David- 1st Week

Hey, my names David, and this week has been great so far.  I had a ton of fun on 'Bigwater Beatdown Bacon Thursday', where we all threw ourselves into big features such as Phils Hole and see how well we do. Thursday night we started learning some important ropes and knots to use in kayaking. That was alot of fun, and I learned that I am actually able to do more than I thought. Ropes and Knots wasn't as much fun as Big Water Beatdown though! 

Otis demonstrates a figure 8 knot. 

  Competition Friday was also  fun, even though I didn't do great. Overall, though, I'm just having alot of fun being on this great river with some cool kids and awesome coaches!

First week

Hi, it me Thys and this has been a pretty good week. From Monday to Wednesday I was in teen camp to review my role and now I'm in keeners. There were some good beat downs on Thursday and incredible tricks on Friday. In the competition there were four groups, three groups of keeners and one group of instructors. The best of those groups were Matt, Sydney, Quinton and Joel. Also, I went on the main for the first time and it wasn't too bad. The rapids weren't as scary as I thought and I was able to get down with no problems. I hope to gain more confidence on the river during this section and have fun doing it.

That is all for now.                  

Max Rayner- First Week at Keeners

Hi guys,

The first week at keeners has been awesome. I am in Whitehouse with the other kiwis, Greyson and Conner and David. The river is sooooo good so far, with 'river level awesome', corner wave, babyface and Garberator are all sweet as. The first day was amazing because I was doing stuff I was too scared to do the other years i've been here at keeners. On Wednesday we had race day where we raced down the normans rapid, in my final heat i was racing the two other Kiwis and Conner from Canada. 


On Thursday we had 'big water bacon beatdown Thursday' where all the keeners were encouraged to throw themselves into the big holes and features on the river. I got a couple but the best was in center-slot where I was stuck in a sticky hole for quite a while. Today was competition Friday where a competition was held on 'baby face', a nice wave feature. I had a couple average rides and did'nt make it in the top 3.

All in all it's been an amazing week at the Ottawa in the keener program and I look forward with excitment for the next two weeks

Bye!

1st week - Archer

Hey I'm Archer one of the white house Kiwis. The week started with me, the rest of the kiwis and a few others having our first day of paddling on the Ottawa river. We were promised paddling in t-shirts but instead it was paddling in dry tops and poly props so the weather was pretty bad for our first run of the river. Its been warming up massively since then and now everyone has either managed a great tan or an even greater burn. Today was competition day so we spent the second half of the day competing and then we watched all of the videos in the thunder-dome and  judged them for points.
This been a mean week with some pretty awesome paddlers  and I look forward to some more sweet paddling.

Quinton's Back....

Suuup? This is Quinton's first blog of the season. I'm here all summer

so you will hear a lot from me! So far keeners has been sick! I came a

few days late (yesterday) and everyone has already been nice and I've

made some new friends. Today was big water beatdown bacon thursday! I

hand surfed Phils hole twice and got beatdown both times! It was

pretty dope!! Then today I surfed garb and got my first right blunt! I

was pretty pumped, so I tried an airscrew and failed hard! Later in the

day I surfed in the pour over at center slot and beat down hard again.

So all in all today was insane and I'm ready for many more to come!

Peace man!

White House Men

Here in the Whitehouse, half dominated by Kiwis, everything has been going wonderful.

 The Whitehouse clan is made up of Max, Otis, Greyson, Archer, David, and Connor. With the water level being at 'level awesome', there has been much room for activities on the river. With baby-face, garberator, push button, and corner wave all being in there are many opportunities to surf. Yesterday being race-day Wednesday, there was a boatercross down Normans' and Coliseum. Max won the boater cross. Yay! Today being Thursday, we began our day by eating bacon, the delicious food sent from heaven. With our stomachs full and our mind's clear we set off to get as beat down as possible. We started our adventure at Phil's hole, where we achieved half our goal. Many of us here ran lines we have never experienced before, and gained confidence in our paddling while doing so. Overall it has been a great week so far and we look forward with great eagerness toward competition Friday. 

Signing off, 

The Men of the Whitehouse. 

BIG WATER BEATDOWN THURSDAY!

My name is Joey Brown, and I think that there is nothing more fun than getting beat down in a big hole, which there is no shortage of here on the Ottawa River. Today was the first day in my kayaking experience in which the goal was to get beat down. Whether it was handsurfing "Phill's hole" or taking a line you had never done before, all of us keeners pushed our boundaries and conquered our fears of big water. The beat down's were ridiculous and everybody had a smile on their face. I'm excited to do the same thing next Thursday!

