That second home, the Ottawa river: Finnian Donovan

The Ottawa is truly a magical place, a place where you can get the best rides of your  life, fun lines and fun times and also  many magical Beatdowns. I myself came here last year in 2018 for the first and ever since I experienced the rapids on offer here on the Roucher Fendu section of the Ottawa I was hooked and knew I was going to come back. There is something very special about this place that makes it  a  must do for all kayakers far and wide. We have had Keeners come from all over the globe from Ireland, the Uk, Peru, Russia, Chile, Germany, the States and many more.
Once you experience the Ottawa for yourself you will find yourself wanting more  and coming back.
I'm from Ireland and there we have very rocky technical rivers the complete opposite to the Ottawa so when I came here my mind was blown and I was very eager to get paddling asap. It is a very different paddling experience to what I'm used to and makes me want to discover all types of kayaking.

A keener poem #2 By Graeme Stevens

Today I still can't think of a GOOD blog topic (real twist eh?) so I'm going to compose a second poem.

Three weeks of keeners in the past, all 504 hours have been a blast,

Comp days, race days, beat downs and all, runs, soccer, flat water sessions and Foosball,

Poutine, breakfast, lunch and dinner, just to make sure where not getting any thinner,

Meetings, speeches, SRT, and more, all giving us more skills than we had before,

On water, off water, all lessons are useful, learning to be helpful, kind and truthful,

Shout outs and greivences get heated, but in the end Sydney gets them all deleted,

Knots with Greg was lit, from bowline to rappelling, all improved us just a bit,

Whether its a flat water phonix or simply a bow stall, no new skill is small,

From running ST chute to surfing Phils, every splash of water gives you the thrills,

Friends where made and hearts where broken, (just kidding, the no relationship rule remains unbroken)

Bus soundtracks where fire, and rhyme zone says that fire rhymes with electronic multiplier,

All in all these keeners will not be forgotten, and neither will the trashpocylipse because the bus will always smell rotten,

Goodbye keeners, thanks a bunch, but don't worry, we'll meet again, just a hunch

My Keeners Experience-Caleb Jatko

My Keeners Experience

-Caleb Jatko 

Keeners is truly an amazing experience. It is a great place to learn and a super fun time. We learn so much about kayaking, life, health and safety. The Ottawa is one of the most beautiful and best rivers I’ve ever been on. There are so many play features and good kayakers here. All of the instructors really care about helping and teaching us. I’ve really enjoyed my time here. It’s truly a life changing experience and I recommend it highly to anyone who wants to take there kayaking to the next level.

Ropes and knots ~ Nick Collier

Every Thursday night we have ropes and knots with Greg at Wilderness Tours. Ropes and knots is essential for kayaking as we progress into harder rivers. Understanding how to create different knots and systems plays a huge part in safety situations. 

Over the two one-hour sessions we learnt about bowline, figure 8, figure 8 follow through and overhand knots. We also learnt how to incorporate this into different pulley systems and how to use mechanical advantage.

On the final Thursday night we were lucky enough to experience rappelling off the bungy tower. This was a pretty amazing experience and gave us insight into what might be needed to get into deep canyons.

Although ropes and knots needs a lot of time and practice to become memory I still think it is important and I am happy that we got to do it here in keeners.

Scrambled eggs - T Buckley

The first step to making eggs is to buy a good non stick frying pan, you desired number of eggs, and a quality stove. First you will figure out how many eggs you want, then crack, and empty the contents of the eggs into a cup. Make sure not go get any of the shell in it. Then take a spoon or fork, and mix the eggs until it is all one color. Then pour the cup onto your pan on the stove. You need to tend your eggs at all times. You need to keep flipping them so they dont burn. Continue this until they are the desired consistency. You can add things like peppers and cheese into your eggs if you are whack. However salt and pepper is a good choice. Then enjoy your eggs!

You are in control!

Yesterday was beat down Thursday, and so I decided to surf right side. I had done it last week, but my skirt imploded both times and it wasn't very fun. This time, I was borrowing a better skirt!

I went down, and hit it straight on, bow first. It flipped me over. I was upside down for a long time, not really scared but also not super enthused about the whole experience. Later, one of the coaches told me that it looked like I was being eaten by a bear, and was playing dead - I had no confidence when confronting the hole, so it was just playing with me!

I was scared of the river for a long time, and my solution to that was just letting the river take me where it wanted. I've learned that the only way to paddle well and not get hurt is to realize that you are the one in control! The river is stronger than you are, but you can still control where you go, and how your surf or beatdown is.

Why I love kayaking - Walker Edens

I love kayaking because it is such a unique sport. Kayaking gives me a freedom I cannot get anywhere else. Seeing the scenery while paddling down river or surfing ways is amazing. I especially love he freestyle aspect of kayaking. Learning new tricks and working on them helps me gain patience for things on and off the water. It helps me gain patients for things like school or waiting in a line to surf a wave. Surfing is also super fun because you have so much control over what you can do and are doing. It just so fun to have total control over everything for a limited amount of time.