Colin Moneypenny

C.U.B.A. with the Rents

2009-11-09T09:46:00.001-05:00

I was supposed to go paddling in the USA during Gauley Season for about nine days but I ended up cutting that way back in order to go to C.U.B.A with my dad, step-mom, and a whole pile of her family.

This would be my first ever real fun in the sun vacation outside of North America. The plan was set, trip booked and paid for. This would also be the first time I have been on vacation with my dad and step-mom.

We stayed at the Melia Las Dunas. It was a very nice resort.

I won't get into too much detail about the trip but it consisted of ALOT of alcohol, beach and pool time, good food, catermaran sailboat trip, and then a day off resort to visit a local family that my aunt and uncle knew.

I kind of knew wat to expect off resort. Yes there is alot of poverty in Cuba but people seem to be happy. They do get free health care and education including university level. The number one sport there is "Hitch Hiking".

I would definitely go back.

Some of my pics are up here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157622666589945/

Almost ready for winter

2009-10-17T06:45:00.003-04:00

I have not been doing much in the way of paddling or photograpghy over the last couple weeks.

But at least I can say I have all my outdoor yard work (except for raking the leaves that are falling) done.

Work has been a total zoo lately but at least it has made time go by fast.

My next paddling trip is 14th November for a run down the Lower Mad and a night on the town in Wilno. Not sure how well I will do after not being in my boat for over two months in what will be mostly likely very cold with snow but WTF ... might as well do it.

I am off to a photography show to in Toronto today and who knows what after that.

Alot has happened since august

2009-09-29T21:00:00.008-04:00

I kept meaning to update my blog but I was too busy paddling.

Here is the Cole's Note's version.

I managed to get a couple more paddling trips down into the USA.

I had to send my camera back in Pentax for repair. I managed to get it back just before heading down for my next USA trip.

One trip was on the 22-Aug-2009 where I headed back down to Ohiopyle, PA for the over the falls race. Basicaly it boils down to a bunch of boaters being able to run this 18 foot water fall. It is only legal to run it one day a year and that was it. I spent some time shooting pics of some of my open boat and kayak friends. The motly crew managed to get a Lower Yough Loop run in before heading off to the BBQ place for dinner.

The rest of the the pics are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157622038649605/

Most of met up on the sunday morning for breakfast at some restaurant in WV. We were going to run the Cheat River. It was kind of on the low side which made it fun and technical. I had a total blast paddling a new river for the first time.

The pics from the Cheat River are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157622175502640/

Labour Day weekend was spent paddling up on the Ottawa River. I managed to get a run in on the thursday afternoon after work. I paddled with some of the KWP Crew on the Main Channel. I managed to have a very scary ride in Kahuna at Coliseum. My boat kept disappearing as the water line was up to my arm pits. I ended up hurting my shoulder and could not paddle for the rest of the weekend.

We ended up having our King of Clubs competition.

It was a series of on river and off river antics inlcuding:

relay race
cardboard boat race
boater cross
boat toss for distance
Z-drag tow a truck up a slight hill
how many boats and people you could get on/in a car (had to be the same amount of people/boats)

I could only take photos of part of the crap show as I could not paddle that day.

They had a how many boats / people can you get into / onto a regular car ... no trucks.

21 boats and 21 people (5 in the trunk) was the winner and you had to drive it at few feet with all the stuff in / on it.

We also had a cardboard boat race through the Lorne Rapids.

The rest of the pics are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157622276981876/

My next adventure was our annual Gull River Open Canoe Slalom Race. The attendance was lower then previous years but that did not matter as it was great to see old friends. Some of these friends you only see once a year at the race.

Here is what your typical spectators look like

My pics are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157622311345539/

My sisters pics are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157622449199780/

My last paddling trip to the USA for this year was for Gauley Fest in Summersville, WV.

I spent the saturday paddling the Lower Gauley with Don and Jeff Beyer. I had a couple of out of boat experiences but nothing to worry about.

Pics from that day are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157622431348594/

I spent the sunday paddling the Lower Yough with Don, Jo, and jeff Beyer plus the rest of the normal motly crew of US boater I have been with like Tony, Joe, Mick, Paul, and gang. It was another beautiful day on the river. I managed to take a few sketchy runs in order to bump up my paddling skills, had a few swims, great times.

Pics are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157622307995367/

Phil's Hole Rodeo

2009-08-11T11:40:00.007-04:00

Well last weekend was definitely interesting.

I ran the Middle Channel of the Ottawa River with some of the Petawawa River Rats in the morning. It was a great weather day. Lots of fun was had all around.

I spent the afternoon relaxing with Cheryl and Martin from the CReW before we all headed over to McKoy's for the rodeo.

I knew it was going to be an interesting event when I was paddling the flat water section over to the island. There we lots of different types of floating vessels as the rules for the comp where straight forward. Anything that floated could enter.

I myself had Devyn squeezed into my boat behind my saddle and a floating turtle and kiddie pool on top of the front part of my boat.

Everyone started showing up and the spectactor crowd was pretty big. I watched for about a half hour before I had enough guts to get into my boat and jump into the hole on purpose.

Normally I avoid Phil's like it was the plague. I dropped into rightside sideways. It was pretty bumpy and munchy to say the least. I as more scared surfing in there then my two runs going thru Buseater last summer.

