[b:8a549f9fef][[color=yellow:8a549f9fef]ENGLISH VERSION OF THIS INTERVIEW WILL BE AVAILABLE VERY SOON ON PLAYAK.COM – KEEP CHECKING! [/color:8a549f9fef][color=orange:8a549f9fef][/b:8a549f9fef]

[b:8a549f9fef]YONTON MEHLER - THE ISRAELI FREESTYLER [/b:8a549f9fef][/color:8a549f9fef]

Yonton was born in Israel on July 10 1983 to an Israeli mother and Argentine father. Grew up in Ramot-Hashavim about 15 minutes from the beach where he spent as much time in the water as he could. When he was 9 years, old joined a sailing club in Tel-Aviv when a friend from the sailing club told him how much fun kayaking was. At the time, the Israeli white-water kayak community consisted of 3 immigrants from Russia, Latvia and Bielorussia and two Israelis. For the first couple of years he spent his time surfing the beaches of Tel-Aviv and running theJordan River. After a while he got more and more into Freestyle kayaking and realized the need to learn form other kayakers (but there weren't any in Israel). Than, he wen to USA to the high school at Adventure Quest. After a great evolution, he is a major freestyler with only 22 years old.

Some accomplishments:

1st Place at the Yampa River Rodeo,CO, June 2004
4th Place at the Lyons River Rodeo,CO, June 2004
9th Place at the 2003 Freestyle world Championships in Graz, Austria.
16th Place at the 2001 Junior Freestyle World Championships in Sort, Spain. (June 2001)
Being the #1 White-Water kayaker in Israel.
24th Place at the 2002 Pre-Worlds Championship in Graz, Austria, as the youngest competitor in the Men's class. (may 2002)
Being the founder of the Israeli National Freestyle team. (2001)
Co organizing 5 national paddlers meetings throughout the years 1999/2000
10th Place at the Liquid-Skills Showdown (a.k.a North American Cup) (September 2002)
14th place at the Extra-Sport Challenge. (October 2002)
2nd Place at the Russell-Fork Triple-Drop Get-down. (October 02)

Great story and PHOTOS on www.kayaksurf.net

Direct Link:
cosmos.oninetspeed.pt/lpabreu/Yonton%20Mehler.html


[color=brown:8a549f9fef][b:8a549f9fef]NEXT INTERVIEW: [/b:8a549f9fef] [/color:8a549f9fef]

[b:8a549f9fef][color=cyan:8a549f9fef]ROBERTA BORSARI – Brazilian surf kayaker with lots experience in slalom, rafting, Hawaiian canoes and polo. [/color:8a549f9fef][/b:8a549f9fef]

She was in Costa Rica with her brother representing Brazil at the World Surf Kayak Championship. Soon, she will send us all the story about this contest with great photos of Dominic Rodwell. You can check already one of these incredible photos on the blog - kayaksurf.kayakblogs.com/

Cheers!

Nice Waves for everybody,

Luis Pedro Abreu
www.kayaksurf.net