Friday 27-Jul-2007:
I finally decided after two years of saying I have to stop and take some pictures of the gorgeous rocks at the river left bend near the take to just do it. I paddled up from the takeout and spent 2.5 hours taking pictures of all the really cool contrasting rocks.
Later that night I had dinner at the folks. Picked up the Aaron (Baby Padre) and headed off to Jenny’s for a bonfire, drinks, and marshmallows with Billy and Jeremy.
We had to wait a bit for the fire as Jeremy was in the process of taping Jenny’s squirt boat back together so they could do a float test down at the river. Jenny decided she needed to lose some volume out of her squirt boat and Jeremy is the king of all things fiber glass.
After good eats and drinks is was getting late and we had to part ways as most of us had early morning ahead of us.
Saturday 28-Jul-2007: Water Level: 1.75
I arrived at the putin at 11am. I dragged the girlfriend off the car down to the water to get her ready. There were a few people that recognized my paddling shirt and girlfriend and asked me if I was me. Gonzo was down at the water float testing his 9th boat as he just recently outfitted it. I took some pics of him so he could re-adjust things accordingly.
I went up top to see if Ryan showed up so we could do the shuttle before Neil and AnnaLisa showed up. Turns out Princess Leah and gang were also there. I believe some girl names Lucy was going around selling the new save the Kipawa River bumper stickers. Leah got the 1st two and I got the 3rd and 4th ones. They were going like hot cakes. Gonzo bought 4 himself. Neil and AnnaLisa finally showed up.
Everyone finally got their boating stuff together and it was off to do the shuttle. I brought all the drivers back to the putin which turned out to be a good thing (read on).
The plan was for Leah and Gonzo and gang to run the run the Main channel while Neil, AnnaLisa, Ryan, Fred (a double bladder who wishes to remain anonymous), and myself were to run the Middle channel. Everyone was siked up to go paddling. This was AnnaLisa’s first trip to the Ottawa ever and this would definitely be the big white water she ever paddled.
We paddled down to McKoy’s for a scouting session. Neil and Ryan had only paddled the Ottawa once before when it was 8.75. I made sure that everyone knew what the swimming consequences were and that you did not want to swim in Leftside or Rightside Horseshoe. I asked Ryan if he was going to take the left sneak route again and he basically said I did not just drive three hours and not run Phil’s.
I did my run right through the tongue on Phil’s and went around the back of the island to avoid Horseshoe altogether. I set up just below the island incase I had to chase boats. Neil ran Satler’s and ended up in a short swim into the eddy. AnnaLisa did the left sneak by boofing the ledge between Satler’s and river left like a pro.
Ryan did his run through Phil’s and made it through only to get nailed further down followed by a crappy swim through Leftside Horseshoe. I chased and retrieved his boat and brought it back up to him at the island. He asked me if I had a good stomach and said yep. He showed me a deep cut in his leg. Neil was still coming down as he had the firstaid and pin kit with him Between Neil’s and a unknown kayaker first aid kits he was patched back up and that was the end of his paddling.
We also had another injury on the island itself. Fred ended up twisting his knee while exiting his kayak and his day was also done. I told Neil I would be back soon and not leave without me as we were still running the river. I took Ryan and Fred back up to the putin by paddling up to Little Picky. I load the boats on the car and gave Ryan my keys. Ryan and Fred were off to River Run where Fred could relax and Ryan of to get seven stitches at the Renfrew hospital with no waiting.
I was gone about a half hour before getting back to the group. It had to be 2ish by this time and we were off. We head off to Iron Ring. Everyone made it down with no problems and we were off to S Bend hole for some play. It was there we ran into Boydo and kayak class from McMaster White Water club. I finally met Yuri for the first time as well as the others. After some un-successful surfs on my part, Geoff asked if he could give my girlfriend a ride. I said sure and immediately grabbed the camera. I am not sure what it is with double bladders but they seem really attracted to my girlfriend and want to take her for a ride. She is getting lots of action like a 2 dollar hooker on Bourbon Street.
Geoff definitely styled it. He could side and back surf no problem at all. It was then that he told us he used to teach white water canoeing at a kids camp for quite a few years. Neil got some sweet rides in as well. Time was ticking away and we headed off to Butteryfly. I ran it first and then set up for pictures. Neil ran it a couple of times. AnnaLisa surprised us by catching the river right eddy with no problem at all. I have not been able to catch that one yet.
We headed off to walk around Garvin’s at Elevator Shaft and headed off to Upper NoName for a fun ride down. Neil and AnnaLisa went to scope Lower NoName from river right. I had to go drop off a picture CD off in the Esprit lunch trailer and did a quick scout from river left before meating them on the other side. Neil had a clean run down. AnnaLisa had a clean run down and then it was my turn. I have swam this thing every time this year. I was 4 for 4 in swims. Well guess what. I finally made it clean. This also means I had my first perfect day of zero swims in one day which made me really happy. After that we headed off to Black Velvet and to the take out. It was getting really late. We still had to pick up Neil’s car and set up our tents and stuff.
We found Ryan and Fred in the camp ground. Ryan was in fine form with his leg up and a beer in his hand. The bugger didn’t even have the bbq setup, etc. He used the excuse that it was in my care. We setup camp and started getting ready for dinner. Neil forgot the wobbly pops. Fred informed the group they could go to Quebexico and still by them now. I was stuck with manning dinner while they headed off in search of refreshments.
