How Jackson Kayak saved my legs and life.

Friday Morning, Mike McKay and I decided to go for a bit of paddling at Blakeney Rapids in Amonte, ON. We got there to find the levels really high, with alot of sticky mean looking holes everywhere and it was -15 celsius..We decided to not get too wet and play in some little side channels.. We walked upstream to check out a drop and decided not to run it. I put in right above a class III rapid and noticed the current led into a nice big undercut rock on the right..Told myself I should put in below it but then somehow decided "Hey..I'll still put in here! I'll just paddle away from the undercut.!" Well I missed my seal launch/ferry attempt and plugged the bow of the Villain right in the undercut rock. After a bit of a struggle, I managed to squeeze myself out and went for a gnarly little swim. Lost my paddle and my boat stayed there overnight. Mike was already downstream at the time and just saw me swimming wondering what was going on. The boat was under an overhanging cliff and access was very limited and rappelling gear was needed to get to it.

I called a bunch of fellow paddlers that night and we headed there for noon on Saturday.
It took us about 20 carabiners, 10 pulleys, 400 feet of rope, rappelling gear, 16 guys and 5 hours to get the boat out. Most intense rope work we've ever seen on the river.. Once the boat was out, we noticed how bent it was..We also noticed that if it wasnt for the Jackson Kayak crosslink plastic's strength and Bulkhead system, Both my legs and ankles wouldve broken right away and I most likely wouldve stayed trapped in the boat and died. The plastic held for almost 10 hours before it bent around the Bulkhead. We had attached the tow ropes to the grab loop handles to pull the boat out and they witheld an estimated pressure of over 7000 pounds and didnt move an inch. I will be honest here and say that if it would've been any other creek boat on the market with regular foot peg system, Im pretty sure I would'nt be here today to tell the story. I sent an appreciation letter to the Jackson Kayak guys and they posted it on the front page.. Pardon my frenchyness and hangover from the celebration mistakes!

Here it is: Villain Bulkhead Test = Success!!

Although I am glad to have come out with only a few scratches and bruises, I am bummed out to have scrapped a relatively brand new 1200$ kayak and lost my paddle. I worked real hard for a few months and saved every penny to buy this beast and im out without a boat right before creeking season starts here in Ontario and Quebec.. It wont be anytime soon that I will be able to buy another one but one thing is for sure.. It will most certainly be a Jackson Kayak! Its a hard learned lesson and some of the things I learned this weekend are : Always carry a whistle and a knife on your PFD, Follow your first instinct, Analyze your surroundings and don't care about what other paddlers might think if you walk a rapid.

Here are some pictures :

The boat pinned in the undercut

 Paul in the water setting up some pulleys

 CJ Rappelling down the cliff to access the boat

 Me looking down at CJ

 About to go for the final pull

 Its out!!!

 Its scrap :(

 Ouch!!

 Smiling on the outside.. crying on the inside! haha

Saturday Mission Fail and Great Chazy River on Sunday = AWESOME!

Good Morning Guys!

Came back last night at around 1:00AM from NY.. Ive only got 2.5 hours of sleep in me and I am at work writing this report, sipping on a nice warm coffee!

Richard, CJ and I drove all the way to the Achigan on Saturday as we saw the levels rise 10cms more than the day before! We though the ice broke and we got there to find it all frozen solid still! So was the Bonniebrook and all the stuff up in the laurentians according to the locals... Thats a no go for at least 2-3 more weeks apparently... Got to the Rouge and Petite Nation and same thing.. Seven Sisters Canyon run can be paddled and Family Wave is in. We headed home as we had our Villains and we were bummed out about the Laurentians situation...

Saturday Morning.. The Great Chazy was at 10-11 feet and the max recommended on American Whitewater is 9 ft. We figured we'd keep an eye on the level and Sunday Morning it was 8ft. On AW, they say that above 6 is Class IV+ V stuff and "keeper holes" at the top, bottom 1rst slide and bottom 2nd slide... To be honest... I dont know who wrote this but we ran it at 7.6ft and we wished we had a bit more water.. We stopped to get gas and one lady told us the Ice had broken overnight on Friday!! We got lucky! We shuttle with a mountain bike..Only 7kms...