                                                    - Joey 

Sydney surfs right side Phils

I'm a student enrolled in the Keeners program, my name's Sydney. I have been looking to improve my skills in freestyle kayaking and I thought here would be the best place to go to because I have heard a lot of good things about this program from various people. I paddle on the Ottawa River a lot and it is one of my favourite rivers. This program sounded like a great oppourtunity to improve my skills in kayaking and also to help me become more of an independant person.

Today was Big Water Beat Down Thursday. Basically you do things that may intimidate you slightly and purposly get beatdown so you desensitize yourself from getting beatdowns when you don't expect it. A beatdown is when you drop into a hole or a feature on the river that you normally try to avoid. Along with many other things, I decided to handsurf Right side Phils today. It was a lot of fun, definitely one of those moments that remind you how much you appreciate breathing.

I've already learned so much in this program and it's only been 4 days so far. I'm so glad I've been given the chance to be a keener! Can't wait to get back on the river tomorrow for compitition day !

Patrick- Week 1

Waiting for burgers at lunch site

Hey this is Patrick with my first post of the session! This week has been pretty stellar and awesome. Monday was a crazy cold day and we ran the river. Since then it has warmed up greatly. Tuesday some of the keeners went and did SRT while other keeners and I hit the main by surfing waves such as Garb and push button. Today, we began the day by doing some surfing and running Phils which was a fun introduction to McCoy's chute. We then did some surfing at Baby Face and made our way down to the Lorne. After lunch we had a race at Normans and Coliseum in which I came in second to last. These kids are pretty dope and the next couple weeks will be pretty shweet. 

Race Day Wednesday

My name is Hannah and I'm a 15 year old girl lucky enough to live close to the Ottawa River. I started paddling only a year ago with a program here at Wilderness Tours. This spring I got my whitewater roll, permitting me to sign up for OKS Keeners. I am passionate about paddling, and I'm in the perfect place to do it.
Today wasn't a normal day on the water... To begin the day at 7:30, we did yoga on the front lawn, and stretched out our frequently used arm and back muscles. After our warm up on the water, I ran McCoys  rapid for the very first time. We're lucky enough to have that rapid right in our front yard. Around 11:00 o'clock we began to head down river to race at two of the bigger rapids; Norman's and Colosseum. We did the two races in groups of four, both of which were filled with flipping kayaks and great carnage. Despite my placing last in both races, I had an excellent time as did everyone else. Hopefully I'll place better next wednesday!

All of us Keeners have smiles on our faces, thinking about how this is only day three, and theres plenty more fun and learning to be had. We've all learned so much only in these three days, and its amazing to see everyone improving so quickly. Every day seems  to be getting more and more exciting! 

                         

                                  ~ Hannah

Keener Day 2- Matt Smith

Hey guys, this is Matt Smith here. I am a North Carolinian from the shallow waters of Asheville! I came out here to do some deep water wave boating. My friend and fellow keener Joey and I had a brutal 17 hour drive in a rather tight car, but it couldn't have been better.

Today we went out to do a swiftwater rescue course. We spent some time outside learning about the water and then got to swimming. We swam a few beginner rapids before getting into the big stuff, that means Garborator! We went above the rapid and did some scouting before jumping in. We swam through the wave and popped out gasping for air. Once we had our fair share of oxygen, we then went down to the lunch site to refuel. After lunch we went out to surf Garb. I started out getting more used to the wave, but I started doing more as the day progressed. By the end I could do a blunt, and land flat.

Overall, we all had an amazing day on the deepest, safest, coolest, funnest river ever!

Otis' Awesome Keener Blog Post

Hello I'm Otis. Home Country : New Zealand, South Island- Central Otago, Alexandra. It's winter at home right now, so I've decided to escape and come to the sun and fun of the Ottawa river. I arrived at the camp at 11:30 pm on Monday, after an epic travel journey of canceled United flights. I came with my friend Archie and my brother Max. This is my second time at Keeners, and I hope to get even better at kayaking !

I'm excited for what I am already doing- kayaking every day for 6 hours! I'm also really excited to be coached by Tyler Curtis, who is one of the best kayakers ever- and he lives right next door to keeners. They even made us run to his driveway the other day.

It is so awesome paddling on the Ottawa because it is so warm. That is because the water warms up in shallow lakes above the rapids, so by the time it gets to us it is warm enough to just wear a t-shirt. My goal for the whole trip is to get a bow stall.

Today I won a bet against Joel, who didn't think I would be able to eat 2 hamburgers. I ate 3. He had to do 50 pushups. It was awesome.

I'm excited for the bacon tomorrow, and i've got some butterflies going on because tomorrow is big water beatdown thursday. Tune in later for more awesome posts from Otis- every wednesday!!

Rebecca Haflich Here!

