gibs's blog post

Hi everyone I'm Gibs ! .. i think it is my last blog post in OKS. It was so much fun and excited..
Today is Big water beatdown Bacon Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!! Quinton and I did surf and beatdown in right side phils about 3 minutes!!!! It was the longest beatdown in my life ! I had so much fun during beatdown , but finally I pulled up my skirt and jumped out of the boat.
 Friday is my last kayaking in Ottawa river. I learned about many good things while I am here..
It will be one of the amazing and best experience in my life.. I met lots of good friends and instructors.
I always appreciate to my parents to send me here.
Goodbye everyone !

Jared's last post

hey its Jared again. We did that last part of SRT that was getting out of your boat in hard eddies and we had to swim in to a hole that would body reserge you. I didnt want to go swimming in a hole but i did at thje rouge anyway. This week was awesome! We went to the rouge on wednesday to do some water falls. I was really scared to do the two fisrt falls because they were right after the other an the second falls has a hole at the bottom. Saddly i swam the second fall but it was kind of fun. My favorite fall was thre third one becaise they where no hole at the bottom and you hasd the choice to do a buff or to punch it. I buffed it and i smacked my face on the water. It was the talest one that was about 15 to 20 feet. Coming back from the rouge we got a flat tire on the side of the high way and we were stranded there for about an  hour. Son during that time Quinton got a mullet with trama sheres. I got a hair cut to. I let the top and the back long and i shaved the sides short. Its an ok hair cut by Max (a keener from England). This is my last blog and the last day of keeners. Im sad that it past so quickly. i had an awesome time at keeners this year and i hope to come back next year.

See ya

Max's Last Blog Post

So this is my last week at keeners. The closer it gets to going home the more I want to stay! 

Over the weekend, Jared, Kate, Nicole and I decided we would paddle down the middle channel for the first time this session because we like the lunch on the middle channel.  

The waves are not as good as the main, but we still found some little ones to surf and had fun doing that. When we got to the take out we found that we had to wait an hour for our ride back to Keeners so we played games sinking our kayaks and rolling them until the raft trip gave us a ride to the put in where i fell over and twisted my ankle, so we were late back to get dinner. 

On Monday I couldn't get my foot in my kayak without a lot of pain so I didn't paddle.

Today I have been paddling the new dagger prototype and i got a few blunts on push button!  I really like this boat and can't wait for them to go on sale.

Tomorrow we go to the Rouge witch will be fun because its a new experiance that we don't normally get to do on a river like the Ottawa.

Playing the Rock Game With Nicole and Gibs. 

The Ottawa is my favourite river and I don't want to leave  I can't wait until I  will be back on the ottawa next year !!! 

Last Day Of Keeners Ever :'(

Hello!

Plugging For A Loop

Charging through Corner Wave

Nicole Diviney here. It is Tuesday morning and I am looking forward to a great last day paddling with keeners. I am flying back tomorrow to start my very last minute school preparations. I would have loved to go to the Rouge Seven Sisters with the keeners tomorrow; however I am not too under the weather as it is hard not to be happy here! I will really miss the people who helped to make this an unforgettable summer and the features that made every day paddling a learning experience and a truly fun time. Otherwise, what can I say! I love it here and will be working here next summer. The time between now and then will fly, and I look forward to coming back to familiar faces and to see how much everyone has improved as well as show off my new skills that I will work on back home in Switzerland.

A big thank you to my parents, to all the staff members involved in making this summer great and to Joe for being the brains behind the operations.

ND

Last week

It's already the last week of keeners, everyone has accomplished a lot but there is still a whole week left to push ourselves and each other even further. Friday I landed my first loop and today stuck two more. Tomorrow we get to go to WT for breakfast and then get to go on a road trip to run The Seven Sisters of the Rouge. I am really excited to get this opportunity so I can dive into a whole other area of kayaking besides playboating and push myself to try new things. The Seven Sisters has many waterfalls of different heights to offer challenging but safe drops.

Surfing right side phil's last thursday with Jordan in the dynamic duo

Hello Parents and other blog readers,

I can't believe that this is going to be my final blog post, time really flies. Today half of us finished our SRT  (Swiftwater Rescue Training). that was really fun because we learn a lot of really important and potentially life saving skills as well as doing some really fun skills like seal launches from heights (a seal launch is when you launch yourself into the water from a high rock or cliff face). I'm really looking forward to tomorrow because we will be going to the seven sisters of la rouge and we will be learning some creeking basics and I'm really looking forward to that because I have never creeked before.

