How to master your roll at keeners - Matt Brotton

Now there is definitely the main ways to learn your rolls, which do work great but they sometimes just don’t cut it. If you wanna give yourself a decent challenge follow these couple steps and you’ll be learning your flat water roll whilst practicing your whitewater roll at the same time! So theres obviously a huge difference between flat water rolls and whitewater cause in flat you setup but in the rapids you can flip at any time on any side. So first try your rolls the regular way. Once you’ve done that a couple times and you feel comfortable start trying to challenge yourself. Instead, put your paddle above your head and try that,another way is hold the paddle behind your back and try your roll, this will help you improve on where you need to put your paddle when your not in a setup position. You can get creative yourself and hold your paddle in different ways to give yourself more of a challenge. One thing you gotta remember is that EVERYONE learns at different paces some people will get there roll in 20 minutes some will in a couple weeks, either or it doesn’t matter everybody in this world is different and thats more then fine so if your having trouble with your roll just like i do just don’t get mad and frustrated cause that will make everything harder, just stay calm and practice practice and practice nobody becomes the best over night, Everything takes time, I really hope these tips helped you like it helped me. Have fun paddling and be safe!!

Down the Rabbit Hole - Holly Wilson

     One of the few on going jokes here at keeners between me and a few others has been "Welcome to the Rabbit Hole".
   
      Now before I begin explaining this, this is my first year at keeners. I have always seen and admired kayakers from afar for a long time. I have been coming to Wilderness Tours since I was approximately ten years old but only for rafting and every trip I would see these people in small boats chatting with any rafter or other boater that came across like they were best friends. Looking back I'm not sure if I was more interested in the lifestyle or the kayaking, but overall it lead me to want to kayak for years. Finally, last year, after years of begging, I was enrolled in the Teen Resident Camp here at WT and fell in love with kayaking.

     This is essentially where the "Rabbit Hole" joke begins. As I begun kayaking I quickly learned that almost everyone in this sport is crazy in their own beautiful way. Most of the people in Teen Camp were strange insane weirdos who knew how to have a good time and make a good time out of a situation that wasn't too happy. Those who knew how to have a good time though made the best of camp and made it that much more enjoyable and crazy. Now take all of those who knew how to have a good time put them all in one camp. Except instead of about six crazy teens you now have twenty-one who all get along and are insane in their own special way and you have the session 2 of 2015 keeners.

     This is where the "Rabbit Hole" joke truly began. Already on the first day I realized what a crazy bunch we truly were and made the joke that "we're going down the rabbit hole" as a reference towards the Alice in Wonderland  book. One keener, named Hunter Gibson turns to me ad says "No welcome to the rabbit hole". I have realized over the past week that this statement is extremely true. Not only do you have "to be off your rocker to want to white water kayak", as once said by fellow keener Charlie Barbera, but the wonderful adventures and memories Alice makes while in Wonderland also apply to this program. It may only be week one but I have already found friends who accept me for my odd traits and have their own and also friends who will last more than just this session.

     Overall, although it may seem slightly inappropriate to use the "Welcome to the Rabbit Hole" reference when talking about keeners at first, when thought is put into the joke it is actually a wonderful testament to the adventures and insane (meant in both ways) people working and living here with us this session at keeeners.

~ Holly Wilson

Breathless on the Ottawa - Brooks Botta

Is it the amazing whirlpools sending a person so far underwater their ears pop? The amazing waves and kayakers? The beautiful views and gorgeous sunrises? Something about the Ottawa River just leaves me breathless! Every day, I have the opportunity to kayak some of the biggest, most pristine whitewater in the world as part of the keener program.

With about a year of kayaking experience under my belt, my friend Kyle Neese and I gained the opportunity to be part of this excellent experience. It's absolutely insane to think that less than a year ago, I frequented class two and three whitewater. Now with the help of excellent coaches, I am learning new moves, and refining my paddling each day! Some of the moves I hope to work on are my kick flips, blunts, and airscrews. The river provides a unique local to practice moves that are difficult to attain on my home rivers of Alabama.

I am so excited to see what new moves I will be learning over the next two weeks, but also see how I will be shaped as person.

Brooks Botta

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!!

Jonny's First Day Back on the Ottawa River

My name is Jonny I am 17 and this is my second summer of Keeners. I come from a small town about an hour south of Keeners called Pakenham in Ontario. I have been on the Ottawa River before when the water was lower, and was surprised at how different the river features were with the higher levels. The rapids were just not really the same, and the river had a completely different look to it; it was almost like rediscovering the river.

