How to Learn About Keeners by Evan Cassidy

1st of all if you want to know about Keener’s, you have to have some interest or experience with kayaking if you have these and congratulations you are qualified. Next it helps to have family members or friends that have either done Keener’s or heard of it or just have interest in kayaking schools altogether. Next you do research on resources that might help you get better at kayaking and help you find people to kayak with. This step is very important because you wanna make sure you have a very fun people to kayak with for an optimal experience someone like Dan because he’s pretty chill. The next thing you will want to do is find and sign up for a kayaking school and then ship off to Canada or wherever else to go kayaking with people that are better than you. The next thing to do is go on a road trip to sad place and think about all the fun you will have kayaking. The next thing to do is find out that the camp you signed up for didn’t have enough submissions and they are putting you in a different program called Keener‘s. You think this is pretty weird but go along with it anyways as soon as you get there, you are called a keener and now you are one of them. Congratulations. You have learned what Keener’s is and have become one of them.

How Not to Swim in Little Trickle by Lucas Rodrigue

So I learn the hard way that swimming I little trickle can bring big consequences. First up if you flip over in little trickle you need to roll up fast or just because if not you will hit a lot of rock because it is shallow. So when you come to little trickle you have three main lines that are rather easy. The first line is that you go trough the curlers and keep paddling to the left and go trough the hole and the wave that’s on the right. The second line is that’s you lean into the curler and let the curlers bring you to the eddi. The 3rd line is that’s you go trough the curler and instead of paddling tho the left and aim between the hole and the left wave you just paddle right and go right in the Eddie. The last line is that your paddle trough the curler and try going right trough the hole but there is a chance that you get stuck in it.

How to Make Pasta the Keener Way (10 Steps) by Ian Seckington

So basically we decided we should make some pasta from scratch and by hand because obviously that would be super sick. Here’s how we did it Step 1: Put 2 cups ish of flour on a plate or in a bowl would work better but we used a plate Step 2: make a little well in the center of the flour Step 3: crack three eggs into the well Step 4: Slowly incorporate the eggs into the flour until it’s all mixed and you have a ball Step 4: flour and knead until it all sticks together and retracts when you smoosh it Step 5: Try to roll out strips of the dough but you don’t have a pasta press so you realize that won’t work by hand so you come up with a different strategy Step 6: Use this strategy of hand made pasta shapes (whatever shape they might be) and make a bunch of them Step 7: Boil some water (you actually probably should have started this before step 6) add a bit of salt to the water (this adds flavor)(maybe a tablespoon spoon or so) Step 8: put the pasta in the boiling water and LET… IT…COOOOOOOOOKK!! (Use a wooden spoon to stir every once in a while and try a piece of pasta) Step 9: once the pasta is cooked strain it in a colander and turn the stone off Step 10: butter it up and sprinkle some cheese on top *Disclaimer: we were totally winging it because keeners are fun people, recipes are for boring people *IMPORTANT: always use an Italian accent while cooking pasta, the mentality cooks, not you Thanks for making pasta with us. And if you read this and didn’t make pasta, what are you doing? Do you just read recipes for fun in your spare time. You don’t have that much time. Life is short. Go kayaking, make pasta. What are you doing just sitting there?

