happy endings by Maddie Boys

It is now halfway through my last week of keeners, and I can't believe how quickly this session has gone by. Yesterday I arrived in the Ottawa airport, today I'm preparing to leave. And although this makes me sad whenever I think about it, I have so much to be happy about that I can't stay sad long. this evening all the keeners arrived starving and tired at WT after having just run the upper Petawawa River; a day that started out shakily but became increasingly amazing as soon as we got on the water. Actually I lied, it became amazing after a breakfast of pancakes, coffee, and chocolate milkshakes, but none of those things compared to the river. Even though the hike in was an hour of wet boats being carried, dragged, and otherwise hauled to the put in by equally wet people, it was completely worth it. The day's highlights consisted of me getting a (short) bow stall for the first time ever, playing with foam, and jumping off train bridges, along with some of the most fun whitewater I've paddled in a while.

jumping off train bridge

It was great to get experience running rivers apart from the Ottawa, and I think everyone learned something new today. I love the ottawa, but running new and less forgiving rivers is an important skill to have, especially for us unfortunate individuals who don't call the Ottawa River home.

The day had been so great that I thought it couldnt get any better, but little did I know the best was yet to come. Five minutes before lights out we were back in our cabans, and I received an email from an amazing person at River Run informing me he had found the Werner double diamond paddle i had lost the week before while surfing Kahuna. I was so excited I couldnt even talk to tell Anna the news. So even though this session is almost over and we are all saddened by the thought of leaving, we can look forward to all the amazing things that are going to happen in the next couple of days and give this session of keeners a very happy ending.

Race-Day Wednesday

Hey its Maddie with my second blog ;)

 Depending on how familiar you are with the keener program, you may or may not have heard of Beatdown Thursdays, the day everybody at keeners voluntarily subjects themselves to scary lines usually involving even scarier holes. Evidence of Thursday's carnage is likely posted frequently on this blog, complete with floating paddles and (hopefully) floating paddlers. What you may not have heard of, however, is what happens on Wednesdays. The slightly less famous, yet no less entertaining day we all forget to be scared of that hole we got stuck in on Thursday; paddling right through it on the way to the finish line at the end of whatever rapid we happen to be racing. Believe it or not, Race-Day Wednesday is often responsible for more swimming kayakers than any other day of the week. If you imagine trying to hold you're breath while running a marathon then you might have an idea of what its like to flip during a race. Today we got especially lucky because we got to do a boater-cross down coliseum rapid, with many people getting lost in the foam pile that is Big Kahuna. I can only imagine how entertaining it was for our coaches.
The first race I participated in must have been particularly entertaining because almost everybody missed their line by varying degrees, resulting in multiple upside-down kayaks being surfed in the middle of Big Kahuna, all trying in vain to continue downstream. Because racing isn't my strongest point I was last coming down the rapid, and all I remember right before I got eaten by the wall of foam was the hull of another kayak coming down on my head. Needless to say I didn't finish that race very quickly.
Luckily my last race was more successful and I came in a very close second (like ridiculously close) and although I didn't win I had a much better line that didn't involve running through every hazard you could find. All in all race day was really fun and I think we all learned a lot of river running skills as well as the best way to knock someone out of your way on a frantic race to the finish.

Reaching Your Goals

Everyone needs to set goals in order to improve. Without them, learning can be very difficult and

dysfunctional. This especially applies with kayaking, because without any direction, progress can

become slow and exasperating.


I often set goals that seem to be unrealistic and unattainable. I quickly become frustrated and give

up, so here are some of the simple steps I use to reach them.


1. Set your long term goal. This can be anything from being able to do a blunt, an airscrew, or even just a bow stall.

2. Set a few smaller goals that are easier to attain and will bring you closer to achieving your overall, long term goal. A few smaller goals can be spinning on a wave, learning a backdeck roll, or a simple double pump.


3. Set daily goals. This can simply be doing three double pumps on each side every day.


4. RECORD YOUR PROGRESS! This will be much more rewarding and will keep your focus on your long term goal. You can simply write it down, or even just talk to a paddling buddy.


5. Keep trying! Don't forget to never give up on your goals. Once you've learned something, it can stay with you forever.


One of my biggest goals for this session of keeners is to get a loop on a wave. But in order to do
this, I am constantly practicing my flat water skills, because if I can't do something on flat water,
than how could I hope to do it on a wave. Though this can often be demotivating because flat
water skills are not nearly as fun to practice, by using the above techniques I am making constant
progress and not losing sight of my overall goal.

paddling hard for race day wednesday