After dinner it was socializing time. I headed over to Boydo’s group for a bit. I had on my fugly shirt on which definitely beat out Boydo’s fugly shirt. It was nice to re-meet everyone relaxing by the fire. More introductions were done and the beverage festivities started. Later on we all headed down below to the rafting campground as Downstream Dave was putting on his guitar show. It was pretty well a drunk fest for the young rafters. These two drunk girls came up and basically started feeling me up as they loved my shirt. Boydo came to the rescue when they wanted me to dance. He was feeling pretty good and started shaking his booty a bit. I don’t have a problem with being grabbed but I have to draw the line when I am old enough to be their father.
I sat with Neil and gang for a while. Neil scored and found a free beer. He was a good boy that night and only had a six pack. I met Chelsea earlier in the day when I told her she looked like an Esprit guide. She laughed and said she had done a six week course there earlier in the year. It turns out we have a lot in common and are now Facebook friends. We chatted for a bit during all the festivities. After that I was getting tired and headed off to bed just before midnight.
Sunday 29-Jul-2007: Water Level: 1.5
I got up around 7am. I was definitely surprised to not find Neil making breakfast considering we were supposed to be on the water by 08:30. We had a late breakfast and managed to add Delbert and Andy to our group for the day. This would be Andy’s first time down the Middle Channel. Ryan ended being the shuttle bunny as he was not paddling. He looked very extravagant in is purple house coat with pink slippers. We piled 5 open boats on his truck and were off. Well lets just say we were at the putin by 09:30.
Today would be my day for most swims. Three swims to be exact. I stopped and talked to Anna and Kate from WT. Kate wanted to watch me go through Phil’s. Great I was now jinxed and told her I would most likely blow my line. She said that it would be fun to watch either way. I was the first one to go down McKoys. I was off my line at Phil’s by about 1.5 feet to the right of the tongue. It was definitely my most interest swim ever. My boat went totally vertical and was sucked back into Phil’s and then started going back straight up. I ended up being sucked out of the boat and swimming. My boated still managed to stay straight up for a bit before doing a complete back flip. It was apparently and excellent show that I missed while swimming. I saw myself heading over to LeftSide Horsehoe and went holy crap and dropped my paddled and swam like crazy over to centre. I managed to hit a rock with my fat a$$. It didn’t hurt much but there was definitely a red scratch and bump which eventually turned bigger and blacker through out the day (see picture).
I managed to grab my boat and started swimming it to shore. Gonzo hooked on to her and headed off to the eddy. Princess Leah gave me a short tow. After that I had to look for my paddle which ended up in the eddy. Luckily I always care a spare. I head back over to the other side to set up for taking pictures of the others. It turns out I would not make the WT trip video as Sam had just got there as was not set up yet. But he and the photo guy definitely said it was my best swim ride yet. They have only seen me swim Phil’s twice as I normally make it.
Neil and AnnaLisa both took the left sneak. Delbert and Andy carried around and put in just below Phil’s I headed down to Corner wave to resume photo duties. I ran into Eric and Dane Jackson. EJ was teaching a clinic and Geoff Seaborn was in it. Billy Harris had come down with his clinic as well. I managed to get some excellent pics through out the day of EJ’s crew and some of Billy’s at Corner Wave.
After some feeble attempts at trying to surf a sort there BabyFace we headed down river to Iron Ring. The others in the group had clean runs. Delbert managed to get quite a few river left to right peel outs and in’s going. The man is a machine. Then it was my turn. This would be my first ever swim from an open boat at Iron Ring and subsequently my second swim of the day. I am not sure what happened by I ended out of my boat at river left and was being sucked towards the hole. I was under water looking up and all I could see is my boat going back and forth above me. I was finally able to come up and grab my boat, empty it out, and get back into it.
We met up with EJ and gang at S Bend. I managed to get a half decent front surf going (Geoff you missed it). It was pretty busy there so we head off to Butterfly. I ran it clean first and set up for pics. Everyone had clean runs. Some of the group ran it multiple times. Some of us were complaining of rumbly in the tumbly so we headed off to Elevator Shaft for lunch and pictures. It was definitely a pretty view checking out Garvin’s.
It was getting late and we headed off to some fun at Upper NoName. The group managed to have fun catching eddys all the way down on both sides of the river. Delbert and Andy scouted Lower NoName from river left where Neil, AnnaLisa, and I scouted from river right.
Delbert ran first and ended up swimming at the end. Andy paddled down to the left eddy below the ledge and waited for Delbert to com back up. AnnaLisa decide to walk around as she did not want to ruin a perfect day. Neil was next and all I can say is he had a freaking amazing side surf at the bottom and managed to some how get off it and roll back up.
And then there was me being siked up from a flawless run the day before. I made it all the way to the bottom only to get sucked back into the hole only to end up for my third swim of the day. Andy and Delbert came to the rescue and held my boat in the middle of the river while I climbed back in.
After that is was a float through Black Velvet to the takeout as we still had to get a vehicle from the putin and pack up. AnnaLisa made Neil’s day when she told him that they should come back and paddle the Ottawa every second weekend as she had a blast. All I can say is Neil had a big smile on his face. Delbert and Andy are now going to be added to our trip planning emails as they had fun paddling with us.
Neil, AnnaLisa, and I headed off to Bancroft for dinner before parting ways.
Val for the record it is 16 KM longer to go to Bancroft via Denbigh versus going thru Foymount and Quadville.
Until the next report …. SYOTR
Here is a link to the pictures but be warned there are pictures of my bruised a$$ and Ryan's stitches.
Link to pictures
Monday, July 30, 2007
East Race - South Bend Indiana
20-Jul-2007
Well I had three different offers to go paddling this weekend in order of distance:
1. The Ottawa … will be there next weekend – 370 KM one way
2. The Black River Festival in Watertown, NY – 430 KM one way
3. The East Race water park in SouthBend , Indiana – 797 KM one way http://www.sbpark.org/parks/erace.htm
I had never been to options 2 and 3.
