Big Water Beat Downs and Chemical Burns by Rose Menominee

Hey readers! Rose here, I'm sixteen, this is my first time at keeners and oh boy am I sore. I had my first Big Water Beat down Thursday last week and I was more than a little bit scared. My mum always told me: "Don't go down Phil's hole or you will die." (I suggest you read that in a stern mom voice so you can get the full experience.) So naturally I was more than a little bit scared when the coaches told us we were running McCoys on Thursday. despite my immense fear I was able to convince myself that running that section of river would make me a better paddler as well as give me more confidence when paddling big water. I only did two lines, both times trying to catch Phil's tongue, unfortunately I missed both times. The first time I was way to far left and got beat down in left side Phil's, the second time however things were going pretty good but I then realized I was too far right.  I ended up surfing right side Phil's, which was super cool, although for most of my surf I was more than a little confused, I hadn't expect to surf anything at all let alone right side Phil's. My mother would have killed me.

I had first aid over the weekend which was pretty good, I thought I learned a lot. However right after first aid ended I went back to my cabin only to spill toilet bowl cleaner on my self, I then read the package and found the scary skeletal hand symbol that meant the product can corrode or burn you. I completely forgot everything I was told and jumped into the shower. Luckily that was the correct thing to do and I was spared a nasty chemical burn.

Until next time,

Rose

Practicing throw ropes in SRT yesterday

BIG WATER BEAT-DOWN THUSDAY

Keeners is a world famous kayaking school that attracts great kayakers from around the globe. keeners is a wildy popular and a growing camp, something that keeners is famous for is big water beat-down Thursday!

BWBT is a super fun day where we do challenging runs at big rapids where you are most likley to swim. the purpose of BWBT is to build confidence for kayakers who are nervious in big water. the ottawa is a incredibly safe river, its super deep and there is a almost 0% of injury because of this BWBT is really safe and a great learning experience.

At the end of BWBT we all come back and watch the beat-down that were filmed and then as a whole we decide on who got the biggest beat down. this week i personally won with the best beat-down. it was a accidental beat-down where i missed a boof over dogsleg and kept getting recirculated into a wicked hole! I was a bit scared at first but then i gathered my wits and assessed the situation but trying to flip my kayak and surf out of the hole. this worked partially because on my way out after being beat-down for almost a minute my skirt imploded and I was flushed out of my boat and rocketed down stream. i learned a lot from this experience. I learned the true power of the Ottawa and what to do when i am stuck in a hole.

thank you for reading my blog i will be posting again soon!

Week #2, Post #2!

Hi guys, Jarand writing!

This have been one of the most awesome weeks in my life. This life is a dream life; kayaking all day, eating restaurant food, and social evenings! A good variant of the principle eat, sleep and paddle! I am really recommending OKS keeners!

Scouting Iron Ring our first BWBDT

This day has been incredible; bigwater beatdown thursday is really a bigwater beatdown day! We started the day with Swift Water Rescue, which is super fun, and also very important when you are on the river. We paddled down to the Lorne and ate lunch when SRT was done. Then, after lunch started the real BWBDT. We paddled down the rapids against coliseum, were we went out of the kayak to scout. That was the first time I saw the wave Kaihuna big! It was ENORMOUS! We were told that we didn't had to paddle down this big rapid, but everyone had to swim it! There were mixed feelings in the group, but this was a challenge many finished very well. All swimmers came down safely. I was full of adrenaline, and I thought that this highlight of the day. I was wrong.

We went up to our kayaks again, and we could choose how we wanted to run this rapid. Me and 4-5 other keeners paddled down into the eddy next to Kaihuna. We decided to surf it. Matt rode it first. It was incredible. After Matt
came Canon, and then me. It is definitely the biggest wave I've ever surfed. It was probably not the longest surf but it was intense! We were all very exited. It was the greatest day of the session so far, definitely.

Last blog next week!
Jarand