How I Became to be a Keener By Nick Markoff

Practing Playboating Drills in Warmup

It all started when I was finishing up another boring day at school, my dad came to pick me up and as I got into his old Range Rover and asked, "Do you want to kayaking with Isabel in canada for three weeks?" "Sure!" I replied. I had no clue about what I was getting myself into and I, over the next few weeks, asked my dad random questions about it either stating that he didnt know or that he would call and ask. What we did know was that it was on the Ottawa and to bring a playboat. I had been on the Ottawa river the previous year and had enjoyed myself immensely so I was really excited! On the other hand, the other piece of information I had was that I was to bring a playboat... I had never set foot in a playboat before and had seen them on rivers surfing the holes an waiting in line. My old kayaking teachers at a different camp had taught me river running and we had never spent much time surfing. When the date to leave drew nearer, I became very nervous about if I would be able to paddle this boat. When We left, we took my cousin Isabel and we drove from Maryland up to the Ottawa. After our ten hour drive ended, we went to Keenerville, my home for the next three weeks, and met Anna who was to be our keener mom. I went to bed early and woke up to "mom" banging on our door asking us if we were awake. When we had gotten our gear on, we went though the basics of playboating and I felt so off balance and out of my element, but through our instructors Steve-0, Kalob, Juan, Devyn, and Clay, I have already improved greatly and been able to start surfing and learning the basics of the tricks we are to eventually learn for the rest of the time here. I am stoked to see the progress I make throughout the next two-and-a-half weeks here!