CReW Girls

On October 9th, my parents decided that it was a good idea to go and run the Rouge with a bunch of people we know, I on the other hand was absolutely horrified. The first time I ran it I was ten and it went really bad so I wasn’t too keen on doing it again. We had Cheryl and Erin in the truck with us and we were half an hour early so we drove a little farther to see what was up stream. When we came back we met up with the rest of our group, we had François, Samuel, Alexandre, Julie, Louis, Guillaume, and another Guillaume.

We all amused ourselves in the rocky parts and then scouted the first rapid, the line was clear and it was really easy to run. The second one was even easier then the first and we just followed François because he does the river all the time with his kids, Samuel and Alexandre. On the third rapid, Washing Machine, we scouted and I did it with Cheryl, I freaked myself out and cut my thumb on the first part, and on the second part I almost ran into Cheryl. The cut is more of a scratch but it’s still painful, entertaining but painful. We took a break there and watched Zach play in his boat. The next rapid was really easy and then we were at the falls. Both Guillaumes ran all of them and Zach and Cheryl debated doing the first two but they didn’t so we all walked. While walking, I guess my water bottle fell out of my boat because it disappeared. Erin, my mom and I watched everyone go off the Seal Launch and then said we’d do it. I went last and that was the first time I’d done something like that and I twisted in the air and landed dead flat, thankfully I was sitting slightly forward so my abs took up the shock and not my back. we all walked the last fall except for Cheryl and both Guillaumes ran it several times. After that there wasn’t much, some of the boys stayed at a little play spot and the rest of us went up to where Lyne, Francois’s wife, was with their truck and our clothes. We got changed and ate the cookies that I had made.

I had fun and I didn’t die so, yeah, I might do it again sometime.

See you on the water.

Emily

On October 5, I went to Valleyfield with my mom and my brother. Zach has slalom courses on Wednesdays so we take advantage of that and go paddle. Every time we go I get to coach my mom and lately my friend started coming and I get to coach her too! I love it and they seem to like it as well. Each time we start with a warm up, this time we ran forward to one end of the parking lot(while it was empty)and then back, backward, we did that twice, then we did twenty jumping jacks. After, we got into our boats at the top of the river and worked on spinning in Bob, then we played a bit in Manic. When we went down, we stopped to boof the Sticky Hole, nobody got stuck so it’s a good sign that we are getting better. When we got to Mini Wave we tried to party surf and failed, then we tried to jump up onto the dock in our boats and my mom got it!

We went back up and I showed them a different way to scout a river, then we each picked a line and went down. We surfed at Mini Wave again and by then my fingers were getting cold and it was starting to get dark so we called it a day. once we were changed, we did our cool down then went to pick Zach up. In the truck, we had the oatmeal cookies my mom made(They were so good).

I’m still debating which one was better, paddling or the cookies.

See you on the river!

Emily

On august 21st we went to the Ottawa River So that Zach and I could go to Liquid Skills. We stayed at the Liquid skills cabin so that in the morning all we had to do was walk over to Joey’s house set up our tent and wait for camp to start.

We had Ben Marr as our instructor and Cooper Lemkay was with us as a Shadow most of the time. We were also the only two kids there. On the first day I threaded the needle at McCoy’s, ran through horseshoe for the first time and surfed on Baby Face. After a while we went down to Garb and I watched Cooper, Zach and Ben surf. Soon, Ben managed to talk me into surfing so I got into my boat, I was so nervous but as soon as I got on I thought it was awesome and loved it! Later we went to Push Button and I got on the wave above and loved it, then we had to go because our take out time was 4:30. I started doing kick flips at Butcher’s Knife and at Norman’s. At Colosseum, I hit my line the way I wanted to and same with Center Slot. At Black’s I got a couple of surfs in and then it was take out time.

On day two, I threaded the needle again and surfed on Baby Face. We headed down to Garb after a while and I spent most of the time there with Ben while Zach went to Push Button with Cooper. I got way more control than I did the day before and I got a couple of spins on purpose, so I was really happy. A while later, I started to get tired so we joined the boys at Push Button. Then it was kick flip time at butcher’s Knife and Norman’s which was awesome, I found a raft paddle at Colosseum, boofed at Center Slot and surfed at Black’s and that was the end of day two.