Regretfully signing of for the last time,

Nick Uhthoff

pilar lira tercera semana ultimo blog

Bueno este es mi ultimo blog y mi ultima semana en  keeners y tambien mi ultima semana en canada antes de irme a chile. hoy les voy a contar lo que hicimos hoy en keeners en el rio. bueno primero hicimos unos ejercicios para despertar un poco despues caminamos al edi de ariba de corner wave para hacer un ferri hacia el football edi yo pense que iba hacer dificil hacer el ferri pero enverdad me parecio facil. llege y nos explicaron que teniamos que hacer, era meterse en un  hoyo con su kayak y luego nadar. pero cuando me tocaba a mi le toco a otra persona y tenia que rescatar su kayak ,entonces como nos demoramos tanto en sacar el kayak no tube tiempo para nadar en el hoyo. despues en la misma parte nos hicieron salir del kayak en una parte un poco dificil para salir con tu kayak. despues bajamos el rio hasta la parte de donde almorzamos, fuimos a una coriente donde se supone que te quedabas atrapado abajo del agua y tenias que salir. pero tenias que salir sinh tu casco y salvavidas porque la cuerda estaba agarada a tu salvavidas, yo trate tres veses pero no pude salir me faltaba desamarar un cordel,  pero me quede sin aire luego bajamos el rio y teniamos que hacer lo mismo salir del kayak en una roca dificil trate tres veses pero la coriente me gano despues seguimos bajando hasta que llegamos a un rapido que tenia un hoyo entonces nadamos en ese hoyo. buenon nade hasta estar dentro del hoyo y cuando estabas en el hoyo para poder salir tenias que ponerte como huevito y salias yo creo que este dia fue muy entretenido estoy un poco triste porque falta poco para que termine keeners. quiero darles las gracias a mi mama , abuela , abuelo y papa por haberme y traido aqui y aprender tanto mi papa por estar aqui en canada 3 semanas solo a mi abuela y abuelo por darme la plata y mi mama por siempre estar ahi conmigo ,darle gracias a los profesores a anna por haber aprendido tanto y tener diversion en el agua y fuera del agua esta experiencia nunca la voy a olvidar y espero venir elrocimo verano a keeners.

3rd week of keeners

hello everyone, it's thomas stephenson checking in for my last blog of the session. Tonight we were told that we were going to go to the rouge to try some creeking, The Rouge is a very different and unique  river compared to the Ottawa river. This weekend was a lot of fun because no one had first Aid or anything like that. On Sunday Nick, Gibs, sea bass and myself went to Garb to do some surfing and hopefully have small lines which would be awesome!

I have gotten a lot better with running rapids and most importantly my confidence in rapids and kayaking all around. I have gotten way better with blunts and clean spins which i was very happy about.

I would like to thank my parents for sending me to keeners, YOU'RE THE BEST!

See you guys later!!

Edward Muggridge wants to Airscrew

Dane Jackson throwing an airscrew at the Whitewater Grand Prix

Me surfing Left Side

Hey, its Edward and I'm here on my 5th week of keeners this year. This friday I began attempting airscrews on garb. No luck so far but practice makes perfect! I'm aiming to be able to airscrew by the time I leave the Ottawa this summer. I'm really excited to have a new line up of coaches like Devyn scott and Tyler Curtis this week to help me reach my goal. 

Isaiah Galbraith Week 2 Hunger Games

Hi,
I'm Isaiah Galbraith

Surfing Left Side during one of the Hunger Games Challenges
with Gibs. Can you tell who is who? 

This is the second week of the third sesion for the 2012 year has been AMAZING!!! We had a hunger games week, 1 or 2 games per day, every day, for a week. Every house was a different district, and the teachers were the capital and the ones that would choose the challenge for the day. We had challenges ranging from rock walks under water, to hand paddling down Normans, to choosing what wave or hole to use and have a scored run on it. I sadly had to end a day and a half early because of hitting somebodys boat on baby face after flushing off of left side horseshoe. The boat hit my shoulder, and pushed it out of place. I had to get checked out by the instructors and get off the water. I got off the water after only an hour or two of paddling, then stayed off the water for friday, saturday, and sunday. I made sure that I was taking it easy. I cant wait to get back onto the water tomorrow!! I sadly have to take it easy for the rest of keeners so that I don't push myself to the point of no return. On the water with a smile on my face is good enough though!! :D

Bye for now
Isaiah

Nicole McCaw's Last Blog Post

Playing the Rock Games

     Hey everyone! This week at Keeners has been amazing as usual! From our first day on the water with our coach Clare O'Hara to Race Day, Big Water Bacon Beatdown, and Competition Friday.

   
 Unfortunately we have had to say good-bye to our amazing coaches Stephen Wright, and Clay Wright (no relation), and Clare O'Hara I am very excited to go into the next week with our new Keeners Luca, Eli and returning Keener Kira! We are also going to go on a road trip this week on Wednesday either to Lachine, or The Seven Sisters! I am really happy going into my last week of Keeners and I am looking forward to all of the new experiences that I will have! It's gonna be awesome! 

Going for Downtime at Brain Douche. 

   I am so grateful to my parents for sending me here for six weeks! This has been an experience of a lifetime and I hope that I can come back next year!

Oliver-WEEK 2!

Fish

What an awesome week! This weeks highlights were the Keener Hunger Games where the houses competed against each other in different games made up by the coaches which was sweet, and beatdown Thursday when I surfed right side phils. This week we are saying goodbye to three of our awesome instructors Claire, Clay and Stephen, and I would like to thank them all for everything they have done. I would also like to congratulate Kalem and Quinton on making the Canadian team. I am looking forward to another exciting week!!

Peter- Week 2!

Hey its peter again reporting back to you after week two of keeners. The past to weeks have been full of fun and excitement, stevooo our head coach created this new game called keener hunger games. All the houses in keenervill compete against eachother in mini games everyday. At the moment my house aka robertsons is in the lead but as we all know thngs could change in a split second but that is what makes it soo much fun! Somthing that made this week special for me was that we had a guest instructor from england named Claire O'Hara and she is the womens freestyle kayak champion. What I thought was really cool was Claire was learning lots about kayaking while beiing a coach because she usually paddles smaller rivers and the Ottawa is very big. I thought it was good to see even though you might know a ton about kayaking there is still always a lot more to learn. Goodbye and see you next week.

