September 1st, 2008
2008 Youth Program on the Riviere St-Charles
Well this is it. The reason why we practice our skills!!
On September 1st (that would be a Sunday morning) at 9 AM. Sylvie, Cheryl, Jennifer, Zachary, Emily and I went down to the Boys and Girls Club of SD&G (Cornwall Youth Center) with all the CReW gear and all our enthusiasm. When we arrived we were greeted by Julie, Melanie, Justin and Chris. (Maude would join us in Valleyfield). Nat (the fun and always entertaining staff member from the center) and Jamie (her husband) showed up with Jaylee (our youngest participant).
We were disappointed to see that Daylan could not join us (he had missed an appointment with his employer and had to complete the engagement on the Sunday… Well, that is how we learn….)
So with a small contingency of kids and almost as many volunteers :), we headed down the road for a 45 minute trek to the Riviere St-Charles.
A warm sunny day and fresh fast moving water was waiting for us when we arrived.
Step 1:
Introduce everyone to the river and a description of the features.
Step 2:
A talk about river stewardship: This river has come a long way. It is man-made and is entirely on private property. Keep it clean and respect the property around it.
Step 3:
Let’s get wet! Swimming the river. Before we play on the river, we need to make sure that everyone knows what happens if you wet exit and need to swim. one by one they got in the river and swam the first half (fast and deep enough) and headed down river. Feet first on their backs. They all loved it and were eager to do it again! So we took them to the top.
Swimming from the top is a bit tougher. Faster water, shallow ledges and square sharper rock. Well they all pulled it of but discovered why I do not like swimming in rapids! Rocks kicking you in the butt hurts:).
So now they knew why knowing how to swim the rapid properly was important. Amazingly many did it again throughout the day.
We split the group among the instructors and assistants. Sylvie, Aime-Jean, Cheryl, Jeniffer and I spent the rest of the day playing and teaching the kids.
After a good warm up in the eddy at the take out and a review of basic paddling and rolling, we hit the rapids.
1- Rolling in the rapids. Everyone is going to end up upside down so lets break the fear and make sure they can all roll in the faster, boilier and wavy water. Guess what they can do it! Chris was getting frustrated as he had not yet figured out a roll but this would soon change.
2- Exiting and entering eddies: Learning to cross an eddy line takes a bit of doing at first. And everyone was getting dumped each time. Chris was our initial superstar there but still ended upside down every now and then. A bit more frustration for him since he could not yet roll. After an hour everyone could enter and exit eddies and faster current.
3- Teaching Chris to roll. It does not happen often, but once in a while you get a student who is going to make something easy. Cheryl took Chris aside and worked on the roll in the eddy. Within 5 minutes Chris was rolling!
Then lunch. The kids were treated to Pizza, Juice and Granola bars.
After a bit of rest it was back on the water!
I spent another 5 minutes with Chris to adjust his roll and the result was a demo quality roll! Way to go Chris.
The afternoon plan: Getting on a wave for a surf and running the river.
The frustration of trying to surf was offset by the fun of running the river. So we switched back and forth all day.
By the middle of the day most of the kids were beat and they spent time out of their boats so that they could enjoy a little refreshing swim time.
What did these kids accomplish? Self Confidence and pushing their limits.!!!!
Melanie: who we were impressed by all summer took each challenge through the day. She ran the river, discovered that diagonal waves will kick you to the down stream side and that despite the occasional bruise from the rocks she could do this and do it well! Nicely done Melanie:)
Chris: His image of self confidence was challenged. This guy is one of the kids who always “knows what he is doing”. The river showed him that there is a lot to learn. But learn he did! He is now rolling and has run parts of the river. And more importantly he has acknowledged his limits and has said that he will be back to challenge them again! We are very proud of Chris!
Jaylee: This is a very nice girl who is learning to paddle and we will see her show us many good things in the future. As she gets dtronger she will be rolling and playing with the rest of them. Her enthusiasm
and love for the sport guarantees this. See you next year Jaylee!
Maude: Here is a girl who wants to paddle but lets her fears take charge. Will this stop her from kayaking? I do not think so. She can roll very well, control her boat as well and can paddle on the river with the rest of them. A little more time on the river and she will be on her own playing without a care.
Keep it up Maude!
And then we had the 2 that stood up to every challenge that the river could hand out:
Justin: This guy gave us a summer of distraction and self doubt. Well, today it all fell into place. His rolls were there (just work the hips more and keep the upper body relaxed Justin) and his boat control was coming together. More importantly he was listening and controlling his boat.The result: He got on the wave at the bottom, could run the river without problems and then stepped up to the big challenge: The tubes!!! At the top of the river there are 2 tubes that provide all the water for the river. (More on this shortly)
Julie: Julie is a person that we enjoy having in our program. She is always there and learns well. Her enthusiasm for the sport is clear. She is also quick to help the other kids when needed. She stood up to the river and to us. Asking for more challenges and new experiences she took on Bob (a small hole and good place to start hole riding). Well done Julie! Julie also stood to the rivers bigger challenge.
The Challenge:
Dropping in from the tubes. At the end of the day, all the kids headed up to the top of the river to look down from the tubes and decide whether or not to drop in. This is an intimidating move that requires that you get in the boat above the tubes then drop 6 feet onto the tongue and rive the water down through the wave below and on into the hole know as manic.
After the visit to the top, Julie and Justin stepped up to run do the run. Cheryl did the demonstration for them in style and waited below manic as a safety boater with Sylvie. Aime-Jean set up safety at the eddy on the right side of the tubes. This is the only place where getting stuck is unpleasant so safety here is important.
Justin’s ride was clean. He rolled up just before manic, punched the hole, rolled again and then made his way down the river! Sweet!!!!:)
Julie, who was still unsure got in her boat and pulled it off just as well!!!!
Way to go.
The day ended with some more river play at the bottom. Everyone had fun, learned something new, overcame fears and laughed a whole lot!
We are proud of everyone who came out with us and thankful for the chance to take them all out on the water.
For a complete collection of phots go the
In the next weeks we will meet them all back at the Youth Center to give them their ORCKA certifcates and chat about the next season and winter.
Until then,
Play safe and see you on the river,
















