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...