Steve Fisher was a professional extreme whitewater kayaker and filmmaker. He lives in Asheville, NC and is originally from South Africa. He is best known for his controversial Kickstarter campaign for a kayaking instructional film. He partnered with and recruited many of the world's extreme kayakers as instructors including Eric Jackson Pat Keller, Ben Marr and Dane Jackson. With nearly 850 backers contributing more than $83,000 to the project, Fisher failed to deliver on the majority of his promises. Instead, backers were treated to sporadic reports detailing multiple paddling trips to exotic destinations, paid for with their investments. The last such update being posted on March 17, 2017. Steve is known for his films with Pat Keller such as Pat's blind kayaking of Gorilla along with films with other kayakers. He was a sponsored Red Bull athlete. His best known work outside the kayak community was his team's kayak down the Congo river. Steve and the others on the Congo kayaking team were one of the 2013 National Geographic Adventurers of the Year recipients. His kayak films includes work with Jeep and Outside Magazine. As of July 26, 2019 Steve was no longer listed as a Red Bull athlete and was no longer a member of Team Jackson Kayak.
Controversy: ''Dreamline A Fresh Spin on Kayak Instruction''
The Dreamline project was started by Fisher and his companies Fish Munga, his production company, and a partnership with . The Dreamline project raised $83,079, more than the $55,000 goal, with the project expected to be delivered around June 2016. The final project update was on March 10, 2017, stating all the filming had been done and only editing by Steve had to be completed. A Facebook project update from Steve came on November 3, 2017 with no information on when the DVDs owed to Kickstarter funders would be delivered. Facebook users comments to the post ranged from calling the project a fraud or a scam to posts saying the film would be epic when Steve released the film. Steve actively marketed himself on Facebook, although his last post to his Facebook page was October 7, 2017. Kayak Session last posted about the project on November 21, 2016. Jackson Kayak commented that they do not know why the project was not completed, but that Steve Fischer was active filming and working on other projects around the world.
The Grand Inga project was a project Fisher created to kayak the first descent of the Inga Rapids in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The team was successful. Fisher had two close calls that could have resulted in his death. The Grand Inga kayaking team were one of the 2013 National Geographic Adventurers of the Year recipients.
