Project Unknown: Team Member Lorenzo Andrade Astorga

Vitals:

Lorenzo taking in another sunset along the Rio Futaleafu, Chile. Photo: Matt Smink

Name: Lorenzo Andrade Astorga

Nationality: Chilean

Age: 24

Strengths: Down river racing, Safety, Logistics, Creeking, One of the strongest bastards around

Background: At the tender age of 19 Lorenzo was one of the top soccer players in Chile. With a career cut out for himself in the world of professional futbol Lorenzo decided that he had other goals and dropped out of the beloved Universidad Catolica futbol club to pursue his passions in the outdoors. He quickly became a force to be reconned with in the popular adventure race circuit in Chile. Mean while Lorenzo's immediate and extended family had been practicing the sport of kayaking all over the world since Lorenzo was a small child. It wasn't until Lorenzo took a job teaching the Spanish language in the New River Academy (a traveling high school for the worlds top junior whitewater kayakers) that he began to commit himself to the sport. The late start didn't hurt him at all, lodging solid top three finishes in races in Chile and the United States not to mention stints of freestyle in Uganda and Canada's famous Ottawa River. Lorenzo wasn't just a start up savant in the sport. A few years back, just after leaving the soccer world Lorenzo began to train raft racing with a team made up of 7 of his cousins. They competed in Chile taking 1st in every competition. A year later his team went on to compete in the world Championships of rafting and returned back to Chile with a top 3 finish in the sprint race.

Where is he right now: You can find Lorenzo living with his giant extended family on the banks of the Maipo River kayaking on the local class 5 runs and defending his home river from big hydro companies that want to put in a hydro station above his families land, leaving the river with a third of the flow it normally has. Lorenzo has been holed up over this past winter training for the upcoming rafting world championships in Costa Rica and waiting for Chilean spring to hit and its world famous creeking season to begin.

Check out Lorenzo's Unknown Segment! Shot on location in the Andes Mountain's of Chile. These segments are short profiles to get to know the team members of Project Unknown. Enjoy. 

Here is the spanish version if you are interested or use spanish as your first language!