Paddling With My Hero

I watched a couple, *cough* hundred *cough*, kayaking movies, edits or clips before I came to Keeners. This week I have already been able to paddle with four of my kayaking idols, Joel, Kalob, Stephen and Thomas. Before coming to Keeners, I never would have thought that I would get to paddle with the athletes in those videos and of that caliber. I look up to these guys when I go out on surf, try and think of what they would do. I feel so privileged to get influenced by such great and amazing athletes! I would love to syphon as much information from them in the next two weeks as I can because I may never get the chance to paddle with these athletes, the pioneers of modern day play boating, ever again. I’m going to make sure I am in prime condition to maximize time on the water to improve at the rate I currently am until the last day!

Thanks Joel, Kalob, Stephen and Thomas!

My experience on garb and how to improve surfs- Luke Pomeroy

Hello everybody today I will be talking about how to suit garb at the level 0. Today was the first day of week 2 of keeners and the level had dropped quite a bit over the weekend bring in new feature like pushbutton, babyface, and most importantly garb. At this level garb is pretty retentive and easy to stay on and like usual very bouncy and fun. Today was my first time ever surfing the wave and was instantly my favourite feature on the river barely beating kahuna. If you have never surfed garb before I would definitely encourage you to try and you will have some great dynamic surfs. 

Some tips on catching and surfing garb.

Always look upstream for oncoming rafts and kayakers.

Keep your bow facing upstream for best bounces

When dropping in go 2-3 meters above moby dick's rock and aim for the surfers right shoulder to catch the wave easily and not flush or catch your bow

If tired surf to left or right side on the shoulders to get a break BUT which the risk of getting flushed or not able to get back onto the wave

Try new things because the eddy is long and easy to catch so try new things while surfing 

The most important thing to do while surfing garb is HAVE FUN because is a great wave and super fun to surf 

Also try not to play bumper boats in the eddy though it can be hard to do but respect people's space and spot in line

gabriel'blog first week

Hi im gabriel, this is my first week back at keeners. Even though I only got here two days ago, I still have to write a blog so its gonna be hard for me to talk enough. I got here on Friday night, and on Saturday hopped in a boat Joel left there for me, THANKS JOEL. First I went over to corner wave and surfed there for a while but it was super flushy so I went down to the waikiki waves and ate at the lunch sait and surfed some more before geting to keener ville. The next day, Sunday (today) i went to GABErator....jaja, level droped so it was pretty foamey and  not yet fully formed how it should be. Me,Jack and Hamish got tons of Garbreator footage. Then we got back at keener ville after a really long paddle and tried to make popcorn and almost burn down the thunder dome:). Really looking forward to this week and having Steve o back as a head coach. 

Confidence on the River by Hank Boyd

Having been on the Ottawa River for a week now, I've learned many things about kayaking. These things include stay positive, stay safe, stay cautious, and always stay confident. Confidence can be the deciding factor between pulling your skirt and swimming after flipping and rolling back up. I've noticed that whenever you aren't confident in yourself on the river you will always fail. Yes, this is from personal experience. I came into Keeners after a long dry spell of no kayaking and wasn't very confident in my role or in my lines, but after a swim or two... or three, I realized that the reason why I wasn't very successful in my paddling was because of this lack of confidence. After acknowledging this fact, I had to make very concious decisions to stay positive and be confident in myself. While making these decisions I began to notice that my kayaking as a whole began to improve. I didn't improve because I drank some magic potion or I did a lot of push-ups, I improved because I became more confident in myself and my ability to kayak. Not only do you have to confident in yourself, but you also have to be confident in your paddling buddies. Without that external confidence, which is out of your control, you cannot learn in a safe environment which will inhibit your confidence in yourself.   

How to get the shot ferda boys!

Step 1:  Get the a Go Pro. If you do not have accesses to one, find the biggest DSLR camera you can find. The bigger the camera, the more professional you are (Am I right?). 

Step 2 : Convince your friends to throw down the biggest trick, even if it means they flush right away.

Step 3 : Take out at the top of the rapid so you do not have to run it. If you swim, all gear will be lost and you will have to go back to step 1.

