Eastern Canada Trip – Volume 2
click here to download the Lachine/Gatineau Video
Music on the video is by Despistado courtesy of JadeTree.com
50 feet. That’s a really tall height. 60 degrees. That’s a really warm temperature. 25,000 CFS. That's a lot of water. Keen observations no doubt and merely a sampling of the knowledge that Chris has bestowed upon me thus far on our trip. Being a man of little formal education I am very thankful for all of Chris’ college. There's no doubt in my mind that he aced sarcasm class. Seriously, Chris is a real intelligent guy with a lot to offer on and off the water. That whipper-snapper is a much better paddler than myself, and I learn a lot from him every time we’re on the water. Enough about that cracka’. Let’s talk chicken soup.
As we had planned, on Friday we went out to Lachines on the St Lawrence. This river is certainly all it’s cracked up to be. I can’t believe I’ve never been there. Mistaaaake! I’m definitely going back. Video of this place really makes it look good but it’s just not the same effect as the real experience. There are three or four waves you can surf so if there is a crowd everyone isn’t always waiting on the same spot. Pyramid and Big Joe would be the best two waves you can surf and paddle back to most easily. Apparently the best way to surf there is to go with jet boat or jet ski assistance. We left our jet ski at home with our hover craft and the batmobile. Can’t forget that next time. It was either my camp stove or the jet ski. Don’t leave me in charge of packing next time. So, we went with the olden method of catching eddies and paddling back up. How barbaric!
Chris does a helix on Pyramid wave
I did a back blunt. wowee!
click here to download a small video clip of a couple moves we did at Lachines.
Understand that the St Lawrence is the largest river in North America, serving as drainage for the great lakes. The channel that these waves are in is the “small” channel, separated by islands from the rest of the river. And this part is like a mile wide, the small side. So that explains why you have a bit of a trek back up when you wash off the wave. Ropes, anchored to rocks, have been placed here and there to make the eddie hop possible without getting out of your boat. Great experience though. Montreal residents definitely have it made for play boating.
Saturday, May 21, we paddled the Gatineau with a cool crew of guys from the Ottawa area. The Gatineau River is another large body of water flowing from Quebec, and South, dumping into the Ottawa. The water is very tanic looking, almost black, really pretty.
About four to five miles long, this river barely missed a good opportunity of being a lake. But, with five or six good rapids in between the pools (lakes) we’ll let it squeeze into the river category. The level was 16 feet and a couple of the rapids included some nice waves. La Haute Tension (High Tension), the real reason we went to the Gatineau, is the most desirable wave. Located about mid way through the run we found this wave, but the water was too low. All that was there was a mean looking hole that we didn’t surf. If you want to see what High Tension wave looks like click this link to download a video. Chris got sponsored by Necky two years ago. This was his first day in his Vibe. Poor baby. Okay, proceeed!!! L’Anus De Lucifer, the first rapid, had a nice wave at the top.
Oneself doing a blunt there.
Le Mur, the next to last rapid, had a really nice wave at the top of it as well.
Chris does a nice aerial back blunt.
I washed on this one but hhheeehhhawww!
When you washed off the wave you went through this hole. There were a couple nice beatings there.
click here to download a small video clip of a couple moves we did at the Gatineau.
We walked back up and surfed the wave at Le Mur several times getting some decent tricks on a couple of the rides. Chris’ left hand smelled like fish at the takeout. Hm? Cool river though. Highly recommendable. Thanks to brothers ,Gilles and Rich Durepos, and their friends Bruce, Mark and Dave, for showing us down the river.
This is the pasture at the takeout. We grazed here for a couple hours after our paddle. It's a delicious blend of kentucky rye and crab grass.
We’re off to the Ottawa now. More posts coming soon. Wing ding ding dang diddly doo.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Friday, May 20, 2005
C eh, N eh, D eh. What do you got? CANADA!
Click here to download our first video installment of the trip, edited by Chris. This file is in Quicktime format, 16.3mb. PC and Mac users both should have no problem downloading and viewing this format. Music on the video is by Statistics
Also, the videos from the last two posts have been updated and should now be viewable by PC or Mac. Links are at bottom of this post to save you some navigation time.
Tuesday, May 17
Chris G and I departed my house in Fairview NC at 7:30am for our, hopefully, grand adventure to Eastern Canada.
Here is the truck all packed up in the driveway.
To cut short the suspense we have made it here and the adventure has been quite grand so far. Before I go any further I should say that Chris is a full time wise guy, therefore I have the pleasure of being mocked over nearly every word that comes out of my mouth. We have become good enough friends now that he feels that he should compliment me with the same annoying torture that he might inflict onto his younger brother or sisters. He’s a good guy though so I do take it as a compliment and don’t often crack under the pressure of his childish irritations and physically abuse him. If you ever meet him and he treats you the same it’s probably because he likes you, so don’t get too upset.
