Surfing push button wave- Connor hill

Surfing push button wave

 Surfing on push button wave on the Ottawa river with oks keeners was so awesome. Its a small wave on Ottawa river which can be hard to stick  tricks on as it can be quiet  flushy once you get the hang of it is really Nice to surf. So when I was trying to get loops on it I could not I found the way to do it is go high left on the wave then push down and wait for the pop once you got the pop you need to throw hard up stream on the wave to be able to land clean on the wave. So doing flat spins and a round house the key is as flat you spin to 180 you need make sure that your head is still facing up stream then put a hard back stroke in to stay on the wave then turn your head back the same way you came and you have your self a round house. With a flat spin you spin to 180 with your head facing up stream still the put your right blade in and it should start to spin right then wait and turn your head with it at all times you should be looking up stream. Also what is really good about This feature is it has really big Eddie and the Wave is small so is good for new white water kayakers and if you pull your deck and have to swim its a nice tow back on it witch will take you to the Right  and back in to the Eddie. One thing with This wave is you can only surf the wave from the right hand side surfers right. So some tips.
1. Keep looking up stream
2. don't go to far left on the wave ore you will flush of
3. When you loop dig your feet In hard and throw up stream
4. Make sure you have good up stream edge

Seeing the Ottawa Through Colorado Eyes - Keegan Parker

Hey everyone! I'm Keegan Parker, a first year keener, and 17 years old. Coming from the creek riddled state of Colorado, you might imagine that a river like the Ottawa would be something very, very new to me. If that's what you're thinking, then you're right. It was 12:30 pm when I first stepped out of the car after a gruelling 27 hour drive. The moon was high and my energy level was low. After setting up camp, Emma, my Dad, and I set out to get our bearings and look around to see what the place was like. After walking for 15 minutes or so we found ourselves on a small path with an absolutely massive body of water laying there before us, shrouded in darkness, lit only by the moon, it could only be one thing. The Ottawa River. It was the next day that I got my first paddle strokes on this monster river and the only way I could think to describe it was surreal. With water so warm, nearly no rocks to break myself on, and huge waves littering the first rapid, I almost didn't know what to do. So, Logically, I did the first thing that came to mind. I set out into McKoy rapid to surf what I later learned to be Phills Hole, the very same place that is the subject of "big water beat down thursdays". After being thrown around like a rag-doll for what was probably only a few short seconds, I popped out the other side with a huge smile on my face. It was in that moment I realised that this river is special. Nowhere have I ever kayaked that I could get so violently thrown around and come out the other side in just as many pieces as I had when I went in. I'll never forget my first experience on the Ottawa and with two and a half more weeks to come, I expect to have many more unforgettable moments.

Taking the plunge ( by Sabina Sander)

Hello internet, Sabina here, on my third day at keeners. Today I completed the first, and probably the most fun step towards SRT certification: swimming in pour-overs, wich happenned near garborator wave on the ottawa river. At first, I will admit, I was scared, Stevo had just warned us about how if the water ends up pushing you over to the left you should be careful because there happens to be a ledge that you could get pushed under. Just the thought of clawing my way out of this underwater prison had me worried. As I stared apprehensively over the chute we were quickly corralled into the water. Our smiling instructor then gave us a much appreciated demonstration. We watched as he slowly got closer and closer to the pour-over, then suddenly his head dissapeared, sucked under. He was gone, but only for a couple of seconds,he resurfaced, smiling and all in one piece. At that point I was feeling a little more confident and even a little exited to try it. Now it was my turn to swim, slowly, I floated my way over to the chute and, I was under! It was pretty amasing, being pushed under by the sheer force of the ottawa. I tumbled around out of control for a few seconds, suddenly taking in the utter darkness of being so deep underwater. At a certain point I hit the wall and after what seemed like ages, I started to float back up, I could suddenly breathe again! I broke out in a huge smile. That was my amasing experience of the day here at keeners, now I can't wait for tomorrow!

Coaches and failure: Sydney Nixon

Hey there!

I’m Sydney Nixon, I’m a third year Keener and I’m 16 years old. I have been kayaking for roughly 3 or 4 years, I’ve been training and focusing on freestyle for the past year and a half now after placing first in the junior girls division of the Canadian Freestyle Team. I live only 6 hours from the Ottawa River so I’m here often however I've been traveling a lot lately for competitions. I’ve gotten into competing recently under the discipline of Freestyle Kayaking specifically. I’ve been to a few competitions now including the Go Pro Mountain Games, Payette River Games, CKS Paddlefest, 2013 World Championships and more. I have goals of placing on the Canadian Freestyle Kayak Team again this year on Labour Day. Following the competition there I will travel to North Carolina for the Pan Am Games which are the weekend after!

