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.

How to do the best trick ever!!

How to Pan am!

A pan am is a super fun trick that is surprisingly easy to learn if you know already know how to air blunt! A pan am is a over vertical air blunt, the boat must be inverted and rotate 180 degrees while landing upright in a back surf or side surf. It is by far one of my best tricks as well as one of my all time favorites. Not to mention it looks awesome on the water! The steps to pan am are simple, yet they can become very complex if you make them.

1. Practice doing the blunt motion in the flat water.
2. Cycle to the top of the wave and charge down the wave on edge. Practice this step often so you make sure you can get good air.
3. Once you charge down on the wave on a edge and can get air, do the blunt motion.
4. As you air blunt, push on the paddle blade to turn the boat backwards, and flip your boat on top of you.
5. Once you are upside down, crunch with all your might to pull the boat underneath you. As you crunch, rotate the paddle blades so the water can pass under them, but you can still power the boat under you. 
6. Add a recovery stroke if needed!

While those steps may seem hard, once you break them down they are surprisingly easy. Then all you have to do is put them all together on the wave and you are all set!

The secret to doing a pan am is get the best take off possible. The best take off’s consist of hard edging, a strong initiation stroke. Most importantly do a pan am you need the confidence to flip the boat over on the wave. The pan am is a instant hit once you do it, and will absolutely “wow” your friends. The Keener program is a awesome way to learn this trick and many others, while you get to paddle sweet waves! Hope to see you out on the water!

Jacob Walker

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

Blind inspiration- Max Haworth

When I was fourteen I went to the ICF Canoe Freestyle World Championships. When I went I was just getting into kayaking, so when I saw the kayakers I was inspired to do so much more with kayaking. I began training so that I, too could be able to compete. It's been a year and I have grown so much and still am by finding people to help me get a lot better and a lot smarter on the water. I have met a lot of  people from kayaking. But when I came to keeners, I found a whole new form of inspiration. One day on the Ottawa I met two men who were blind. Those men were learning to kayak and went every day. They were learning to roll, paddle, and even surf.  It was incredible. One of them had a head set that allowed him to talk to his coach while going down the rapids. One day, we (the keeners) were surfing garb when one of the men came down and surfed with us on garb. Garb is one of the biggest rapids there is on the river. It was awe inspiring that they would come to the Ottawa to learn to kayak. I would be overjoyed to paddle with them again

Max Haworth