Rest of the pics are here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157621880872791/

I drop in two more times but was window shaded pretty fast.

I can't believe I actually did it but I am glad I managed to survive.

The after party was pretty good. I managed to see a video of my first ride which made me happy to see it from a different angle.

Another birthday come and gone

2009-08-03T10:35:00.003-04:00

Well I had to spend last friday actually working on my 44th birthday due to a bunch of people being out of the office. It wasn't that bad and went by pretty quick.

I was treated to a steak dinner at Jack Astor's by my friend Mark and the Deacon's. It was a great night out with friends. After all it was the friday night of a long holiday weekend.

What more could you ask for ... paddling of course. My gear was already pre-packed. I loaded up the car first thing saturday morning and headed off to spend the day paddling the Gull River in Minden with friends.

The weather was fantastic. I was able to play around in some other peoples open boats. I had a really great time in a Bell Nexus ... definitely on my list of a possible future boat. It was alot lighter than mine, quick, and responsive.

Soon it was almost time for Ribfest. One of my buddies TJ had organized a kick in 20 bucks and have a pig out dinner of ribs and all the fixings. It was great to see old friends plus meet new ones. After dinnier Monekah and I shared a surprise brithday cake as her BD was earlier in the week.

The drinking had started but there were a few people holding back for a night session paddling in Earl's under generator spot lights. It was pretty cool to watch. I only wish I had my camera as the shots would have been amazing. Too bad it was in the shop being fixed.

The partying continued around the fire until the wee hours of the morning. I wolk up early sunday morning happily without a hang over. I packed up my gear and headed back to Mark's place in Barrie to help him replace some elctrical fixtures and switches before heading home to catchup on my own neglected house work.

Houston ... I have a problem ... my camera is NFG

2009-07-27T16:51:00.003-04:00

I have been noticing over the last few months that my outdoor pics have seemed very washed out or over exposed. It was getting to the point where I thought I was losing my touch.

My paddling pics no longer had crisp water droplets in them. My skyline pics seems very bland and so on.

Normally I could just wlk up to a river or water falls and set my camera to 1/10th of a second shutter speed and voila .... an excellent pic with sliky smooth water. But that is no longer the case.

Luckily my sister (yes I have a sister and yes she hates me most of the time like sisters do) has the Pentax K100D which is one model below what I have. She was gracious enough to lend it to me last weekend so I could do some comparison tests between my camera and hers.

I was paddling at the Gull River on saturday and took some test shots with my lense on both cameras set to the normal 1/10th of a second and voila .... her camera pics look like this

My camera pics look like this using the same settings

My camera is now on it's way to the surgeon to get fixed.

Me being cameraless is going to be really strange as all of my friends know where I go my camera goes.

This will be the second time my camera has gone to get fixed. The first time it was a circuit board that need replacing as it was taking random purple pics like this

Padlding the Lower Yough River in Ohiopyle, PA

2009-07-23T15:43:00.002-04:00

Well ... last weekend i decided to go paddling on a new river for me in the USA.

I headed of to ACME, PA from work on friday to meet my friend Paul for the first time in person. Most people would think that it is strange to just show up and stay with people you don't know.

But for us Open Boaters the globe might be huge but the paddling community is small. I met Paul online a few years back on the CBoats.net website so we already had a feel for each others warp sense in terms of personality.

During a few ice cold Canadian beers, paul gave me the low down on how to get to the river and what to expect.

I left for Ohiopyle National Forest Park early saturday morning to meet up with Joe and Tony who were both from just outside Philly somewhere. Added to the mix was Sean from OH and Mike from PA and they were both new faces to me.

We had a great day running the entire river. It was really great to focus on my technical skills of catching eddys and not swimming. After paddling it was basically have a beer and figure out what to do for dinner.

Turns out it is illegal to drink alcohol in a State Park and i was let off with a warning from the ranger instead of a ticket.

Dinner was pulled pork sandwhich and more beer and this place does it right. Forgot the the name of it but you can bring in your own beer :)

After that we head over to Sean's campground to check out the local playspot for future possible camping sites on a return trip.

I headed back to Paul's place for a late night drink before heading to bead.

The next day Paul, myself, and the two boys heded back to the Lower Yough. We met up with the gang from the day before plus Jay, Pete, and a few others. More new people to paddle with. Most of us just ran the loop section as we were pressed for time and had long drives ahead of us.

It was another great day on the river. The only problem now was the path off the river started as a goat trail between the boulders until it flattened out. I actually had to take it easy and put my boat down twice.

After that it was goodbyes in the parking lot. I stopped for a quick bite to eat at the BBQ place before my seven hour trip back to Toronto including the half hour at the border.

It was a great weekend meeting new friends to go boating with in the future.

I will definitely go back and paddle that river for sure.

Newfoundland - Part 02 and then back home for some paddling

2009-07-16T17:44:00.003-04:00

Damn ... life has been totally busy.

I totally gapped it and forgot to update my blog when I was on vacation.

So here are the coles notes version:

Saw ice bergs in Twillingate and Durrel
Had a blast hiking around Gros Morne National Park on the west coast
Toured the Viking Settlement on the northern tip of the island
Saw "The Navigators" life at the local pub in Rocky Harbour .... fantastic show.

