last week by Dominik Lettovsky

This is my last week at keeners. i have learned so much and have had so much fun. Every day i have progressed in trying to learn how to do better tricks. Even though I came here without ever having surfed, I have now learned how to do spins and shuvits. In the future if i come again a some tricks that i want to learn to do would be a round house and a blunt. I will probably try these tricks when i get home too! I will take what I have learned to the waves where i live, and I may even try competing in the future. One more thing i would like to complete before i leave keeners would be my double pump. i have gotten close to getting it but i need to get a bigger back stroke to get vertical.it is hard to believe we only have three more days. Tomorrow we are going on a road trip to Montreal. It is going to be a full day road trip starting at 6:30 AM and getting home after 9:30! We are going to one of two waves, we have not decided yet, but we are hoping to go to Habitat 67, which is where I want to go, but we may go to Lachine instead. Either way, both waves look really fun. I hope to come here again next year and learn even more than i already have. Thanks for reading! Dominik

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

Sebastian's last post

Repping Canada on Canada Day. 

Hello everyone again. It is Sebastian here for the last time. It is hard to believe it is already my last week here at Keeners. The past two weeks have flown by; I still can’t believe the change of water levels here on the Ottawa. It has dropped about fourteen feet so far. I have been able to surf Minibus, cornerwave, chopping block and big kahuna. All have been great. On BWBDT we swam coliseum on purpose, which I have done before but this time I had some down time. At first it was scary, but now I feel more comfortable knowing that I can deal with that situation, if it should ever happen in the future. 

Last competition Friday was great as I got to put up some points on the board and challenge myself. There is lots of time left in the week to push myself even more and keep trying new tricks and lines on the river. I have had a great time here and can't wait to see all of the new friends I have made here on the Ottawa and rivers all over the world.

Last week

It's already the last week of keeners, everyone has accomplished a lot but there is still a whole week left to push ourselves and each other even further. Friday I landed my first loop and today stuck two more. Tomorrow we get to go to WT for breakfast and then get to go on a road trip to run The Seven Sisters of the Rouge. I am really excited to get this opportunity so I can dive into a whole other area of kayaking besides playboating and push myself to try new things. The Seven Sisters has many waterfalls of different heights to offer challenging but safe drops.

Surfing right side phil's last thursday with Jordan in the dynamic duo