Watching the 8 Ball Hunger Games Challenge

PURA VIDA 

Jared with his second blog

Charging into Phils Hole in the Rev Last Week

Winning the First Hunger Games Challenge

Hey Its Jared again. Today was big water beat down but I didn't get beat down much and I was really disappointed. Sea bass and Jordan got to run right side phils in a Dynamic Duo, it was really awesome!

The Hunger games for today, were really fun to watch but also would of been fun to do. The first challenge, the competitors had to try and catch a pool toy whale in left side Horse Shoe at the same time and i think Estamble won. the second one, the challengers had to stay in right side Blacks (its a pretty sticky hole at the bottem of the river) for the longest time and Robertson won.

I had great surfs today at lef side Horse Shoe and at Garb. I was surfing horse shoe for almost 5 minutes straight! At Garb, i almost stuck an air screw and I got my blunts on both sides now! Thats what happend today but i cant really remember right now what happend during the past week because it has gone so fast. I thought we were only tuesday today. I'll right next week at the same day. See ya

My First Race Day

Giving the Thumbs Up after Swimming in our Swim Fest! 

Every Wednesday at Keeners, we do race day. This Wednesday was no exception. The day started out with some great starting drills for the beginning of the race. After those drills, we headed up to McCoys and divided into teams. Once we were split up, we headed to the start. The first race consisted of ferrying across satlers rock, where we had to touch Deuce's boat. After that we had to run the Satlers punch, and do the Hero ferry to the  Corner Wave eddy. While Going down Satlers, I flipped over and lost the race- the worst part is I ended up in the Football Eddy, on the wrong side of the river! LOL.

 The second race was down the Lorne. We had to boof, touch moby dick rock, and then ferry across to touch the river right wall. I finished with a time of 1:06, despite being sucked back by the waterfall below the boof.

The third and final race was down the first part of coliseum. It was a fierce, free for all 8 ball race. It consisted of other Keeners trying to flip us over. Sadly, I got worked in the last hole, but at least I didn't swim this time!!

The day ended with surfing, and an all out swim war where we all made eachother swim. It was an awesome day!

Gibs second blog!

Hello everyone, this is Gibs from South Korea, today was Big water beatdown bacon Thursday! It was a lot of fun. I started off surfing left side phils then right side phils. I had a very long and trashy beatdown in right side however it wasnt a good enough beatdown to win beat down of the day.

The Hunger Games at Keenerville have been very fun. Robertson's is winning and will hopefully take home the gold medal. (First Prize is Freezies or Bacon for the whole house) After lunch today we went down the river and stopped at the bottom of Butcher's knife where there are alot of crazy whirlpools that we swam in. There were some interesting moments when Thomas was in the Whirlpools for around 40 seconds! He forsure won beatdown of the day.

About to Win the 8 Ball Race !

My tricks have been getting better quickly which is very cool. I have made my flatwater loops and blunts better. My favorite wave is Garb at the Lorne rapids. It is a very fast and foamy wave that is great for doing big tricks.

Thank you to my parents for sending me to this great great great kayaking camp. This has by far been my best summer vacation.

Talk to you guys later!!

Kate Johnson First Time Keener Week Two

Scouting the Lorne Rapids

Hello again it's Kate Johnson a lot has happened here in Keenerville since I last posted. We had big water beatdown where I learned the importance of rolling in white water. There was also competition Friday where I surfed my first wave even though I wasn't on the wave for a long time it felt awesome to catch a wave!

On the weekend many people went out padding in groups but a few of us (about ten) spent Saturday and Sunday learning CPR and First Aid. I really enjoyed this class even though it took up most of the weekend. Greg the instructor was amazing he had us doing everything it was a very hands on course.

Practicing how to rescue people using
throw ropes during SRT

The past two days have been unreal! I have been finding white water kayaking kind of hard to get so spent the past two days with James one of our coaches working on all the specifics that would help me improve quickly. Within the past two days I have learned to white water roll, river instincts, and most importance confidence. I can't wait to get back on the water tomorrow!!

Brenden, Week 2

So this is my second week at keeners and its been awesome so far. This week is a 'hunger games' themed week, we all have to be tributes a few times and do intense challenges. 

Yesterday I won an 8 ball race down Colliseum. 8 ball races are a crazy race where people line up and try to get to the bottom while other people are there trying to knock them off course. The coaches here are awesome this week we have guest coaches, Tribe rider Deuce and world freestyle and squirt boating champion Claire O'Hara. Having Steve-o and Clay as main coaches is awesome, Clay organises the Teva mountain games 8 ball races so its cool to hear professional advice from people who organize these pro events. 

My Boat after Horseshoe, and before we fixed it! 

