England comes to the Ottawa river - Daniel Whiteley

Today was the first big water Thursday of this oks keener session. It was really cool to run the McCoys rapid again with everyone in the group because it helps teach you different lines and which lines are the best. Seeing everyone do the lines then say how it was can really build confidence because you know after watching them and listening to them, it shows that no matter how big the rapids look, it's all safe and anyone can run all the possible lines. the lines are all really awesome in such different ways, like the line that goes though the middle of phils hole which is a big hole in the middle of the rapid and is really safe if you get it right. All you need to do is be at the peak of the wave in front of phils hole called the marker wave becasuse it marks which line you're taking through the hole. Then paddle quite hard straight forwards to get it perfect. The other safe way though phils is to go hard right of the of the hole to sneak past nicely. you can surf either right or left side of the hole to get either a really good surf or possibly take a beatdown and it might push you out. The only thing about phils hole is you have to be really confident to be able to control the boat and try not to have a beat down unless you really want a beatdown because it's big water Thursday.
One really safe line is the one i took on my first run which is through the top hole on the left side of the rapid called satlers hole. To play it safe you go through the middle of satlers and there's a tongue which pushes you straight out but slightly to the left and in to the eddy at  river left. From here you can go to an eddy just below phils which is called safety eddy because from this is a very safe place to be no matter where you want to go downstream.
After we had finished paddling and had came back from dinner we used a slack line and it was my first time on one, it's like a tight rope but a couple inches wider and also way more bouncy. I guess i still need a little more practice but it's a lot fun even though it's super difficult.