Big Water (no beatdowns)

DISCLAIMER: This blog was meant to be posted Monday, but there were some technical difficulties.

Hi my name is Greyson Cohen. I’m 16 years old from New York and this will be my second year at Keeners. Today was day 2 of the first session and things have started off well. The water level is at around 14 (to put that in perspective; last year during session 1, the level was at around -3) and Buseater is on its way out.

            Despite the dropping levels, many of us decided to have fun and surf it anyways. For me, (and I’m sure many others) it was the largest wave/hole I’ve ever surfed. We practiced dropping in from the eddy above to get comfortable dropping in on a large wave. I personally missed the first three tries but I kept trying and got two satisfying surfs afterwards.  Surfing mini-bus was the most fun I’ve had surfing a wave EVER!  It was definitely comforting to know that there was good safety set below and flipping in it would flush you out almost immediately.

            After that, we had a lot of fun playing in the whirlpools that form at Butcher’s Knife, which is the next rapid below The Lorne. Afterwards, we ran Lunch Stop Waves and Norman’s which both consisted of large wave trains, which were fun to launch off of. Next we stopped to scout Coliseum. Running it was very different than last year because of the high water but the line was really simple and big.

            Overall, paddling on the Ottawa for the past two days was a totally different experience than anything from last year due to the high water. The high water created an incredibly fun experience. If the past two days are an indicator of what is to come for the rest of the session, then things will be great.