Weekends at keenerville- Anya Sachs

During the week, keeners get to kayak everyday with coaches who help teach them new tricks and tips. But weekends at keenerville are very relaxed and easy going. You can go paddling with buddies if you want, but you're recommended to take at least one rest day. This past weekend, I watched four movies in one day. And that's usually what happens on a weekend, everyone just chills. You also get to sleep in, but Mum comes in and wakes you up at 10:30 so you can do something with your day. Cooking or baking is also a common weekend activity, you get to make fancier breakfasts for yourself and sometimes lunch. Something that I like to do is bake a cake with help from my friends, because I need it. It's really fun when everyone works together to make something that you can be proud of in the end. Throughout my time at keeners, I've made 3 cakes, for better or worse. Another popular option is playing James in foosball or spikeball. Mostly, weekends just consist of a group of teenagers goofing around and having fun.

How to have the best day ever on the water -Max Feild:

At Keeners, each and every day has equal potential to be the best day ever. It only takes a little effort from yourself to turn a good day on the water, which is every day you get to kayak, to an amazing day. Going down the Ottawa River is tiring, but you have to push through that every day to maximize your “funs.” Later in the week, further away from the weekends where I get to rest, pushing myself all day gets harder and harder, but whenever I do, I find that those are the best days. Instead of running a rapid once and deciding to chill out at the bottom and set safety, take that extra chance to do the rapid again and try something you hadn’t done before. This will essentially guarantee a more fun day on the water, and almost double the amount you learn.

The art of the beatdown ~ Maddie Norman

The art of the beatdown

Thursdays at Keeners have become the stuff of legend in recent years, and the reason is clear. On Thursday we pursue the elusive Big Water Beatdown, and the results produce the starkest glories and defeats of the entire session. Beatdowns on the Ottawa are a great way to practice keeping a clear head during a tumble, a skill that comes in handy when impromptu beatdowns with potentially higher consequences arise in the future. The keener experience is relatively safe, owing to the high skill level of the coaches and the other keeners, and intentional beatdown spots tend to be quite deep. The Thursday experience can, however, expand beyond the realm of actual tumbles in big holes; the general mindset begs only an attempt of something new, exciting, and frightening. This typically includes new lines, whitewater swims, and interesting twists put on familiar rapids, such as the eddy game, legs out, backwards, and any other whim that may strike an inventive coach's fancy. Big Water Beatdown Thursdays boast the best footage, most fun and scariest moments of any keener session. Video is sure to impress and strike fear into the hearts of any non paddling friends and family a keener may have. So go forth, beatdown, impress your friends, and surprise yourself.

The Last Thursday By: West Burge

           We did a multitude of things that scared or challenged me on the this Thursday. The day started just as a normal Thursday should start, with a good hardy breakfast. I continued my trend of experimenting with different pancake and waffle types. For breakfast we had chocolate strawberry waffles and fried eggs. I cooked for most of the morning and then squeezed in a little bit of time to eat and clean at the end. All the Keeners met in the thunder dome to have a morning meeting before we kayaked. We talked about how to stay stoked for the last few days of paddling. Stevo put it this way, "When you go home you will spend all of your time thinking about the Ottawa River. You will miss it, you will wish to be playing happily in it. Then you will think about how you wasted the last three days of Keeners sitting on the side of the river watching other people doing fun things. Then you will wish you had done the fun things that the other Keeners had done". On that note we headed up to Phill's hole to start off thursday. There were some pretty epic beatdowns. After that we headed down to lunch and then to Braindoosh. Once we had played there for a little while, we headed down stream to Coliseum for a quick swim. I was really scared of this at first, but eventually I got over my fear and sent it. This was probably one of the coolest things that I have done in my life. It was pretty awesome. My point of this article is to make the most out of the days you have at Keeners. Somebody had to work really hard to send you there, and you better make the most of that $999 dollars a week.

Keeners for the Irish by Matty white

So I have come to the end of my keener experience. As this is my final blog I might as well write about something that will help future Irish keeners to come. 

