Well this was an excellent weekend. I could have went paddling with friends at three different places in order of being asked:
Palmer Rapids with the McMaster Whitewater Crew
Valleyfield, QC for the Cornwall CReW rodeo - important note next rodeo is 27-Sep-2008 same place
Ottawa River, The Burg with my son and friends (last minute notice of course)
The McMaster Crew won out as some of them missed me (or my camera skills) and asked me to come paddle / party with them at least over a month or so ago and I really hate changing plans at the last minute.
I arrived at the Paddler-Coop around 4:30ish. I talked to Sasha for a bit and thats when I found out that Alex and the huge Serbian crew where showing up for paddling and a huge pigfest / party like last year.
I then headed down to the river and thinking sweet no one here and I can pick the prime spot only to find a single tent on it. This is when I met Adrian who was an open boater taking a kayaking course. Not sure why anyone would be doing that but apparently his girlfriend is a kayaker and he was being whipped into submission whether he liked it or not.
I staked out a spot for Ryan and myself as he was coming down later in the evening as he could only get a get out of jail free paddling card for saturday / sunday. I had dinner and hang out with Vladimir and gang partaked in a few rum and cokes to pass the time away when this stranger came up to me and said "Hey Bud". It was my long lost paddle buddy Neil. It turnd out he was teaching a course with Jeff this weekend. By the time he had his tent up Ryan showed up and did his thing and then we partook in a few more beverages before heading over to Jessups to track down the MAC Crew for Ryan and I and Jeff for Neil. Neil was the designated DD for the night as I was already in no shape to drive anywhere.
I hung around Jeff's gang for a bit before heading out to find the MAC crew and that is when I got all my where the hell have you been hugs and we had a few more drinks before heading back to the Coop. It didn't take long for me to crash as I had some wicked tent spins. 7am sure came pretty fast and I got up to make sausages, eggs, and toast for breaky. We had to kick Alex's butt out of bed to feed him before he was teaching for the day.
Ryan and I headed over to Jessup's around 9am to go paddling. The MAC crew wasn't even on the water yet. We basically had the river to ourselves as the other paddling groups were starting to do their flatwater training. Piano rock was just under water and the river was zooming around 155ish CMS. It was definitely fun and interesting for surfing and running the chutes. I managed to get out every no and then to take pictures but the lighting sucked and with the higher water it made it difficult to get in close. Ryan was having fun as he managed to get his side surfing down in his Outrage. He also spent some time in my battleship and the Nitro (which we have determined is a very wet boat and not for me or Ryan).
Blaine showed up a little while later with his daughter Payton. She was busy scurring along the shore taking pictures of rocks, trees, bugs, etc while her dad was paddling. I asked her if she wanted to go paddling with me in their tandem boat. After some gentle coaxing she said sure but I did not tell her what she was in for. We hopped in their boat and paddled out to do a jet ferry to the other side. After the screams Blaine was laughing and surprised that we were paddling together. Its been at least 5 or 6 years since I was in a tandem boat and she was soon to be a victim of getting wet followed by more screams as we were side surfing in the wave and the boat was filling up with water. I also took her up closer and closer to the wave at the bottom of the shoots. I do remember her saying "I hate you" blah blah blah but what else is new ... heard it all before. She kept trieng to steer the boat to shore and I kept taking it further into the big stuff. I think we only had one swim the entire time and that is when we finished up.
After that I hopped back into my boat for some more fun. Sometime during the day I managed to take out a few kayakers in the MAC crew when ferrying to the other side or surfing on the wave beside them. Seems a big boat scare the crap out of people. Ryan was kneeling in Blaines Burn and trying to do the C1 thing without outfitting. He was amazingly pretty good at it. After that we went back to the Coop for a late lunch before a whole bunch of us headed over to Hass Hole for a few ours of paddling. Mr and Mrs Hass came down for a ride on their ATV. I went up to say hi and asked them if they were on a date. They laughed and watched us paddle for a while.
Everyone pretty much had a total blast as it was only us on the river. I managed to consistently get great rides on the 1st wave and was totally happy with that. Daryll almost got munched one time when I blew my angle on my ferry and everyone sad Alex screamed like a little girl when he saw me getting close. Later on we both managed to get on the same wave together but with some distance. I was worried that if I slid into a side surf I would have munched him for sure. Ryan managed to take over the camera duties at the end and got some shots of me. Thanks buddy.
After the paddling session we head back to camp. I was supposed to cook dinner but Vladimir and gang had slow roasted a pig on a spit and the food and drinks were on. After that we headed over to party with the MAC Crew but they were dropping off like dead flies. Pretty sad when the older generation outlast the university kids!
I think it was sometime after midight when we got back to camp to crash for the night. I am pretty sure when the thunderstorm and pelting rain started a few hours later everyone when crap my stuff is getting wet! We got up around 7am and packed up camp. We decided the night before to go to the Panckae House for breakfast before heading back to Hass Hole. It rained off an on until we finished breakfast and then the sky was blue and the sun was shining.
We saw Val Popov out on the river when we got their and a short time late Meghan showed up. I did my normal camera routine. Meghan was just ripping it up with spins, front, side, and back surfs. Her mom asked if I could email here my best pick of Meghan. I told here she would be able download them all later on and was very happy with that. I told Meghan she had a pretty smile (she said thanks) before she headed down river with her mom and the rest of their gang.
The rest of us started paddling having lots of fun. I managed to get quite a few epic front / side surfs going on the 1st wave. I also managed to a few back surfs going and was almost vertical on some of them. I had to recover by throwing all my body weight forward and digging in to save my self. I must admit I did have a few swims in the afternoon as I was getting pretty tired. Blaine hopped into my battleship and actually admitted he like paddling it. After all he is an open boater first and kayaker second.
Other groups came and gone throughout the day. We finally packed it in close to 2:30 as we were all wiped. We said goodbye to Kate, Daryll, Blaine and Payton. Payton agreed that we would paddle together again next time we met and I am going to hold here to that. Ryan and I had a quick lunch before heading off and that is when it started pouring. Glad we wern't paddling in that.
All in all I had an excellent time. The weather was great during paddling time and held off for partying / campfire time.
Until next time be safe out there!
Link to the pictures:
McMaster Crew http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157605780805632/
Palmer Saturday http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157605779649004/
Hass Hole Saturday http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157605784317571/
Hass Hole Sunday http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157605758814726/