I'm super excited for big water beatdown today. Last week I got worked and broke my boat. But luckily because Steve-o and Clay work for Jackson they knew how to fix it so in the end its all fun and games. 

pilar lira primera vez en keeners, segunda semana

Bueno escribo otra vez y les voy a contar un poco de lo que hicimos hoy en keeners. Nos metimos al agua hicimos unos ejercicios y despues nos fuimos a sorfiar a dos olas llamadas baby face y corner wave .nos hicieron sorfiar una vez lo la corner wave y despues podiamos ir a la baby face bueno intente sorfiar la corner wave pero no pude entonces me fui a baby face y pude sorfiar unas veses enverdad me cuesta sorfiar un poco porque en chile las olas para sorfiar son faciles y chicas. despues nos hicieron sorfiar la ola pushb tambien pude algunas veses pero me fui la otra ola de alado que era mas facil. bueno bajamos el rio y en un rapido nos hicieron hacer la competencia que hacemos esta semana entre casas bueno hoy me toco ami partio la competencia y habian personas que se te crusaban en el camino. bueno me di vuelta gire y me fui donde tenian que terminar y cuando llege habian mas personas entonces no podia tocar donde habia que terminar bueno hice lo que pude y sali tercera pero realmente yo creo que podia salir primera pero no entendi mucho y me pasaron dos personas y perdi pero bueno es un juego y me diverti mucho y eso fue lo que hicimos hoy en keeners fue muy divertido y ojala se vuelva a repetir!

Keener hunger Games and Nick

Hey this is Nick again,

Swimming during the self rescue Hunger Games Challenge.
I was second! 

Our second week of keeners has started of with a bang because of the introduction of the Hunger Games, a serious of competitions in which we pit one keener or "tribute" from each cabin against the other "tributes" in a handful of different events. So far the events have ranged from trying to get over a log to races down rapids without our spray skirts on. When we are not competing in our "hunger games" we are still getting a wealth of information being offered to us by our wonderful coaches Stephen and Clay and recently by new additions Deuce and Claire O'Hara. I'm loving being with Keeners this week, and feel like I learned a lot in Teen Camp last week.
Bye for now,
Nick

Max- Week 2

So this is my second blog post, which means this is my second week at Keeners. Thiis week has been lots of fun!  On the weekend a few of us went to paddle at push button and I took some film of our sessions at Garb as well.

The Fish I caught! 

I think it is a muskrat or a beaver? 

I've also been fishing and swimming most evenings. When I swim and fish I  also set up time lapse that I use in editing the film I have so far. Today on the side of the river I found an animal. I don't know what it was but I took a picture.  Being at keeners is so much fun!! I can't wait for the rest of the week.  

2nd week of keeners

Practicing How to rescue using a Throw rope
during SRT last week. 

This is Jacob, or "Alabama" as the other Keeners call me. I am checking in and can I just say what a week!!!!! This week I got a lot of spins and blunts. We have been surfing waves called pushbutton and Garb. Pushbutton is pretty small compared to Garb, but pretty big still compared to where I live. In Alabama we don't have very big waves so this is very good practice. Today I swam through 7/8 hole and got a early big water beat down during our Keener Hunger Games competition where we had to self rescue in the McCoys Rapid. ...... it was AWESOME!!!

Week two begins- Sebastian

Competing in one of the Hunger Games Challenges! 

The second week is only starting but it feels like its so close to the end. The first week has been incredible and I am so excited to make this week even better. This week we have two new coaches to add to the team Claire O'Hara and Deuce. Everyone here this session are all really fitting in and feeling more comfortable with each other. This is cool because this allows us to see each other's strengths and weaknesses, which allows everyone to help out each other and push ourselves to be the best. We have been having daily competitions this week in house teams to see what household can rack up the most points. Today I won the first competition to put our house in a three way tie for first. Tomorrow is race day Wendsday and Robertsons's is going to pull ahead and take the lead.

The Keener Hunger Games by Ziggy

Its Tuesday again and day two of "the keener hunger games" has just ended. We now have a three way tie for one point between: Istanbul, Robertsons, and White House. So far the Hunger Games have been full of carnage, air, and just pure awesomeness! Today, Jake, Whitehouses' tribute, got body re-surfed for a good twenty to thirty seconds during a very entertaining scramble race.

Our Coach Clay Wright Destroys a Tribute in our "8 Ball" Challenge. 

There are only three more events left to go now..... something on race wednesday, hopefully a ton of carnage fun on big-water-bacon-beatdown-thursday, and some kind of sweet air competition thing friday. The hunger games is a sweet way to end keeners and a fun way to compete. This is my last week of keeners and so far everything has been amazing! I would like to thank all the coaches and everyone else that made keeners possible and fun- especially my parents for sending me here, and my sister, for telling them to! . Now who will win "the keener hunger games"?

2nd week of Keeners

Hello everyone, this is Thomas Stephenson. This week has been awesome starting with 2 new coaches. Claire O'hara and Deuce. The coaches have started the idea of the Hunger Games which is when every day a house chooses one person to be their tribute. This tribute will be forced to participate in competitions against other houses. Today the tributes were forced to do a race down Coliseum with everyone in eddys in the rapid. It was interesting to say the least! Tonight we went to the movie The Campaign, this movie was very funny however i thought they tried to hard to make it funny. Before we went to the theaters we got to go to Wal Mart to stock up on snacks.

Splatting a Rock on the Main Channel. Photo By Claire O'Hara. 

Talk to you guys later- Biebs.

Blog # 2 Of Session 3!

Hey everyone! Nicole "Swissy" Diviney here for my second update during this third and unfortunately last session of an incredible 9 weeks. Today was a great day as we spent the morning enjoying some fun log games in the Death Slot. It's easier than it sounds. We got to practice setting up safety, which turned out not to be needed as none of us swam during the morning games. That's how good we all are. Our skills were, however, put to the test during the afternoon when, in the Hunger Games event, which is a new and fun part of keeners, several people swam as they got pinned under the log. This was not a problem as people are always looking out for one another. The Hunger Games was explained to us by none either than Stephen Wright, who told us that one person from each house will be competing every day in different competitions. I have chosen to be the Yakistan tribute for Friday, and so will be competing in surfing. The other Nicole is brave enough to compete for the biggest beatdown on Thursday. Kate managed to place 2nd in the log game this afternoon, which is an achievement seeing as she's only kayaked for one week.