Firstly if you have the opportunity to attend this program it is well worth the investment as no river in Ireland even compares to the Ottawa. 

The packing list that is sent with the application is a couple of years out dated and the combination locks and the multitude of T-shirts that you will inevitably bring are not needed as two keener shirts are given to you. 

Flights are a necessary part of traveling to Ireland and my experience of was both long and tedious as I had to take three flight instead of two as you can be collected later than 4 pm. 

Bugs can be an issue as mosquitoes, horse and deer flies bites are common especially if you live in Istambul . Sun cream is a must have as sun burn is uncomfortable and painful. I recommend applying a waterproof sun cream before you go onto the water and at the lunch site. 

My overall experience of keeners is it has been the best kayaking program I have ever been on and I will never forget as no river is like the Ottawa it is a truly magical and spectacular place. 

How to Boof by Reilly Osborne

OKS Keeners blog 3

How to boof

The boof is an incredibly useful stroke for river running/creeking which lifts the bow of the boat over a feature, typically a hole, letting the kayaker skip out over the feature rather than receiving a glorious beatdown, opening up a ton of fun new lines. The boof is also the skill that I here the most keeners say “oh I never really learned how to boof” or “I cant run that, my boof is (insert pushup word)”, so here’s my quick lesson on how to boof.

Step 1: Approach the feature with speed.

If you’re planning on boofing something, it’s generally because the feature will stop you. That means that more water flows back upstream than downstream. So if you just float at the same speed as the water, your chance of getting through the feature isn’t great. By paddling hard and moving faster than the downstream flow you greatly increase your odds of getting through the feature. If someone were to only take one thing from this blog it would be to paddle as hard as you can before a hard boof.

Advanced option: approach angled slightly towards the side you plan on taking your last stroke on. Use this stroke to redirect your angle to perpendicular the hole. This helps lift your bow more and is also a good way to correct if you spin out before the drop.

Step 2: Lifting the bow

As you approach the feature, place your paddle at the lip of the drop (or just before the peak if boofing a wave). Pull hard on your stroke once you can see your landing, for a more vertical drop this will be generally just as your bow clears the lip, whereas a more gradual sloping drop requires a later stroke. If boofing up onto something like a rock take an early stroke focused less on lifting and more on driving your boat forward. As you take your stroke pull up with your knees like you’re doing a sit-up, and try to push your hips forward.

Step 3: Landing

As you land keep your weight forward and centered, and quickly take a strong stroke on the opposite side you took your boof stroke on. Paddle hard until you’re well out of the tow-back

Common mistakes:

Back ender upon landing: lean forward and paddle faster

Diagonal hole boofing: boof perpendicular to the hole rather than to the river. If your bow is pointing downstream and the hole is at a 40 degree angle, then only a portion of your momentum

I hope this helps, stay safe, SYOTR,

-Reilly

Lucifer’s Anus on the Gatineau River by Evan Kindseth

On the third Wednesday of keeners the keeners go on a trip to a river other than the Ottawa. This year we went to the Gatineau river. The first rapid on the Gat is called Lucifer’s. In Lucifer’s there is a large sticky hole called Lucifer’s Anus. The hole is safe to surf but very sticky and difficult to get out of. I decided that I wanted to drop into the hole and surf it. I missed my first two attempts to get into the hole. However third times the charm, on my third attempt I hit it right in the middle of the stickiest part. At first I thought I had control, but quickly I got flipped. I popped back up into a side surf and started sliding over to an exit. Before I could get a breath the wave tossed me back. From there I got tossed all around. I went for a breath and got a lot of water. I then proceeded to tumble and got tossed violently without getting a breathe. As my lungs longed for air I pulled my skirt. Seconds later I rose from the depths of the hole with my skirt hanging off my ankles. I finally got a breath. Lucifer’s Anus is more violent, more aerated, and more retentive than Phil’s Hole. It is a great hole for those looking for a good beat down.