How To Surf Garb Passably - Patrick Kyle

The first time you drop into Garb feels like you get hit by a bus - don't panic, everything will be OK, so long as you edge the right way and don't face plant the rapidly moving water. If this doesn't deter you follow the next couple of steps to place yourself at a confidence level where you can start to have fun and learn some moves:

1) Make sure you avoid the curler coming out of the eddy - the large bubbly, foaming line of "don't go overness." This will rocket you far to river right and you will miss the wave or catch an edge and capsize. Drop in further down to miss the curler.

2) Don't stop paddling, once you're out of the eddy and dropping down, keep paddling towards Moby Dick and the full impact shouldn't overwhelm you. Keep your bow pointing right and lift up your left edge. Now you are off to the side comfortably skipping along the rail.

3) Wait until the top of the foam pile is to your left and carve on top of it - you may flush, but if you don't to begin with, you aren't trying hard enough.

4) Now you are sitting at the top of the foam pile, high up and in the perfect position to zoom down the wave. Lean forwards and your boat will drop down the foam pile and hit the green water. You will probably bounce, maybe get a little air depending, but make sure the face forward the whole time and you should be fine.

5) Point back to Moby Dick and surf out to the right of the foam pile and drop back. Follow steps 3 and 4 again. Repeat until confident on positioning on this wave.

All is set - if you follow these 5 simple steps, you should easily be able to attempt some epic tricks without being frustrated about the set up... enjoy.

Safety on the River by Bryce Aaron

This past weekend we learned first aid and Swiftwater Rescue. What I am going to talk about today is river signs and why they are important.

To start off, there are a few basic river sings that we should all know:

X- Crossing your arms in an "X" means don't come down.

l- With your arms or paddle straight up in the air mean all clear come down.

_-A horizontal line with your paddle mean don't come down too.

When a paddler mean a circle in the air then point in a direction means eddie out on left or right. If it's followed by a number, most likely "1" or "2" means it is a 1 or 2 person eddie.

Whistle blows are also important but vary between groups. 1 is normally look upstream, 2 is someone is getting worked or swam but is ok, and 3 is HELP, eddie out and go help. These calls do vary so it is good to review them before any run.

I hope that these river signals will help you on your next river. As a reminder it is always good to review these signals with your crew before you do your river.

Race Day!

     For some race day is the least favourite day of the week, personally i love it! i find race day not only a friendly competition but also a time to figure out your paddling strengths and weaknesses of river running. This past Wednesday we started out at the Mcoys rapid and proceeded to make teams of four and paddle different sections that linked together. Unfortunately we were one person short and had to make a team of three, which meant that one of us would have to paddle two legs of the race.... 

Well turns out the communication skills of teenagers at 8 o'clock in the morning are not always the best.  Thinking i was running the very last leg of four in the race i took my position just below right side Horseshoe and prepared to ferry the fairly nasty hole in the hopes that it would go well and be a fast line. In reality i was supposed to complete the second leg and tag Bean, he would then complete the last two. Shorty after the race we discovered i messed up and our team was awarded last place. That does not really matter though because the laughs after the race were priceless! Turns out Alex P. Speech about "Communication On The River" and it's difficulties was actually very applicable to our situation! 
                  Rule of Thumb: Always Double Check Your Plans and Communicate with your team!  

I Didn't have any Race day photo's so i choose a cool shot i took of Nick on competition day

By: Aidan Sweeney 

How not to surf Garburator

Seeing as it has only been a week into Keeners and yet, there have been many swims or close calls around the surf spot of Garburator, knowing how not to swim there should be very important for keeners to remember.

#1: Don’t flip in the eddy line

For those that don’t know, an eddy is known as the current that moves upstream and usually to the side of a rapid. Us kayakers use this to our advantage to paddle back up the rapid so we can resurf or run the rapid again. The eddy line however, (which is where the water going upstream and the water going downstream meet) can be very unpredictable and may try to flip you up. So far I have witnessed this already from a few fellow keeners as they have flipped up many times in the eddy line and been washed through Garburator upside down. However as they don’t swim from this, these keeners end up losing their spot in line and have to wait again to get back on Garburator. This is also by far one of the most hilariously entertaining moments to watch.

#2: Riding Moby Dick Rock upside down

Moby Dick rock, located on the eddy line beside can be a great way to drop into Garburator for your next surf. However, this would only be good if you are doing so the right way up. During our competition race day one keener decide to flip right in the eddy line and unfortunately got push by the current onto Moby Dick Rock upside down. This keener then pulled himself to the edge of the rock to then to then fall and face plant 2 feet off rock into the moving current. As this incident sounds very traumatic, the keener roll up laughing and excited from his Garburator beating. This makes me question the sanity of kayakers as we have learnt to enjoy and celebrate our experiences that would be considered traumatic to most people.

#3: Make sure your deck is on

Making sure your deck is on properly seems simple enough right? Well this may not always be the case depending if your under race conditions and your deck is not the easiest of decks to put on quickly. Unfortunately for one keener, she dealt with both of these issues at the same time. As she was floating down the river rushing to put her deck on, she failed to finish the job as it later popped off as she punched through the middle of Garburator. She then had to swim herself to the side where we then laughed it off after the race.

With these three lessons that I have learnt from other keeners how not to swim Garburator, you too will be able to make sure that your experience from garburator will be pleasant and  swell. This is assuming that you are not as insane as many of us keeners or instructors and that you enjoy your time in the boat right side up than upside down.

By Max C