Apart from attempting the log game and cheering on our houses, we also got to spend time surfing Garb, Push Button and the Moustache wave. I had an awesome hand surf on Garb, which was completely unintentional. As I caught the curler, or crashing wave, I flipped and my paddle was flung out of my hands. Garb flipped me back upright and I found myself paddle-less and so excited to hand surf. I then got my hand roll in the current for the first time, and so it was all sorts of firsts in one! It was super. Then I got a roundhouse on Push Button and almost got a back loop. Well, the latter almost always happens.

I look forward to Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week as this is my last full week here. I leave on Wednesday 22nd August, and so I hope to receive the biggest beatdown on Thursday and the best ride I've had yet on Friday!!

Otherwise, I am still having trouble sticking to the 8-10 sentence rule for the blogs. Everyone is still supportive, helpful and funny. There is enough food and the girls are still all getting along. Chores definitely take up less time with fewer girls and there is more time to use the bathroom. Tune in tomorrow for more exhilarating stories.

Surfing Left Side Phils

ND

Isaiah Galbraith First Week!

Hi, I'm Isaiah Galbraith
First time keener

Charging in our Keener Comp on friday- my first kayaking
competition. 

This week was the first week of the 3rd session. We have done everything from learn each other names with fun games, to having the first competition Friday, to having a first aid course.

First aid was amazing, we learned everything from telling the difference between frost nip and frost bite to CPR to putting slpints on. We are all now certified red cross in first aid and CPR. One of the funnier moments from first aid was during a practice of putting people on a back board when Brandon put duck tape on my ancles. It hurt SO much taking it off! I now feel sorry for anybody that waxes every week.

I learned lots and can't wait for the next two weeks to come!!! I never want this amazing camp to end.

Nicole M's 4th week

Hey everyone this is Nicole McCaw here. This week has been amazing, full of firsts for everyone here in Keenerville. First time on the river, first time in a kayak, or for me first time doing a loop, and first time dropping into Right Side Phils! Then after a busy week of doing what we do best some Keeners had a First Aid course and some just went paddling more!

Surfing Pushbutton for our Keener Competition on Friday! 

We also had a visit from a keener who was here last session and ended the weekend with an amazing movie that Anna showed us about her friends trek through the rapids on the bottom of the Congo River! What a great movie! I am really looking forward to the upcoming weeks and learning a lot from our amazing coaches Steven, Clay, Claire, Joel, and Deuce.

First week of Keeners!

My name is Oliver Nutt, I am happy to say that this past week has been the best experience of my summer. This weekend I took part in first aid and C.P.R training taught by the extremely knowledgeable instructor Greg. Not only did we learn the basics of first aid, we were taught in a fashion that related the skills to river / wilderness scenarios.

Surfing at PushButton last Competition Friday. 

So far this week my favorite day was Thursday, not only for the delicious bacon breakfast and rib dinner, but for the big water beatdown, a day where we are encouraged to surf bigger features in a safe way, in doing so we learn that as kayakers we may be put in situations where we are out of our comfort zone. This coming week I am excited for competition Friday, where I hope to apply the skills I learn during the week.

Pushing Limits

Dropping into Phils for a Handsurf. Its a good warm up for
Centre Slot

This tuesday was probably one of the most challenging days I have ever had paddling. I owe a huge thanks to Joel Kowalski for that day because I pushed my limits beyond what I had expected to in one day. On Tuesday I tried running lines I have never run on the Ottawa, some of which made me question my abilities slightly. It may not sound like much to most after seeing huge descents of drops and rapids, but for me, it was a big step up in my boating. I have  been pushing myself by running rapids backwards through challenging lines and surfing things that keep pushing my limits. This week I threw a wave wheel in to centre slot, a rapid below coliseum, and I had a massive beatdown and swam  after 1-2 minutes. May not seem like much but that was the toughest surf I have ever had and I got beat down pretty badly. After just this week i have eliminated almost 100% of my fear on the ottawa and and i hope to progress my skills by paddling other high volume rivers in future years.

Peter Semehen Returns to Keeners!

Dropping into Right Side Phils for a Hand Surf during BWBDT

Hello my name is Peter Semehen and this summer will be my fifth summer in the keener program. I arrived in foresters falls/ keeners on Sunday and I was happy to see that garborator wave was in because it is one of my favorites on the ottawa. Today was big water beat down thursday which is one of my favorites because it is designed to make everyone push their limits in a safe way. Tomorrow is competition friday and I hope to stick some big tricks that will get me hyped!!! I will be staying until labour day weekend so I still have three weeks left here, but i'm sad to say that it is going by really fast so far. But I am having an amazing time here and I cant wait to see what the ottawa has in store for us. 

Gibs. 8.10 Thursday

Waiting to get a beatdown.. 

Hi I'm Gibs from south Korea. This is my first time to the Ottawa river, and so far it is awesome. Today was Big Water Thursday!!!!. It was my first big water Thursday. It was very cool. I learned many things about the big water kayaking. In the morning I went into leftside and right side phils. In my first time I just passed the tongue between them. Yesterday was SRT day. It was fun and beneficial. I learned about how to rescue people. I practiced throwing ropes on shore and throwing the rope in the rapids. It was great and I swam a lot.

see you guys later-

Jared's First Blog Pst

About to drop into Phils hole! 