I really did not feel like going to a big drunkfest party so decided on option 3. And what makes this choice even more bizarre is that I will be paddling with people I have never met in a place I have never been in a different country. Grant and Sherry offered to let me crash at their place on the Friday night which is pretty cool for being complete strangers. For all I know they could have been psycho open boat killers. I guess I am not practicing what I preach. We tell our kids to be careful of meeting people they only meet online … blah blah blah blah … and here I am doing the opposite.
Friday:
I already had all my crapped packed up in the new car. As you might have read in a previous TR, my POS 1991 Corsica packed it in close to the Ottawa River two weeks ago. I now have a lovely 2002 Ford Taurus. I had to figure out my roof rack situation and found out I only had to buy a 90 dollar fit kit for my existing Thule racks to make them work with the new car which was way better than buy new racks.
I left home around 09:15 Friday morning and made a quick stop at the post office and bank. Wilderness Tours was nice enough to send me a copy of the trip video with my carnage scene of getting trashed in Right Side Phil’s and broke my paddle.
After that it was a four hour journey to my first stop at the Costco in Windsor. I picked up a sweet little external 160 GB hard drive for a 100 bucks. I keep running out of disk space on my laptop with all the pictures I take.
After that it was time to cross the border. I was only in line for about 10 minutes which was really good from what I have been told. I was really polite to the US Customs guy. I handed him my passport and he asked me where I was going and then asked the big question of WHY? Even though it was kind of obvious as my girlfriend was strapped to the top of the car …. I said paddling of course and he gave me my passport back. Even though it seems like an eternity when you are being asked all the questions this whole process took less than 45 seconds and I was off. Now I only had to find Grant and Sherry’s place.
Glad I had the laptop with MS Street Maps and the GPS receiver. I made it to their place just after 3pm. I had to wait a couple of hours for them to get home but it was better than being stuck at the border in rush hour traffic. Introductions were made. Grant started getting their stuff organized and packed up and after that it was a late dinner at Chili’s and back to their place for watching kayaking videos and shooting the breeze.
Saturday:
I woke about 6am and got cleaned up and had some Cap-N-Crunch cereal for breakfast. We had to wait a bit for Bernie to show up. He apparently had the customs guy from hell. After some re-packing of Grant’s vehicle we were off. Bernie road shotgun with me. There was no sense in him being crammed into the back of Grants Scion when I had lots of room and plus I could use the company and most important of all he knew the way to East Race.
We arrived in the lovely town of South Bend about three hours later. I was getting kind of hungry so we made a slight detour through McDonalds and then off to the river which happens to be in the middle of town. Talk about urban paddling. The water flows from 12pm until 5pm on Saturdays and 1pm to 5pm on Sundays. It costs 12 bucks a day. I met quite a few people in the parking lot. Boris from Chicago, Cathy and family from Windsor, Mike from London, Jeff who I met at the Gull two years ago, Ray, and lots of others on the river.
The course is very interesting. I took a quick run down to check it out. There are ample of interesting eddys and a quite a few places to get in some sweet surfs. I played down at the bit. I decided to re-adjust my foot pegs and outfitting a bit and then it was time to have fun. I put back on the course at the half way point. You can only put in there or at the top as the river is fenced off on both sides. It is a 1900 foot walk from the bottom to the top.
I took a couple of runs down from the mid-point for a warm up trying to catch more and more eddys as I went. I had been watching some kayakers side surf this one hole. I decided what the hell and drop into to it sideways. I managed to have and excellent side surf which turned into a back surf and back to side surf. I actually had to reach back and turn the pumps on as I was filling up with water (joys of open boating). I finally decided I had enough and went down into the next eddy to allow the water to be pumped out. The safety people on the river were quite surprised to see water being pumped out of my boat as they had never seen pumps in one before.
I walked back up to the very top. It is a weird feeling to have to look both ways before crossing the street carrying a big a$$ boat. I had visions of getting hit by pickup truck or a bus. I did a couple of runs from the top. I was getting the hang of catching most of the eddys. A lot of the eddys behind the big artificial rocks have really squirlly water behind them which makes the course interesting. I did see the end results of a 13 foot Mohawk open boat being wrapped around one of the wooden bridge tressles. All I can say is to bent/broken thwarts, tandem outfitting ripped out, blown airbag, and who knows what. I took a quick look at the boat and assured the guy it was repairable. I have seen way worse come back from the dead.
On my last run down I decided to drop onto a wave backwards. It was steeper than I thought. I had a really excellent front surf before I lost my angle and window shaded. I grabbed my boat and emptied it out. The kayakers in the eddy lineup said they were very impressed by my front surf as the bow was just slightly below the waterline and water was basically spraying over my body. I was standing up to my waist in water but managed to hop back into my boat and head down river.
I was getting tired and it was almost closing time. We all re-grouped in the parking lot. We had to figure out where Greg lived as we were all invited to a BBQ for dinner. All we had was a phone number and were trying to get an address. We managed to get that sorted out and everyone went separate ways to clean up.
I decided to head over to the Notre Dame campus. I passed it on the way to the river from the interstate. It is not often I get to tour around too much and actually see a piece of old history. I spent about two hours walking around taking pictures. The place is absolutely gorgeous. It was a photographers dream with the old buildings and they way they were being shadowed by the light at the end of the day. The big church is absolutely stunning inside with the paintings and stained glass. Make sure you stop by and see this place if you have never been.