After that I headed back to the mainland and toured around Nova Scotia for a few days.

I spent a few days up in Canning visiting some friends from my high school days. I probably had not seen Mrs. M since 1983.

I ended up working a day in Halifax with some of our staff there plus an extra day touring around.

All goo things had to come to an end. I had not been in my boat for almost a month as was going through paddling withdrawls. I decided to head back to Ontario a few days earlier than planned.

I still have to go through the photos I took which will take some time.

I managed to drive all the way from Halifax to my dads place in Petawawa in 16.5 hours which included three 5 minute pit stops and a 20 minute Costco shopping spree for my step-mom in Ottawa.

It was nice to just relax before having some fantastic boating on the Ottawa for a few days. I also ended up taking some photos at a freestyle competition that was going on. I have slowly been uploading the photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157621383289639/

Roadtrip to Newfoundland - Part 01

2009-06-25T22:20:00.001-04:00

I decided last year that I wanted to do a roadtrip to the island of Newfoundland as I never been there before. After some discussions with some of my friends that had been there on vacation or actually still lived on the island I was convinced. My main goal for the trip was photography only.

Time slowly passed by first it was months and then it was days away. Things were pretty hectic all around and I had to get things packed, ferry booked, bill pre-paid, and then it was time to hit the road.

I decided that I would spend a night at my dads place first as it made for a more quick direct route and avoided the rush hour traffic in the big cities.

My journey started on Saturday 20-Jun-2009 when I left my dads at 6am. After a 15 hour drive I managed to drive 1300 km and ended up in Moncton, New Brunswick where I grabbed a room for the night. I never really thought I would get that far in one day as the weather was pretty crappy once I left Quebec and you always have that fear in the back of your head of running into a big ass moose.

Sunday 21-Jun

I slept in the next morning and thought about different options for the day. I was only about three hours from Halifax, Nova Scotia or three and and half to my friends sister and moms place in Canning, Nova Scotia. I had not seen them in quite a long time so I headed off to Canning. Colleen was quite surprised when I rang the doorbell. She was only going to be home for a bit before heading off to a function for the night. Joan was off in Vancouver visiting friends so I missed her. I went for a drive around the area before head back to the house for the night.

Monday 22-Jun

I left the house around 9:30 the next morning to head up to North Sydney, Nova Scotia in order to catch the ferry. I had lots of time and was in no rush plus as usual on all my vacations it was crappy weather. I took the slower route on the eastern side of Cape Breton Island towards Sydney Nova Scotia. It was a very beautiful drive up despite the rain and fog. I hope that one my trip back it will be nicer for photos as i never really had a chance to take any. I picked up some Gravol at the Walmart in Sydney as I get motion sickness and I was just about to spend 15 hours on the ferry to the east side of Newfoundland.

I arrived at the ferry with lots of time to spare only to be delayed getting into the terminal due to all transport trucks that were blocking entrance as they could not get into the parking lot quick enough to allow the cars in. It turns out there were only going to be about 200 passengers on this big boat. Not sure how they made money on that trip but hey more space to spread out and relax. I ended up having a bunk space in a dorm room that would have had 60 people in it all to myself. I pretty much slept the whole trip as I was drugged up on Gravol.

Tuesday 23-Jun

Finally ... I was on the Island of Newfoundland in Argentia complete with the rain and fog. I headed down south from the ferry terminal to Placentia and then off to the Ecological Reserve at Cape St Marys. The weather was still crappy and not the best for taking photos but I went to the bird reserve regardless. It is definitely a spectacular place to visit and was hoping to maybe go back on a better weather days but that did not materialize at all before I left the area. I headed up to St John's for the night and took some spectacular night shots of Cabot Tower at Signal Hill. I spent the night sleeping in my Motel Ford Taurus at the local Walmart. Wasn't the most comfortable sleep I had but considering I did not roll into the parking lot until well after midnight I didn't care as I was super tired.

Wednesday 24-Jun

I spent the morning touring around the St John's area visiting Petty Harbour, Cape Spear, Kiddie Viddy, and ended up back at Signal to take pictures of the information boards, etc. I started talking to the commsionaire that was working on site. I exchanged one of my Bell Beavers for a couple of St John's city pins. Fair trade all around. To my delight the summer students were having their first outdoor practice for the up and coming Canada Day Tattoo. It was great to watch with the Fife and Drums band with soldiers in period costumes. After that I headed into town for the best fish and chips I have ever had at the Sundance. I spent some time walking around the downtown core before continuing my journey down the eastern coast. I grabbed a camp site at La Manche Provincial Park. Great value at 15 bucks for the night and I was looking forward to my first shower the next morning since the last sunday at the hotel. I ended up next door at the neighbours campsite for drinks before heading off to bed for the night. I ended up having a great sleep considering it poured rained the whole night and my tent was totally dry inside.

Thursday 25-Jun

I managed to sleep in the next morning which felt great compared to the night I spent in the car. Had a shower and a great breakfast before continuing the journey south. The weather still wasn't the greatest but I still wanted to drive down the coast. Definitely a beautiful drive. The weather on the coast was still going to be crap for the next couple of days so I decided to head further west on the island to the Burin Penisula to spend a couple of days visiting my friends Martine ans Isaac. Martine was out and about doing video shoot for work. I sepnt some time catching up with isaac when he asked me if I knew anything about routers for networking. I had to earn my keep so I re-configured the router and voila wireless internet for the house was born. And then after catching up on some emails it was bed time.

