Cracked but not Broken: How I Repaired my Carbon Kayak by Coerte Crawford

 Hi, I’m Coerte, and I paddle an Apex Rebound kayak. It’s a great boat, light, fast, and responsive. But like all carbon fiber kayaks, it has one big downside: it can crack.

That’s exactly what happened after I ran a rapid the wrong way and hit a rock. The impact cracked my hull. It wasn’t fun. I was pretty upset, but I also had a repair kit/ and some determination.

So if you ever find yourself in the same situation, here’s how I fixed my carbon kayak and how you can too.

What you will need

A carbon fiber kayak repair kit (I have the apex repair kit, but you can purchase the items separately online)

 (Mine came with two types of carbon cloth—one for the base layer and one for the top layer)
Epoxy resin
Popsicle sticks (for mixing and spreading)
Scissors
A small paintbrush
Sandpaper
Find and Prep the Crack

The step by step guide

 Locate the crack and sand around the damaged area. This helps the epoxy bond better.

1. Cut Your Carbon Fiber Patches
   
    Cut the first piece of carbon cloth just big enough to cover the crack. Then cut a second, slightly larger piece to go over the first.

2. Apply the First Layer

 Mix your epoxy using the popsicle sticks. Apply a thin coat over the cracked area and press down the first carbon fiber patch. Smooth it out and brush more epoxy on top.

3. Let It Dry

 Allow the first layer to fully cure before moving on. Be patient—this part is important.

4. Sand and Add the Second Layer

 Once the first layer is dry, sand the edges smooth. Then apply the second patch over the first, making sure the first layer is fully covered. Brush on more epoxy.

5. Final Dry and Polish

 Let the final layer dry completely. Then sand and polish it until smooth and shiny.

Now I hope you can fix your boat, like I can with mine, and I hope you have an awesome time on the river. 

The Ultimate Keeners Test: Walk the Plank

 Imagine, it’s your third week of Keeners and you’re a returning Keener that has run the Ottawa river more times than you can count. To add onto this it’s a Monday and you have just finished running the biggest rapid on the river, Coliseum. There isn’t much left of the river and nothing nearly as large as Coli. Well you my friend would be mistaken, because the most difficult and decisive line is yet to come, if you dare take it. This line is none other than Walk the Plank, a line hidden at the ledge right after Coliseum around 8.25 on the gauge. In all seriousness, this line is an interesting one to say the least. To start it looks like a pretty normal ledge but the closer and closer you get you begin to realize the sheer scale of the drop. If your coach so happens to tell you that it’s a “rock slide” then you will probably assume something along the lines of 45-70 degrees of verticality. So, as mentioned, you slowly become more and more puzzled until you fall off the ledge. Approaching the drop, you will probably begin to notice the small bits of bubbly water at the bottom and then you will see the drop. Being around 5 feet tall, is far from the scariest thing on the river. However, the fact that it is an almost impossible thing to see will leave you. Like all other Keeners, screaming as you fall and brace with the hope of not dying. You will probably be contemplating your life choices and may even discover the meaning of life on the way down until you inevitably hit the bottom. After being scared for your life, you will find yourself in a very calm eddy with Steve-o looking at you with that same smile as if you just hit the biggest Phil’s surf of your life. To summarize, this experience is the ultimate Keeners test and will allow you to prove yourself as the most unafraid Keener of all time.

The Perfect Keener Pancakes - And the Life Lessons They Cook Up by Jaxon White

     There’s something deeply comforting about pancakes. Whether it’s a lazy keener weekend morning, or a last minute evening snack disguised as breakfast, pancakes will never let you down. But here’s the beautiful twist, pancakes aren’t just a stack of fluffy goodness— they’re surprisingly wise little teachers in disguise.

  Let’s start with the perfect recipe (in my opinion), then we will get to what keener pancakes can really teach us about life.

Ingredients 

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  
  
• 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
  
• 1 tablespoon sugar
  
  
• 1 ¼ cups milk
  
  
• 1 egg
  
  
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
  
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional, but magical)
  

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
   
   
2. In a separate bowl, mix the milk, egg, and melted butter (and vanilla if you’re feeling it).
   
   
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir just until combined. Don’t overmix—it’s okay if it’s a little lumpy.
   
   
4. Heat a nonstick pan  over medium heat and lightly butter it up, or for keener purposes, our pans tend to be a little sticky so maybe put more butter than you think.
   
   
5. Pour about ¼ cup of batter for each pancake. When bubbles form on the surface and the edges look set, flip it.
   
   
6. Cook until golden brown on both sides. Stack, serve, and top with whatever makes your heart happy— maple syrup, NUTELLA, peanut butter, etc.

What pancakes can teach us about life

1. Dont Overmix Your Batter (Or Overthink Life).                                                                            The best pancakes come from a batter  that’s just mixed enough. If you stir it too much, they turn out tough and rubbery. Life’s like that too. Sometimes we get caught up overthinking, second-guessing every little thing. But peace comes from knowing when to stop mixing and just let it cook
2. Low And Slow Wins The Race.
   Too much heat and your pancakes will burn on the outside while staying raw inside. Rushing rarely works—whether you’re chasing a goal or trying to grow as a person. Real success takes steady heat over time
3. All keeners like their  pancakes a little different.   Some Keeners may like their pancakes extra fluffy while others may like them thin like crepes. Some may drown them in syrup or coat them in nutella. There’s no one right way to make or enjoy them. Life’s the same. Do what works best for you and let others do the same.  

