Why I Come Back Every Year- Cat Hardman

I have been coming back to Keeners for the past three years. Some might ask why I come back year after year or don't you get bored going to the same kayaking school. Well, no, I could never get bored coming to the OKS Keener Program, it's almost impossible.

Reason One 

Every year you get to meet about 20 new people, and some of them are from all around the world, I have been able to make new friends and have paddling buddies across the globe. Having good friends is key to a lot of things in life, for example you should have good friends in kayaking. When you go paddling with your buddies on the river you put your trust in them to save you if anything goes wrong. Therefore at Keeners, you make friends, which in the long run you can put your trust in them when you go kayaking. A great thing about having friends in the Keener Program is that you all learned the same safety skills which can benefit you when paddling with each other.

Reason Two

The Ottawa River is fun in general. No matter what level the river is at there is always something to surf. Last year the water level was around zero, which meant Garb and Push Button was in. This year the level has been between 15 and 16 feet. Every rapid is so much bigger or not even there, but what could be in at 15 feet. Wait, what, Mini Bus? No way I thought, like it's July, not April or May when it normally comes in because of all the snow melt. Though there has been a lot of rain and it's in. I have never been so utterly terrified and excited at the same time. It's really scary because the waves on the main channel are twice the size of me and when they crash down on you it hurts. It is all fun because all these new waves are in that I have never surfed and it is always fun the surf new features. This river has big water and it can prep you for bigger volume rivers that you might run in the future. Paddling Ottawa has helped me not be as scared on rivers that have massive waves or holes.

Reason Three

At Keeners you will get the coaching of a lifetime. Over the past three years I have had to chance to be coached by Stephen Wright, Clay Wright, Nick Troutman, Claire O'Hara,  Joel Kowalski, Kalob Grady, Bren Orton, Dane Jackson, Tyler Curtis, LP Rivest, and James Metcalfe. These kayakers are phenomenal kayakers and if you come to Keeners you get the chance to paddle and get coached by these athletes. At Keeners you may not learn a trick completely but here you at least learn the concept of a trick. Also these coaches push you to get beatdown and it teaches how to stay calm in scary situations. For example, 2015 was the first year I went to Keeners and it also was the first year I ran the Upper Gauley in West Virginia. In the first year of Keeners I was taught that it's not always safe to come out of your boat if you have trouble rolling in a big rapid or getting beatdown in a big hole. After Keeners that year I went and paddled the Upper Gauley; there is a rapid on there called Pillow Rock that is a class IV rapid with has an eddy called the Room of Doom that you can get stuck in. To get out, a rope must be thrown to you, the rock that creates the eddy is also a huge undercut rock. I got to the top of the rapid and started paddling down, a wave train hit me and I flipped and slammed into rocks all the way down. Normally I would have pulled my skirt, but if I did I would have been in a lot of danger and could have possibly drowned. Thanks to Keeners I had learned that it isn't always safe to swim and it can be easier to just stay in the boat and try to roll at the end. That is just one of many things I learned at Keeners.

Reason 4 

In my own words I say the real reason I come back is "Why not?" and in the words of LP Rivest "Because we can!"