Ottawa river 06-07 June 2009

2009-06-09T20:02:00.002-04:00

Saturday: level 15.75

I dropped my boat and gear off earlier then expected at the OWL putin before heading off to River Run to find the N.O.P.E (Northern Ontario Paddling Explorers) Crew which consisted of Andrew, Ryan, and Wade. The plan was to meet there, gear up, and set the shuttle. We left my car at the bottom of the River Run parking lot before heading off for a morning paddle on the Middle Channel.

This would be my first trip down the river this season which turned out to be the same for Ryan and Wade as well. It wasn't long before we were staring at McKoys (me with the standard sick feel in my stomach). It was one of those holy crap which line do you want to take. After ten minutes of looking at it Andrew was first followed by me, Ryan, and Wade. I know I went down the tongue on Phils and then to the left to avoid the boily crap. Not sure about the others.
After the long paddle across the flats we finally came to Iron Ring. We all got out to scout it ... well maybe look at it ... Ryan never saw it at that level and basically said holy crap that really nasty. We all decided that nobody was going to run that and headed off to scout Little Trickle. I remember Andrew making it clean ... not sure about Ryan ... and Wade hade the interesting I think I will flip upside down and roll back up half-way down the run but managed to come up face and skin still intact.

Then there was my run .. Andrew was sitting in the first eddy below waiting for me. I ended up trying to carve into the eddy too soon and drop my edge too much and ended up going for a swim. I managed to swim with my boat to the big rock island on the other side of the eddy. The only problem I had now was how was I going to empty out my boat and get back into it as the water was pushing me all around and I was over waist deep in water. I managed to push the open side of my boat against the rock wall and lift it up enough to get most of the water out before rolling it up the wall to get out the rest of it. That was the easy part. I know had to figure out how I was going to stand on a small rock and jump 6 feet forward into my boat without tipping over. Somehow I managed to do it and ran the remaining drop not using my outfitting to the big eddy further down river. Andrew did make a comment about how this was going to be a very interesting to watch as he was pretty sure i was going to swim again.

Next stop would be Angel's Kiss. Some of the others played there for a bit as I was taking a break exploring the shore line. I found a complete skeleton of a deer about ten feet from shore. I put the skull with antlers attached on top of a stump. We stopped at Butterfly for a bit before heading off to Garvins for lunch.

I spent some time scouting ST Chute but decided against it as the left side of one of the holes I would have to go through was munchier then my previous run last summer at a lower level. We spent some time having a nice lunch before heading down to the Garvin's Waves. I somehow ended getting knocked over on the third wave which resulted in my second and final swim for the day.

I did not feel like running Upper No Name and took the left hand channel around the island. Not sure what happened with the others when they ran Upper No Name.

I took the far right line on Lower No Name which was a very dry run for me. Ryan followed Andrew down the left side. I think Wade went down the middle.

We were soon at River Run takeout. I had to run Andrew back up to the top to get his truck and thats when we ran into Sarah D from the CDB Crew. We talked for a bit before heading back for a quick beer and munchies before our game plan for the afternoon of heading of to Trick or Treat Falls for some more fun. We made the 40 minute drive there and all of us looked at the falls but Andrew was the only one that geared up for four runs before calling it quits. It was getting late and we had already decided that we were going out for dinner. We ended up at the Rocky Mountain House in Renfrew. The food was pretty good (well i thought so). Some of the CDB Crew ended up at the same restaurant and I spent some time chatting with them before catching up with the N.O.P.E Crew out in the parking lot.

Ryan and I ended up going to the Tours for a visit and email check as he had never been there. Andrew and Ryan were heading over to check out Bussy.

After that it was back to the campground for and evening of a nice fire with drinks, followed by more drinks, SQUIRREL, followed by more drinks with Cale, Steph, Leah, Gonzo, and many others. It was a very late night for everyone. I think I packed it in just before midnight. I am not sure who the last person standing was as it wasn't me.

Sunday: Level 15.75

I wolk up around 06:30 and my head was going swoosh swoosh swoosh ... I don't think that was a good thing but at least I was alive ... barley. Soon it was breakfast time. The plan for the day was to meet Carly and Billy at the put in for 9am. We ended up being a few minutes late by the time we set up the shuttle but were not too worried about that.

Everyone was pretty much geared up and we headed down to the river. Ryan was not sure whether he was going to paddle his Prelude or his C1 Nomad. After a wet exit check he decided on the Nomad which would be an interesting day for him as he had never been in moving water with it.

Sarah D and Pat also joined our motly crew on the river. Along the way to McKoys Carly and Billy were busy shooting video while paddling their Dynamic Duo. Everyone made it fine through McKoys.

Soon we were at Little Trickle. Pat helped Sarah with her run as she was a bit nervous about running it. She made it fine as did I and all the others. We spent some time at Angel's Kiss and Butterfly where I managed to get an amazing back surf in the left hand hole.

Soon we were off to Garvin's. We headed over to Elevator Shaft. Carly and Billy wanted to run the Duo down for part of their video. I think Andrew ran it as well after the rest of us headed over to the other side of the river to the lunch spot for a quick bite to eat.

