We wanted to shoot stand-up in the icy middle of nowhere for some time. Since my compadre and photographer Sebastian Schöffel started to shoot from the air through the use of RC helicopters, we felt we had the ideal bird’s eye view opportunity lined up. 

Words: Fabi Weber // RC Helicam: Sebastian Schöffel

(This feature originally appeared in the Spring 2012 issue of SUP International. Print and digital subscriptions for readers worldwide are available HERE.)

The location was set; we decided to shoot one of our home spots, the Bavarian lake Ammersee and at the end of February we seized the first sunny day of the year to get it done. The hardest part was finding a place where I could paddle as the lake was almost frozen over. After driving up and down and searching for some water, we found a good place where the launch was made easy by hopping off a small pier. As we prepared the helicopter a little wind kicked in and started the ice moving. It formed a perfect channel that I could paddle all the way through.

It was pretty sick to paddle that channel and see all the different ice thickness – from just a few mil to half a meter. Some of the ice was so thin that I could paddle through breaking it and forming my own pass. I had some pretty nice moments out there, surrounded by nature, all the quiet, somehow it felt like somewhere else and not the middle of Bavaria. I think the pictures describe that feeling pretty well. SUP

“ I had some pretty nice 
moments out there, 
surrounded by nature 
and all that quiet…”