CJ and Richard ran the first Dam Slide at the put in and we eddy hopped our wat down and scouted from there.. CJ stopped and the first hole as he eddied out left and had scouting access.. He gave me thumps up and it was good to go.. I knew the line from the videos I saw... The reactionary caught me and I went in the hole sideways a bit.. Mysterymoved for a second and popped into the river left eddy...back paddled to get out and I was fine.. Richard opted to punch right in.. and CJ took the same line as me and avoided the hole..This is by NO MEANS as class IV+ hole at these levels... Class IV at the most IMO.

We then ran the first slide and it was a Blast!!!! 2kms of pushy water and holes to avoid.. Its really shallow and you have to be on your game. Going upside down would rape your face!! Few holes to "punch" or avoid... The bottom holes on both slides looked gnarly but were easily avoided or punched on the left side and perhaps the right also...

Then you get a bit of flats and awesome Ruins scenery! Some class II+ III Boogie and then a 2-3 ft Ledge / Pourover and you might want to stay river right... I knew it was there and sticky...but somehow I wasnt paying attention.. didnt "boof" hard enough and landed right in...I sidesurfed a bit..flipped.. I rolled up quick and back paddled to the side and got out! Wouldnt be a problem to swim as its a big pool below...

We got to the 12-15 footer, scouted it..picked our points and CJ headed first..Was a bit off line on the right..went in the towback a bit and eddied out just fine.. Richard was kinda too much left and landed on rocks... I was right on the line, couldve boofed better, rolled and got pinned against the ledge were the guys had set up safety.. in my mind..I was under the curtain..tried to roll twice and couldnt...felt myself being pushed/rocked and thought "No way im getting out of here"  so I swam out to the below river right eddy... The guys saw I was fine..and I that I couldve rolled on my offside... laughed a bit and got my paddle in the river left eddy! They ran laps twice after that and I filmed/took pics!

PS: Holy Crap a Villain L is heavy when filled up...Even with float bags!!

Awesome Day! Here are some go pro stills!

About to Run The Shit!!

The hole

 Into the hole

 1rst Slide

 Ruins and Ice

 2nd slide

 Some Sticky Pourover fun!

 The Horizon Line

 Boof!!

 Richard on the Falls

 The Brown Claw!

 The Swim!

Enjoy!

New Boat and Flood Stage Kayaking in New York

Last week..I drove to Beachburg to see Billy Harris and pick up a 2010 Jackson Superstar from him.
Took it out to Champlain Bridge for a test and its a TOTALLY different boat than the older model... I didnt really spend the time setting it for me and the wave was flushy and slow and it was a bummer... I removed the foam that Billy added under the seat to sit higher an inch...Sitting higher makes it less stable, yet easier to switch edges when throwing air moves...And i dont do them yet sooo...

CJ and I were keeping an eye on the levels on the Black River in NY... Water was climbing almost half a feet an hour...We thought about heading down when we saw them at 12 000 cubic feet per second... We left saturday morning with some friends and didnt bother checking the gauge at all... We got there to a Black River in flood stage at 18 500 + cfs... From the road at the top of the canyon..waves and boils looked smaller lets say.... Inner City Strife, the wave we came down for wasnt really in...It was big and was greening out and had no eddy access... So we drove upstream to check out Hole brothers... a play hole that forms at low water but gets Huge at high water... We got there and found that the hole was as wide as the hole river... Big Brother was in but Real trashy...Its the river right side if the hole...Kinda like a Buseater wave that needs a towrope to get in....And little brother was sweet.. a smaller version of this... You can still get trashed around...

