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.

The Upper Petawawa (Ben Heath)

Today was our roadtrip day! The day started for us at 6:30, and by 7:00 we were out to the river. The river was only about two hours away, so the drive was not bad at all. However, the Upper Pet, like almost all nature runs, had a bit of an approach to it. While the two mile flat approach was not bad in comparison to many other longer and steeper approaches, it was still hard for someone who was not used to hiking with all of their gear, and a kayak on their back.

 By the time we all finally got to the put-in, it was cold, and had been raining for twenty minutes with no sign of letting up. When we finally got on the river after eating a quick lunch, many of us were cold, tired from the hike in, and put down by the rain. However, as soon as we reached the first rapid all of those feelings were replaced with excitement and adrenaline. The first rapid consisted of a beautiful 8 foot boof. With no hole or real pourover  underneath, this was a great, safe place to practice boofing. After running a few laps on the boof, we continued down the river. 

Scouting on the Upper Petawawa

The river was not like the Ottawa. Instead of having mostly big water, this river was much more creek like; shallow, rocky, technical, and lots of little but powerful holes to boof. It was definitely fun to switch things up and try a different style of whitewater. Throughout the day we would get out to scout the bigger rapids we came across, as well as practiced reading the river as we went, following the coaches. Towards the end of the day we came across another big 5-8 ft boof, which was super fun and safe to run. After running a few laps on that, we proceeded down to the end of the river, where we were fortunate enough to take out right by the van. After loading everything up, we embarked on our journey back home! And thus ended our day. 

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard- Julie Zebrowska

Hey readers! For the last time this year, it's Julie posting about the amazing experience that is the Keener program.

To begin, I've had a few accomplishments that I'm proud of since my last blog. Last week, I ran Elevator Shaft, got my whitewater hand roll, surfed left side Phils, and did a loop for the first time. In addition, today we had our road trip to the Upper Petawawa. Paddling this beautiful river was an amazing opportunity, as it was new and refreshing, and taught me plenty of river running skills.

Running one of the biggest rapids on the Upper Petawawa

The highlight of the day was watching three Keeners get worked in a hole at the bottom of a rapid, which resulted in two swimmers, and lots of entertainment for those who got the privilege of spectating. If things weren't going well enough, I won Speech of the Night for the third time out of the six speech nights I've attended since starting in this program. But the glory of having the best speech isn't nearly as important as what I feel I've gained from speech night. As much as I hate public speaking, I can notice how much my confidence and comfort level have improved in regards to talking to my peers. I've grown to realize that everyone is in the same boat, (no pun intended) so nobody will judge me if I fumble. This has really help me overcome my fear of public speaking, and I'm much more comfortable discussing improvised ideas.

As we all know, this is unfortunately my final blog of the year Since I've never been skilled at writing conclusions or aging goodbyes, I just want all my coaches and fellow Keeners to know how grateful I am of their support, motivation, kindness, patience, and friendship. I have never felt to welcomed or at home as as I feel here. I've learned so much, and have so many memorable moments to take away from this experience. This isn't a "goodbye", since goodbye means forever. Instead, this is a "'till next time",  until I get to come back next year for another awesome session of bonding, boating, and beat downs.
-Julie

PetaWawa WeeWaa

Yo!
and welcome to David's last blog post!

So far the last week at Keeners has been great. Monday and Tuesday revolved around practicing freestyle. In the morning we practiced in flat-water and surfed Push Button, and in the afternoon we paddled back up to surf at McCoy's. I've been getting more spins and a couple roundhouses. Yesterday I decided to give right-side Horseshoe a try, where I successfully spun and somehow managed not to flip (it's one of the more powerful holes).

Today was our road trip to the Upper Petawawa! It was an awesome experience and I took a lot out of it for sure. For example there were a a lot of boofs including 5 foot and 8 foot drops. A few of us even jumped off a ~35 foot bridge. Needless to say today a lot of us experienced our biggest drops, both in and out of our kayaks.

Scouting on the Petawawa on one of the biggest drops. 

Anyways... there's only two days left of Keeners and I can't imagine going back home. My parents arrived at WT today (they are also on a vacation). When I saw them it hit me that Keeners is really ending.

Peace. Keep your eyes out for my blog posts next year.
-David Koyrakh.


Big water beat downs, high water Colosseum, surfing rad waves, world's best kayak instructors, awesome people...
I don't want to leave

Upper Petawawa

Paddling the Ottawa River everyday is an amazing thing. It is a great river that at every water level has something to offer. However, paddling the same river for three weeks with the same water level can sometimes become a little bit boring. That is why every keener session has a road trip. A Keener road trip consists of traveling to another river. There are three river where we normally go to. The Gatineau, The Rouge and Lachine. My favorite is the Gatineau at high water.

For this session none of those rivers were available due to water levels, so our coaches decided to try a new river. The Upper Petawawa became the river for our road trip. It is a very different river than the Ottawa, it has less volume and is steeper. Most of the rapids consisted on little pour overs and wave trains. There were no huge rapids but every rapid had a fun hole to boof or a green wave to kickflip. It was a fun river to run but I don't think it can be compared with the high water Gatineau.

The Third Rapid on the Upper Petawawa

Mauricio Martinez Laresgoiti