On to day three, This time I ran the tongue at Satler’s surfed Baby Face once and went to Garb, I spent most of the time there again and when we got to Push Button we met up with two family’s Zach and I know, so they paddled with us on the way down. As usual I worked on kick flips with Ben at Butcher’s Knife, then Zach did a Seal Launch off a random rock(I got really confused with all the rock names so I’m not even going to try to name the rock), then it was kick flip time at Norman’s which I can finally do (sort of). We didn’t really have a lot of time left but we still got to play at Black’s.

On day four all I did was thread the needle. It was Big Water Thursday for the Keeners so we watched them for a bit then went down to Garb, spent a lot of time there and when the Keeners got there we went down to Push Button. The two family’s were there again and they came down with us, Butcher’s Knife = kick flips, then Zach did the Seal Launch again and then we went to some other rock a jumped off it a few times then Norman’s = kick flips, Colosseum was fine and I tried(and failed) to kick flip at Dogs Leg and didn’t have time to play at Black’s. Ben and I talked about Harry Potter all the way to the take-out and didn’t realize just how far back Zach was until we got out. Oops

On the last day, I followed Ben right through left side Phil’s and it was awesome!!! We didn’t stop at Baby Face and went strait down to Garb where we spent a couple of hours. We went to Push Button when the Keeners came to Garb. After lots of surfing we headed to Butchers Knife for more kick flips and this time Zach joined us and he did one at Norman’s while Cooper was taking video(I totally failed). At Colosseum I sort of missed my line and flipped over, then I tried another kick flip at Dogs Leg then we went strait down to the take out.

It was awesome! I learned a lot and did things that I would not have done otherwise. I can’t wait to get back on the river!

See you on the water.

Emily

On the 8th of August, I went to the Madawaska river for a four day camp with Emily Jackson and Katrina Van Wijk. We spent two days in slalom boats on the Madawaska and two days in play boats on the Ottawa.We were going to spend every night at MKC but that would mean we would spend four hours of driving when we were going to the Ottawa (two hours there and two hours back), so we stayed at OWL for one night.

In total there were 5 of us (Derek, Arun, Allison, Megan and me) + Emily and Katrina, I was the youngest in the group and everyone was nice to me. The first day was awesome, we were working with Gates 1 to 5 after that we ran down and went to eat lunch. After lunch we did the same. The second day was even more awesome then the first, We ran the river from above Staircase and then had a race with all the gates! After lunch there was a triathlon that you could do in a team or alone. I was on a team with two girls who work at MKC, I paddled, One of the girls swam and the other one ran, it was a lot of fun and very tiring. I got a prize for being the youngest participant.

The next morning, I packed all my stuff and threw it in the MKC van, then we headed to the Ottawa river. We had Connor with us as well, I guess he wanted to spend more time on the Ottawa. We spent the day at Pushbutton and had so much fun surfing.

That night we went to Katrina’s parent’s cottage witch is right next to the OWL property and played on their trampoline and then went in and watched a movie.

The next day we ran the Main and I ran McCoy’s!!!!!!! It was so much fun that we did it again! But we did not run Horseshoe. Then we surfed on Babyface. After a couple of surfs we went down to Garb, ate lunch and on to Pushbutton a bit. Butcher’s Knife was awesome and so was Brain Douche, Norman’s was sick and Colosseum was sweet, Dog’s Leg was great and we had a ball at Black’s!

Unfortunately, we  all had to say good bye at the end and Emily’s mom drove me to OWL where my dad picked me up.

All that to say that I had so much fun and I hope that I can go back next year!!!

See you on the river.

Emily

I tried slalom a month ago and I wanted to stay with it, so now I take lessons with the kayak club in Valleyfield.

Yesterday my coach picked a couple of gates and made us go through them, which was fun but I got a bit mixed up because my brother’s group was on the river with mine and we somehow managed not to run into each other and catch all the gates we had to. It was fun and by the end of the class I was exhausted.