I ended up having a swim at the 2nd wave on the bottom Garvin's wave which basically sucked. Ryan also ended up having an out of boat experience after me. My run through Upper and Lower No Name were fine.

I watched Carly and Billy do their run throigh Lower No Name. They were almost vertical on some of the waves before they dissappeared around the corner. I did not realize that Ryan was out of his boat and it had gone down the right hand channel after Upper No Name. Luckily he did not swim down there as it is pretty crappy in there. Everyone else made it down fine. Ryan was re-united with with boat and Carly and Billy carried back up for another Lower No Name run for their video. Ryan played video guy.

After that is was off to the takeout for a beer before doing the shuttle. I picked up the Duo and threw it up on my car. Carly was quite surprised that I could pick the thing up. Apparently Billy can't do that by himself :p.

I dropped Andrew, Carly, Billy, and Pat off at the putin and I put the DUO on Carly's vehicle as I did not want Billy to hurt himself. I had to head back to River run for my gear before heading off to my dads to drop of my paddling gear into their garage followed by the ling drive home.

Palmer Rapids and Lower Mad Trip

2009-06-04T11:30:00.002-04:00

I managed to get out paddling last weekend 30-31 May.

Spent the saturday paddling around Jessups and the Lower Set for the day. The weather was actually nice for a change. There were about 100 Scouts on the river taking courses. I paddled with my friend Keith Watson who finally decided to show up before lunch time but at least he made it.

Sunday was an interesting day on the Lower Mad. We ended up paddling in rain -> sleet -> snow -> and then sun at the end of the day.

The level was not that great for playing at Hass Hole in an open boat but fun for running the river. Keith and I met up with another couple after the Scouts decided to cancel their trip due to the crappy weather.

The best run of the day had to be at Split Rock. Keith and I spent about 10 minutes looking at the channel running through split rock. The right channel there was boney but the left channel was doable if you were able to make the line as the moves were tight. I never hit one rock and ended up in the eddy as planned.

My other best run of the day was at Raquette. Normally you would have to go to the left of the island but there was enough water to run the right hand side. The only problem would be to figure out where to run the river wide drop. Keith scouted the right hand side and said no go.

My line was from right to left and then over the six foot drop. I had to do a few braces and sweeps to keep from going over and getting sucked back into the hole but made. I was full of water but I made it.

Keith saw me disappear and decided to take the far left line which was kind of boney with no drop on it.

All in all it was a great weekend for paddling.

Barely paddling and going stir crazy

2009-05-18T19:28:00.000-04:00

I had a great couple days of doing photo shoots with a couple of my friends.

My friend Samantha had a great time and will be coming back sometime in the future for another shoot.

The rest of Samantha's pics are here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/3497387582/in/set-72157617549072287/

My friend Kent and his girlfriend Chantel as came by for a shoot.

It was a bit strange doing a male model shot as well as the couple shot but I was happy with the results:

The rest of the pics are here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157617699124132/

I also managed to get a great day of surfing in at Hass Hole on the saturday of the Victoria Day long weekend followed by a party with old friends. It was literally a last minute decision of the morning of to make the 3.5 hour trip to Palmer Rapids.

The pics from the paddling/partying are here:

Paddling

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157618479214200/

The Band

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157618480931476/

The Party

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157618394502513/

Paddling Fun and Level 6 Cup

2009-04-26T19:31:00.005-04:00

I manage to get some paddling in over the last couple of weeks.

I spent the saturday of Easter weekend paddling with some friends on the Tamworth section of the Salmon River. The weather was great and the water was cold but it was a fun day out.

I also managed to get a day in on Beaver Creek during the M.A.C.K.Fest weekend (see www.mackfest.ca). I managed to punch in the front of might boat after succesfully running the bridge drop. The damage is way beyond my repair skills and is current at Paddle Sports Repair for surgery.

I just spent this weekend in the city of Ottawa taking photos of friends at the Level 6 Cup. The weather was aboslutely gorgeous on saturday for the competition. I hope to have all the pics up soon. 2500 is alot to go through.

As always you can view my current pics at (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/).

This would also include some of my recent studio photoshots with friends.

Until next time ... be safe out there!

Life's been busy

2009-04-11T18:46:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it has been over a month since I posted in my blog.

So much for keeping up with the detail so here is the Coles Notes version instead.

12-Mar-2009

I did make the trip down to Ain't Louie Fest in TN for Spring Break. The plan was to just drive straight down to Lenoir City, TN and then get ready for a week of boating.

We all know that life is subject to being quite dynamic. After staying at somes friends place in WV, I ended up taking a slight into North Carolina to go boating with some new friends on section 9 of the French Broad. It was a nice run to shake off the cob webs of not being in my boat for four months.

After that we all headed over to TN to get ready for the festivities which unfortunately for me included five days of rain. I am not complaining as it is needed for paddling but sucks when your sleeping in a tent for the week.

It was great to see old friends and meet a whole lot more. Gabe won the award for the furthest drive. He came 2500 miles with his dog to pick up a new boat and have some fun.

I had some excellent boating on Clear Creek (Jett to Lilly), the Little (Sinks to Elbow), Middle Fork of the Little Pieogeon, and Tellico (Below Jarods Knee to Turkey Creek).

