How to win eternal glory (red ribbon) - Jacob Fulford

Now I know many of you who are reading this blog don’t know what the red ribbon is, so let me fill you in. At keeners you win different colored ribbons for different achievements. Gold ribbon for winning competition Friday, blue ribbon for best blog, green ribbon for best speech, pink ribbon for winning race day and red ribbon for winning Big Water Beat Down Thursday. Ribbons mark accomplishments that you can then attach to your gear to show off to everyone one the river.

Now that you are somewhat filled in I can elaborate on the more important part, HOW TO WIN ENTERNAL GLORY!!!!!!!!!!

Step #1: find something that intimidates you and then throw your self into it

What intimidates you will probably be different from what intimidates someone else. But if you want the get the red ribbon you have throw your self into the burliest biggest badest hole.

Step #2: keep moving.

When you’re in the hole you have to keep moving, keep paddling to stay in the center and try not to drift off the sides to much. If you find that you’ve been upright and in control for to long, it’s a good idea to throw in a couple up stream braces to initiate some tumbling

Step #3: You MUST want it

To have a fighting chance at winning the red ribbon or having a honourable mention you must want it, you have to eat, sleep and breath getting trashed. You have to paddle back into the hole no matter what.

Now if you follow these 3 easy steps you could be like me next Thursday.

Optional Qualifications that help:

Be able to hold your breath for an absurd amount of time (last year I broke a keener record with 1m47s)

Own hand paddles (they add style points while giving you a tad bit more control)

Get hit by a raft (I'm semi seriously but really don’t they hurt a lot(you didn’t hear it from me))

Get someone to record it (having it on video will then make it official and then people will know forsure that your deserving the ribbon)

THINGS TO NOT DO:

Swim – swimming highly reduces your chance at winning a red ribbon, if you feel out of breath just push threw until your back up right then surf/spin out

Be in control – yes being in control is generally a good thing with your in a gnarly hole but on Thursday’s it wont help you at all you want the get thrashed and be out of control while staying in the hole, it really an art in my opinion, getting a good beat down is rather majestic and rare, like a unicorn

Now if you’ve read this far down I must say thank you and I hope that my blog has been helpful. And if you are doubting what I’ve said I should let you know I'm a two time red ribbon winner and these steps have been proven to work

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

Corner Wave with Max Rayner

Hello internet! Welcome back to my blog. Has anyone ever wondered where the word blog comes from? Say "web-log" a couple times and you'll work it out.

Corner wave is feature on the Ottawa river located at the top of the bottom half of McCoys chute. It is fast, diagonal, green, hard to surf and difficult to get back into the eddy after you fall off the wave.

Reasons I like Corner Wave:

1. Always short lines

Is it because people are intimated of the Horse Shoe feature below, is it because it's hard to stay on for long periods of time, or maybe it's because the easier to surf Baby Face wave is just downstream. There are short lines because of all of these reasons. Corner Wave is just above where the river makes a 90° turn to the right, after this turn is the shallow and powerful Horseshoe hole where there is a small tongue in the centre. This hole has been the reason for many injuries and damaged egos. Corner Wave surfs are generally short and sweet which isn't appealing for beginner boaters.

2. It makes you strong

Corner Wave is always a workout. Once you arrive at Corner Wave you will quickly find yourself out of breath. Generally a Corner Wave surf will last around 30 seconds. As soon you fall off the the wave you have to start sprinting to make it back into the eddy. Sometimes it only takes a few strokes but other times when you flush off the far side you need to go into "Usain Bolt" to make the eddy. Effort is ALWAYS required to catch the Corner Wave eddy. There's a rule that if you miss the eddy and walk back up you must do 15 push-ups. Push-ups are done to make build strength so you don't miss the eddy in the future.

3. It makes you focus in your technique.

Corner Wave is very flushy (hard to stay on) this means that when you throw tricks you need no make sure they are done perfectly in order to stay on the wave. Theres a saying on the Ottawa river that if you can do a trick on Corner Wave you can do it anywhere. Moves such as a spin must be done with the correct technique i.e. Weight and paddle blades in the right positions and shifted at the correct times.

4. It's where all the good kayakers hang out.

Two years ago myself and my friend Quinton went for a surf at Corner Wave after dinner one night. In the eddy was Ben Marr, Joel Kowalski, Rush Sturges and Pat Camblin. These kayakers are some of the best wave boaters in the world. My point though is not to go to Corner Wave and get star-struck from the gods of kayaking, it's to learn from them. Every time I'm in the Corner Wave eddy I'm constantly watching the good kayakers surfing. I take notes on where they place their paddle, move their weight and dig in edges. I try to do tricks the same way they do and build my skills off this.

Corner Wave is a great wave to improve skills, build strength and make friends with awesome people. I highly recommend it to everyone. Have a nice day! 

Trying to get the proper technique of a blunt

Paddling hard to catch the eddy.