Hey, this is my first blog of the year. My name is Jared Day, this is ask my second year at Keener's and I paddle a Piranha Rev.

Today, was big water beat down, bacon, Thursday! That means we get beat down in the biggest and baddest hole we can find on the river- which here on the Ottawa means Phil's hole.

I got worked in right side Phil's for a minute and I was scared. I had to swim but it was still the best time ever! Last night, I tried a rockstar on baby face (its a wave near phil's) and just outside of Keeners,  and I finally got a my first blunt. I was so happy! I am excited for the rest of the week and competition friday tomorrow!

Quinton's First Blog Back

Phils Hole!!! 

Suuuuuuup? Hey everybody its Quinton! I'm 15 and I'm from Beachburg Ontario. I literally live like 10 minutes away from keenerville! Today was the notorious Big Water Beatdown Bacon Thursday! We got all the keeners to challenge themselves in way they don't normally do. It was sick! I started off my day with a dope right side Phil's surf. The surf started with a paddle in my hands but by the end I had thrown it away. Many of the other keeners had done lines and surfs they had never done before and it was awesome to watch them scare themselves in a good way. There were a few swims today but it was okay because today is the day were nobody is really going to care if you swim. We all learnt many lessons about safety and how important it is in the sport of kayaking.

Well I'm going to head out. It is Edwards night to pick on activity and we are watching a movie! Have a lovely day and you stay classy San Diego ;).

Last Blog post from Tim *tears*

Hey, Tim again for my last Big Water Beatdown day Blog.  Today, as usual, we awoke to a morning activity and like every other Thursday, bacon (the best way to start a day of being beatendown).   After warm-ups we paddled over to McCoys and hiked up to scout Phil's Hole.  When water goes over a rock one of two things can happen it can create a wave or a hole.  A wave looks similar to any ocean wave, but stays stationary on the river.  A hole is when the water hits the bottom of the river and recycles back to the the top with a draw back making it harder to get out of.  Phil's Hole is a tall hole with a very big recirc and difficult to get out of (especially without a paddle.)  What may be considered as crazy by standards of most people is where Keeners have their most fun.  We have a competition to see who can get beatendown the hardest and possibly take control of the big water features they face.  This day, though intimidating, provides confidence and experience with bigger water and the feeling of being out of control and ultimately makes us better kayakers.

Kate Johnson - New Keener week one

Hello my name is Kate Johnson. I am the oldest keeners in the group but by no means am I the most skilled. I am fairly new to the kayaking world but I really enjoy it so for. Naturally I am finding the first few days very challenging and at times frustrating, but I keep reminding myself 'no risk no reward' and get back up. My dad describes my first few days here at keeners as "being thrown on a triple black dimond trying to leard how to snowboard. I.E. Stupidly hard and will take time but once you get it you will get it at an advanced level learning super fast." I really hope I get to the point where I get it!

Today a group of us did our first day of SRT and it was so much fun! We leaned about safety on the river and different kinds of rescues, then we practiced a tun of rescues. I'm pumped for the next lesson in srt when we get to practice more advanced rescues!

Brenden Foley

I hope I can get as sweet a "window shade" as this guy! (Former Keener Nick Coddou)

Hi, my names Brenden and this is my first year at Keeners. These last three days have been amazing,  the first two days we ran the river's main channel. Today we did the first half of our Swiftwater Rescue Technician training. We got to swim and rescue each other on the wave train on Lorne. The coaches had so much knowledge and stories about situations where people need saving so it was nice to see the real world application. After supper tonight we were allowed to go for a short paddle on Babyface. Its so nice having the waves right outside our door, I got to "windowshade" and cast spells like mad. I think the next two weeks should be awesome!

Kalem first week of the last session.

Hey Everyone- Its Kalem.

In a week, I will be going to the Gull River in Minden, Ontario to practice for Canadian Team Trials. The trials will be held in a Earl's Hole- which I have never surfed. This makes me a little nervous, so I hope we get to go a few days early to practice and learn the feature. The team trials are to see who will be competing for Canada (for me it would be the junior division) at the US freestyle worlds in North Carolina next year. I don't know how well I will do this year, but I'm excited to go, and to gain more experience competing, and just see what it is all about. Last year, I competed in the Pan-Am games. I had only been kayaking for 8 weeks at the time. It was sick, even though I didn't do that well. This is why even if I don't place or make the team, I know I will still have fun.

Every Friday the Keeners have Competition Friday, where all the Keeners compete in an "A" Class and a "B" class on different features on the river. This has helped me learn some strategies in competitions such as doing your easy tricks first that you know you can get points for, and then throwing your harder tricks at the end of your ride.

In my next blog, I will tell how you I did- lets hope I do well and maybe even make the team.

Yannick's First year at Keeners

Hi I'm Yannick and this is my first entry chronicling my journey in the kayaking world. It is my third day here, and already I've learned a lot. With the help of the great coaches I've challenged waves I never thought of doing, overcame the panic of being underwater, and successfully completed my combat roll. I feel can feel my skill level rising fast, and I want to keep pushing it. Today was my first day of swift water rescue training (SRT) and with the knowledge I've gained, I am a much better kayaker, and more importantly, a safer one. As a group we saved swimmers with throw-bags, and even saved "unconscious" kayakers with the tethered swim technique. At the Keeners residence I've made new friends, and we are always having a blast, no matter what! I can't wait to see what tomorrow has to offer, but the name sounds promising: "Big Water Beat Down Thursday"- Sounds like a lot of laughs!

