First Experience - Lex

Keeners is an interesting place. One minute you're terrified you won't make any friends and you feel like you're not going to be able to achieve much, the next you surprise yourself when you start to talk to a lot of people and almost get your double pump in three days. Given how much I've improved so far, I feel like I am fitting in. This camp is filled with so many kind and caring people who want to see you grow and succeed. It holds something that's really rare. The kids themselves are something truely extraordinary. They are here to have a good time with friends, meet new people, work hard to achieve their dreams and goals, and help out wherever they are able. They show compassion to those in need and respect to everyone they meet. This camp is something I am grateful to be a part of.

Boater X - T Buckley

Today was our first race Wednesday, we started off with a relay race, then an individual timed race, then a boater cross organized into 4 heats. The 4 heats were organized by grouping people that got similar times in the individual race, and each group had about 5-6 people in it. This is how my boater cross race went down (I was in the 2nd fastest heat): Steveo blew the whistle and everybody turned right out of the eddy and into the downriver current. After a short flat water paddle, we turned into Upper No Name. Going into the rapid I was second to last, but placement in the beginning of the race is mostly luck. As I saw Infinity Wave and the wave after, I realized that it was perfect for a macho move, so I did one. I knew this would slow me down a lot, but it was fun, and it did slow me down, I was now in last place. I paddled fast through the rest of the rapid and in a few seconds we were at the end of Upper No Name. After Upper there is an intersection in the river and in the middle of the river is a massive eddy. The fastest way in terms of distance to continue the course into Lower No Name was to paddle across the eddy. Everybody in front of me did so. I was already in last place, so I tried something risky. I followed the current around the eddy, which was a much greater distance, and I risked going the wrong direction around the island and down the wrong rapid. However I kept on the correct side, and slowly saw myself padding the other racers in my heat, and I entered Lower No Name about 10 seconds ahead of the 2nd place racer. I didn’t play in Lower No Name, I booked it to the finish line, but I had enough lead that I didn’t need to sprint. I reached the finish line in 1st place. This race taught me a few lessons, it taught me that following the current is always faster than paddling on flat water. It taught me to never give up, even if you are in last place you can still win. And it taught me to never pass up a good macho move opportunity.

Coexist - Alec Jansujwicz

One can meet both the nicest and the crankiest people on the river in an eddy waiting to surf. Many become upset when they feel that someone has skipped the line to the wave, or passed over them. People get irritable, start yelling, and yelling out one’s place in line becomes inevitable. The truth is, it doesn’t matter whether a person gets two or twenty surfs. The experience of every river is not merely about being on a feature as much as possible, but rather being lucky to have the opportunity to coexist with the river. The river allows kayakers to play every day, and must be respected. It’s a gift to be on any river, no matter where in the world it is. One must live in the moment instead of being caught up in the drama of waiting in line to surf. After all, we’re here to hang out with other like-minded individuals, and there’s still plenty of time to surf every feature. There will always be a tomorrow and another chance.

How to Cram Write a Blog: Graham

How to Cram Write a Blog Sometimes in life we humans forget about our assignments or work due the next day. For some reason the brain likes to remind us of these things right before we are ready to lay in bed, relax and fall asleep. For me, this is the weekly blog that is mandatory for us keeners, so here is a 3 step way to cram write a blog. Step 1) - Find caffeine. Caffeine is a great way to power the mind when you can’t manage to stay awake. Step 2) - Go to google, and look up good blogging ideas. This should give you something to write about, also it avoids having to brainstorm which take more time than writing the blog itself. Step 3) - Begin writing. By this time the caffeine should be at full force fueling your fingers to type that blog. Finally you should be done and can attempt to upload the blog on the WiFi that actually isn’t there because it was taken away 2 hours earlier because of curfew

Why A High Quality Spray Skirt - By Kelly Hilleke

Why a High Quality Spray Skirt 

By Kelly Hilleke 

     Let’s be Honest, the spray skirt is one of the most important pieces of kayaking gear. Without it your boat would be completely flooded as soon as you hit a wave. You would become extremely unstable and likely flip over instantly, an be unable to roll up with the excessive amount of water in your boat. I should know, as my skirt has imploded four times in the last three days,  just surfing a hole. To be fair however, my spray skirt is high quality. Sure, it’s a couple years old, but still does it’s job on a cockpit that it fits. And that’s where I got into trouble.

      I left Colorado in such a rush I didn’t have time make sure my skirt fit the boat I was boring from a friend. So what I did that led to the first day without my skirt imploding was rough the edges of my cockpit using sandpaper. This gives your spray skirt more grip, therefore resulting in less implosion, and a better day in general.

Difficulty by Fisher Jacober

This is my first year at keeners and it has been quite hard. I started kayaking a year and a half ago, I am still learning the basic kayaking skills. Even though this is the first week I have already become better. It has been hard because the water is still a little big for me, I am also very homesick. I miss my parents and my sister, they are the most important people On the world in my opinion. The coaches in this camp are so nice and have really helped me with my kayaking, they have also really helped me with getting over my homesickness. I am very excited to learn more about kayaking at this camp, and get my confidence up on the river. I am still so excited to be here even though it is still difficult.

Why Choose Keeners by: Charles Brooks

Keener Blog: Why choose keeners? By Charles Brooks Why choose keeners? Two years ago, one of my good friends, Holden Dewey, told me about this awesome kayaking program, Keeners. He told me that it was an insanely fun kayaking experience, so i decided to sign up. The next summer I packed my bags and left for what I thought was going to be the most fun kayaking experience of my life. As it turned out, I was right, but Keeners turned out to be more than I had expected. I met many great friends and had amazing experiences hanging out with them. What I did not expect was that Keeners would build me into the person I am today. Keeners is not only a kayaking school, but also a great place to build character. I learned about why you should always have a positive attitude, and I also learned many other life skills that I can carry on to use throughout my whole entire life. I get like going to Keeners was one of the greatest decisions I had ever made, and not only did I have tons of fun kayaking, but I learned many life skills and had a great time with my new friends. This is why I decided to come again this year, and I hope to attend Keeners until I am not old enough. Why Keeners? Keeners is not only a fantastically fun kayaking experience, but a great place to practice crucial skills that you can use from now until the end of time.