Step 4 : Find the angle that makes the feature look gigantic and dangerous

Step 5 : If the feature you are shooting at is a small hole, get as far out into the current with a camera paddle without falling. This technique is just as good as a drone, I promise. If the feature is a large wave, climbed a tree to get the best angle, if you do it right, people will think that you are an expert drone pilot.

Step 6 : Brag about how great your shot was and how you are gonna get a gig at RedBull Media. 

Step 7 : Hop in your boat and paddle ahead to the next rapid and repeat steps 1 to 6.

Step 8 : Upload all of you footage, spend days making an edit. Order boxes upon boxes of pizza  and drink RedBull until the edit is done. Play a fast paced electronic song and match downbeats with cuts.

Step 9 : Upload the edit to YouTube. Then promote your channel and videos to everyone you meet, because every view counts!

 - Willem von Schilling

How to Munch -Ben Sandeman

My first week of Keeners was great, we ran and surfed some great rapids not too far from home. I will be giving everyone my step my step process of munching on river lunches in just 10 easy steps
. This is a not so top secret recipe that I mastered at my first session of keeners ever, last year and still use to date.
1.) Get right off the water and make some hot chocolate to warm up

2.) Ask the kitchen staff and raft guides if they need any help, if they say no skip to number 5.)
3.)Do whatever tasks to help at lunch site ie:clean bathrooms, make burgers and sausages, etc.

4.)Do it with a smile and positivity

5.) MUNCHTIME, time to prepare and munch on some lunch

6.)Make a Ben Burger™, to do this get 2 cheese burger patties,1 regular patty and a sausage

7.)Take the sausage and cut it in half and slicing it completely down the middle,eat half the sausage leaving 2 1/4 pieces to put in the burger

8.) Put it all together 

9.)Add toppings including onions, lettuce,tomatoes and ketchup and mustard

10.)MUNCHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Week in a Strange Place by Jack Paulin

Yeah nah, the first week of keeners so far has been one of the best weeks of my life and I have had more fun than ever before. The first two days were kind of just warm up days and getting back into the swing of things and what not but from wednesday onwards it has been all go. The champions so far for the three competitions have been strongly overpowered by the kiwis! With the one and only Hampsta Mackay taking out the race day and the infamous Otis Rayner easily winning the great red ribbon for Big Water Beatdown Bacon Thursday with a nasty beatdown in the puppy chow hole after colliseum rapid and then today i took out the freestyle comp with Hampsta coming in close second. I am currently rooming with the man himself Otis Rayner in the best cabin of all, the white house. An activity that we frequently take part in is our nightly foosball match, where myself and B-rook are still unbeaten against Hunky Hank and Oti. Something that I also find strange about this wonderful place is the wildlife. We have encountered snakes, all sorts of bugs and even a bear or two and a couple few deer here and there. The strangest of all animals we have encountered is a Rhino, AKA Ryyyyaaannnnnnn Jeeennnnkikkkkkkiiiiiinnnns. All in all the camps is going great, the coaches are awesome and so helpful and Anna is the best camp mum there is. A special thanks to my loving parents meg and kev for helping me get here and helping me chop and sell all the firewood for it too.
Jack

First week at Keeners- Luke Pomeroy

This is my first time coming to keeners and from the second I stepped foot in keenerville to as I sit here writing this I haven't stopped having a great time with new friends and the best river in the world. This week I accomplished a lot and tried many new lines and surfs for the first time here are some that I  have done so far, I surfed right side phils, ran satlers toung, surfed Waikiki, surfed big kahuna a bunch of times and much more. In just the first week of keeners I have learned so much and boosted my confidence in big water and larger features. I know the next few weeks will be the same and I will learn a lot. I always am looking forward to paddling in the morning other than happy shoulders back paddling on the flat water as Joel speeds past us and Kalob shows us his flatwater moves. This week we have seen the water levels 6-2 on the Ottawa with all of them bringing in new features every day. We're always learning here from ropes and knots to making paddling movies to finding the gnarliest line there is always something new to learn at keeners, and I'm exited to keep learning new things and improving my paddling in the coming weeks.
Luke

My week- Hamish MacKay

I was excited to finally get off the airplane on Sunday morning and get back to my favourite kayak spot, the Ottawa river. Being back for my second year in a row brought back good memories, and I was ready to make new friends and improve my kayaking. We started off the week with a basic run down the middle channel to test everyones strengths. I got to try out my burrowed boat and paddle, which I love because the gear is top of the line. The first day was a great reminder of the river and knowing my limits.