We hiked a kilometer upstream to put in and run a section of the rapid that looked small from up the road... The put in was a Boily eddy like the ones at coliseum when the water is high...with Nasty undercut rocks along the Canyon walls and whirlpools so it was basically, Drop In, Dont mess up and paddle the hell out of there into the current.. We eddied out behind what is usually an island and played in a wave we spoted from shore... It was big and bouncy like Garb but smaller! I eddied out to far and got stuck on the eddy line and in the whirlpools for a minute or two and paddled out and got recirculated back to the top of the eddy...Stayed there for a few minutes and put my seat an inch forward as I rode my stern pretty much the hole time... Filmed the guys a bit, wateched them dodge debris like whole trees, Ice chunks, basketballs,Board with nails, propane tanks and whatever the hell got into the river... went for a surf and headed down to Hole Brothers...
On the way down was a massive wavetrain... like the Normans on the Ottawa but bigger... when your down at the bottom of the wave you cant see whats coming... punched a big reactionary wave and I got too far right... Heading straight for the Massive Hole that you do not wanna be in... CJ was yelling for me to paddle left and I couldnt understand him...Lets say I did when I saw the hole... managed to make it to the left side and punched Little Bro Hole and the one behind it to eddy out and wait for the others... The boil line again flipped me over...tried to roll on my good side but I was against the canyon wall...tried my offside but the current ripped my paddle out of my hands...At this point I was getting my head smacked against the rocks because the eddy was pulling me back to the top and into the rock shelf... I then pulled the shirt and held on to the wall...I could feel that there was nowhere to rest my feet and that the rock I was holding on was undercut kinda... my paddle was getting recirculated into the eddy and the current and boils were pulling me away from the wall and into the eddy again and so on...I managed to make it to a calm spot and get out of the water... That was the ned of the day for me... my shoulder was sore, my belly and nostrils full of water and I was exhausted..

Filmed the boys for a bit and went for dinner and beers... Out of my bootie of course... Awesome day. This was definately a big water run..the biggest for me so far but Id do it all over again without a hangover and a good nights sleep next time... Here are some pics..

                                                              The New Boat

Ian going Big on Inner City Strife

                                              Lead in to Knifes Edge

                                           The boys scouting Knifes Edge

                                         
                                           Surfing our mystery wave we named Chango Wave

                                             Paddling up top of one of them massive waves

Punching Hole Bros

                                                               The rock my head met

Surfing Hole Bros

MMmmmmm Beer....and Footjuice, River water, Branches n stuff

New Playboat, New Goals, Time for training!

Hey guys!

Havent updated much lately...Ive been paddling a few different playboats at Sewer Wave as I was awaiting Billy Harris to come back from Chile. My mind has been set on the Jackson Superstar for quite a while now and I am picking it up tomorrow in Beachburg.. Ill stop by the Lorne to look at Bussy and drink a couple pints by the water. Its just so peaceful by the shore... Not by bussy at this level though.. Its a mean gnarly looking hole. Ill try and get pics tomorrow if its not too dark if the roads are ok.

So its all set up!
I am spending the 16-17-23-24-30-1 of April on the Rouge doing my SRT Level 2 and Raft Guide Training.
Water's gonna be cold and HUGE! Usually around the 300-500 cubic meters per second in Late April. Ill be bringing my Villain L and Supertsar for some late afternoon paddling! On the 2-3-8-9-10-21-22-25 of April ill be doing some Recon on the Blanche in Thurso where theres a nice 20 footer that has yet to be run as far as I know but I might be wrong... it drops into a steep, narrow canyon with little to no safety set up points...Must make boof. Well also be running the Petite Nation at High Level and some Creeks like Torrent Capri, Du loup, Bonniebrook etc.

Then the first 2 weeks of May ill be follwoing Julie and Pat Camblin on the Whitewater Grand Prix tour all over Quebec seeing some of the most amazing Rivers in North America like the Mistassibi, Bras Louis, Valin and much more. Also possibly meeting / partying with some of the best Paddlers in the world like Ben Marr, Rush Sturges, The Jackson Family and Steve Fisher and my role model Evan Garcia the master of the Steez and the Brown. If ive got the right coaches and big balls.. Ill be running some of the water there, even if its a bit out of my range... Well see when the time comes.

So with all that in mind... Ill be laying off the beer and junk food for the next 7 weeks and doing chore exercises in the gym here at work in order to be at my max potential as far as Fitness goes. Hopefully dropping down under 200 pounds again! This weekend is Daylight Savings time so well be gaining an hour and a bit more of sunshine witch means Happy hour paddle time is back! Ill be keeping my boat/gear in the truck for an after work hours paddle at the local playspots. Pretty stoked about that!

Well thats it for now.. Stay tuned for Pics of the new boat and Bussy pics this week!

Cheers!