Upper Petewawa river trip by: Aaron Fay

 my blog is about our awesome river trip to the upper Petawawa. I think this was one of the best experiences I have ever had at keeners, This is true because I don't typically get to paddle with so many people at once. One of the other things that made the trip so awesome was that we learned why it was important to scout a rapid at many different angles so that we can see the many different hazards and or challenging lines. This trip was fun also because when you have twenty some kids all trying to run  a rapid it can get a little chaotic, do to this problem we broke into groups which was fun because you had your own little group of people to communicate with and discuss problems or lines. The downside to the trip that nobody liked was that we had to get up at six thirty in the morning to leave because it was a four hour drive. On the bus ride everybody was tired, but then all of a sudden we stopped at irvings big stop for breakfast were everybody ate way to much and didn't feel so good after eggs and milkshakes and pancakes. All in all it was a great day except for a good surprise at the take out. that surprise consisted of a flat tire. this was funny because the buss has two wheels on each side in the back so we were able to drive out of the middle of the woods and back to civilization. This whole trip was the most fun I have had at keeners and will never forget it

Putting Fear in Perspective By Olivia Summerfield

Putting Fear in Perspective
By Olivia Summerfield

One may think Beatdown Thursday’s purpose is to eat a lot of bacon and then go get trashed in a huge hole.  One may think it is to attempt to get out of your boat in sketchy places.  One may even think that it’s purpose is just to bring joy to our coaches who get way to much excitement out of watching us get destroyed.  While these are very prominent reasons we do Beatdown Thursday the underlying purpose is to put fear in perspective.  They say to do one thing that scares you everyday, that’s what Beatdown Thursday is all about.  On Thursday you discover that things that are terrifying to some are second nature to others and that after a couple surfs right side Phil’s is as fun and familiar as Garb or Push.  You begin to see fear differently, you also begin to rationalize your fears.  Just because something is scary at the moment doesn’t mean that it will forever be something to be scared of.  That the more you do something and try at it the easier and less scary it becomes.  This also carries over to everyday life because once you get back to the real world you begin to realize that things that were previously terrifying don’t seem to matter as much.  Things such as taking as test or giving a speech don’t seem to constitutive fear after having surfed Satlers or jumped off a forty foot bridge.  Beatdown Thursday teaches you what fear really is and how to decide what is really worth fearing for.

The Day as a Keener

The Day as a Keener by Ava Christensen
Most mornings we wake up around 7:45 and head outside for yoga and/or a game. After this we go back inside to clean our houses and make breakfast. Then it's time to get on the water. Every day has different activities planned to keep things exciting. On Monday's and Tuesday's we do lots of surfing on places such as push button, garb, or babyface while also some downriver play. Then on Wensday's we have a variety of races on lots of different rapids. Thursdays are a popular favorite day of the week also known as big water bacon beatdown thursday. This is where we begin our day getting worked in Phil's or Saddlers and running challenging lines down Mccoy's. Then after lunch we play challenging  games such as getting out of the river in a difficult spot. On friday's we have freestyle completions where we spending the morning learning new tricks and improving old ones and after lunch we have two competition rides. Once we have finished the river run we head back to keeners to score rides. Most nights during the week we head over to wilderness tours for dinner. On Thursday nights we stay later for ropes and knots but on Fridays pizza is ordered and we have the option to go kayaking, swimming or any other activity after dinner

How to Boof by Logan Smith

How to boof

     A boof is when there is a feature that is required to be launched or skimmed over quickly to avoid or for style.  These features may be holes, rocks, and logs.  

     Before you boof any of these objects you should scout and make sure the cost is clear.  Once you have found an appropriate spot, you will want to get in the moving water above the boof.  Then gain some speed by paddling towards the object.  Once you are a stroke away you will want to do a boof stroke.  To do a boof stroke you are going to want to place your paddle at the top of the build up of water.  And instead of pulling your blade through to your hips, you are going to thrust your hips forward and keep your knees tucked in to you chest.  This way you don’t nose dive into the object behind the boof. 

     Once you land flat in the airy water below, you will take three to four power strokes to make sure you don’t backwash into any features behind you. 

The Art of Chipmunk Flipping by Davis Sineath

On the Ottawa there is an excessive amount of chipmunks especially, at the Wilderness Tours lunch site. During lunch Keeners have few options when not cooking, thankfully there have been many raft guides in similar situations that pass along ideas. The best idea I have tried is Chipmunk flipping. So, here is how you flip a chipmunk. 

Step 1: Find a chipmunk, this is usually pretty easy just take a quick walk around the site. 

Step 2: Bait the chipmunk, the easiest method is with crushed chips, but you have to use only very small pieces and limit the number of pieces as to prevent from stuffing the chipmunk full. 

Step 3: Bait with your hand. At this point the chipmunk should be eating your bait off the ground, so in order to flip it you must add your hand to the equation. Do this by lowering a hand of crushed chips as close as possible to the preoccupied chipmunk. 

Step 4: Yeet the chipmunk. Once the chipmunk finishes with the bait from step 2 and moves on to the bait from step 3 it should practically be in your hand. Once it is in your hand, throw your arm up and launch it. 

*No chipmunks were hurt in the production of this blog.

**We did scare a chipmunk pretty bad though. 

How keeners has influenced me as a person and as a kayaker by Carly Koppe 

Keeners has not influenced me just as a kayaker but also as a person. First off, I have gained many kayaking skills thanks to our awesome coaches. The coaches at Keeners care about every person here and they are willing to spend time with everyone. They make sure that you understand and learn the skills you want to know. Before Keeners I hadn’t really run anything big or very technical. But thanks to the skills I learned at Keeners I feel confident and feel prepared to run more stout rivers back home. Another reason how Keeners has influenced me is my confidence. Before Keeners I had very little confidence on the water, but with the knowledge I learned here I am now a better and more confident paddler. I also have learned how to read the river, first aid, swift water rescue, offside roll, hand roll, and some free style skills. All of these skills have significantly improved my paddling and i feel ready to take on more challenging rivers. Overall, I feel like I have gained more maturity at Keeners. For example, every morning you get to make your own breakfast and clean your cabin. These are very helpful skills for the future. Also, I have created many new close friendships because of Keeners. This is great because I met 23 teenagers who share my passion to white water kayak. This is neat because there aren’t a lot of kids who kayak. Also, after Keeners I can continue these friendships and they can show me their home rivers. I have created so many great skills and memories at Keeners I am sad to leave. 

How to prepare for a championship by Landon Miller

There are many ways that you can train for championships.  This topic gets me stoked and ready to go kayaking. I have only personally been to 2 Championships. The two championships I’ve been to are, the national championships of 2016/2017 and the national championships of 2017/2018. Both of these events I did really good at in the 2016 National championship I got second and the most recent National championship I got 1st in cadets freestyle and 3rd in c1.  I did a lot to get ready for these championships.  One of the things I did was go down to the feature (hole/wave) that it was at and practice that feature for long periods of time and at all different water flows. This helped me a lot because I had a better experience and was way better used to the competition spot at all water levels.  Even thought some of the spots were a long walk I always had good shoes to lessen the pain of the walk (astral loyaks are the best). The second thing I did was that I would work out during the days I wasn’t kayaking.  This would usually consist on days that I also would go kayaking on. I would mostly work out on Monday-Thursday and sometimes Sunday.  One of the last things I did to get ready to compete was I would learn how to do all of my tricks in flat water and video them, then when I would go to the feature I would video me doing that trick and watch how I was doing it wrong on the feature compared to how I would do it right in flat water.