On Tuesday we got to run the main channel at a water level 5 1/2 feet which is my favourite part of the Ottawa river. It contains the lawn rapid with great surfing waves like waikiki which is super fast and bouncy. It has the Colosseum rapid which has the big Kahuna wave/hole which was good for beatdowns. These are a few of my favourite things on the main among other things that come in at different water levels.

On Wednesday we had race day. This consisted of a race down the Mccoy's rapid being timed and whoever was fastest to complete the course which went through Sattler's tongue and beside Phil's hole and touch the boat at the end was the winner. We had a few practice runs but I only did one because I was on film crew for that day and needed to get some shots of other Keeners doing the course. On my first run I didn't do to well because I flipped up going through Sattlers, knocking my time back. On my second run I didn't flip and had a good line which I was super happy with. My second run meant a great deal in the end because I ended up winning the race and was awarded the prestigious pink ribbon and an Oreo cookie ice cream. 

Today (Thursday) was BIG WATER BEATDOWN BACON THURSDAY which is my favourite time of the week, and also a favourite for many other Keeners. The main beatdowns of the day occurred on Mccoy's Rapid where you can choose from features such as right side Sattlers hole, left side Phil's Hole or Right side Phil's hole. I choose Right side Sattlers for my first beatdown because I was too scared to do it last year and I though I might as well get it out of the way. I turned out I had a right to be scared of it because I ended up getting the nastiest but best beatdown of my life so far with a tumbling in the hole of about thirty seconds. But by the end of it I ended up feeling a lot better about the going into big whitewater, having control, and feeling slightly less scared about BEATDOWNS.

The first week has been great and I can't wait to keep improving and keep having the most fun that I have all year. 

P.S Thanks to Mum and Dad for helping me get come for a second year!

Otis's Blog - Week 1, Thursday

On my first week of Keeners away from beautiful green New Zealand I have done more than 5 winter's worth of kayaking (as it's winter in NZ, the poles and whatnot) and more than 10 winter's worth of sunlight, I can feel my skin burning as I type. The water-flow was about six feet this week, meaning that that the river is not at all familiar to me because my previous visits where at -0 feet. But this also means that there are a few radical features I can tear up, namely the Big Kahuna and Waikiki waves, the Waikiki wave is a speedy wave with a left and right face. The left face is very difficult to reach but has the steepest slope which means that it's great for aerial tricks like airscrews or blunts, the Big Kahuna however is a different story it's gnarly crashing waves will pick you up, turn you around and slam you down. This crashing wave-ish hole hybrid is very difficult to remain in control whilst surfing and you'd be lucky to come out with a spin. 

Wildlife differs at the Ottawa river compared to New Zealand, over the course of today I saw 5 snakes, one of which was a 15 meter long rattlesnake which I wrestled and almost died catching, coming out with a bite on my hand (I lied the snake may have been smaller and non-venomous). Other non-reptilian critters include the pair of bears that live in the far side of the paddock on the drive home from Wilderness Tours™ base, a muskrat, a bever and some deer.

An unfortunate necessity for blog writing is an 'instructional sequence' where I tell my readers a step by step guide on how to do something I have decided to inform you of the horror that is Happy Shoulders.

1. Find a long flat expanse of water
2. Back paddle, this is done by putting in your paddle at your hips and pushing out to your toes using arm power and torso rotation
3. Do 5 strokes
4. Feel burning pain in shoulders
5. Look downstream to see Joel 3 miles, back paddling like a steam engine
6. Feel Demotivated
7. Try to paddle forwards
8. Get yelled at by Kaleb
9. Go back to step 3

Thank You and goodnight,

Otis

My First trick-Baker Casagrande

I wait in the line as corner wave roars next to me. Some guy I don't know is throwing blunts, spins, flashbacks and a lot of other stuff that is really cool. As he sits on the wave for ever, I think about what I can do... NOTHING. Even though I have been paddling for a while my play skills are not there because well... I don't play much. So this is it. I have to do something now. When the fiberglass boat guy is finally flushed off the wave, I make my way in. I push Over the eddy line and work my way onto the wave. Here I am, chilling fairly comfortably, but still not doing anything. OK, lets spin. Having tried this many times but never actually making it around, I am not really sure how this will turn out, but hey, got to keep trying.