Both my body and boat took a beating as I kept pushing myself to the the next level. But my boat did end up losing on the Telico when I end up punching in the front of my boat when Tony decided to go sideways and block the run on the river. Ehhh ... crap happens.

I had originally only planned on paddling up until wednesday and was going to take the thursday off before heading south to Alabama for NAWFest. But enough was enough ... i really need to dry out my gear after all the rain.

18-Mar-2009

I woke up up the wednesday morning and decided to take another day. My friends asked my what I was going to do. I told them I decided to go watch me a sunset in the Gulf of Mexico. I packed up my stuff and drove 8.5 hours to watch the most beautiful sunset to date that I have ever seen on a spit in Pensicola, FL.

After that I grabbed a room for the night to relax, have a nice hot shower, and sleep in a really comfy bed. I sepnt the next morning doing laundry and re-packing my car for the next phase of the trip in Alabama.

I ended up staying with some friends thursday night in Taledaga, AL. I met Joseph and Arlene two summers ago when we were on a white water canoe course together. Dinner was great as was sleeping in a nice comfy bed :).

20-Mar-2009

I left early on the friday morning to head up to the paddling festival a few hours away. It would be day one which included the huckfest off the falls followed by the boater cross. The huckfest was great but the boater cross did not even get started as the local sheriff kicked us off the property due to a supposed land dispute with someone who was claiming to be the land owner but was not. Imagine a couple hundred people being forced to leave all at once standing along the side of a road waiting to get a ride to the parking lot. Not My idea of fun.

After that fiasco Dooley, Memree, and I went for a late lunch in town before I headed off to the main festival site to setup my tent. At least it was hot, sunny, and zero forecast of rain. What more could you ask for as a premise for a kick ass pre-party.

Lots of people were playing in the rodeo hole during dinner. I unfortunately had to re-patch the hole in my boat from TN. Thank god for two part expoxy sticks from Home Depot. Forty minutes later I was in the eddy lineup where i spent over an hour trying to side surf my boat right to the gunnel line and always swimming. But the water was warm and I was paddling in shorts. Well at least I thought it was BALMY but the US boaters thought it was cold .... lol.

Soon it was dark and the pre-party had started.

The plan for staurday was to take photos of the rodeo in the morning and go paddling with Arlene, Joseph, and gang on the saturday afternoon. We ended up running a section of the Warrior Locust Fork. It was a gorgeous day. I kept running non-tradional lines down all the runs and had a blast. We parted ways. My plan was to go back to the campground for the main party and awards ceremony and then head over to Andy and Lynn's place.

The party was great. I was really happy I made the trip to AL. I met lots of new friends and hope to make it back the the festival next year. I said my goodbye and made it to Andys just before midnight and the funny thing was they were just finishing dinner.

22-Mar-2009

We had an early breakfast and then headed out for another day of fun in the sun paddling on the Mulberry river. I was a nice day to wind down before my impending two day roadtrip back to Canada. I spent the night at Arlene and Josephs.

I got up early monday morning and was gone by 4am (Central). I managaed to drive 1120KM in 12.5 hours to my friends place near Lost Creek, WV followed by the an easier 8.5 hour drive home the next day. At least I managed to score a couple of 60 ouncers of Barcardis at the duty free.

I sepnt the wednesday basically doing laundry and catching up on sleep before having to go back to work on thursday.

All in all it was a great time, saw old friends, met new ones, experienced great southern hospitalitys at its best. Would i do it again ... yeppers.

Going on a water therapy road trip to the USA

2009-03-10T09:37:00.003-04:00

Well ... not much has been happening in my life except that work has been super crazy and I am going through paddling withdrawl (4 months has been tooo long).

I have been planning a return trip to TN since I was there a year ago.

The last three weeks have been a blur as I have been checking my gear, fixing what ever, and packing it.

T-2 days and I am gone for 10 days of fun hopefully in the sun paddling.

Roadtrip to Ottawa

2009-02-09T19:44:00.000-05:00

Friday:

I decided to do a roadtrip with a friend to the booming city of Ottawa via a quick side trip to visit my dad and drop off some goodies plus pick up my Thule rooftop carrier.

We also managed to get in a trip to the Costco in Gatineau (it is my mission to visit as many Costco's as possible) for a bear run. You can pick up a 24 of Corona for 33 bucks including deposit and tax. You can also pick up at 55 pack of Coors Light for 55 bucks also including deposit and taxes.

My primarily goal for the trip was to say goodbye to a good friend of mine who was leaving for an extended trip out of country.

Saturday:

After breakfast with and a goodbye hug from my friend ... Mark and I headed off to the new Canadian War Museum as both of us had never been there before.

The museum is definitely worth the visit. More detail can be found here http://www.warmuseum.ca/.

We had dinner and then headed over to the casino in Gatineau for a few hours of excitement. I spent (lost) my pre-set 20 buck limit in about an hour at the slot machines. I spent the rest of the time watching the craps game trying to figure out all the rules. It was an interesting game with too many variations which made it kind of challenging.

After that we stopped in downtown Ottawa to take some photos of the ice sculptures and the National War Memorial.

The rest of the pictures are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157613575971841/

The rest of the pictures are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157613522036364/

January Update

2009-01-31T19:55:00.001-05:00

Holy moly ... I can't believe I have not updated my blog since Xmas.