After that it was off to Greg’s for dinner. I had on my fugly shirt and pimp hat with my Canadian tie. I was definitely a mis-fashion statement for sure. It was nice just to relax and shoot the breeze with the others. After two hours I was getting tired and still had not sorted out where I was crashing for the night. I decided to grab a room at the Motel 6 where Grant and Sherry were staying. I figured I would rather lay around in bed in the morning waiting for the river to open than be uncomfortable in my tent at the KOA.
Sunday:
I lazed around in bed until about 10am. I met Grant and Sherry in the parking lot and we all headed off to breakfast at the American Pancake House and then back to the river for another afternoon of paddling.
Dave from my MKC Solo course showed up from Fort Wayne, IN to say hi on his way up north somewhere. It was nice to see him again.
My paddling today definitely sucked. It was bad from the get go. I ended up out of my boat for the 1st time after side surfing a small little wave below the dam. I ended up doing the ping pong … 14 foot boat in 16 foot space … thing back and forth and when my boat bounced off the wall I lost my angle and went over. Now luckily I was only standing in three feet of water and I just grabbed my boat and emptied it out. I had to swim it to the other shoreline as I could not get back into my boat where I was.
After that it was try to catch eddy time. I caught the first one behind the big center rock only to find out the water had changed and it was now a whirlpool which ended up sucking me in and stern squirt. I managed to lean all the way forward but had a crap load of water in my boat. I fired on the pumps and slowly made my way down to the next eddy in order to wait for the water to leave my boat.
The rest of my runs down were pretty uneventful. I managed to catch quite a few eddys … not as many as I wanted but enough to be happy. I did not get any surfs in at all. I kept getting flushed off. I should have quit when I was ahead. I took one last run down the river and ended up out of my boat for the second time. It was until I go to the bottom that I realized my paddle shaft was bent. I guess it must have happened when I tried to roll up by pushing off the bottom. At this rate of paddle destruction I will be using rafting paddles I find on the Ottawa River as my personal supply is dwindling to say the least.
After that it was time to get off the river as I still had an 8 hour drive home ahead of me. I stopped for gas and some snacks and headed off to the freeway at 5pm. Things were going great until I hit the Ohio border. I got stuck for about 15 minutes at the toll booth. After that it was smooth sailing to the duty free shop where I filled up on gas and bought my step-mom a 60 ounce bottle of Bacardi’s. Crossing the border took less than a minute as no one was in line.
I started getting tired just before 11pm. I pulled over into this picnic area and hauled out the pillows and sleeping bags and set it up on the picnic table and crashed. Next thing I know it is 3am. After that it was easy drive to work. There was no sense in going home. I made it to work for 5:30am.
So here is a short synopsis of my trip:
1. distance traveled – approximately 1700 KM
2. 1 province, 2 countries, and 3 states (Michigan, Indiana, Ohio)
3. money spent – lots
4. had fun – hell yeah
5. do it again – yep
6. watching Grant run the river in an open boat for the first time – priceless …he only swam three times
The only thing I would do differently next time on a trip with so much driving is take the Monday off for the drive back.
East Race
South Bend Indiana Pictures
Notre Dame
Notre Dame Pictures
Well I had three different offers to go paddling this weekend in order of distance:
1. The Ottawa … will be there next weekend – 370 KM one way
2. The Black River Festival in Watertown, NY – 430 KM one way
3. The East Race water park in SouthBend , Indiana – 797 KM one way http://www.sbpark.org/parks/erace.htm
I had never been to options 2 and 3.
I really did not feel like going to a big drunkfest party so decided on option 3. And what makes this choice even more bizarre is that I will be paddling with people I have never met in a place I have never been in a different country. Grant and Sherry offered to let me crash at their place on the Friday night which is pretty cool for being complete strangers. For all I know they could have been psycho open boat killers. I guess I am not practicing what I preach. We tell our kids to be careful of meeting people they only meet online … blah blah blah blah … and here I am doing the opposite.
Friday:
I already had all my crapped packed up in the new car. As you might have read in a previous TR, my POS 1991 Corsica packed it in close to the Ottawa River two weeks ago. I now have a lovely 2002 Ford Taurus. I had to figure out my roof rack situation and found out I only had to buy a 90 dollar fit kit for my existing Thule racks to make them work with the new car which was way better than buy new racks.
I left home around 09:15 Friday morning and made a quick stop at the post office and bank. Wilderness Tours was nice enough to send me a copy of the trip video with my carnage scene of getting trashed in Right Side Phil’s and broke my paddle.
After that it was a four hour journey to my first stop at the Costco in Windsor. I picked up a sweet little external 160 GB hard drive for a 100 bucks. I keep running out of disk space on my laptop with all the pictures I take.
After that it was time to cross the border. I was only in line for about 10 minutes which was really good from what I have been told. I was really polite to the US Customs guy. I handed him my passport and he asked me where I was going and then asked the big question of WHY? Even though it was kind of obvious as my girlfriend was strapped to the top of the car …. I said paddling of course and he gave me my passport back. Even though it seems like an eternity when you are being asked all the questions this whole process took less than 45 seconds and I was off. Now I only had to find Grant and Sherry’s place.
Glad I had the laptop with MS Street Maps and the GPS receiver. I made it to their place just after 3pm. I had to wait a couple of hours for them to get home but it was better than being stuck at the border in rush hour traffic. Introductions were made. Grant started getting their stuff organized and packed up and after that it was a late dinner at Chili’s and back to their place for watching kayaking videos and shooting the breeze.