Here is how I know it is supposed to go:

1. Face up stream and decide which way you want to spin,
2. Take a backward sweep stroke on the side that you want to spin to. 
3. Now that you have done this, be sure to keep looking up stream as your boat begins to rotate, as is the point of a spin. As you turn keep the upstream edge up.
4. If you did this successfully, you will now be backwards. 
5. Now take a forward sweep stroke on the other side. Like with the back sweep stroke, you want to keep your upstream edge up and make sure to look up river. 
6. Theoretically, your spin is now complete. 

Now I have known these steps for a while, but never been able to execute. I start with the back sweep. WOW, look at this, Im still up, and backwards! Now the forward sweep. I place my paddle in the water at my toes and pull to my hips. SUCCESS! My first trick!

Baker

Improvement is key by Sarah Eadie

The first week here at keeners is half way over and i'm already overwhelmed by how much I have learnt. The first day back on the river was my first time kayaking this season. I started kayaking at the age of twelve but it was only for a week during the summer holiday over a span of 4 years, so honestly not very much! Before coming to keeners I had my whitewater roll and basic skills, but nothing too complex. Monday was very hard; my rolls weren't consistent and I didn't have much confidence around big water. Tuesday was much better and with the help of the keener coaches I regained some of that confidence I knew I already had but up until that point had lost.

Today was pretty epic, I didn't swim once and had a pretty good time surfing fluffy bunny. I'm extremely  excited to see what these next few weeks have in store for me. I am determined to improve each day and by the end of this session I want to be the best I can be.

Sarah 

Why is That Guy Pouring Ketchup in his Ear?

At Keeners we are on the river every day. It is very easy to get ear infections when you are in the warm water all the time. Because of this, it is very common to see people pouring liquid from a ketchup bottle into their ear. It is a strange sight, but it has good reason. Ear infections are a quick easy way to be off of the river for a day or more. To prevent these nasty little infections, just follow these simple steps:

1.     Find the red ketchup bottle with EAR MIX written on it.

- Don't worry. It doesn't actually have Ketchup in it. Inside is a magic mix of White Vinegar, Rubbing Alcohol, and Hydrogen Peroxide. The vinegar neutralizes, the alcohol dries out the water, and the hydrogen peroxide adds some fizz.... 

2.     Tilt your head sideways.

3.     Pour the ear mix into your ear.

4.     Let it fizz in your ear for a while.

5.     Repeat with the other side.

At first it may seem silly and uncomfortable to use the ear mix, and many first time Keeners “forget,” but they soon learn that an ear infection is way worse than a couple seconds with the ketchup bottle every day.

Brook Leigh

Keener Animal Trackers by Ryan Jenkins

The wildlife spotting's for this session have started out strong. On my trip up to Keener vile I spotted a fox crossing the road, a first for me. Monday's trip back from dinner was worthy of note, we saw two black bears in a field. Tuesday was a big day for spotting, there was a report of a snake spotting along the rocks at the WAI KI KI waves.

After dinner we saw a lone deer in the same field that we saw the bears in, when we finally reached the Keener vile road after a mini bus music party we found a snapping turtle in the road. After a short face off and a few gentle pokes the turtle was returned to the woods he seemed to have come from. That's all the we Keeners have found so far, but here to more wildlife spotting's in the future.

Welcome to Keeners 2015

Summer has officially started- and the Keeners are back on the water, ready for action. (And Blogging! )

We have a small first session- only 11 Keeners this week-  but a diverse group! Three from New Zealand, Several from the US and Canada, and one from Costa Rica joining us on Friday.

The water level has been hovering around 5 and 3/4, meaning fun times and varied lines on both the Middle and the Main.

Hope to see you on the water, or follow our adventures here at okskeeners.blogspot.com

or like us on facebook! OKS KEENERS

Love and Whitewater-

The Keeners!