We had a class that night there in Valleyfield so I took a break and later I loaned my boat to one of Zach’s friends and in the deal Zach gave me one of his hats that I really like. When I got my boat back I played in a hole at the top of the river and I did a “semi on purpose” cartwheel!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately, I was alone so no one saw it and I was so excited that I couldn’t focus on surfing and I got beat down. But who cares? I did a “semi on purpose” cartwheel!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I can’t wait for the Slalom/Freestyle Combo Camp with Emily Jackson and Katrina Van Wijk which is in ten days. Then, a couple weeks after, I go to Liquid Skills with Zach, And it seems like I’ve been waiting forever!

See you on the river!

Emily

We are back on the water with our Summer Kids kayak Program for another season!

It started a couple weeks ago already, time just flies by when you are having fun and this summer is a lot of fun so I don’t see the time go by

I have 8 kids returning from last season to finish their Flatwater course. They did a Flatwater A last season. We started by reviewing what we did last year and they all remembered so well! It always impresses me, those kids paddle in July with me, then nothing all year until July the following year and they get in their boats and pick up where they left off!

So I spend my Tuesday afternoons paddling with them. I also have 2 new kids, they are doing very well. I have my daughter Emily that helps me a lot, she works on the basics with our newest students while I work on rolling with the others. The rest of the time, I just make the experienced paddlers work harder than the new ones

I also have a few kids that were ready for some moving water so we all go to Valleyfield together on Wednesday mornings. That is also a lot of fun, for the kids ( from the comments I got last week) and for me too ! We learn to paddle in rapids and they all like to swim in them too Very refreshing on a hot summer day, who needs a pool!!

Everyone is progressing very well and I am looking forward to another nice, sunny and warm Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning on and in the water!

Until next time, happy paddling and swimming

Sylvie

p.s.: I had some pictures but a computer or camera malfunction deleted them all while I transferred them on to the computer

On May 20^th, I got my new Salus marine life jacket. It is my first ever life jacket from them and I really like it.

Also on the 20^th, we left for a seven hours drive to the Lac St-jean for Le Doublé du Saguenay. When we got there it was almost dark, so we put up the tent and went to socialize. Not long after, I went to bed and my mom, my dad and Zach went to sit by the fire.

Saturday was the day of the downriver race, which I did not do but Zach did. On Sunday, there was the rodeo and I tied with two other girls with 20 points. J

Paddling is awesome as always! Mostly we have been going to Valleyfield since Zach has slalom training, so I get to play boat a lot! J

I got better at spinning so that is encouraging.

This weekend, we went to MEC Fest and I tried standup paddling, it’s fun but I would not do it all the time.

Now, I just can’t wait to get back on the river with my new life jacket!!!

See you out there!

Emily

4 Days of paddling and making sure we do it right

It was a good busy 4 days, the weather was even on our side for the first 2 days, it was warm and sunny and being outside on the water was enjoyable!

The whole thing starts slowly with diner and introduction, a peaceful evening. The first morning, we were able to stay at camp as it is on a small island and flatwater abounds. So the morning was dedicated to the flatwater techniques and ended with a wet exit just before lunch. The water is still pretty cold so the students had almost begged the instructors to keep that until lunch and they were very considerate and did just that, very much appreciated .  We were able to warm up before going to the whitewater site after lunch.

The Valleyfield site is a great place to teach and train, it is a short section of class 2-3 rapids and has a bit of everything you would want to work on, with the bigger rapids at the top and bonus, the water level is always the same, perfect! It is also easy to get to and there is a trail following the river with a few places where you can get in the water.

Now I said it started slow but that was only the first evening, all the other days were spent on water followed by classroom time and lesson planning in the evenings. It makes for pretty long days and if you tack on cold water and 2 last days of cold rainy weather, it can be pretty demanding both physically and mentally as well.

I knew that though and it is good, it pushes you beyond your comfort zone and you get to know or rediscover how you deal with everything under those circumstances, not a bad thing to know!

One of the best things about these courses is the exchange between all the instructors; the trainers and the instructors to be. They all have great ideas for teaching and you get to watch them teach their lessons, actually, you get to be a student J so we get to go home with a few more tricks!