Why Staying Calm Can Save You in the End by Callan Fox

Today was the first Wednesday of Keeners, which, of course, means that it was race day. Although I have some experience kayak racing, it has always made me super nervous because of how exposing it is. At the end of the day, the only thing that you have to show for yourself are the mere numbers of your time. Not your spicy innovative line, not a cool trick you landed, not even a rocky beatdown you may have endured, although I definitely wished you did get some extra points for some of those things today. The last race of the day was our first, and only, individual race of the day, down Lower No Name. As I said before, I wanted to go fast. However, I was so busy freaking out about my exact speed that I couldn’t even commit to one line. What I really needed to do was to plan my exact route instead of micro-analyzing every little pro or con of each line, but I couldn’t manage to suppress my adrenaline and think clearly. Eventually, I rushed myself into going, not even knowing which line I was going to take- the safe option that I had done but might be slower, or the riskier option through the large holes that was unknown to me. Before I knew it, Heidi’s counting hit zero and my paddle blades quickly pulled me through the water. I was through the first feature, and made my way to tap the right shore to fulfill the requirement. Now was the time to choose where to go, except because I never made a decision before, I froze and didn’t. Where did I end up? Yep. Right in the big hole, Vampire, that my sole mission was to avoid. Yet, once in the hole, I did the one thing that I hadn’t done before. I stayed calm. I was then able to surf my way out very quickly, but was now faced with a second hole. Surfed again. There was no way that I could win this race now, after all, I got beatdown twice and it wasn’t even beatdown day yet. Once in the second hole, I took a deep breath and made my way out the left side again and saw Tyler and the rest of the Keeners who had gone. The end was in sight! I knew my time wouldn’t be my fastest, but at this point I was happiest that I got myself swiftly out of both holes. I didn’t give up and eventually made it to Tyler, where he told me my time. Everybody congratulated me, even though I didn’t even fully realize why. I couldn’t have been fast. But, it turned out that my time wasn’t so bad after all, and I ended up finishing second out of the girls with a small time gap. In the end, I realize that all of this could’ve been avoided with a bit more planning from the start, but readjusting that mindset in the middle of the rapid, by remaining calm and taking time to think, ended up being that factor that made me still feel like my run was successful.

Water, Water Everywhere, but I was too Lazy to Drink by Annika Vigoda

It is very important to drink water as you exercise, as I learned this week. What happens when you don’t drink enough water is your electrolyte balance in your muscles gets wrong. Electrolytes like sodium, potassium and magnesium are important for muscle function and if the balance is off your muscles may not contract and relax correctly which can lead to cramps. Another thing I learned this week is muscle cramps are very very painful and can come at most inconvenient times, for example when you are underwater and trying to roll back up in the middle of the race and you might be the reason your team came second. So in conclusion, you should drink more than half a Nalgene a day because believe it or not that is not enough to sustain 5/6 hours of kayaking a day. In my opinion, the best way to combat this is to eat 2 eggs in the morning and 4 eggs at night preferably after 9.30 pm. This probably increases your electrolytes or something and if you throw in a piece of bacon with every other egg it makes you thirsty and works wonders on dehydration. Disclaimer this is not valid medical advice if you couldn’t tell. Sent from my iPhone

A Keener's Guide to Freestyle Competition Preparation by Dan Meisenheimer

In kayaking, there are a lot of freestyle competitions. Many kayakers will find themselves at some point wanting to enter one of these competitions. Now that you have decided to enter a competition, you have to figure out how to prepare for it. Step 1 - Arrive at the site early. It of very important to arrive early as every feature is unique. You need to take time to paddle the feature before. Step 2 - Identify your range. Go through every trick you can do. Identify what tricks you get easily in that feature and which ones are harder. Step 3 - Dial inconsistent tricks Spend a few days making sure that any trick you want to do in competition is consistent. Pick a few specific tricks to work on. Step 4 - Begin putting together your ride. Put together a ride for competition. It should be divided into two to four distinct sections. Spend a few days practicing each distinct section as well as the transitions between them. Step 5 - Practice full rides Spend a day practicing your full planned ride. Congratulations! You are now ready to perform to four potential at any freestyle competition.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect By Andrew Slothower

In school, I have a music teacher named Mr. Adams, and despite his shortcomings as a teacher, he teaches about something known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. This effect states that there is a perception of how good you are at a task, such as kayaking, and how good you realistically are at said task. The misalignment of those two points is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. When paddling, this can become an issue when doing something like paddling when you and your crew are dependent on you being confident in yourself and others being confident in your own abilities. Overconfidence without skill can be dangerous, especially in unpredictable environments like whitewater, where mistakes can have real consequences. It has been an important thing for me to overcome, especially in a whitewater situation. Especially as a keener, where there are so many people who depend on you to save them and be able to save yourself.