Big Water Beat Downs and Chemical Burns by Rose Menominee

Hey readers! Rose here, I'm sixteen, this is my first time at keeners and oh boy am I sore. I had my first Big Water Beat down Thursday last week and I was more than a little bit scared. My mum always told me: "Don't go down Phil's hole or you will die." (I suggest you read that in a stern mom voice so you can get the full experience.) So naturally I was more than a little bit scared when the coaches told us we were running McCoys on Thursday. despite my immense fear I was able to convince myself that running that section of river would make me a better paddler as well as give me more confidence when paddling big water. I only did two lines, both times trying to catch Phil's tongue, unfortunately I missed both times. The first time I was way to far left and got beat down in left side Phil's, the second time however things were going pretty good but I then realized I was too far right.  I ended up surfing right side Phil's, which was super cool, although for most of my surf I was more than a little confused, I hadn't expect to surf anything at all let alone right side Phil's. My mother would have killed me.

I had first aid over the weekend which was pretty good, I thought I learned a lot. However right after first aid ended I went back to my cabin only to spill toilet bowl cleaner on my self, I then read the package and found the scary skeletal hand symbol that meant the product can corrode or burn you. I completely forgot everything I was told and jumped into the shower. Luckily that was the correct thing to do and I was spared a nasty chemical burn.

Until next time,

Rose

Practicing throw ropes in SRT yesterday

My first keeners- Max Haworth

Hello my name is Max. This is my first keeners. I am looking forward to all the things that we are going to be doing this month. Like SRT and first aid training. In the picture below I am swimming at SRT training but it's ok because it's super safe and controlled. In this drill I have to get over the log by swimming head first and garbing the log and pushing with my hands to get my body over the log. We are practicing swimming over the log so we don't get pinned, or stuck on or under the log, or drown. When I first saw it, I thought it would be easier than it was. When I hit the log, the pressure of the water was immediate. Whenever I tried to pull over the log, it would slip and turn. The water hit me directly on my back, and forced my legs underneath the log downstream. The hardest part was getting my lower body back upstream to get it over the log. I could breathe the whole time, and managed to keep my head up for the majority of the time, until I  was forced to let go and flush under the log. One thing I will take away from this exercise is to try and avoid logs at all cost, because there is a really good chance you will be forced under them, and sometimes you may not come out. I think this was a super important part of SRT training because it is a real danger on the river, and is something that can happen commonly if you aren't careful. 
It was hard to say the least, but in the end it was a really fun session and I learned a lot about the power of the river and how to stay safe. 

Failing at Log Swims during SRT

                                                    
Max Haworth  

Garb Comes In- By David Silk

All summer, everyone in the Ottawa Valley has been wait for one thing.. water levels to get low enough for Garb to come in. Garb is an incredible wave, made by two curlers that form a big foampile with an amazing green runway in the middle. It also happens to be the site of the 2015 world championships for freestyle! With huge bounces and a retentive feature, tricks go huge and rides are long. All the wave tricks are awesome here, from pan ams and airscrews, to clean spins. Lines can get long, but garb is always worth it. And a few days ago, it finally came in. I've been working on some combos on it, such as bread and butter ( a blunt to back blunt) and kay ys (a pan am to pistol flip). With its massive eddy, deep water, and such an amazing feature.. its definitely one of the best features in the world.

Learning

Sabina here, once again.The week has just flown by, I feel like I have learned so much already! Just this week I haev already learned how to shuvit, felix and spin... three things I would not have learned without keeners. my next goal is to learn another trick by the end this week and to be able to more consistently spin and felix on a wave. Update on SRT training: today was awesome, first, we paddled to garburator and practiced throwing our throw ropes, then, we paddled to a place called death slot wich is just above garburator, on the left. It's basically a narrow but deep passageway through the rock where the water rushes through. We got to practice pinnings and rescues on a log, we learned how to boof over a log and swim over pinned objects. I am really looking forwards to learning more new things this week at keeners.

Why Thursday is fun- Andrew Oxley

   

hello my name his Andrew from Montreal, Quebec and it is my first year at keeners.
a lot of people think that big water beatdown Thursday its not very appropriate for keeners and i am here to reassure you the complete opposite because Thursday are fun.  first of all,  it is incredibly fun because you get to paddle big water and get beatdown with absolutely no consequences. why is getting beatdown is fun you may ask? because it is refreshing, exhilarating, fun to watch, fun to be watched,  funny, scary and you get to push your comfort zone. my experiences of right side phills that is a pretty big hole in the Ottawa river and was awesome because i went in with out a paddle and i got beatdown for at lease 20 sec. so it wasn't  that bad only fun :) .

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.

How to tie your own harness

Tying your own personal harness can be very important for many things in the sport of kayaking and in many other ways as well. Tying your own harness can be important for rappelling, taking photo/video, or even for scouting a drop where you want to lean over a cliff edge safely. Tying your own harness is very simple and safe when done right.

The first step of tying a harness is to make an overhand knot in your piece of webbing.

Next take the rope and make an overhand knot on a bite. The key to do this is to make it big enough to slide on your leg but not too large that it is loose.

Tie another overhand knot on a bite the same size as the first one about a fist length away.

Now slide the harness onto your legs and do the rest standing up to prevent the harness from being too tight.

Take the long end of the webbing and wrap it around your waist once. make sure it wrapped above your hips because otherwise the harness will fall off.

Next wrap the end through the piece of webbing connecting the two leg loops and around your waist again.

Repeat at least three or four times. The key to this is making them relatively tight so you are secure.

Take the two ends of rope and connect them together using a water knot. Again it is important to make them tight but not uncomfortable. If need be you can always get someone else to help you.

Now you have a fully functional harness. When attaching to the harness make sure to clip through both loops to ensure safety.