Why Facing Your Fears at Keeners is Important by Sila Griffin

While facing your fears in general is an important thing to practice, at Keeners is it crucial. It is so crucial because to progress in this program I had to push my self out of my comfort zone every single day in order to both get better at kayaking and grow as a person. Our first day on the water this session seemed incredibly huge and scary to me and the rapids were a lot bigger than anything I had ever run before so I was really nervous. However, I convinced myself to not walk anything and I am forever grateful that I made that choice. By pushing myself out of my comfort zone and running scary, but safe rapids in a safe, controlled environment, I progressed a lot in both skill and confidence. What seemed huge and scary the first day gets less and less terrifying every single time I run it, my whole perspective on what is “sketchy” has changed dramatically. Keeners builds a perfect environment of both support if you choose not to run a rapid but also encouragement if you choose to run it, letting Keeners do challenge by choice. While it is a choice whether to push out of yourself out of your comfort zone, it is important to choose to do so. Over the last two weeks that I have gotten the privilege to spend at the Keener program, I realized that you get out of it what you put in. The more a Keener pushes themselves throughout the three weeks the more they progress as both a kayaker and a young adult.

Corner Wave by Zander Capozzi

Corner wave is one of the most interesting waves of the river. It’s bouncy it’s fun, but it’s also extremely diagonal which leads to constant issues of staying on it retaining tricks. One moment is this the best way on the river easy to catch easy to ride and you can land every trick, the next nothing. Making one of the most dynamic and interesting waves on the river and one of the most fun. With waves ranging from easy to incredibly difficult to catch and from easy to throw to easily one of the hardest to throw on. Corner wave sit squarely in the middle a middle ground of fun and awesomeness at about 4 foot.

New Line on the Block by Jackson Gratz

As many a keener knows, Garvens is one of the more technical and challenging rapids on the Ottowa. With lots of line choices across various difficulties, theres no wonder why it’s become a fan favorite. Many have tried to come up with new lines in the past, but one recent take on Dragons Tongue has all the keeners talking. The newly dubbed “Frenchie Line” named by Lucas Rodrig, is not one for the faint of heart. By being inside the curler and going exactly where Stephen Wright said not to go, you too can run this line. Unfortunately, this curler leads the non-boofing intrepid paddler into a plug that can make a boat disappear for a few seconds, and could potentially push you into the cave under Dragons Tongue. This probably won’t happen so you should run it with Stephen’s ok. P.S. don’t run this line on your head, it would probably hurt.

The Dangers of Walmart by Jacob Zivony

When I came to keeners, I was expecting to be underfed because I’m kayaking all the time and I would have an insatiable appetite, and I was… until I went to Walmart. When we first went to Walmart I was certainly not expecting to spend much. Becca gave us 20 minutes inside the store so we were rushing. When we first went in it was like on of those videos of shoppers in Black Friday in like 2005. We were rushing to put everything we could in our cart. I did not think that the total would add up to 92 CAD. After I checked out we had to take our stuff back in the bus and that thing was NOT equipped to handle all our precious cargo. After we got back while keeping all our food under our feet and in our laps we sorted it out and completely filled all our food storage and even had it overflow in to Istanbul. The next day I had a BIG breakfast, and I mean BIG. I had so many eggos and muffins I was going to throw up. I ended up being not hungry for like 3 days after Walmart because I ate so much food. If you’re an incoming keener beware of the Walmart deception because you might just end up unable to eat anything after.

How to Have a Perfect Walmart Run by Bennett Whalen

To have a successful Walmart run you will need to think ahead. There is twenty minutes were you need to find everything you will need for the next two weeks. After you know what you want when arriving you need to go to the most important thing on your list of items, then go down to the least important. Now that you have everything go to the self checkout to avoid the lines. Scan your items and make sure your card doesn’t decline. Now get back to the front door with with one minute to spare. That is how you do a successful Walmart run.

A Keener's Daily Routine by Owen Hartley

First, wake up at 7:45. Second, do a fun morning activity. Third, return to your cabin and make breakfast. Fourth, clean the dishes, bathrooms, bedrooms, and common areas. Fifth, go to the Thunderdome for a briefing on the day's activities. Sixth, get dressed and ready for kayaking. Seventh, slide down the hill into the lake with your kayak. Eighth, do a quick warm-up and skill session on the lake. Ninth, start paddling down the river. Tenth, stop for lunch at a nice rocky beach. Eleventh, devour your lunch and drink plenty of water. Twelfth, continue paddling down the river and have a great time. Thirteenth, take out at the bottom of the river and load the trailer. Fourteenth, drive to Keenerville and get dressed for dinner. Fifteenth, go to dinner and enjoy your meal. Sixteenth, play volleyball, then head back to Keenerville. Seventeenth, participate in a fun evening activity. Finally, get a nice, long night's rest

Keenervision by Charlie Woodward

The thunderdome tv is one of the most divisive objects in all of keenerville, some might say in Ontario as a whole. Keeners spend quite a bit of time in the thunderdome after their long days of paddling on the Ottawa and often use the tv as a way to wind down. The problem is, there are 20 keeners in 2026 session 1 and only one tv, now I’m sure you can see how this could be a problem. Some keeners want to watch kayaking movies and clips while others want to watch a movie or show during that time and often little conflicts arise because of the disagreement. The ironic bit about it is that when something to watch is put on 90% of the group ends up scrolling on their phones through the whole thing anyways. Makes it seem a little bit pointless but in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really matter.