. But yes! The price is one of the "small" drawbacks. I spent a few months looking at options, hesitating, thinking if it would be a whim and all those things that we do to ourselves through our minds, our doubts, our thoughts...

I had already seen Cesar's Kokopelli and you know "what the other guy pisses, the other guy wants". It was post-covid, there was no stock in Europe, it would take months to arrive and Kokopelli is one of the brands that is paid for.

This is where Luis Mora from Packrafting Spain came along and contacted me when he saw the comment I made to Cesar on his Instagram. Luis is undoubtedly one of the best packrafters in Spain, with a lot of knowledge in whitewater and the most active promoter of packraft in Spain.

Social networks have many disadvantages... and yes, sometimes I spend too many hours on my mobile. But it's also true that they open up a world beyond the usual limits: the limits of where you live, who you interact with on a daily basis, your family, your work; fresh and renewed air.

Luis advised me, explained me options and everything and having his own brand of packrafts (Aoraki) he indicated me all the options I had and informed me exhaustively about the world of Packraft. In the end I decided to go for a packraft from Packrafting Spain, the AorakiValkyrie.

I also signed up for an introductory course to Rowild Packraft whitewater packraft with Luis himself as an instructor. In less than a month I had already done a course and I had my packraft and we became friends, instructors and students and since then we have been meeting, meeting, trips and expeditions that I will tell you about.

I have had a Sit On Top kayak since I was 20 years old, more than 25 years kayaking my own way, on my own, without any training course or joining any club. Why? who knows... And I like sea kayaking, but what I'm most passionate about is rivers, getting into the bowels of deep canyons and feeling the adrenaline of white water. It only took me about 20 years, a mid-life crisis, a depression and several other life scares to know what I wanted and needed to do.

During 2022, 2023 and 2024 I have visited multiple countries with the packraft, met extraordinary people, visited meetups and festivals and seen dream places that were always in my dreams and this story I will tell you little by little.

Right now, summer of 2024, an accident has me stopped for a while and I have accepted the challenge of my dear friend Carlos Izquierdo ( another jewel that I met thanks to Instagram) and another of the great promoters of packraft in Spain...

... But I'm leaving. What challenge have I accepted?

Well, he proposed me to make a list of the rivers I have visited these last years, he calls it the "Sergi List" 🤣. Well, as I burn fast 🔥, not only I already have the list (Stay tuned 📻) but I'm going to go further...

And here I am, not only I have the list almost finished, but I have also created this website and all its attached weapons of mass destruction (Instagram, blog, storytelling blog for each river) but there will also be a book (for a fee) in digital and paper format with which I hope that with the collaboration of everyone we can cover the costs of all this assembly in a way that is sustainable over time 🕺.

💡

The list is a shared spreadsheet with lots of information, links to apps, photos, wikiloc routes and a few surprises. And of course, it will grow

So, will you join us, perfect! Welcome we read each other and better still see you on the river.

P.S. Carlos, don't worry, you'll be the first to get the list...