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
