The Choices of the Ottawa by Ben Heath

When people think of the Ottawa river, they normally think of Mccoy’s Rapids, along with the main channel. The main channel is the classic Ottawa river. It is the home of the Colosseum Rapid, one of the biggest and most challenging stretches on the river, as well as so many amazing features, such as Pushbutton, Garburetor, Waikiki, Mini-Bus, and of course the world famous Buseater Wave.

However, not all of these features are in at the same time depending on the water level. At some levels, none of them are even in! Right now, with the river level at 6 ft, only Waikiki is in, leaving the main channel without many features to play on.

However, the main channel is not the only part of the Ottawa River. After Mccoy’s Rapids, the river parts. If you were to continue straight instead of hooking a right to go to the main, you will be brought to the Middle channel of the Ottawa. The Middle channel is definitely a step down from the Main as far as size and difficulty goes, but it is able to hold it’s own as far as features go. With the water level at 6 ft like it was today, S bend, Butterfly, and Upper No Name were at prime play levels. Instead of camping out at Waikiki for hours, struggling to get a quality surf, we were able to surf on these beautiful features without any real effort to catch them.

Even thought many people tend to view the Middle channel as a smaller, wimpier brother to the Main, it can be easily forgotten that the Middle is home to Garvin’s Chute, arguably the hardest rapid on the entire river. Garvin’s is a rapid that is normally just portaged by boaters, because it is normally not runable at all at lower waters, and when it is, it is definitely a challenging rapid. Garvin’s is not just one rapid however, it is actually split off into four different drops all adjacent to each other. Elevator shaft on far river right, followed by Dragon’s Tongue next to it, then ST Chute, and then WT Chute.

Running WT Chute

All of these, with the exception of WT Chute, are very challenging rapids that are super
fun to run, and definitely make the Middle channel a great, if not better, alternative to the Main channel.

The Middle Channel of the Ottawa River

        For those of you that are unaware, the Ottawa River Rocher Fendu section consists of two white water channels that kayakers as well as rafters run. The Main Channel, which is where most of the water flows meaning higher volume rapids, larger holes and waves, deeper and faster moving water. There is also the Middle Channel which is much lower volume with much shallower and generally shorter rapids. Although the Middle Channel may seem less interesting, It is still a fantastic place to challenge yourself and practice some skills. Some of these reasons include:

Map of the Rocher Fendu Section

1. There still are large rapids.
        The Middle Channel consists of one of the largest and most difficult rapids on the Ottawa River called Garvin's. This rapid contains three main lines that may challenge you all in different ways. ST Chute is the river left most channel which is a small chute with a giant hole at the bottom. Although the hole is very flushy, making it through upright is always a challenge. The other middle section is called dragons tongue, which within itself  has two lines, the main tongue with a small drop at the end and also the Boof of Destiny. This line has always been the result of lots of carnage and people getting worked. The river right most line is called Elevator Shaft, which at the current level is completely dried up but at higher water is a fun rock slide.

2. There are plenty of spots to play.
        The Middle Channel consists of many play spots with virtually no line up the majority of the time. The holes, although shallower and smaller are a difficult place to practice skills, The kayaker must be in complete control of their boat as flushing is very easy. Although this may not seem very appealing, it helps improve a kayakers ability to understand and be aware of what is around them or risk flushing off of the wave or out of the hole. These holes are also deep enough to do every trick imaginable without risk of anything down stream and the eddies are also fairly large so it is rarely a challenge to catch them even if you miss one or two rolls. 

3. There are still opportunities to get worked and challenge yourself. 
        When a group of us went down the Middle Channel on Tuesday, some of us decided to try to do a boof off the side of a rapid called Butterfly. Virtually everyone followed our instructor Kalob Grady through a line that we thought was the line we were supposed to run, however he was trying a new line and ended up getting worked. Not knowing what the actual line was, all of us followed him and got a good beatdown. 

        Although many people opt to run the Main Channel as they feel it may be more of a challenge, The Middle Channel is always a fantastic option to improve your skills and have a fun day. It is always how you make of the day and how you use your time to become the best that you can be with what is given to you. It is also always a fantastic idea to try and challenge yourself in new holes and new waves so you learn how to read the water and not just understand the one play spot you spend all of your time in. 

The Keener Experience (David Koyrakh)

Three days into Keeners and the fun has already begun!

Hey there, my name is David Koyrakh. I am a beginner play-boater and this is my second year at Keeners. I chose to return for a second year because it is truly a great experience and I want to get better at kayaking.

We started off the day on the water by splitting into groups. My group was lead by Kalob (shout out to Team Alpha!). To kick things off we went to surf Babyface and then we paddled the Middle Channel. At Babyface I had my first real surf, which lasted about one minute! For readers that have never surfed a wave before, it felt a lot like wakeboarding or sketchy tubing. Needless to say it was one of the funnest minutes I have ever experienced. Catching your first wave is like a playboater`s first steps, and Babyface is perfect for that.

Throughout the day we surfed a couple holes and I worked on strengthening my whitewater roll. Here at Keeners we improve quickly because we kayak for three weeks straight with some of the best kayakers on Earth. But Keeners doesn`t just make you a better kayaker, it makes you a better person.

Here we learn independence, communication skills, proper etiquette (both on and off the river), and how to take care of our environment. Every morning we are expected to do the morning exercise, cook breakfast, and, most importantly, clean up after ourselves. On Mondays we have Speech Night, where we take turns giving `speeches` to the group. Yesterday was the first speech night and the topic was the Icebreaker Speech. Writing weekly blogs and giving speeches improves our people skills.

To wrap this up I would like to give a HUGE shout to our coaches, keener moms, Mr. Kowalski, and everyone who helps keep this program alive. Without Keeners there would be a couple extra hundred bored thrill-seeking teenagers (a dangerous combination) wasting their potential every summer. Thank you!!

Boof Of Destiny

Boof of Destiny

Dragons Tongue on the Middle Channel has always been my favorite rapid on the Ottawa River. It looks like a very intimidating rapid but its actually not that hard. The normal line has always been my line of choice until yesterday. The boof of destiny is a boof on the left side of dragons tongue. It doesn't look bad but a past keener got stuck behind the curtain of water for about 40 seconds. I have scouted that line many times, but the fact about getting stuck behind the curtain has always stopped me from running that line. Yesterday, I went for three runs down the normal line and felt confident that I could hit the right line at the boof of destiny. Me and Max decided to give it a go. We both had very good lines and made it down safely.

Flying Off the Boof of Destiny. Photo Stephen Wright

The boof of destiny has now become my favorite line down dragons tongue. After four years of scouting that line I finally decided to give it a go and it went smoothly. Today is race day and I hope we can race down Dragons Tongue. Not a boatercross race but we can time our runs through different lines and it could be very fun.

Mauricio Martinez Laresgoiti