Final Flip

Pancakes aren’t complicated. That's why keeners  love them. In their soft, golden rounds, they remind us to keep things simple, be patient, and to do what’s best for you in your life. 

So next time you're standing at the stove in your cabin, flipping pancakes, take a second to think about all you're actually learning.

And remember: life’s better with NUTELLA    

I Guess That's How the Cookie Crumbles by Jacob Zivony

A step by step tutorial on how to steal your cabins freshly baked cookies and say sorry by making them a new batch

Step 1: Go paddle on the middle channel and dont eat anything so you will be extra hungry for cookies when you get back. (Eating nothing is optional but it will help you be more hungry for cookies and you can take more when you get back)

Step 2: Come back from your long day of paddling and immediately go to the kitchen where you will find food for you to munch on. (You don’t know that there will be freshly baked cookies yet)

Step 3: Spot your cookies sitting on the fridge and run directly to them making a face of shock because you didn’t know there was gonna be cookies waiting for you.

Step 4: Get to the good part. Now that you have a plate of fresh cookies infront of you pick 2-5 cookies from the plate and take them from the plate.(You can eat them or save them for later)

Step 5: Wait until the rest of your cabin is back from their fun day at 7/8 hole and let them realize that their cookies that they spent so much time working on are gone. 

Step 6: Before all of your cabin mates dump you in the river, tell them you will make a new batch of cookies to replace the ones you ate.

Step 7: Wait until after dinner then make your batch of cookies while everyone else is still at the thunder-dome.(This way you will be able to surprise them when they get back.

Step 8: Mess up the cookies some how (I chose to use melted butter instead of softened this way all of the chocolate chips melt and you just have chocolate cookies instead of chocolate chip cookies)

Step 9: Leave the dough and go swimming 

Step 10: Find out that your cabin mates wanted cookies now and used your dough to make cookies 

Step 11: Be happy and enjoy your new batch of cookies and enjoy your cabin mates not wanting to throw you in the river

River Washed Hair by Helen Dillard

    So you just got off the river. You crushed some rapids, maybe got tumbled in Phil’s, and maybe even swam. You’re soaking wet and freezing cold and on top of that your hair is absolutely wrecked. What was once smooth, shiny, and neat is now a tangled, matted, river blasted mess.

So how do you fix this? And how do you do it within the 30mins you have to get ready for dinner. Here’s the best way to save your hair while kayaking and the path I took to find this out.

At first I tried to put it in braids and just brush it after. This worked, but not well. When you spend the whole day on the water the braids tend to crunch up and curl and become full on dread locks. This takes a lot of time to brush out so you have to finish it on the bus to dinner. But it kinda works.

The next thing I tried was a low rise bun. And surprisingly this worked much better. The bun has to be tight and against the back of your neck. And it does a great job of keeping your hair where it’s supposed to be, ish. But, it still got messy and tangled and it was a pain to brush out.

This is when I started discovering different strategies to brush your hair. You start by wetting your hair in the sink and lathering on so much conditioner. From here you can sit on the porch and brush it normally while getting your foot bath done at the same time. Or you can do my favourite tried and true method. 

For this method you lay your soap filled hair across the counter and begin brushing out the bottom of your hair. Keep brushing it out against the counter until it's mostly untangled. You then flip your hair back in the sink and brush out any remaining tangles and conditioner. All done <3.

Many Ways to Succeed by Eli Knights

 “Failure is the pathway to success”. This is one of the many inspirational things that our amazing coach, Stephen Wright, has told us. He also told us to fail spectacularly because by failing you learn how to succeed. This is one of the biggest ideas at Keeners and so we have a day entirely dedicated to failure, Big Water Beatdown Bacon Thursday. Over the course of the day we throw ourselves into massive water and try to get destroyed as spectacularly as possible. This may seem like a really good way to get hurt but it actually teaches you a lot. When you fail you then have to recover and look back and see why you failed. It's also kind of a competition and so it's a great way to connect with the other Keeners and you can look back and laugh at all of the horrendous battering you received. It also teaches you skills that you can use in the real world. Everyone fails all the time and you have to know how to own up to it and then fix your mistake and improve so that you don't make the same mistake again. These are all reasons why our awesome coaches throw us into these situations where we are destined to fail. Every single one of our failures leads us to being a winner, provides us something to laugh at, and creates connections that will last for a long time and around the world.

Running Rapids at Keeners by Jonathan Sanders

  Here at Keeners you will have the opportunity to run some very big rapids and push your limits because the river is as the instructors say, “freakishly safe”. I highly recommend taking advantage of this. This is one of few rivers where you can try literally anything you want and 99.9% of the time be perfectly safe. However, while the river is safe some of the rapids can be more than 3 times the size of the ones on your home run. This is a factor that can mess with our heads very easily. Staring at Phils or Coliseum for the first time can be quite an intimidating sight as some of the waves are the size of large suvs and school buses crashing with tons of force. Things like this make kayaking just as much a mental battle as it is a skill battle. It's important when running rapids to have 101% confidence in your abilities and always have at least 2 backup plans. I would also say that it is even more important to know your limits. There's nothing to prove. Most people value seeing a person who really enjoys being on the water rather than someone running stuff to build ego. My last bit of advice is on how to run these rapids.First keep calm and focus on the fun then, find the biggest hole, tee up boof and tuck, kiss your but goodbye, and finally roll up and spread the stoke. There is no such thing as failure, just success in not doing what was intended. There is not much better feeling than achieving what was thought to be impossible and that's what I love about kayaking.