I liked the videos that were taken as well, it is very helpful to see yourself and helps you figure out what you are doing wrong so you can fix it.

The last day was the most stressful, you know you are being evaluated throughout the course but you know when you put the word “test” in there, it gets more stressful, for me anyways

All in all, a great few days! ORCKA now has one more Flatwater Kayaking instructor, 1 more moving water kayaking level 1 and 3 more moving water kayaking level 2! Well done everyone!

But wait, it did not end there, one of the student is from Valleyfield and they have a culinary specialty, it is called “grillades” ( thick uncured bacon kind of, cooked on the BBQ with some spices) you eat that in a sandwich with tomatoes and onions, delicious! Aimé-Jean invited everyone who could make it to his place for some of those, Thank you Aimé-Jean! It ended the course very nicely!

Happy teaching!!

Sylvie

On April 17 there was the Raisin River Race. I was a Sweeper with my mom and Cheryl. Zachary was racing in a tandem with Sean Hakvoort, Sean’s brother , Zachary, also raced and so did my dad.

At first it was a nice slow float down the river as we followed some people, but then my feet got cold and by the time we got to Martintown they were numb. Then we had to portage the dam and even though I was walking on them I could not feel my feet! Since my mom is a mom, and moms are always prepared for anything, she brought dry socks, extra neoprene mitts, and a hole bunch of other things. So I put on the socks and I put the mitts on my feet as well, it might have looked odd, but who cares? I could finally feel my feet again!

Finally we got to Williamstown and we found a submerged canoe. We tried to get it out and failed. Then my brother and Sean found us and tried to help, meanwhile I froze, so Mary-Jane brought me back home (Yay Mary-Jane!).

So that was my adventure for this years Raisin River Race!

See you on the river.

Emily

Another year of the Raisin River Race with lots of water this time!

Last year, they had to cancel the annual race for the first time because of very low water levels. This year, we had lots of water thanks to all the rain in the few days before the event. Unfortunately, this meant that it was a bit too high and we were not allowed to paddle next to the dam in Martintown. This is the most exciting part of the race for some of the racers as well as for the spectators so we were all a bit disappointed but safety must prevail and we all put our happy faces back on and got ready for the race.

The weather was not the best, it was cold and windy so we dressed warmly and watched the CReW racers leave. We have a few veterans in our clubs, The Hakvoort family has been there with  2 or 3 kids racing every year since CReW started. They were there again this year with Zachary in a Super hero and Sean was with our Zachary in the Duo. They all did very well and made it to the finish line some colder than others but all happy with their race

Robert raced for the first time this year in the Jackson Journey, I will let him brag about his results in his own blog

Cheryl, Emily and I closed the race as safety boaters. I enjoy doing this every year, you get to do the 35 km but there is no pressure. This year was kind of cold though, Emily was in the tandem with Cheryl and her feet were frozen after a while. I am a well prepared mom ( sometimes) so I had extra dry socks for her to put on at the half way point so she could finish the race with warm feet

We started with what turned out to be the slowest racers, there is nothing wrong with being the slowest in the race, someone has to be Every year, we catch up to the last boaters at some point within the first 5 to 1o km, we start last so we can get going at first and then we just follow and help, mostly encourage them along the way. This year, the canoeists that we followed were paddling together as a team for the first time and the wind was not helping so going in a straight line was challenging but they had the best attitude I have seen in a tandem canoe! So congratulations to both for their determination and positive attitude! We stayed with them until we got  to Martintown ( about 1/2 way) where they decided to stop. Smart decision as the wind was worst in the next part, it even snowed on us at some point! We never managed to catch up with the last paddlers, we did recover a life jacket and tried to rescue a pinned canoe,  which took some time and unfortunately, we had no luck, it is still there . The water will come down this week and make this rescue much easier.

Emily says she will never do the safety again, it is too long. I will though, I enjoy the paddle, Cheryl said she did too, we will just need a new partner or, we have a whole year to convince Emily that really, it wasn’t that bad

Happy Paddling!

Sylvie