Saturday:
I woke about 6am and got cleaned up and had some Cap-N-Crunch cereal for breakfast. We had to wait a bit for Bernie to show up. He apparently had the customs guy from hell. After some re-packing of Grant’s vehicle we were off. Bernie road shotgun with me. There was no sense in him being crammed into the back of Grants Scion when I had lots of room and plus I could use the company and most important of all he knew the way to East Race.
We arrived in the lovely town of South Bend about three hours later. I was getting kind of hungry so we made a slight detour through McDonalds and then off to the river which happens to be in the middle of town. Talk about urban paddling. The water flows from 12pm until 5pm on Saturdays and 1pm to 5pm on Sundays. It costs 12 bucks a day. I met quite a few people in the parking lot. Boris from Chicago, Cathy and family from Windsor, Mike from London, Jeff who I met at the Gull two years ago, Ray, and lots of others on the river.
The course is very interesting. I took a quick run down to check it out. There are ample of interesting eddys and a quite a few places to get in some sweet surfs. I played down at the bit. I decided to re-adjust my foot pegs and outfitting a bit and then it was time to have fun. I put back on the course at the half way point. You can only put in there or at the top as the river is fenced off on both sides. It is a 1900 foot walk from the bottom to the top.
I took a couple of runs down from the mid-point for a warm up trying to catch more and more eddys as I went. I had been watching some kayakers side surf this one hole. I decided what the hell and drop into to it sideways. I managed to have and excellent side surf which turned into a back surf and back to side surf. I actually had to reach back and turn the pumps on as I was filling up with water (joys of open boating). I finally decided I had enough and went down into the next eddy to allow the water to be pumped out. The safety people on the river were quite surprised to see water being pumped out of my boat as they had never seen pumps in one before.
I walked back up to the very top. It is a weird feeling to have to look both ways before crossing the street carrying a big a$$ boat. I had visions of getting hit by pickup truck or a bus. I did a couple of runs from the top. I was getting the hang of catching most of the eddys. A lot of the eddys behind the big artificial rocks have really squirlly water behind them which makes the course interesting. I did see the end results of a 13 foot Mohawk open boat being wrapped around one of the wooden bridge tressles. All I can say is to bent/broken thwarts, tandem outfitting ripped out, blown airbag, and who knows what. I took a quick look at the boat and assured the guy it was repairable. I have seen way worse come back from the dead.
On my last run down I decided to drop onto a wave backwards. It was steeper than I thought. I had a really excellent front surf before I lost my angle and window shaded. I grabbed my boat and emptied it out. The kayakers in the eddy lineup said they were very impressed by my front surf as the bow was just slightly below the waterline and water was basically spraying over my body. I was standing up to my waist in water but managed to hop back into my boat and head down river.
I was getting tired and it was almost closing time. We all re-grouped in the parking lot. We had to figure out where Greg lived as we were all invited to a BBQ for dinner. All we had was a phone number and were trying to get an address. We managed to get that sorted out and everyone went separate ways to clean up.
I decided to head over to the Notre Dame campus. I passed it on the way to the river from the interstate. It is not often I get to tour around too much and actually see a piece of old history. I spent about two hours walking around taking pictures. The place is absolutely gorgeous. It was a photographers dream with the old buildings and they way they were being shadowed by the light at the end of the day. The big church is absolutely stunning inside with the paintings and stained glass. Make sure you stop by and see this place if you have never been.
After that it was off to Greg’s for dinner. I had on my fugly shirt and pimp hat with my Canadian tie. I was definitely a mis-fashion statement for sure. It was nice just to relax and shoot the breeze with the others. After two hours I was getting tired and still had not sorted out where I was crashing for the night. I decided to grab a room at the Motel 6 where Grant and Sherry were staying. I figured I would rather lay around in bed in the morning waiting for the river to open than be uncomfortable in my tent at the KOA.
Sunday:
I lazed around in bed until about 10am. I met Grant and Sherry in the parking lot and we all headed off to breakfast at the American Pancake House and then back to the river for another afternoon of paddling.
Dave from my MKC Solo course showed up from Fort Wayne, IN to say hi on his way up north somewhere. It was nice to see him again.
My paddling today definitely sucked. It was bad from the get go. I ended up out of my boat for the 1st time after side surfing a small little wave below the dam. I ended up doing the ping pong … 14 foot boat in 16 foot space … thing back and forth and when my boat bounced off the wall I lost my angle and went over. Now luckily I was only standing in three feet of water and I just grabbed my boat and emptied it out. I had to swim it to the other shoreline as I could not get back into my boat where I was.
After that it was try to catch eddy time. I caught the first one behind the big center rock only to find out the water had changed and it was now a whirlpool which ended up sucking me in and stern squirt. I managed to lean all the way forward but had a crap load of water in my boat. I fired on the pumps and slowly made my way down to the next eddy in order to wait for the water to leave my boat.
The rest of my runs down were pretty uneventful. I managed to catch quite a few eddys … not as many as I wanted but enough to be happy. I did not get any surfs in at all. I kept getting flushed off. I should have quit when I was ahead. I took one last run down the river and ended up out of my boat for the second time. It was until I go to the bottom that I realized my paddle shaft was bent. I guess it must have happened when I tried to roll up by pushing off the bottom. At this rate of paddle destruction I will be using rafting paddles I find on the Ottawa River as my personal supply is dwindling to say the least.
After that it was time to get off the river as I still had an 8 hour drive home ahead of me. I stopped for gas and some snacks and headed off to the freeway at 5pm. Things were going great until I hit the Ohio border. I got stuck for about 15 minutes at the toll booth. After that it was smooth sailing to the duty free shop where I filled up on gas and bought my step-mom a 60 ounce bottle of Bacardi’s. Crossing the border took less than a minute as no one was in line.
