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Playspot: Ukraine, Komsomol'sk, Zmiev Cataract, Crest Hole (Hohlobochka).

What's it like

The spot is situated on the channel of the power station of Zmiev city. The station provides all-year warm water and a very industrial landscape.

It's a wide hole/wave, with eddies on both sides of the channel. The stickiness of the hole depends on the water level in channel and in the lake, in which the water flows. Sometimes the water levels are so strange that the hole become a green wave with a small part of a foam on it.

The water level in the channel depends on power-station functioning. There are 5 tubes on the station, 1 tube means low water, 5 tubes means suicide freestyle!

When there is much water in the channel and the lake level is low, there is a very strong and powerful hole. Getting out of the hole may be a big problem for beginners and even intermediate paddlers. Also the left eddy becomes very dangerous for swimmers.

Mostly the spot has a central hole section and two side-wave sections. The hole is not so deep and you may hit the bottom when cartwheeling. The right wave-side is perfect for blunts, spins and air-moves.

Summer is very hot in the Ukraine and paddling the spot may be not as comfortable as you wish.

How to get there

Drive from Har'kov city on the road marked "Zmiev-Dnepropetrovsk". The village where the spot is situated is called "Komsomol'sk". Stay on the road by the end of Komsomol'sk, then turn right and drive till the road stops on the barrier of a fish factory. Then you have to take the key from the barrier, drive straight and then right - along the lake bank. When you reach a high concrete wall, turn left and you are there.

Locals

Fishermen and the fish factory workers. Sometimes they are not very friendly.

Events

The first and the last part of the Open Russian Freestyle Cup.

Info sources

www.watersport.com.ua, newgen.spb.su, www.whitewater.ru

Nearest weather station (°C):