On December 7, 2010, time stood still for an agonizing moment, for me and for others who considered Hendri Coetzee a close friend. Hendri was one of the world’s best whitewater paddlers, especially when it came to expedition paddling. More than that, he was a philosopher, an intellectual, and generally a tough guy with utmost savvy when it came to the African bush. But on that fateful day in 2010, his life came to an end when a crocodile took him from his kayak during an expedition on the Lukuga River in the DRC.
For those who are not familiar with Hendri’s life and philosophy, I suggest that you visit https://livingthebestdayever.com/ to read more about him. More importantly, do yourself a favour and order a copy of his book “Living the best day ever“, which was published posthumously.
A few days after the tragedy, I wrote a piece about Hendri as my friend and as a Fluid team paddler, which ended up being quoted widely in the press at the time. I copy the piece at the bottom of this post.
In 2011, I decided to honour Hendri’s memory by making his personal motto “Have the best day ever!” the slogan of Fluid Kayaks, my company at the time. I announced this in Fluid’s 2011 brochure, pictured below, and proudly displayed that on all our media.
After I left Fluid in 2014, the slogan was remove from Fluid’s media and replaced with something like “get out there”. It’s been haunting me ever since. It felt like sacrilege.
Now, 10 years later, I am in a position again to honour Hendri’s memory in the same fashion. After getting the blessing from Hendri’s mother, whom I hold in very high regard, I just made “Have the best day ever!” the official slogan of Lekker Kayaks, my new kayak brand.
My tribute to Hendri Coetzee, written in December 2010:
Hendri walked into my office a couple of years ago, asking for sponsorship. By that time we knew about each other for a while already, but haven’t met yet. My answer was an obvious yes, his reputation for running the hardest stuff was already growing. Since then a close relationship grew between two paddlers who discussed everything except paddling. Our connection through paddling was too obvious, there was no need to talk about it. Instead our talks was about life. Hendri was a keen observer of life’s nuances and how people react to it. He tried to make sense of it all, and managed to do it in a way that few people are privileged to do. He completed a degree in psychology, part time, in between his expeditions. To him the degree was never a big deal, the theory was merely another tool to observe life.
Hendri was never a guy for half measures. When he decided to do a source to sea, he chose the longest river in the world, the White Nile. The journey took a few months to complete. When he decided to run the major part of the Congo River solo, he spent a few months in the DRC ahead of the kayak mission to learn to speak Swahili and to get to know the area better. When he has done the Murchison section of the Nile a few times as expedition leader, a continues class 5 section of big volume rapids with countless hippos and crocs, every time taking a couple of days to do it, he decided to do it solo in two days, a feat that is unlikely to ever be met. When he went to Thailand for some yoga, he didn’t go for a week or two, he went for three months. When he went to Norway to run some steep stuff, he did it with hand paddles. When he landed in Uganda the first time to paddle the Nile, he wasn’t content with the lines that everybody ran, instead he opened many of the back channels with much more challenging rapids.
Hendri was without doubt one of the greatest river explorers of our time. He was also the most humble of them all. He didn’t know what self- promotion is. It took me years to convince him to share some of his exploits and thoughts to the world, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who tried. When he did it finally by starting his blog http://greatwhiteexplorer.blogspot.com/ a few months ago, his writings were an inspiration to countless people. His view on life was unique, his quest for the best day ever was relentless.
When Hendri told me about the ambitious project he would embark on with Ben Stookesberry and kie as expedition leader, which would turn out to be his final mission, I wanted to send him a new boat. Any other paddler would have said yes, but Hendri’s answer was no. He told me he has never been one for shiny stuff, he was happy with his trusty, scratched old E Solo that he used during his Congo mission earlier this year. In fact, when I sent him the E Solo early this year for his Congo mission, he asked for a second hand boat that has been scratched already.
Hendri was a great chess player. Our count on matches won was even, and we were constantly planning to get together for the ultimate game to see who is really best. It hurts to know that game will never be played.
Hendri was more than just a team paddler. He was a great friend, a great expedition paddler and a true legend even in his own lifetime.