I started getting tired just before 11pm. I pulled over into this picnic area and hauled out the pillows and sleeping bags and set it up on the picnic table and crashed. Next thing I know it is 3am. After that it was easy drive to work. There was no sense in going home. I made it to work for 5:30am.
So here is a short synopsis of my trip:
1. distance traveled – approximately 1700 KM
2. 1 province, 2 countries, and 3 states (Michigan, Indiana, Ohio)
3. money spent – lots
4. had fun – hell yeah
5. do it again – yep
6. watching Grant run the river in an open boat for the first time – priceless …he only swam three times
The only thing I would do differently next time on a trip with so much driving is take the Monday off for the drive back.
East Race
South Bend Indiana Pictures
Notre Dame
Notre Dame Pictures
Monday, July 9, 2007
09-Jul-2007
Water Level: - 2ish according to rumour
Today was a bit depressing. I found out the timing chain in my POS car must have slipped as I had really low compression. They told me it was 700 bucks to start in order to fix it. Considering it is a 1991 Corsica with over 376000 KM … it is time to get a new vehicle.
I have narrowed it down to two choices:
Volvo
or Dukes of Hazzard
Well my paddling plans with Jenny did not pan out on Sunday.
We finally managed to finally get our first official paddle together on the same river at the same time. I met Jenny and Jeremy just before 5pm at her house.
I dropped my girlfriend and paddling gear off at the putin and met J and J at the takeout in order to finish off the shuttle. I also saw Wayne and a few of the Petawawa River Rats getting ready at the putin.
I paddled ahead up to McKoys. My run through center Phil’s Hole was non eventful. I was quite surprised that I only had about an inch of water in the bottom of my boat. I did however happen to have my first of two swims at left side Horseshoe. I have not been able to make to the center Horseshoe. I always get pushed right or left.
After a very quick windowshade I was floating down the river towing my girlfriend back to the eddy on river left when all of a sudden I was greeted by two kayakers. It was Sven and Fernando from Owl. I met them last week at MKC. I flipped my boat over and Fernando held for my while I hopped back in. I paddled to completely empty the boat out.
I managed to get a half-ass side surf on Babyface. Jenny looked quite concerned when I was floating down towards her in the middle of the river. She quickly blurted out she did not like big boats. I think she thought I was going to run her over or something.
J and J did a few more surfs until we decided to head down river to Garb. My run through Garb was wet to say the least. I pulled in behind Moby Dick and emptied out my boat. I started tacking pictures as there was no way I was going to even attempt to surf Garb. I met some new people in the lineup … Brendan Mark, Pete, Glass, and Ben. Sharky also came out to play. I managed to get some nice pics.
Jenny:
Jeremy:
Sharky:
Brendan:
We then headed down to Push Button. I talked Alex and Emily from MKC on my way. I eddied in on river left at Push Button. I had to empty some water out of the boat. It was really nice to see people paddling so late on the river. I finally met Sharky’s girlfriend Anna. I also shot the breeze with Matt Troutman and some of the others who I have never seen before. This was definitely the highlight of my paddle on the river. I managed to get a really excellent front surf on my first ride, I missed the first wave but slid down onto the second wave. I had to paddle a bit to get on the wave and then I was dialed in. Jenny said it looked pretty cool when the water was rushing over the bow of my boat as it was underwater. The water was filling up my boat pretty fast. I apparently did not here all the whoo hoos as I was concentrating too hard on not swimming and finally I peeled of to go empty my boat. My second ride was an excellent sidesurf on the first wave and once again I had to peel off and empty my boat.
After that is was down to Butchers Knife. This would be my second swim of the day. I was aiming to do my standard leftside run but ended up getting clipped by the left side of the Chopping Block and boom I was over. I swam like hell to the right side of the river. My boat got stuck on the large river right rock in the river. Jeremy hopped out of his boat and pulled my boat of the rock and pushed it over to where I was. I grabbed the boat and jumped back in before heading down to Brain Douche. It was quite interesting getting spun around at super high speed in the whirlpools. J and J kept going back in for their spins and suck downs.
My run through the Normans and Coliseum were uneventful. I definitely got some air in the Norman’s. After that is was down Dogs Leg to Farmer Blacks. Jenny was definitely in a strange mood. She started making all the weird sounds and started singing. I will put it down to her being hungry as we all missed dinner. At one point she was trying to talk to the birds. She also did a couple of the coo coo coo sound from the Bob and Doug McKenzie theme song.
Well I can honestly say I had a great evening paddle with Jenny and Jeremy. I asked them if they thought I did ok paddling a big ass open boat and they both agreed I did fine. After takeout we head back to Jenny’s where I passed the memory stick from this evenings photo shoot. After that is was goodbye and a drive back to my dads.
Until the next report …. SYOTR
Water Level: - 2ish according to rumour
Today was a bit depressing. I found out the timing chain in my POS car must have slipped as I had really low compression. They told me it was 700 bucks to start in order to fix it. Considering it is a 1991 Corsica with over 376000 KM … it is time to get a new vehicle.
I have narrowed it down to two choices:
Volvo
or Dukes of Hazzard
Well my paddling plans with Jenny did not pan out on Sunday.
We finally managed to finally get our first official paddle together on the same river at the same time. I met Jenny and Jeremy just before 5pm at her house.
I dropped my girlfriend and paddling gear off at the putin and met J and J at the takeout in order to finish off the shuttle. I also saw Wayne and a few of the Petawawa River Rats getting ready at the putin.
I paddled ahead up to McKoys. My run through center Phil’s Hole was non eventful. I was quite surprised that I only had about an inch of water in the bottom of my boat. I did however happen to have my first of two swims at left side Horseshoe. I have not been able to make to the center Horseshoe. I always get pushed right or left.