Looking forward to an amazing experience!!

Hey parents and other blog readers,

My name is Nick Uhthoff and I'm a first time keener here at Wilderness Tours and the Keener program. Actually let me rephrase that, I'm a first time paddler and I came to Wilderness Tours to learn to kayak because I really wanted to learn how to kayak and get some whitewater and freestyle experience. Since I came to the Keener program without much kayaking experience I've spent the last two days with the Wilderness Tours teen program and so far I've learned how to roll and I've surfed a wave called push button. All in all I'm really looking forward to the next three weeks as a keener here at Wilderness Tours!!

The View from the top of the Keenerville Ramp

Max Schoonraad second year at keeners

This is my first week back at keeners this summer.  I came for 6 weeks last year and I had so much fun all I've wanted to come back all year. It wasn't till a few weeks ago I found out I was going to be coming back so that was awesome. I'm really grateful to my parents for helping me pay for my time here!  So far I've gone fishing, surfed push button and run the main channel.  I'm now looking forward surfing garb and trying some tricks. This is new for me as last year I just surfed it.

Me Surfing at Garb Last Summer.

Also tomorrow is wednesday race day!  Last year this was my best day of the week and I am exited to find out what we are going to be racing tomorrow. 

Back at Keenerville

Its my first week back at Keenerville and its been a great start. Two days in and i'm already right at home. It's great to re connect with all the returning keeners and meet many new. The levels here on the ottawa are lower than i'm used to but, there are always good lines to run and great play spots. So far the group has headed over to Garb, push button and corner wave to surf and practice for competition.

Best week EVER!!

Celebrating My 15th Birthday at Keeners. Thanks to my Family for coming to
celebrate and eat cake with us! 

My name is Jacob Walker. This my first week at keeners and it is AMAZING!! The water is so warm and the waves are so big. I am from Alabama and there is nothing like the Ottawa there!! I really like pushbutton and baby face. The instructors are great ...... they are always supportive and they have so much to teach. The ottowa is the best river on earth!!

Jordan's 1st Week

It's hard to believe my first week here at Keeners has finally ended. I came the last week of a session and am leaving two weeks into this next one, so this past week was really busy. On Wednesday we went on a road trip to Lachine, an 8 hour long drive to Montreal with waves that somehow top the Ottawa's. Despite being an exhausting day, I managed to get 9 surfs, and even rescued a swimmer in between. On Big Joe, the main wave, there is a green pit, which gives the chance for massive air. I actually stuck my first real airscrew towards the end. The rest of the week was almost just as interesting, such as loop attempts in Sattler's hole for Big Water Beat down, and a competition on Garb. The weekend was spent filming, lasting until it was too dark to see. Its good to be back, and I'm looking forward to more days getting to know everyone who just came in last night.

Start of Session Three!

Keener Line up at Lachine last week. 

The first day of session three has been amazing! Though it was really sad to see all of our other friends go it was great to also get the chance to meet a bunch of new keeners! It was also a really great weekend because my parents came to visit along with my brother and I got to show them how much I have improved and learned here, it is always so great to hear from them! I am really excited to get to know the other keeners and paddle with them over the next three weeks.

SESSION 3: Week 1!

Good evening ladies and gentlemen

I am Nicole D and the first day of the last session is coming to an end! So far everything is going swimmingly, literally. Well, no, I only swam once (twice if you count the fun brain douche stuff), and with good reason. Today was really fun, as we got to run McCoys. Me and the other Nicole were the first to run 2 different lines as we have been here for a couple of weeks and so are more familiar with the rapids than a lot of the other keeners. After scouting and running several lines on McCoys, we surfed Baby Face and then went onto run the Lorne, before proceeding onto the delicious, juicy lunch.

After lunch we spent some time learning to ferry across currents in an S turn and then went onto surf Push Button. We then ran the entire river, and I didn't swim once and so I am no longer nervous when approaching big water! Our coaches today were Stephen, Clay, Joel and the former keener, 19 year old James, who goes by the name Night Hawk for reasons unknown to me and fellow keeners. He has been really motivational and will undoubtedly go on to be a legend like the older coaches guiding us every day.

Tonight was the first speech night and I was the critique, meaning that I commented on peoples' performance. There was hardly anything negative to say, as the night was both entertaining and more or less civilized. Stephen concluded the night with one of his inspirational and amusing talks! The new keeners have been really nice, and it is definitely the most culturally diverse group this session! One of the Yakistan girls is from Chile, and there is a boy all the way from South Korea! (who gave one of the entertaining speeches).

I am super happy to be a part of this group of young, enthusiastic paddlers. I think that my summer will end nicely with great company alongside me on and off the water! Stay tuned for exciting tales from exciting young people!

Sleep tight

Dropping into the Big Joe Wave at Lachine

ND

Thomas' first blog

Hi everyone, this is Thomas checking in, I would first like to thank my Mom and Dad for sending me to keeners, you're the best! Today was our first day of paddling and I think it was amazing. The features that we played on were Garb which can be located at the top of the Lorne rapids. Garb is a fast foamy wave which is really fun. Sadly it was kind of flushy because of the level but hopefully it gets higher which would be awesome! The other feature was pushbutton which had a huge line so I decided to go to a small hole with some other Keeners to have some fun and party surf which was a lot of fun.