 My favorite moment today on the river was playing at Butterfly. Butterfly is usually a chute with a small wave you crash through at the bottom. At the current levels it was bigger and had two fun surf waves to play on. All in all it was a great day of many to come.

Holding up my profile- written in code- for a Keener Introduction

David's last blog post!!

Hey guys!

Today (Thursday) was the last Big water beat down day. We started off the day at McCoy's, and then went down to push button and garb to surf for the remainder of the day. At push button I was trying to surf and catch the wave the whole time. At first I was having trouble staying on the wave, and then I started to have trouble with getting on to the wave. I flipped every time I caught the wave. I ended up swimming after a run. It was very discouraging and I didn't do anything after that for like 10 or 15 minutes. There was a group of kayakers there that re-encouraged and helped me with surfing after that. I did not know the kayakers and they were not with our group. They helped me out with how to catch the wave, and by the end of the day I got a few surfs in. It is an awesome feeling when experienced paddlers that you never saw before help you out and support you, as if they are one of your instructors.

After kayaking we went to dinner as usual, and then we had ropes and knots. For the past ropes and knots I just zoned out and did nothing, but today was different. I decided to listen and I learned what a mechanical advantage is, how to tie a 3 to 1 or 2 to 1, and how to tie a munterhitch with a quick release. Greg, the instructor for ropes and knots, is a very knowledgeable and friendly guy.

Anyways, I have to go now, but the second to last day of keeners was a lot of fun, and I got a lot out of it. Thanks for reading my last post! Check back next year ;)



--David Koyrakh.

David's 2nd Post: Beatdown day and Reppeling

Hey guys I'm back for my second post at OKS Keeners!

As you may know from my last post, I paddled with the teen camp last week to learn how to roll. Well this week is my first week on the river with the keeners, and so far it's been a blast!

Today was big water beat-down day, so everyone did things that we were afraid to do or haven't done before (get trashed in right-side Phil's, etc). To start off the day everyone had to run Makoy's three times, and every time had to be a line that we have never done before. My first line was the Right-Side Sneak, my second was Phil's Tounge, and my last line was to punch through Left-Side Phil's. I got pretty beat-down in my last run and I ended up swimming.

After our three runs at Makoy's rapid we all ran the main channel of the river. It was my first time running the main, and I liked it a lot better than the middle channel. We also got to simulate a waterfall and practice the falling position by jumping off a 10 foot rock in our kayaks. Needless to say i got to practice my whitewater roll a lot.

Anyways, this past week has been awesome and has gone by so quickly! Make sure to check back next Thursday for my last Keener blog!

Getting Beatdown in Left Side Phils. It was an experience. 

Greyson's Final Week

So as the final week begins, the water levels continue to drop here on the Ottawa. This session has had incredible water levels starting all the way up at about 15 with waves like Mini-Bus dropping all the way to about 1/2 today allowing Push Button, Baby Face, and Corner Wave to come in. This session has allowed us as Keeners to experience many different features on the river and experience many different things, from the steeper, creeky lines at Garvins chutes, to hole surfing at Warm Apple Pie and wave surfing on features from Mini Bus to Corner Wave.

Giving the Thumbs up as I get ready to Swim at the Lorne
for SRT training. I opted to refresh it because I had
so much fun last year. 

It's pretty disappointing to only have one week left at Keeners this year but hopefully Garberator will come in. I'm super excited to continue to try and learn how to blunt in addition to other flat water tricks. Overall this has been an INCREDIBLE experience at Keeners this year by allowing us to get comfortable with big water and then apply those skills to features that come in at lower water levels as well as other home rivers. I'm definitely planning on using the skills I've learned and applying them as I push myself on harder rivers at home.

Thanks for reading,
Greyson

Nicole's First Blog of Session 1

Hey everyone its Nicole Dannecker here. It has been a great first week here at keeners and a great beginning of what I’m sure will be an exciting three weeks of kayaking down the Ottawa. I don’t know what else I can say other than the coaches Devin Scott, Tyler Curtis, Joel Kowalski, Juanito De Ugarte, and all the other keeners are great! They are very encouraging and we are growing into one big happy family, well something like that at least.

