2013: a year in review

There are only a few hours left in this year of the lord 2013. And a pretty decent year, kayaking wise.

Chantal, my wife, and I collected good memories from sea kayaking and even white water kayaking. We got the sea kayaks out around the now regular Sorel Islands outing in the spring. For the May long weekend, we opted for a visit to the Mauricie park and discovering the Wapizagonke lake, its history and petroglyphs. We took the whole family out whale watching at the Grandes Bergeronnes, past Tadoussac where Chantal and Brigitte had a close encounter of the whaly kind.
Chantal and I toured the Gaspesian Peninsula during our summer vacation. We started with the amazing B&B in the Baie des Chaleurs, paddled around the imposing Rocher Percé and got adopted by couple of seals off the Forillion park. A 6+ hours horseback ride across the park tested my weak knowledge of those animals and more over our legs and butts... The drive back in the St-Lawrence golf scenery confirmed we live in a beautiful province.

On the white water side, Chantal and I took an epic Swift Water Safety class along with 10 or so other clubmates. We also had the best day ever on the river running the Assomption river with other club members; this was Chantal's 2nd river in a solo WW kayak; she ran everything like a champ, skipping only the ending 12ft waterfall. We left the boats to the side and jumped the fall instead and played in the jacuzzi-like whirlpools; what a great day.



I missed the annual outing on the Gatineau river with my brother-in-law Jean-Michel. Instead, I attended my first Festival de la Haute Gatineau, 2 weeks later at the end of August. Plans with JM are already drawn for the Gatineau for the summer of 2014. I bet Chantal would enjoy it this time...

Some of the events that are standing out were not so happy; learning experience I guess, like my epic swim on the Doncaster, following getting stuck in a sieve. With iced ridges and nowhere to go but into the canyon pass, I formed a ball and went through unhurt while the next drop got me good. Damien managed to extract my kayak from the hole in the canyon pass, but couldn't get it out of the canyon itself. I limped back and above to throw a rope and get my dinged boat. My Core paddle was likely still stucked in the sieve and I done for the day. Every step was very painful, but I was content being still alive. Damien, André and JF kept going, but André managed to best me by wedging his kayak, breaking his paddle and helmet in the lower section. He walked out with ugly bruising on the side of his face. Damien managed to save the day again and André's kayak, but in the process almost broke a leg. When I reached the take-out after the sunset, Damien and JF appeared and declared having lost André... André had gotten lost walking out. Thanksfuly, cottages are sprinckled along the bottom section and he managed to catch a ride with one of the riverside owners. By 21h00, we barely managed to walk across the parking lot to one of the local restaurants. Epic day. The lesson well learned though.

I figured it was time to learn from the best and I enlisted in a weekend clinic with Eric Jackson. Well, that guy is awefully contagious and kayaking his desease. Hard not to like the guy. Managed to get me out of my comfort zone and do things I wouldn't dare before. The 2 days went by all to quickly.

The first weekend of September meant Beaverfest and excellent weather we had; Beaverfest delivered in spades. I sponsored Patrizia, her 16 year old boy, Andrew, and niece, Ari. We had great runs on the various sections, especially the Eagle and then the Raquette on that Monday. Life is good.

The second weekend of October brought another very much enjoyable Moosefest. I had a clean run of the Bottom Moose on Saturday and then the Independence on Sunday with a bruised Alex de Matane and the Zzzz Crew gang.
2013 also marks my first year has the Montréal kayaking club (CCKEVM) president. Tough job. Learning to work with volunteers. Getting things done. Overall, that first year was a success; with the help of the other executive members, we managed a pretty good year with increased membership, good traditional events, filled up classes and even adding a few new events and clinics. Biggest deed likely the resolution of the Monitor crisis.

Well, I write this in the Toronto airport, waiting for my flight out to Mexico and the Veracruz paddling area... 12 days of paddling ahead of me and reports of no lack of water overthere... maybe too much.