After a very quick windowshade I was floating down the river towing my girlfriend back to the eddy on river left when all of a sudden I was greeted by two kayakers. It was Sven and Fernando from Owl. I met them last week at MKC. I flipped my boat over and Fernando held for my while I hopped back in. I paddled to completely empty the boat out.
I managed to get a half-ass side surf on Babyface. Jenny looked quite concerned when I was floating down towards her in the middle of the river. She quickly blurted out she did not like big boats. I think she thought I was going to run her over or something.
J and J did a few more surfs until we decided to head down river to Garb. My run through Garb was wet to say the least. I pulled in behind Moby Dick and emptied out my boat. I started tacking pictures as there was no way I was going to even attempt to surf Garb. I met some new people in the lineup … Brendan Mark, Pete, Glass, and Ben. Sharky also came out to play. I managed to get some nice pics.
Jenny:
Jeremy:
Sharky:
Brendan:
We then headed down to Push Button. I talked Alex and Emily from MKC on my way. I eddied in on river left at Push Button. I had to empty some water out of the boat. It was really nice to see people paddling so late on the river. I finally met Sharky’s girlfriend Anna. I also shot the breeze with Matt Troutman and some of the others who I have never seen before. This was definitely the highlight of my paddle on the river. I managed to get a really excellent front surf on my first ride, I missed the first wave but slid down onto the second wave. I had to paddle a bit to get on the wave and then I was dialed in. Jenny said it looked pretty cool when the water was rushing over the bow of my boat as it was underwater. The water was filling up my boat pretty fast. I apparently did not here all the whoo hoos as I was concentrating too hard on not swimming and finally I peeled of to go empty my boat. My second ride was an excellent sidesurf on the first wave and once again I had to peel off and empty my boat.
After that is was down to Butchers Knife. This would be my second swim of the day. I was aiming to do my standard leftside run but ended up getting clipped by the left side of the Chopping Block and boom I was over. I swam like hell to the right side of the river. My boat got stuck on the large river right rock in the river. Jeremy hopped out of his boat and pulled my boat of the rock and pushed it over to where I was. I grabbed the boat and jumped back in before heading down to Brain Douche. It was quite interesting getting spun around at super high speed in the whirlpools. J and J kept going back in for their spins and suck downs.
My run through the Normans and Coliseum were uneventful. I definitely got some air in the Norman’s. After that is was down Dogs Leg to Farmer Blacks. Jenny was definitely in a strange mood. She started making all the weird sounds and started singing. I will put it down to her being hungry as we all missed dinner. At one point she was trying to talk to the birds. She also did a couple of the coo coo coo sound from the Bob and Doug McKenzie theme song.
Well I can honestly say I had a great evening paddle with Jenny and Jeremy. I asked them if they thought I did ok paddling a big ass open boat and they both agreed I did fine. After takeout we head back to Jenny’s where I passed the memory stick from this evenings photo shoot. After that is was goodbye and a drive back to my dads.
Until the next report …. SYOTR
Saturday, July 7, 2007
07-Jul-2007
Water Level: - 0.5
Well I don’t know where to start. It has been one of those frickin days that just went from bad to worse.
I met up with Joe at the putin. We did a quick shuttle and saw Gonzo, Scott, and Isaac at the putin when we got back.
Joe and I headed off to McKoys. My first run through Phil’s was uneventful. I was going to eddy in at Corner Wave to empty out the remaining little water I had. I figured what the hell its not that bad and I would just go through Center Horseshoe and eddy in on the left.
Wrong move. That’s when I ended up in Leftside Horsehoe in a major downstream side surf. I was in there for a long time before I realized that the river was not going to let me go and when for my first swim of the day. The kayakers sitting in the eddy were truly impressed.
I was sitting in line in the eddy when a female kayaker asked me where I was going and I pointed to BabyFace. She thought I was frickin crazy. I managed to get a half-decent side surf on Babyface before taking my boat back up top. I saw one of the video guys from Owl that I met at MKC last week on shore and yelled at him. I pointed to right side Phils. I dropped into it sideways and had a frickin ‘A’ side surf going. The boat rolled completely twice while I was still in the boat and ended up side surfing some more. And then boom … all of a sudden I went for my second and last swim of the day. I gave a big yahoo fist into the air for the cameras. It wasn’t until I swam to shore that I realized I lost half my paddle blade.
I was on river right and my boat was on river left. I was going to do the swim through Center Horseshoe but Gonzo happened to be a really nice guy and brought my boat back over to me all the while towing his little Shaggy boat behind. I did how ever make the Owl trip video with my carnage side surf in Phil’s right after the part where they were saying this is not where you want to be in a raft let alone a open boat.
Joe managed to get some excellent side surf in right side Horsehoe and managed to survive.
After that Joe and I headed down river to Garb. Gonzo and gang were busy surfing Garb by the time I did my clean run through. I caught the eddy behind the rock island and pulled my boat up to take pictures. I spent some time talking to Raf Ortiz, Anthony Yap, and Geoff Seaborn, and Ryan while they were in the lineup. After shooting pics and video I headed down to Push Button.
I had to chase a kayak and do a kayak over canoe rescue before returning it to its owner. I almost managed to catch a front and side surf at Push Button. I met Tiffany Manchester for the first time ever.
After that it was a clean run through Butchers Knife and off to the Normans. I ran the Normans clean and finally caught up to Gonzo and gang at Coliseum. I had a clean run through Coli. Isaac was really disappointed as he was expecting some entertaining carnage as he was used to seeing me swim this one all the time.
