The Cornwall Recreational Whitewater Club

Zachary and I took a drive into Northern New York looking for something new to play in.
From Cornwall, we did not feel like driving as for as Watertown (which is definitely in right now) so we looked at rivers near us. The Salmon river is empty, The Raquette River is going down fast but we came across a little gem of a wave in St-Regis, New York on the St-Regis River directly off hwy 37 and all of 30 minutes from home.

Fast and smooth with a curling shoulder it made for a good couple hours for the 2 of us.

We have not heard of it before so Zachary has decided that it should be named “who da man?”.

A great little wave with no hazards below will make for an excellent place to bring the family or young friends in the future.
Another nice thing is that it is alway there. Early spring, summer and fall.
There is also a chip stand upstream to calm the belly if it starts rumbling!
We will definitely be bringing the family back there.

See you on the river,
Robert

www.cornwallwhitewater.com

Hey,
Saturday, May 3rd turned out to be an awesome day in Ottawa.
The forecasted rain stayed away and although it was windy and cool several CReW members got together at the Champlain Bridge in Ottawa for an afternoon of Surfing, Spinning, and a lot of fun!

Tilly, Zachary, Sean, Cheryl and Emily joined Sylvie and I on the water.

Everyone got an hour before lunch to get warmed up and get it together. We saw lots of good rides and everyone was getting on the wave and spinning, clean spinning and even some roundhouses.

After a short lunch it was time for our CReW mini-rodeo and time for our members to show me their best 3 rides! They all go out with big smiles and despite the pressure of people watching and someone counting (It really is not so easy to get it all together in 45 seconds) everyone did well.
I as proud of each of them as they tried new things, stepped up to new challenges and smiled all the way through.

1st- Zachary: 20 points (The boy is way to serious and we will be working on his smiles!)
2nd- Chery: 15 points (great smile during and after her rides)
3rd- Tilly: 10 points (big wide smiles on and off the water)
4th- Sean: 5 points (too excited to smile)
Emily placed fifth (that is right, little Emily got on the wave and into the hole!!!! She smiled before and a while after. While on the feature she was way focusing on the task. My heart was pounding….)
Sylvie followed up at the back of the pack but blew everyone away in the smiles department all day long!

The top 4 places got to choose from some gifts that we brought along. Lots of cool stickers and a Jackson Kayak Toque) To quote Cheryl (she got the toque): “Sweet!”
Emily got a huge hug from me and her mom (we are so proud) and was rewarded by the cheers form the people watching on shore and she got a cool sticker for her boat for her efforts!

Everyone had a lot of fun and everyone learned something new or improved a skill (surfing, spins, clean spins, roundhouses, blunts and even an entry move).

As for me, I enjoyed watching kids be kids on the water, helping them improve when and where I could and yeah, getting out and playing in my boat too!

This is a great group that I enjoy paddling with. Thanks to all for coming out to play.

We will definitely be doing it again soon.

Robert Zwanenburg
www.conrwallwhitewater.com
www.worldkayak.com/seawayvalley

The 2008 Level Six Rodeo and river festival held at Bates Island (Champlain Bridge) in Ottawa was a huge success. The weather, water level helped Level 6 and their volunteers put on a fun paddling weekend for the paddlers and spectators.
Lots of people came out to watch and the photographers were all over the place too!
Friends hooking up together to do what they love.

Saturday morning started with the amateur paddlers. CReW members came out and put in a good showing.
Zachary Zwanenburg: 1st place Junior Mens. (stepping it up with a roundhouse and a donkey flip)
Tilly Martin: 2nd place Junior Womens.
Cheryl McGregor: 4th place Womens.
Robert Zwanenburg: 2nd place Masters.

CReW members then got in the volunteer mode and worked the barbecue grill keeping the paddlers and visitors fed with hot dogs, hamburgers and drinks.

The pro categories were really exciting. Everyone was in awe watching them throw helixes, airscrews, donkeyflips, loops, airblunts, backstabs and more!

The CReW members and their families came back to the Zwanenburg home in Ottawa to enjoy a nice meal together and get ton know each other a bit more off the water.
Even the younger members enjoyed spending time with those of us who compete in “masters” categories
The awards in the evening were fun too. Great prizes, good company and a few good drinks as well.

Sunday saw us all back at Champlain enjoying the wave and the clinics offered by volunteers and pros.
Billy Harris did a great job getting our members boats tweaked for their personal fit.
Billy’s adjustments were the key to Cheryl’s success and now she is surfing and spinning!
Mat Hamilton took a bunch of paddlers out on the water to get them surfing or improve their technique.
MEC held a boat clinic and we learned a bit about health issues including protecting your ears, nose and eyes, as well as prevention against tendinitis.

Billy also gave an old guy (me) some a good pointer for my donkey flip and what do you know, it worked! who hooo!

A big thanks to Mat Hamilton who spent time with Emily (my 10 year old daughter) to get her surfing, and a few tips to get Zachary blunting and Sylvie surfing. Time well spent and it worked out for all of them!!!
A final strong tip from Billy gave Emily the extra little tip to get her on the wave (my heart was thumping but off she went!).
Lot’s of smiles and cheering from everyone!

What I enjoyed most about the event: A feeling of family and community!
Amateurs, weekend warriors, pro’s, and families sharing their sport, their knowledge and enthusiasm and looking out for each other.

There are not a lot of places where I would totally entrust the well being of my family to others.
Billy, Carly, Matt and many others have earned that status. thanks.

Thanks Tyler and the gang at Level 6 for making this possible and supporting our program as well!
For sure CReW will be there again with more paddlers, volunteers and competitors next year!

see you on the river soon,

Robert Zwanenburg
www.conrwallwhitewater.com

Despite the Montreal Canadian first game of the NHL Playoffs, Jack’s Pub in Williamstown had a good turnout for the showing of the Green River Race and Night Of The Living Donkey.

