SESSION 3: Week 1!

Good evening ladies and gentlemen

I am Nicole D and the first day of the last session is coming to an end! So far everything is going swimmingly, literally. Well, no, I only swam once (twice if you count the fun brain douche stuff), and with good reason. Today was really fun, as we got to run McCoys. Me and the other Nicole were the first to run 2 different lines as we have been here for a couple of weeks and so are more familiar with the rapids than a lot of the other keeners. After scouting and running several lines on McCoys, we surfed Baby Face and then went onto run the Lorne, before proceeding onto the delicious, juicy lunch.

After lunch we spent some time learning to ferry across currents in an S turn and then went onto surf Push Button. We then ran the entire river, and I didn't swim once and so I am no longer nervous when approaching big water! Our coaches today were Stephen, Clay, Joel and the former keener, 19 year old James, who goes by the name Night Hawk for reasons unknown to me and fellow keeners. He has been really motivational and will undoubtedly go on to be a legend like the older coaches guiding us every day.

Tonight was the first speech night and I was the critique, meaning that I commented on peoples' performance. There was hardly anything negative to say, as the night was both entertaining and more or less civilized. Stephen concluded the night with one of his inspirational and amusing talks! The new keeners have been really nice, and it is definitely the most culturally diverse group this session! One of the Yakistan girls is from Chile, and there is a boy all the way from South Korea! (who gave one of the entertaining speeches).

I am super happy to be a part of this group of young, enthusiastic paddlers. I think that my summer will end nicely with great company alongside me on and off the water! Stay tuned for exciting tales from exciting young people!

Sleep tight

Dropping into the Big Joe Wave at Lachine

ND

Thomas' first blog

Hi everyone, this is Thomas checking in, I would first like to thank my Mom and Dad for sending me to keeners, you're the best! Today was our first day of paddling and I think it was amazing. The features that we played on were Garb which can be located at the top of the Lorne rapids. Garb is a fast foamy wave which is really fun. Sadly it was kind of flushy because of the level but hopefully it gets higher which would be awesome! The other feature was pushbutton which had a huge line so I decided to go to a small hole with some other Keeners to have some fun and party surf which was a lot of fun.

After surfing we continued downstream trying to get to the WT takeout in 30 mins, which was a difficult task because of the distance. I was very happy when I saw Keeners that I knew from last year, such as Kalem, Quinton, Jordan and Edward. I also missed the amazing river burgers made by the great chefs at Wilderness Tours.

Surfing at Push Button last year

I will check in with you guys next week!

Session 3 has just Begun

It’s Monday again, and session 3 has just begun! My name is Alex Zegart, or Ziggy as everyone calls me. I have been at keeners now for a whole session and have learned many things, ranging from blunts to how to get out from under a pinned log. There are many awesome new keeners this session from all over the world, one whose name is Gibeom, is even from South Korea and another, Max is from London, England. So far day one of session three has been awesome, with speech night being the best so far, with many laughs and sick stories. Session 3 at the moment is shaping up to be an awesome 3 weeks of fun, learning, and extraordinary days on and off the water!

Next to Keener Ramp monday morning 

Duncan's last day

Hi, its Duncan. So today was my last week at keeners. The experience was like nothing I've ever tried before. I have learned loads( spins, shuvits, first aid, SRT, roundhouses, loops and much more.) I have made lots of friends and seen my kayaking skills increase hugely. I hope I can return again, but I think I probably wont due to cost. My favourite part of keeners was surfing Big Joe on Wednesday, and my least favoutite part of keeners was getting a paddle to the face (it hurt). My score in the competition on garb today was 30, which shows how much I've improved.

Week three

Today's Big Water Beatdown Bacon Thursday kicked of to a great start. We started it off by taking a few runs down upper McCoys. On my first run through I attempted to surf satlers but flushed into left side phill's. On my second run I got beatdown in right side but managed to escape.

After dinner we got harnessed up and began the long climb up the bungee tower which we would be soon repelling off of. When we reached the top we were given instructions on how to repel safely. The worst part was the drop of the edge, after that it was smooth sailing. I had such a fun time I went up for a second ride.

Keeners was so much fun, I met tones of new friends from other countries. I want to thank my parents,Grandma, and Kem for helping me have this amazing experience. It is cool how much you can learn from great instructors like Stephen, Clay, Tino, Rafa, Joel, Nighthawk, and Deuce. I want to thank everyone and I hope to see you next year.

Day in LaChine

 Today we took a a different aspect to the keener program, and did not run the Ottawa river but instead we went to the Lachine rapids in Montreal. It was a pretty amazing day because it was a completely different type of surfing than I was used to.  Lachine is a more technical river because the currents are trickier than the ones in the Ottawa, and you really have to aim farther out than you think to catch the wave. The wave that I surfed today was Big Joe and the Pit, which were awesome due to the fact that the wave is easier to catch and it is really smooth, which makes it easier to throw tricks. On my first surf I just carved for awhile and threw some shuvits, later on when I had more confidence on the wave I started to throw spins, shuvits, and actually in my very last run I was able to throw a clean spin, which was pretty cool.

If I return to keeners next year, and we have a trip to Lachine again, I am definitely trying out pyramid wave, which requires more skill to hold onto the wave. This was one of the best days that I have had on keeners because it was like "ice fishing", very accelerating, it really took the energy out of you. I am so sore right know that it will also be one of the best sleeping days that I will have so far.

Patrick's final post

This is my last week at keeners and it's off to a good start. Today, we went to Lashene so we could all get some amazing surfs. I know several people got great air screws, although unfortunately I was not among them. However, I am especially proud of my own air blunt on "the pit" (the larger of the waves.) I would like to point out that none of this would have been posable without the dedicated keener staff who drove a bus of screaming children and a trailer of boats over 8 hours. Thank you to everyone involved. On another note, tomorrow is big water beat down day and I can't wait. Not so much for the beat downs, although they are nice, but for the bacon that comes with them