Boatwerks.net

Finally had a chance to sit down and crunch the numbers on my 2011 paddling year. Not a bad year considering. Here's my year in review:

31 Days on the water, 20 creeking, 9 playboating, 1 both, and 1 lake surf.
Busiest months: March (10), April (9). Didn't paddle in February, June, August, or November.
Days paddling before June: 25. Days paddling after June and beyond: 6. Can you tell when I had a baby?
25 Different Rivers Paddled, 14 were New to me. 1 Lake.
4 Different States/Provinces/ Countries (Ontario: 18, Quebec: 3, New York: 3, Costa Rica: 7)
1 Swim (Crowe Fish Hatchery)
1 Cracked Creek Boat (somewhere in Quebec, most likely the Mastigouche)
Came 4th at Hell or High Water
Favourite Runs of the Year: Upper Upper and Upper Pacuare combination run, and a wicked fast fun on Spencer's Creek one Sunday morning with Bobbie, we were home by lunch. The Mastigouche also deserves a mention (so good!)

A little bit less paddling than last year, but there was a lot of work travel, had a baby in June, and have still managed to stay married!

How was your year?

Best in a long time.

First time back on the water in 5 or 6 years. Bought a new boat in april and paddled probably 40+ days until november.

Most of it playboating at pushbutton, or babyface. 2 4 day weekend on the gull. Spent a week on the ottawa.

Ran the upper Rouge canyon for the first time.

Bought a Monstar in octobre. Broke my long time waterstick Zen on garb. That paddle was probably 10 years old.

Going to buy a creek boat this spring and try and get more into that.

I really hit it with a vengance after a loooooong hiatus.

2011 Was a great year for me as well.. Over 200 days on the water I am sure.

Went on a iced up, long walk mission to Upper No Name in February IIRC


From January to June, I spent easily 3-4 days a week surfing at Sewer Wave or Champlain Bridge.



Bought My First Creekboat and Folded it in half 2 weeks later in an undercut.


Ran my first creek-ish, slide and significant Drop on the Great Chazy, NY.


Did Swiftwater Rescue and Raft Guide Training.


Paddled Lachine and Habitat for the first time


Spent almost every summer weekend on the Ottawa.

Most importantly, Had a blast, Met great people, Pushed my limits, Met most of my goals and Finally..Drank some ice cold beers.....

In and out of booties.


Now on the the 2012 season!

Cheers!

John

awesome 'pics you guys!!
...great season,paddled MW 62 different days...got a coupla flatwater trips in as well.
Learned some different lines at the Gull which is where i spend most outings(there and the Black)...
Have actually attained a level of paddling i could only wish for 4 years ago,hangin' round at the bottom of Gull.I am very comfortable paddling these 2 rivers now.
Am considering a new oc boat if i ever have some luck with "no bills"...yah right
Year ahead?
Expecting a new addition(baby girl) to the family this spring! A little less paddling maybe,but will spend more time on the water with our 4 year old son and camping...
I'll be 45 soon(starting to feel those ailments) so it's about time i started taking care of my body better,meaning "easyworkoutsmore" at home,and, i gotta quit smoking...Wish me luck!

2011 was a very intense year for me due to a kiteboarding accident and subsequent TBI that I had last fall... During one of the meetings with doctor I told him that white water kayaking will be part of my rehab... he looked at me very funny, but I just ignored his look..

I didn't paddle a lot and couldn't get out creeking, but managed to paddle Parkhill 3 or 4 times, Ottawa once, Gull twice, secret waves on Humber once and Lake Ontario at night..
Lots of room for improvement this year and I can't wait to run Spencer's and Upper Balls Falls again...

Ottawa River


Gull River


Parkhill


Lake Ontario


Humber River


Parhkill again

I've had better.... I wasnt as aggressive this year, both in getting out and in difficulty. Still plenty of good days, probably in the range of 50 or 60.

Best Day - Taureau this fall. Had a nice little bomb down it. Its been yeara, but still so good.

Best Overnighter - Middle Fork Feather, CA My only overnight trip in whitewater this year, but so good. Like 3 days of Neilson, with hot weather and better scenery.

Best Surprise: Slab Creek Section of the SF American (a short probably 5 km section of 4/5, big water creeking with really interesting rapids.
Best Event: Hell Or High Water (FYI - http://www.HOHW.ca is getting updated as I type. Some new details on there)
Best Swim: Of 2 that year, Sluice Falls of the Oswegatchie
Best Single Rapid: Mr Twisty on the SF Yuba (49 to Bridgeport at 1400 cfs). It was probably the single biggest of my paddling career. Lots of power in there.
Second: Sluice Falls of the Oswegatchie. This was on my to do list. I missed getting Mad Man on the Doncaster.