My day went from bad to worse after reaching the takeout and running Joe back up to the putin. I filled up with gas at 17 West. A few moments later my POS car decided to die. I then phoned my dad and asked where to have it towed. After phoning CAA I phoned Jenny as I was supposed to paddle with her on Sunday. She asked me what I was going to do with my car and she basically said you can’t get it fixed on a Sunday so come boating anyway. She even offered to come and get me all the way from Petawawa. What a sweetheart.
Well my POS is now at a garage until Monday. Who knows I might end up getting a newer car next week.
And I am still going paddling with Jenny tomorrow.
Until the next report …. SYOTR
Water Level: - 0.5
Well I don’t know where to start. It has been one of those frickin days that just went from bad to worse.
I met up with Joe at the putin. We did a quick shuttle and saw Gonzo, Scott, and Isaac at the putin when we got back.
Joe and I headed off to McKoys. My first run through Phil’s was uneventful. I was going to eddy in at Corner Wave to empty out the remaining little water I had. I figured what the hell its not that bad and I would just go through Center Horseshoe and eddy in on the left.
Wrong move. That’s when I ended up in Leftside Horsehoe in a major downstream side surf. I was in there for a long time before I realized that the river was not going to let me go and when for my first swim of the day. The kayakers sitting in the eddy were truly impressed.
I was sitting in line in the eddy when a female kayaker asked me where I was going and I pointed to BabyFace. She thought I was frickin crazy. I managed to get a half-decent side surf on Babyface before taking my boat back up top. I saw one of the video guys from Owl that I met at MKC last week on shore and yelled at him. I pointed to right side Phils. I dropped into it sideways and had a frickin ‘A’ side surf going. The boat rolled completely twice while I was still in the boat and ended up side surfing some more. And then boom … all of a sudden I went for my second and last swim of the day. I gave a big yahoo fist into the air for the cameras. It wasn’t until I swam to shore that I realized I lost half my paddle blade.
I was on river right and my boat was on river left. I was going to do the swim through Center Horseshoe but Gonzo happened to be a really nice guy and brought my boat back over to me all the while towing his little Shaggy boat behind. I did how ever make the Owl trip video with my carnage side surf in Phil’s right after the part where they were saying this is not where you want to be in a raft let alone a open boat.
Joe managed to get some excellent side surf in right side Horsehoe and managed to survive.
After that Joe and I headed down river to Garb. Gonzo and gang were busy surfing Garb by the time I did my clean run through. I caught the eddy behind the rock island and pulled my boat up to take pictures. I spent some time talking to Raf Ortiz, Anthony Yap, and Geoff Seaborn, and Ryan while they were in the lineup. After shooting pics and video I headed down to Push Button.
I had to chase a kayak and do a kayak over canoe rescue before returning it to its owner. I almost managed to catch a front and side surf at Push Button. I met Tiffany Manchester for the first time ever.
After that it was a clean run through Butchers Knife and off to the Normans. I ran the Normans clean and finally caught up to Gonzo and gang at Coliseum. I had a clean run through Coli. Isaac was really disappointed as he was expecting some entertaining carnage as he was used to seeing me swim this one all the time.
My day went from bad to worse after reaching the takeout and running Joe back up to the putin. I filled up with gas at 17 West. A few moments later my POS car decided to die. I then phoned my dad and asked where to have it towed. After phoning CAA I phoned Jenny as I was supposed to paddle with her on Sunday. She asked me what I was going to do with my car and she basically said you can’t get it fixed on a Sunday so come boating anyway. She even offered to come and get me all the way from Petawawa. What a sweetheart.
Well my POS is now at a garage until Monday. Who knows I might end up getting a newer car next week.
And I am still going paddling with Jenny tomorrow.
Until the next report …. SYOTR
06-Jul-2007
MKC Solo Open Boat 5 day Course
All I can say is I had a frickin awesome time.
I can now catch eddies big time.
According to my instructor I have the fastest hand switch in the east.
He was amazed at how fast I could do it and just told me to keep doing what works for me.
For the most part I got pretty good at running the gates.
Who knows with more practice I might be racing at the gull in september. Watch out Andy her I come ( yeah right ).
I also managed to get in a really good side surf before swimming. My boat decided to stay there and front, back surf and 360 flat spin in the hole without me.
I also did a few flat spin 360s with me in my boat.
The food was excellent and the instructors were great.
We ran the middle on the Ottawa today. I still swam at the end of lower no-name. I am now officially 4 for 4 in swim category.
I will be at the Ottawa sat/sun with JoeJoe.
Come on out and paddle. It is at a great level.
Thats it ... I am at my dad and step-moms and frickin tired.
Peace and see you out there.
Phills ... here I come!
MKC Solo Open Boat 5 day Course
All I can say is I had a frickin awesome time.
I can now catch eddies big time.
According to my instructor I have the fastest hand switch in the east.
He was amazed at how fast I could do it and just told me to keep doing what works for me.
For the most part I got pretty good at running the gates.
Who knows with more practice I might be racing at the gull in september. Watch out Andy her I come ( yeah right ).
I also managed to get in a really good side surf before swimming. My boat decided to stay there and front, back surf and 360 flat spin in the hole without me.
I also did a few flat spin 360s with me in my boat.
The food was excellent and the instructors were great.
We ran the middle on the Ottawa today. I still swam at the end of lower no-name. I am now officially 4 for 4 in swim category.
I will be at the Ottawa sat/sun with JoeJoe.
Come on out and paddle. It is at a great level.
Thats it ... I am at my dad and step-moms and frickin tired.
Peace and see you out there.
Phills ... here I come!
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