Ottawa Kayak School

The spring of 2008 proved to be one of the most epic ever. Check out all the action once the film STAKEOUT is released.

[June 1st 2008]

Today we are heading north to the Rupert River. This river is schedualed to be dammed by early 2009. It will be the last chance to ever see this beast in all its high water glory. The team consists of Patrick Camblin, Ben Marr, Phil Quinn and myself. We are fully loaded with creekboats, overnight gear and a dirtbike for driving shuttle. The long drive north starts in Ottawa, up towards Maniwaki, through Val-d’Or up to the small and very remote village of Waskaganish. This town would be our takeout. The Put-in was where the main highway crossed at Oatmeal rapids, roughly 100km upstream of Waskaganish.

to be continued…

[Preface]

In 2006, my friends and fellow keener instructors Rafael Ortiz and Nick Troutman were part of an expedition team on the Rio Alseseca in Veracruz Mexico. The full descent was well documented and released in the film Hotel Charlie 2 River of Doubt. In the same timeframe I was in Mexico but with World Class Kayak Academy, unable to take part in the expedition. I knew I would eventually return to run the epic sections they had found, and maybe some new ones too.

RIO JALACINGO

This river is the major tributary to the Alseseca. Their clonfluence is just upstream from the famous Cascada Tomata. The Jalacingo drops quickly, through harsh jungles and in intimidating canyons. We took five days to complete the 13km section. Luckily we were able to break the river into more manageable chunks, spending no nights on the river. Countless waterfalls and slides make this river special and a new classic in an already famous kayak destination. I can’t wait to return.

Joel Kowalski
Keener Coach

First-year Keener grads and best-kayaking-buddies Jacob Regenstein and Alex Anderson placed first and second in Juniors at the American River Festival’s rodeo. The contest was at First Threat on the South Fork of the American. First Threat was tricky and a bit flushy, so the judges allowed multiple runs in the qualifying heat and tallied total scores for all the runs.

After a slow start, the Keeners found their groove and put up some solid rides that got the crowd into it. Near the end of the heat, Jacob had a great ride featuring a spin that put him in the manky, river-left side of the hole. He rodeo’d in there and then surfed back onto the wave where he went old school with a flashy paddle toss that lit up the crowd. Alex knew he had to pull out something big on his last qualifying run. He got established on the wave and front surfed to log some hole time. Then he went for a spin that put him in the manky side backwards. He got munched and spent some time upside down. When he rolled up, the crowd was amazed to see that he no longer had a paddle. He back surfed back into the wave with both hands held high for the judges. After a couple heartbeats of back surfing, he flipped and flushed. The announcer called for safety boaters, but we all knew what a Keener would do. Alex made his hands roll while the crowd went crazy.

These two exciting rides established an all-Keeners final. In the finals, Jacob ruled with two great runs. See the video below for Jacob’s winning run. Unfortunately, the rookie camera man and your reporter (dad) got a bit excited during Alex’s no-paddle exhibition and stopped looking at the view finder. So, the video of that ride is not for publication.

Jacob scored style points for “best hair”.

Alex back-surfing

Jacob’s winning ride.

I have had the most amazing week ever. It was ram-pack-jamed with adrenaline pumping rapids, awsome instructors, great fellow Keeners and an insane trip to the Black River in Watertown, NY. I got to know a lot of the Keeners really well, and it was very interesting to see what they could pull-off in a wave. I learned a lot from them. I remember our first night in Watertown. We ate dinner at The Cracker Barrel. I looked over at Nicole’s Chicken BLT and it was leaking mayo’. Everyone was sick afterwards. The competition was very interesting. Me and Tamara had a tie-breaker for 6th place. Everybody did very well. Everyone accomplished at least 1 of their goals. It felt good to get back to Keenerville and sleep on a mattress. The water level was high all summer, so when we found out that the level dropped to 2, everyone was so bummed. When I get back home I’m going to miss everyone so much. I’m going to be sitting in school wishing I was on th Ottawa.

Can’t wait to paddle tomorrow,
-Jessica Droujko

Well well well where do I start….. Firstly I would like to thank Joe and everyone who works for WT. I am really happy that I listened to my brother and came and do the course with the Keeners. For me this was a life changing experience coming all the way from a small little green island everyone calls Ireland. It was a great chance to finally see what my brother has been doing here for the last 6 years. I loved meeting new people and getting to know them. Well one thing I really liked was that how much support you can get of the fellow Keeners which i think really helped a lot.

The Black river was really fun and I had a blast. It was a BEAST. My face in the picture is pritty funny because it is my last breath im goin to get before fliping haha…..

It was great fun boys and girls I couldn’t have done it without any of you.
Thanks a million……. Kevin Kelleher.

P.S. This week i am hopoing to go to the gatineau river for high tension, its a sweet wave I have been told. BEAST

Hey keeners, this is my 3rd and final week as a keener. Over the past 3 weeks i have learned a lot, about boating skills, river life, and rivers in general. my favorite skills i have learned were in the First Aid and SRT courses. we learned everything from cpr, to how to get out of a PFD when you are pinned under water. last week we drove to New York for a competition on the Black River, it was the first competition as a kayaker… i learned a lot about the pressure of a comp but was very happy to place 10th! this is my first keener experience, and will sadly be my last as a keener, because next year i will be to old to participate as a keener. however i plan to return to the Ottawa to play, and hopefully some day work at WT.

Keener Hot Meal- Egg in a whole

first preset you burner on high, and warm up a skillet. then take a slice of bread, and punch a whole in it with the top of a jar. heat the bread on the skillet with a little butter. while the bread is sill on the skillet crack an egg and pore it inside the whole. cook this side until the yolk is a fairly thick consistency, then flip the yolk and do the same. now enjoy

-duncan marsh

Well here is my first and last blog of the keener year! Just got back from the black river after a wonderful weekend of kayaking. It was my first ever competition and i loved it. Didn’t make the top ten but that leads to be just more determined for the next competition. It has been an awesome summer so far at keeners with one week left.

this is my last week, but I’m coming back next year. I’ve had a great time. i don’t have any good pics to post at the moment but I’ll try to get some. I’ve gotten so much better at kayaking during the past 2.5 weeks. I dont have anything more to say at the moment but I’ll try to write some more posts soon.

Jacob

Hey everbody this is Jamie Rosenberger and im here to tell you about keener hygine, it is always best to take a shower at least once a day, take good care of year feet washing them and keeping htem dry after the river. Alex chalhorn is a goood example of sombody who didnt wash her feet and everyboady could smeel her feet in the van. so keeep goood care of your feet it is the most important part of keen hygine

This weekend we took a trip down to the black river for a rodeo and some good food at the cracker barrel.  the rodeo was fun, i ended up taking third, but the best part of the trip were the blueberry pancakes at the cracker barrel.  once we came back, after enjoying another of WT’s finest meals, I spent the entire night puking my brains out, wishing that we had some more of those delicious blueberry pancakes.  I also just want to say thanks to kyle’s mom and jamie’s dad for helping out around here and making us more good food.  You can check out photos at micksgraphics.com