After surfing we continued downstream trying to get to the WT takeout in 30 mins, which was a difficult task because of the distance. I was very happy when I saw Keeners that I knew from last year, such as Kalem, Quinton, Jordan and Edward. I also missed the amazing river burgers made by the great chefs at Wilderness Tours.

Surfing at Push Button last year

I will check in with you guys next week!

Session 3 has just Begun

It’s Monday again, and session 3 has just begun! My name is Alex Zegart, or Ziggy as everyone calls me. I have been at keeners now for a whole session and have learned many things, ranging from blunts to how to get out from under a pinned log. There are many awesome new keeners this session from all over the world, one whose name is Gibeom, is even from South Korea and another, Max is from London, England. So far day one of session three has been awesome, with speech night being the best so far, with many laughs and sick stories. Session 3 at the moment is shaping up to be an awesome 3 weeks of fun, learning, and extraordinary days on and off the water!

Next to Keener Ramp monday morning 

Duncan's last day

Hi, its Duncan. So today was my last week at keeners. The experience was like nothing I've ever tried before. I have learned loads( spins, shuvits, first aid, SRT, roundhouses, loops and much more.) I have made lots of friends and seen my kayaking skills increase hugely. I hope I can return again, but I think I probably wont due to cost. My favourite part of keeners was surfing Big Joe on Wednesday, and my least favoutite part of keeners was getting a paddle to the face (it hurt). My score in the competition on garb today was 30, which shows how much I've improved.

Week three

Today's Big Water Beatdown Bacon Thursday kicked of to a great start. We started it off by taking a few runs down upper McCoys. On my first run through I attempted to surf satlers but flushed into left side phill's. On my second run I got beatdown in right side but managed to escape.

After dinner we got harnessed up and began the long climb up the bungee tower which we would be soon repelling off of. When we reached the top we were given instructions on how to repel safely. The worst part was the drop of the edge, after that it was smooth sailing. I had such a fun time I went up for a second ride.

Keeners was so much fun, I met tones of new friends from other countries. I want to thank my parents,Grandma, and Kem for helping me have this amazing experience. It is cool how much you can learn from great instructors like Stephen, Clay, Tino, Rafa, Joel, Nighthawk, and Deuce. I want to thank everyone and I hope to see you next year.

Day in LaChine

 Today we took a a different aspect to the keener program, and did not run the Ottawa river but instead we went to the Lachine rapids in Montreal. It was a pretty amazing day because it was a completely different type of surfing than I was used to.  Lachine is a more technical river because the currents are trickier than the ones in the Ottawa, and you really have to aim farther out than you think to catch the wave. The wave that I surfed today was Big Joe and the Pit, which were awesome due to the fact that the wave is easier to catch and it is really smooth, which makes it easier to throw tricks. On my first surf I just carved for awhile and threw some shuvits, later on when I had more confidence on the wave I started to throw spins, shuvits, and actually in my very last run I was able to throw a clean spin, which was pretty cool.

If I return to keeners next year, and we have a trip to Lachine again, I am definitely trying out pyramid wave, which requires more skill to hold onto the wave. This was one of the best days that I have had on keeners because it was like "ice fishing", very accelerating, it really took the energy out of you. I am so sore right know that it will also be one of the best sleeping days that I will have so far.

Patrick's final post

This is my last week at keeners and it's off to a good start. Today, we went to Lashene so we could all get some amazing surfs. I know several people got great air screws, although unfortunately I was not among them. However, I am especially proud of my own air blunt on "the pit" (the larger of the waves.) I would like to point out that none of this would have been posable without the dedicated keener staff who drove a bus of screaming children and a trailer of boats over 8 hours. Thank you to everyone involved. On another note, tomorrow is big water beat down day and I can't wait. Not so much for the beat downs, although they are nice, but for the bacon that comes with them

Last Week of Keeners

With a scrape and a swoosh my boat slides down into the flat water next to Keenerville. I have made it with only a minute to spare (had I been late I would have won the fabulous prize of running Norman's without a skirt)! The Keeners have just been briefed on the trip that we will be taking tomorrow to the Lachine rapids on the St. Lawrence River in Montreal.

Our fabulous head coach Stephen Wright has just explained (with the help of a beautiful diagram) which waves to catch and how to catch them. He has also discussed the possibility of skirt implosions and broken back bands and the not-so-much-fun experience of swimming at the Lachine. It is with this background that we begin a very unusual flat water warm up.

We begin with three rolls of any kind. Then we progress to rolls without a back band or  with our knees out of their braces. Finally, we roll with our skirts completely off our boats. After emptying our boats we proceed to baby face wave to practice air screws. All of mine turn out to be major face plants, but even though I feel as though I have been slapped in the face I am really excited to be attempting the coolest trick on the planet. Eventually we paddle down to lunch and Garb. A torrential rain begins (which is awesome because it is really cool to paddle in the rain) and we surf and then head down the rest of the river. Hopefully the rains will bring the level up just a bit for the last few days of this Keener session.

Emptying out Boats after our Warm-up pre Lachine! 

My name is Jessie and this is my last session and also last blog ever as a Keener. I am sad to be leaving and I will miss this wonderful program so much! Thank you to all the people who make this program as amazing as it is and thank you Mom and Dad for sending me. I plan to have as much fun and kayak as much as possible in the next few days...