This weekend we had our first aid course for us keeners who haven’t taken it yet, and while yes it is a bit boring, it is very reassuring to know that everyone we are paddling with has the ability to take care of anyone should anything go wrong.

Running Little Trickle Rapid

 I am really excited to take on the second week with our new head coach Steven Wright and take on all of the challenges he has to offer. The last thing I have to say is that I am so grateful to my parents for getting me started with kayaking and sending me here and most of all listening to my excitement about all of the rapids here and the keener camp and also to our keener mom Anna Bruno for taking care of us and giving us advice on and off the water!

Alex's first blog

Hey!

Contemplating the line at Little Trickle 

My name is Alex I am 14 years old and am from Ottawa Ontario. I started this wonderful experience about a year ago on the Ottawa river.  As soon as I had my first day on the river I fell in love with kayaking. I'ts all I could talk about for months.  Although I didn't have much time last year for kayaking, this year I decided I was going to take advantage of the high levels and join the Keener program.  Since it was my first year in Keeners, I thought it would be really awkward but I was wrong, everyone here is so nice and is so helpful! Being a keener is by far the most fun I have had in a long time!  Between beat down day Thursday, race day Wednesday, and competition day Friday I think its safe to say I could stay here forever.  I'm really looking forward for the next 2 weeks and I hope its sunny and the water levels stay high.

Bye everyone!

Matt Smith First Blog Post

My name is Matt Smith and this is my second year as a keener. I am from Asheville, North Carolina and I really came to keeners for the instruction and size of the rapids. I have not been disappointed. 

Today started out like any other with a run and an ab workout. We ate breakfast, cleaned up, put our gear on and did our routine warm ups. We then split up into two groups, one of which ran the middle channel while the other ran the main channel. I decided to run the main channel to get a chance to surf Buseater. In total I got 5 runs on Buseater, 3 of which I stayed in long enough to throw some tricks. We then floated down to Butcher’s Knife and played in the whirlpools. By playing in the whirlpools I mean paddling into them, spinning around a bit, and then if you’re lucky you completely disappear and pop back up downstream. We then went down to Coliseum, scouted it, and ran a sick route down the center.

 All in all, this was one of my best days on the river and I’m pumped up to do some more!

Race Day Wednesday By Canon Shaw

Hi my name is Canon Shaw and I am 16 from Ithaca New York. This is my second year at Keeners and its only gotten better since last time. Ive been kayaking for about 3 years and have kayaked all around the South Eastern US, Colorado and here on the Ottawa river. Wednesday Race day was today and it is one of the days where we specifically focus on our down river racing skills and techniques, starting with our basic strokes and through out the day moving up to an actual race where we competed in heats of four to 6 people at a time. All in all it was a very fun and Adrenaline filled day on the water here at keeners.

Vincent- Week 1

Hey this is Vincent from CT. This is my first year at keeners and I am loving it!  On monday we went down the middle channel. It was great because the level was at 14 feet. Tuesday we went down the same channel and I had the opportutinty to run Little Trickle. It is a little technical rapid that is a lot of fun. We did some surfing on Angels Kiss, which is a smooth glassy wave. Over those 2 days I have been working on my blunt and trying to double pump my bow. I am making progress each day with the amazing coaching I am lucky to have. Today was Race Day Wednesday. Our race was on Lower No Name, which is the last rapid on the Middle. We all had a great time. I managed to get 5th in the B finals in the race and hoping to progress next week with racing. Lets see what rest of this week brings and have some intense beatdowns for big water beatdown thursday.

Jared with his second blog

Charging into Phils Hole in the Rev Last Week

Winning the First Hunger Games Challenge

Hey Its Jared again. Today was big water beat down but I didn't get beat down much and I was really disappointed. Sea bass and Jordan got to run right side phils in a Dynamic Duo, it was really awesome!

The Hunger games for today, were really fun to watch but also would of been fun to do. The first challenge, the competitors had to try and catch a pool toy whale in left side Horse Shoe at the same time and i think Estamble won. the second one, the challengers had to stay in right side Blacks (its a pretty sticky hole at the bottem of the river) for the longest time and Robertson won.

I had great surfs today at lef side Horse Shoe and at Garb. I was surfing horse shoe for almost 5 minutes straight! At Garb, i almost stuck an air screw and I got my blunts on both sides now! Thats what happend today but i cant really remember right now what happend during the past week because it has gone so fast. I thought we were only tuesday today. I'll right next week at the same day. See ya