Not much has happened since then ... just the normal busy at work stuff.

I did manage to do a few more photo shoots of friends.

The first one was of my friend Julie. We had not seen each other in eight months and had been planning it for four months.

The rest of the pics can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157611953486615/

The second one was of my friend Tiffany. I met her back in October while paddling with some friends.

The rest of the pictures are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157612292296475/

The last one was of my friend Victoria. She happened to be home for a two week visit from out west in order to celebrate her birthday and visit friends. This would be the second time I have taken pics of her. First as a blonde and now as a redhead.

The rest of the pictures are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157612833268374/

Xmas Holidays

2008-12-27T07:41:00.000-05:00

This would be the first xmas dinner I have had at my place since the marriage breakup a few years back.

My dad and step-mom showed up on afternoon of the 24th and this would be the first xmas dinner ever at my place for them. We spent the afternoon / early evening putting away all the food, watching movies, and of course munching on finger foods before heading off to bed to await for Santa's arrival.

Just like little kids they were up early xmas morning scurrying around the tree looking at the gifts that Santa had left the night before. Way toooo many to count. After the frenzy of wrapping paper being shredded open and thrown all over the place it was time for breakfast of bacon and eggs to order followed by a cleanup of the mess they made from presents.

The next few hours were spent getting stuff ready for xmas dinner before my sister and bro-inlaw showed up for dinner as well. They finally made it here where the next few hours was spent catching up, pigging out on turkey, ham and the multitude bottles of wine that managed to find their way to the table.

My kids finally showed up late that evening just after my sis/bro-inlaw had left. Magically Santa had left them some presents under the tree and they opened them. After that it was drinks and realxing watching a movie.

Boxing day was basically spent indoors watching more movies and visiting with friends that had dropped by to see my parents.

All in all it was a busy but nice xmas and was great to see everyone from the family together at the same time in the same place!

Second photo shoot in the home studio

2008-12-21T20:59:00.008-05:00

I spent a couple of weeks trying to figure out how to make the new studio a little more functional and spacious. It took a bit but I think I have it all worked out.

I needed to find a friend to do another test run with. I was online one night talking to my friend Kristi and I asked her if she would be interested. She had seen alot of my other photos and like the concept and said sure. The only problem was very small window of time to do the shoot as she is moving out west with her boyfriend at the end of the month and then having to deal with the xmas holidays just complicated even more.

We basically came up with a 2.5 hour window yesterday and all things considered it went very well.

We did a whole pile of low light candle shots followed by some studio umbrella lighting with both flash and non-flash lighting.

Candle light shots:

Umbrella lighting:

I learned a few more things that I have to remember for next time but that is all part of it.

I am always looking for more friends to take pics of so if your interested then let me know so we can set something up.

The rest of the pictures can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157611454543420/

Purge clean of the house

2008-12-14T20:54:00.000-05:00

Well ... I hate to admit it but I am a bit of a packrat when it comes to computer stuff.

It got to the point where it was everywhere I looked.

It took me a few fews but I managed to get rid of the hoards of broken pcs, monitors, and parts that I was thinking I could you someday and never did.

The massive cleanup came down to have I seen or used that in the last five years ... nope ... gone.

This included clothes which are going to be donated ... just need to drop them off somewhere soon.

I lost count after the fourth trip of my back seat and trunkof my car being completely full.

I now have space to properly organize all my remaining stuff which will take some time but I am happy with the progress I have made.

A photo studio in the house

2008-11-25T21:08:00.003-05:00

I had been thinking for a while now about turning the huge empty master bedroom in my house into a photo studio of some type. It was time I added another dimension into my photography realm that is so far removed from my regular sports and nature shots.

So guess what I finally did it. It might not be a professional (as I am not a pro photographer) setup but WTH it is functional.

I had the pleasure of taking some pics of my friend Ashley last sunday as my first run through to see how things would work out with the new setup. She was an absolute sweetheart as worked together to figure out lighting, etc for different possible shots.

She was very pleased with how things went and the in the final outcome.

The rest of the pictures can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157609963636675/

I still have a lit bit of tweaking to make to my setup but I am very happy so far!

Elora Gorge at 40cms

2008-11-17T21:29:00.000-05:00

I went and paddled the Elora Gorge last last saturday with friends.

It was a whopping 40 cms which is way more the the maybe 10 cms I have paddled it in the past.

The river looked so totally different. It was fast moving and huge waves / holes.

It was a wet dreary freezing cold day. I actually had to wear my gloves and that says alot.

We only had one major swimmer during the day. We had a kayaker out of their boiat above the chutes. I ended up having to run the right hand line down the chute to try and catch up to the boat. I punched the first two holes fine and ended up getting pushed over by the last one and swimming with my boat to shore. I ended up banging my knee (which end up being pretty swollen that night) on a rock during my swim.

We did get the kayak back so that was a good thing.

The scenery on the river was amazing when we came up to this huge waterfall coming off the side of the gorge wall. I wish I had my regular camera with me but the weather was to crappy to take pictures anyway.

Everyone made it to the take out safe and sound.

I am glad I made the trip as it gave me and idea of what the Gorge was like in high water but without the ice and snow. I have determined that my cutoff point for running the Gorge will be around 50 cms.

Until next time be safe out there.