On Thursday, April 10th, I got my family together, picked up a selection of Jackson kayaks and headed out to Jack’s Pub (a whole half mile from the house…) with our evening movie selection : The Green River Race and Night Of The Living Donkey.

After setting up and a few stressful moments wondering if the NHL series was going to kill us, our guests started rolling in. By 7:30 we had enough folks in the door (CReW Club members, a few came from the Valleyfield Area, and a few curious locals).

Drinks were ordered, a few meals as well and the Green River Race began.

The movie is excellent. The images are beautiful and the paddling is intense. The paddlers in the group appreciated the technical difficulty and the non paddlers were just in awe!

After a brief intermission and some minor tech glitches the second movie was run. Night Of The Living Donkey has an appeal to the young people in the crowd! We lost the older viewers and non-paddlers but the rest of them enjoyed the selection of play moves and big drops that were shown as well as the fun between paddlers. Heck, even Hee Haw Jones made his impact!

Everyone had a good time and the only question left is when do we do it again. The answer? Sit tight there is more to come.

See you all out on the river and at the next World Kayak Movie Premier in the Seaway Valley Region.

Last week Tuesday (April 1st) we brought the World Kayak Movie Premier of Night Of the Living Donkey to the kids at the Cornwall Youth Center (Now a Boys and Girls Club Of Canada!).
Despite some technical issues with the projector and dvd the movie was a hit.
The kids got to see some first class paddling from a variety of awesome paddlers and got to laugh a lot at the same time. Hee Haw Jones got a good rise out of many of them.

Considering the success of this movie showing we will be going back to the center in May with other movies for the kids to enjoy.

The event gave us an opportunity to reintroduce kayaking to the kids and get the wound up for the upcoming season. We will be seeing some of the same faces as last season but from the response on Tuesday night we will be bringing a lot of new faces on the water with us!
Way cool!

Thanks to World Kayak and Effort TV for making this possible.

And so it comes to pass that another winter is going out and the creeks have started to flow!!!
Aime-Jean, Jean-Sebastien and I got out to the Riviere Aux Outardes last Wednesday.

First let me apologize for the lack of pictures…. Took a few videos though and you can see if you click here or go to http://www.dropshots.com/crew#date/2008-…

The river for starts with a drop through a narrow slot in a small dam. (Not hard to do but you can not enter the slot off line or you hit the pillars on the way down (hmmm how do I know this? check the videos….)
After that it is a series of pleasant waves and small drops that travel through a really scenic area.
Mid way we had to portage through a section that was blocked by ice but, no big deal just get out and enjoy the scenery.
After an hour of fun sections, you enter what I will now call the slides. It is a couple hundred meters of narrow river with a couple of tiny eddies if you see them coming for a break on the way down. Otherwise you just go till you get under the bridge which lets you know that you are almost done. Past the bridge you get a sweet little drop to a large pool and then out you come.
By the end of the run (8:00 PM) we got out with our gear solidly frozen but with expressions of satisfaction.
For me it was the first river of the year and I got to shake out the rust a bit and remember that I do not have edges on my creek boat….
A great time was had and we will be going back there very soon!

What is coming up for CReW?
This weekend: Champlain bridge (Ottawa River) and a creek in Quebec
Throughout the week we should be able to get out on the Williamstown Wave on the raisin river.
Thursday World Kayak Movie Premier: Green River Race and Night Of The Living Donkey at Jakcs Pub in Williamstown,Ontario
Next weekend: Ramp competition in Williamstown and Chambly rapids

See you on the water,
Robert

I do not complain about snow!!! We are always out on the mountains all winter long. The snow brings up the rivers in spring and that is just fine by me!
This winter we have had a near record snowfall and the results will be showing up soon. The weather has started to warm up and the rain that is forecasted over the next 4 days will finally break the ice and open the rivers for play time.
This year CReW has organized events on the Raisin River including our Williamstown Ramp Time kick off to the season. But, we are at the mercy of Mother Nature and will be pushing the event back from April 5th to April 12th. Even if the river breaks we will end up with sooooo much water that the bottom of the jump will be under water. Can not really hold a ramp competition when the ramp is underwater…
So here is what we are going to do: 1- push the event back one week, 2- take our members upriver to play on the Williamstown Wave, and throw in some Seal Launches from the Bridge! If there is enough water we will go and explore a couple other small rivers sections in the area.

See you on the water very soon!!!

Robert

Just got back from a business trip in Edmonton, Alberta. Was not gone very long (2 weeks) and before I left I was worried that the local creek season might start without me…
What do you know! 2 days before I am coming home, the snow gods heard my prayers and dumped a whole lot of snow on the Seaway Valley (and everywhere else too!). A bit inconvenient as it caused me to have to spend a night in Winnipeg not to mention dig out my car when I got back to the office earlier today… but it is awesome!

This is what we needed to see to ensure that the local creek would be there for us in the weeks and month to come! Sweet. So we get to complete our snowboard season in style with some great new snow and we can start getting ready to hit the creeks in the area as the open up and get fed by all that snow!
Can hardly wait. Paddling all winter in our polo sessions is fun but it does not touch the level of fun and excitement that is coming very soon!
Well the countdown begins. How long we have to wait is up to the weather gods but the forecast says it is going to start warming up and bringing a bit of rain on top of all the snow in the coming weeks.
Till then….Get ready for the season, make sure the gear is on good condition and ready for you!

Robert Zwanenburg
Your Seaway Valley Regional Ambassador
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