Claire O'Hara watching us surf at Push Button

One of the many reasons I decided to come back to Keeners for a third year was because of the incredible coaching opportunities. I have been fortunate enough to have previously had chances to be coached by all of the instructors who will be here this session. All of them are all around amazing people, personalities in addition to some of the best kayakers and coaches in the world. Coaches this session include Stephen Wright, Clay Wright, Devyn Scott, Nich Troutman and Claire O’hara. Working with these coaches is a unique experience as they all have different things to offer each Keener. Stephen's flat water routine is infamous with keeners and it translates to almost every trick and technique used on the river. Clay always throws in parts about reading the river and current as well as technique. Devyn and Nich are both Ottawa locals. Devyn can airscrew on any wave you could possibly find and Nich has a level of stoke that is unrivalled. Claire is a very useful person to have around as well being that she's a girl and smaller and can explain things in a way that girls with less muscle than the guys can understand. As well as this, she's an amazing kayaker and is very good at explaining what she's talking about and recognizing the individual talents and skills of others no matter how big or small.

Monday night at speech night, Stephen gave an amazing speech about failure. The bottom line of what he said was that without failure, you're never going to get anywhere. A lot of people these days have it so ingrained into their minds that failure is not acceptable that they would rather not risk it than take the chance at failure. He said that for every sucess you have, there will by 50 times more failures behind it. He also said that every success is made of countless failures. He's continued to keep this in our minds by continuously telling us that we've failed at an attempt and other ways which sounds horrible but it's only a reminder that we're one failure closer to being better. Failing at something is a natural thing in life and you'll never learn if you're not ready to take failure standing up and keep trying again and again after hundreds of failures. All of the coaches are amazing at celebrating small victories as well as big ones and they recognize that even small ones are a huge accomplishment for some people.

A main goal of mine is to get some bigger tricks down for team trials and improve my wave boating a lot. I am ready to take failure again and again because I know that every time I fall on my face trying a trick, I'm one fall closer to getting it. To quote another Keener from their speech (Jordan) people will clap 10 times louder and harder if you fail spectacularly than if you do something super awesome.

        

        You can follow me at my newly started blog at this site: http://sydneyjeannixon.wordpress.com/ as well as here for the next couple weeks!

Cheers,

        Sydney

here we go again- Emma Crane

Hey guys, its Emma Crane. This is my first time ever at Keeners and in Ottawa and i am 17. I am originally from Colorado, which is an awesome place by the way. Before i left to this trip i was very nervous and very unsure about this camp. I had no idea what to expect and if I could handle kayaking everyday. I did not kayak a lot before i came here, so i was very very nervous. I got here after a 27 hour drive and everyone was talking about all the tricks you can do on waves like blunts, loops, and air screws. Anyways you get it, i was nervous and unsure about everything. Once i got on the water again i was fine, thanks to my coach Claire. The first day we went down the Middle of the ottawa. I was thinking it was going to be everything i saw in pictures, but turns out it was pretty easy for me and i gained my confidence back. We surfed in Blacks hole, which was so much fun. I got a little bit of a beating and my skirt imploaded, but i still put my fist in the air and was so hapopy i was here. Now even just after a couple days on the river and getiing back in my boat i am comfortable and confident. I am so glad i didn't back out of coming here befcause this is probably the best decision i have made in awhile. :)

First Surf- Dominik

surfing at pushbutton

today was my first day ever surfing a wave. I was scared at first and was afraid to fail. I saw other keeners surfing and trying to do tricks that I have never evan heard of but I realised you can fail. My coaches said you will get much more applause if you fail than if you complete your trick so I took there advice and went for it. I had a tough time getting it at first because of every time I got into the wave I flipped. Eventually I got into the wave and surfed for the first time. Evan though it was only for a second or two I was very happy and knew I was hooked on to play boating forever.

Back to Keeners by Zack Michaels

Hi everybody, this is Zack Michaels returning to Keeners for my third time. Last year I injured my labrum in my left shoulder, and couldn't kayak. So, this year I have to relearn and refresh my kayaking knowledge. My first two days on the water I didn't feel great, I was missing surfs, and was having trouble doing simple kayaking tasks. Yesterday (Monday) at the end of the day, I got beaten down in the nasty center slot hole. Now, for most people this would be a pretty bad experience, but for me it was a nice refresher. Today, I felt more on my game, landing (Kindof) a loop, and getting some roundhouse/blunts. It I think from now on hopefully everything will only go uphill. I am super excited to be back at Keeners and on the Ottawa river.