Trip to the city of Ottawa to paddle the Pumphouse and potluck dinner

2008-11-10T08:01:00.000-05:00

I spent last weekend doing a roadtrip to the city of Ottawa with my friend Mark.

My goals were to paddle the Pumphouse slalom course and attend the CDB paddling club annual meeting and potluck dinner. Mark was along for the ride to go visit his brother.

We left Mark's place just after 6am on saturday morning and made it to Ottawa just after 12:30ish. This was a pretty good time as we only made three stops, Tims in Bancroft, Foymount for shopping, and the Antrim truck stop for brunch. We managed to briefly run into my dad and step-mom as they just finished having breakfast there. It was a what the hell are you doing here moment as it was totally random and unplanned.

I dropped Mark off at some intersection and headed over to the Pumphouse for some paddling fun. I had never been there before and was really impressed with the facility. It is a great slalom course in the downtown area of Ottawa. Some of the members of the Canadian Olympic Team were there training. I also ran into some of the Junior teamt that I know. I met up with Christian, Paul, and Stephen. We managed to get a couple hour of paddling in and then we headed over to a local pub for a drink before parting ways.

I headed over to MEC before going to Julia's house for the party. The meeting was great and so was the dinner. Here are some pictures from that night http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157608985076314/

I ended up getting voted in as Member at Large which is someone who promotes the club while out and about. The CDB website is http://www.cdb-ottawa.com/

Kelly from the club presented me with a plaqued version of a picture of me running ST-Chute on the Ottawa River. He said is was their way of giving something back to me for sharing all the pictures I take of others.

This is the original picture:

After the party I headed over to Marks brothers place before making the uneventful trip home on sunday.

Lower Madawaska and a trip to the Wilno Tavern

2008-11-03T07:58:00.000-05:00

We met up at the at the Paddler Coop at 11:30. We decdied to run the Lower Madawaska since there was no water on the Middle Mad at MKC. It was running at about 30 cms.

What more could you ask for ... the sun was shinning, the air temperature was cool, and your out paddling with your friends in November.

We only had two swimmers during the day and beers at the takeout before heading off to the cabins to offload our gear and more beers.

Link to pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157608594838922/

So what could make the day any better but a trip to the Wilno Tavern for a late dinner and Blaine was the only Wilno virgin in the group.

Ryan had a brain lapse in judgement and offered to be the DD for the night so we piled into the kid mobile and headed off. The place was busy and we had to wait at the bar for a bit before getting a table. The drinks were definitely free flowing.

Dinner was going great and then it happened ... we met "Mike from Wilno" ... he was definitely a unique character. Ryan was the first to bail from the table to avoid the drunken conversations to stand at the bar and I wasn't too far behind him.

And that is when we met some more of the locals Syliva and Tommy. Sylvia was a throwback to the 60's and was figuring out everyones astrological signs. Tommy was a lumberjack in his little world. We were warned by the the bartender not to armwrestle Tommy as he has put more people in the hospital that way.

The night was kind of blurry for me as Ryan and Greg made sure the drinks were flowing. I lost count after two coolers, one sling, and three vodka shots. I am pretty sure Greg was in the same state of me. I do remember that the discussions were definitely lively.

Soon the night came to an end as we were the lasts one leave Wilno on a saturday night.

Has anyone else met any of the interesting characters at the Wilno?

Been busy paddling

2008-10-15T21:40:00.003-04:00

Alot has happened over the last couple of weeks.

I spent one weekend paddling the Ottawa with Frank, Mike, Ryan, Leah, Blaine, and Kim. The weather was overcast but still relatively warm. We decided not to camp but rented one of Dale Curtis cabins right at the putin. It was better then sleeping out in the tent.

We ran the middle channel on saturday and the main on sunday. My most memorable moment and probably the most sketchiest place I have been in my boat was at leftside Coliseum. I probably spent at least five minutes in oh crap mode as I was in a recirculating eddy trying not to be sucked back into a nasty hole. I managed to pull it off and not have an out of boat experience.

Me in Right Side Horseshoe

Ryan and Frank paddling together

Pictures from that weekend are here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157607586820805/

I ended up spending the following not paddling at all. My neoghbour Bob thought I must have been sick as it was the first time I had been home on a weekend since mid-june. I had alot of yard work to catch up on plus I had to close the pool.

I just spent the last weekend paddling at the Gull River in Minden on the saturday. I managed to run the entire river for the first time ever. I put in the eddy just below the dam and decide what the heck and ran it. I only had to eddy out once to empty some water out of my boat. I also ended up running the falls three times. The weather was great and i was still wearing shorts.

I head out early sunday morning to paddle with Kevin, Miguel, and Val at the Elora Gorge. I was running kind of low but was still fun. After that I head off to Woodstock to spend Thanksgiving dinner with my friend Sarah.

We managed to spend a little bit of time doing a photo shoot before dinner.

Pictures are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157608020300268/

I met her boyfriend, brothers, and mom just before dinner. There was tons of food and lots of wine. Afterwards we played dominos for a few hours while having other drinks as the wine was long gone.

Monday morning was back to paddling at the Gorge with Geoff, Mark, Jim, and Bruce. I managed to catch the top left eddy at the chute which was a feat in itself for me.

Link to the pictures from the Gorge are here

Mine http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157608005256261/

Jim http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157608017701040/