The river raged, the rapids roared and in the midst of the chaos a kayaker drifted along the crest of the foaming current like a surfer on a wave.
The Chattahoochee was at flood level that day but he made no attempt to avoid the turbulence. Instead he paddled into the most violent stretch, turned to face the current and used the upsurge as a constant wave.
There the surfing ended and the freestyle kayaking began with flips and maneuvers that involved nearly as much time underwater as in the air above it.
“The kid has no fear,” said Bryan Bonner, a pharmacist out of Columbus, Ga.
Bonner was among the kayakers on “Wave Shaper Island” exactly because the water was up and the current was strong that rainy afternoon, with a flow of 15,300CFS (cubic feet per second).
They gathered on the wet rock and looked on as the multiple world champion, Hunter Katich, carved through the current.
“He has no fear and he gets in there and he tries everything. It’s fun to watch him,” Bonner said. Bonner has known and kayaked with Katich for over a year.
Katich, 17, of Auburn, is the 2012 International Canoe Federation junior men’s reigning world cup champion, the 2013 USA junior men’s national champion and the 2013 junior men’s world champion.
David Stivarius, a local business owner out of Columbus who has kayaked with Katich for about two years, was also watching from the island.
“He’s unbelievable. He’s really smooth … To be 17 you would think he’s been kayaking for 25 years he’s so good,” Stivarius said.
In June Katich will be setting out for Europe and the 2014 ICF World Cup Freestyle Championships to defend his title on a circuit of rivers in France and Spain.
This will be his last year in junior league, a class that he is eager to leave in his wake.
“I would like to conquer the men’s, the ultimate. That way people don’t think ‘oh, he’s just a junior world champion. It doesn’t matter,” said Katich.
He is a freshman at Southern Union State Community College with plans to transfer to Auburn University, but foremost on his mind, and schedule, is gunning for the top spot in the men’s league.
His peers think the devotion is paying off. Dan Allison of Outside World Outfitters Columbus has been boating with him about four years.
“By far he’s the next up and coming. He’s already there. He’s going to defend his junior world championship this year. And when it comes to getting into adults he’s going to give everybody a run for their money,” said Allison.
And with only six years’ experience Katich appears to have all ready transcended the level from pupil to teacher.
“He’s been the one that trains all of us. He’s really the one that kind of sets the bar for us and we all just do our very best to keep up with it,” Allison said.
Katich started kayaking when he was 11 after a canoe trip down the Coosa River where he and his father watched freestyle kayakers. After that they took lessons at Auburn, a portion of which was held on the Coosa.
“I rolled in about 15 seconds just in flat water … and then as soon as I got in a rapid and I flipped over I would freak out. I could never roll back up. It took me six months to get it in my head that I could roll back up in a rapid,” Katich said.
He said his father was a major motivator in the development of his skills.
“He was like throwing loops and everything before I even could roll in a rapid. It me mad and then as soon as I finally got it through my head that I would be all right. That just kind of took me up. About three years after I really started competing,” Katich said.
He tried other sports, basketball, baseball and golf. Kayaking was it.
“Since it wasn’t a team sport, it was just me and I kind of liked that about it, where I could just kind of control my destiny,” Katich said.
His focus is called K1 Freestyle. As for his style others say it is a full throttle embrace of the most dangerous and difficult a river has to offer.
In his own words, “There’s no fear at all,” Katich said.
On May 3rd Katich will be competing in the 29th annual Coosa Fest in Wetumpka, Ala.