Travelling from Ohio, I arrived at Keenerville Sunday night. When finally I arrived I remembered what I had missed after last year. This will be my second year as a Keener. I'm hoping to improve even more than I did last year. Last year I was aiming at improving on my skills but what really improved was my ability and confidence when it came to paddling big water which I don't have as much of in Ohio.. Returning I am hoping to be able to get better at surfing and playboating. I'm already more willing to put myself in situations I wasn't confident in before. Some things, like getting stuck in left Black's, haven't been on purpose but I've enjoyed them so far. There are other activities such as speech night and rappelling that Idefinitely look forward to. But above all is three weeks of paddling on the beautiful Ottawa River!

The sunset from Keenerville

Keeners first 2 days!

Hello! My name is Nicole and I am 17. This is my first time on the Ottawa river. I have always enjoyed being outdoors. I decided to become a Keener because it is exceptional in that it focuses on producing world class kayakers, but also great individuals! My major fear is public speaking and I believe that, in joining this unique program with its weekly public speeches and many occasions to interact with people, I will become a better speaker and will be more at ease when talking to people. So let me tell you a bit about my experience two days into this life changing summer!

Loving the Keeners program so far! All of the staff members are great: friendly, helpful and very encouraging. The kayaking instructors are amazing! On my first day of white water kayaking ever I managed to successfully do the roll! This shows the extent of their expertise on the river. Today was my first time kayaking in white water and I have to say, the feeling you get when you don't capsize is super...! I can't wait to see what other surprises the river has to offer me! As well as the staff being very supportive, the Keeners themselves are all very nice. They're all very different which makes the company unique and enjoyable to be a part of. The surroundings and cozy interiors are the perfect combination for a home far from home!

First day

Hello readers, my name is Thys Hubbell and I am one of the keeners in this program. I found out about this program for my dad who use to work here as a raft guide. This is my third year in the keener program. I live in Quebec and my other favorite sport is alpine skiing. I am here for 3 weeks and I hope to gain more confidence in my self-both on and off the river. This year, I am not as nervous on the river as I was before. The people in this program are very nice and patient with everyone. I hope all goes well for me during this session.    

Welcome to Keeners!

Welcome back to the Keener program!

We've got a brand new blog for a new year, so please be sure to check back in for daily and weekly updates! Every keener is required to write at least one blog post a week- and with 20 keeners in our first session, there should be plenty of blog posts to read and entertain you for the summer.

Here I am repairing one the Keener's skirts
last summer. Your child will learn how
to sew! 

My name is Anna Bruno, and I am the Keener Co-ordinator for the 2012 summer. This is my second year in the role of "Keener Mom" as it is affectionately called around here. I am responsible for the Keeners when they are off the water. I am typically seen holding a binder and a clip board, running around, making sure the keeners have enough food to eat, and that they keep there living space nice and tidy, and organize non paddling activities for them- like trips to see transformers, going mountain biking, trying the slack line, or playing a game of Banangrams.

A little bit about me: I am originally from the Philadelphia area, and have lived and worked in Canada, Vermont, Maine, Uganda, and West Virginia. I am an ACA Level 4 kayak coach, and a Registered Yoga Instructor.  I used to teach kayaking for www.kayakthenile.com , a small company located in Bujagali Falls, Uganda on the Nile river. This past year, I worked for New River Academy, where I taught English, Government, and Public speaking. With NRA, I was lucky enough to spend 4 months teaching and kayaking in Chile. After galavanting around the world with enthusiastic teenage kayakers, I am happy to be back home on the Ottawa river, which is truly one of the most spectacular places in the entire world.

It is great to have some familiar faces back in the keener program, and even better to see lots of new faces for the first session as well.

Returning Keener Miles Cree and I at Lachine last year. 

This year, I plan to keep the keeners active, happy and healthy- doing yoga at least 3 times a week, morning runs once or twice a week- as well as encouraging them to grow as people, on or off the water, in or out of their kayaks.

I am very excited to work with an extremely talented group of coaches this summer, including Ben Marr, Rush Sturges, Tino Specht, Joel Kowalski, Tyler Curtis, Ryan Whetung, Nick Troutman, Rafa Ortiz, Clay Wright, Stephen Wright, and many other guest coaches.

It is level "AWESOME" as we like to call it here on the Ottawa River. There is a wealth of features to play on- corner wave, baby face, Garberator, Pushbutton- perfect for keeners of all levels and experience to make the most of their time here.

Coaches for the week are Joel Kowalski, Tyler Curtis, Tino Specht and Ryan Whetung. Some of the goals for the first week back are to let everyone get to know each other and get comfortable with the river and the features. Swift Water Rescue training kicked off today- and first aid will follow this weekend!

Be sure to check back for more updates soon!