2011 was a great intro year to the Ottawa region's whitewater. An old XL 15, a bicycle shuttle and barrel complete the outfit where, like notches in a belt, the runs were punched, often in solitude,

-Clyde, nice spring run, sketchy once the locals get-a-shootin'.
-Mississippi, where its horseshoe shape makes the shuttle shorter than the run.
-May two-four was a little late for the Riviere du Sourd.
-The Lower Madawaska, despite its traffic, is such an accessible and pleasant run it's worth doing several times. Thanks to the crews that picked up a lonely biker.
-The Petite Nation is charming and will only become more accessible with the 50 extension. Even the bike shuttle is pleasant with a pop machine to boot.
-Coulonge was a nice week-ender from the Rapides Enrages down.
-What a blast to run the Rouge's Canyon and see no one except a girl reading on the bridge.
-Pretty sure the ol' XL15 was the last boat down the Gatineau River Fest. Long bike shuttle.
-Middle and Main Channel offered up some great action for season enders.

-Swims: Raquette(Mad), McKoys & Hair(Ott) and Lucifer's(Gat). All fun except Lucifer.

Looking forward to meeting more good river folks in 2012, building skills and travelling along river lines among the Haute Lievre, Le Scenique de la Gatineau, Les 21 milles de la Rouge and maybe even the Gens de Terre.

Best Year so far of my kayaking career
-Started out on Jan 2/11 on Parkhill, with the strangest level i've see, the right wave was an awesome wave/hole
-Come March Break(as im still in highschool) i went to check out the gorge(for the first time) when it was around 80, and in the end i had to chase 2 boats down the gorge with no tow rope......i learned from that and got me a tow rope
-Throughout the break i got to go out plenty of times- i met up with Gerry and we'd always hed out for a quick paddle after school and after his work
-Once the waterlevels went past 200 we went to check out Mill Waves-with are the glassiest waves i've ever surfed
-In April convinced my parents to take me to MACKfest where i surfed Calligans wave and the linked up with a bunch of locals to run the Beaver in my playboat! After we drove home and stopped at a fancy restuarant called "Baton Rouge" and i was just wearing sweats and a t-shirt(This restaurant was fancy cause there was 2 Ferraris outside)
-Parkhill throughout the rest of the school year seemed to always come up, and Gerry and i were out there, and i got my blunt
-Ran the chute by Parkhill with Boydo
-On May 24 i went to WT for the kayak weekend-first time i imploded my skirt on the hole below little trickle
-In the summer i didn't kayak once!
-Started the school year kayaking with all the rain we got, got my G2 so i can drive myself to Parkhill
-Late December hit Parkhill when it was over 200 with my Bro when he got home- the hole became a very steep wave it the blunts could go huge
-End the Season, but was out once again Jan 2 and it was cold

All in All paddled about 30-40 times throughout the year!

Overall, my best year (out of 4) so far! (considering balancing paddling with a newborn, moving, wife starting work and me starting a new job)
Got on the river about 20+ times.
First day on the river: 12 April.
Last Day on the River: Mid Oct
Ran 3 new Rivers (Gat, Beaver Creek and the Gull).
Hit 4 festivals (MACKFest, HOHW, Gat Fest and King of Clubs).
4 swims
2 broken bones
Dropped about $400 on new gear and probably twice that on gas
Highest driving to paddling ratio: drove 6 hours to paddle for 2!

Goals for this year: Buy a creek boat. Paddle at least 3 new rivers (Dumoine, Rouge, Kippewa?) Hit all the big Ottawa valley festivals, maybe even MooseFest. Introduce at least one new person to paddling. And promise to swim at least once to keep me honest.....

Have a good 2012!

Speaking of Year Stack up, Heres a little mashup video of 2011 as my first year kayaking!

http://vimeo.com/34757552

I guess I must've gone paddling with Boydo once...



The year for me partly sucked because I developped a bad elbow problem that can't be fixed with any amount of physio, chiro, rehab exercises, etc. Fortunately once I found out I needed surgery, but any further activity wouldn't make it much worse, I started taking lots of Naproxen and got back in my boat just in time for high water Moose!

Highlight of the year... getting down to Agers ahead of my group and getting in a quick run before everyone else showed up, and while there were oddly no other boats on the water! For 10 minutes it felt like I was doing a high-water solo run of the Moose... on Moosefest weekend!

2nd highlight of the year... surfing some big waves on a river in downtown Toronto.

the highlights,

- ate $h!t the hardest I have in a long time, on twenty mile
- learned some new combo moves... KY's, split phonics, space godzilla to cartwheel...
- paddled nearly every day from april to october
- got mega rad surfing an inflatable turtle
- best day was hands down on Garb with James and Cam.
- best creeking was on twenty mile, despite crashing and burning
- felt like every day was saturday!

neal2ross wrote:- ate $h!t the hardest I have in a long time, on twenty mile

It makes me smile that our creeks down here dished out some punishment all last year

I was privy to, and heard of, numerous carnage stories all year long on both 20 mile and Spencers. Good times!

I also ate $h!t the hardest I have EVER, on twenty mile, but I didn't list it as a 'Highlight'. I guess it was fun in its own 'learning experience' kind of way.....

Excellent, got 2 days on the Upper Yough and 3 on the Upper Gauley - haven't paddled either since I was 5 months pregnant three years ago... It was amazing to get back on those rivers and still be able to paddle them somewhat competently. Also, the Black, the Beaver and the Ottawa, plus 4 weekends canoe camping with my son. Looking forward to more again next year.