Back to the road: We cranked out about thirteen hours on I-81 and stopped in for a visit and night’s sleep with my good friend Dakota Potenza in Ithaca, NY. We didn’t really sleep with Dakota, but near him. Well, not near him physically but in a room next to him. I’m glad we got that issue cleared up. After a good night’s sleep we ate some instant oatmeal and headed a couple hours up the road to the Black River in Watertown, NY, where we took a short park and play hiatus from the drive at Hole Brothers play spot.
On the way we stopped at this waterfall, Taughannock Falls to take a look. It was quite immense.
Hole Brothers is a fun play spot where nearly every move is possible. I would absolutely love to have a spot like this close to my home. It’s not the largest or most dynamic spot, but really fun. I think a couple shots from there are in the video.
Us at Hole Brothers in New York. I think they should get with the times and rename it Hole Bras.
Here's the brotherly hole itself.
Onward with the journey, we crossed the border into Ontario, knocking out the last three hours of driving. Into Quebec, we stopped in a town just East of Montreal called Chambly, which is where we remain two days later. The Richelieu River flows through Chambly before it dumps into the St Lawrence. Richelieu is a pretty big river by my standards. Probably about 10-15,000 cfs of flow. I could be way off on that. Anyway, enough volume to form a two really fun waves where we paddled for a couple hours upon our arrival on Wednesday evening. We had an all day session on Thursday too. A local paddler named Francois (Frank) Bergeron showed us over here and paddled with us both days. He paddles a Vibe and is also in the video. There is one wave here that is about 3-4 feet tall and another one, which is a bit smaller.
Me on the top wave.
Chris on the bottom wave.
Both waves are pretty fast but very friendly. The Orbit Fish is incredible on these waves. So fast. This boat is noticeably faster than saaaaay…greased lightening, the gestation period of a rabbit, a ninja, or anything in between. We can’t wait to head over to Montreal today to surf at Lachine, which is supposed to be about twice the size, Twice the size of what you might ask? Maybe twice the size of a Holstein cow, or Uranus. ?? Anyway, the bros told us the wave was like 50 feet tall or something.
So take a gander at our video footage from Chambly. It was a real hoot and if you're ever around Montreal it is worthwhile to go surf there if it's going. PC and Mac users both should have no problem viewing this video in Quicktime format.
16.3mb
Music on the video is by Statistics
Click here to download our first video installment of the trip, edited by Chris. This file is in Quicktime format, 16.3mb. PC and Mac users both should have no problem downloading and viewing this format. Music on the video is by Statistics
Also, the videos from the last two posts have been updated and should now be viewable by PC or Mac. Links are at bottom of this post to save you some navigation time.
Tuesday, May 17
Chris G and I departed my house in Fairview NC at 7:30am for our, hopefully, grand adventure to Eastern Canada.
Here is the truck all packed up in the driveway.
To cut short the suspense we have made it here and the adventure has been quite grand so far. Before I go any further I should say that Chris is a full time wise guy, therefore I have the pleasure of being mocked over nearly every word that comes out of my mouth. We have become good enough friends now that he feels that he should compliment me with the same annoying torture that he might inflict onto his younger brother or sisters. He’s a good guy though so I do take it as a compliment and don’t often crack under the pressure of his childish irritations and physically abuse him. If you ever meet him and he treats you the same it’s probably because he likes you, so don’t get too upset.
Back to the road: We cranked out about thirteen hours on I-81 and stopped in for a visit and night’s sleep with my good friend Dakota Potenza in Ithaca, NY. We didn’t really sleep with Dakota, but near him. Well, not near him physically but in a room next to him. I’m glad we got that issue cleared up. After a good night’s sleep we ate some instant oatmeal and headed a couple hours up the road to the Black River in Watertown, NY, where we took a short park and play hiatus from the drive at Hole Brothers play spot.
On the way we stopped at this waterfall, Taughannock Falls to take a look. It was quite immense.
Hole Brothers is a fun play spot where nearly every move is possible. I would absolutely love to have a spot like this close to my home. It’s not the largest or most dynamic spot, but really fun. I think a couple shots from there are in the video.
Us at Hole Brothers in New York. I think they should get with the times and rename it Hole Bras.
Here's the brotherly hole itself.
Onward with the journey, we crossed the border into Ontario, knocking out the last three hours of driving. Into Quebec, we stopped in a town just East of Montreal called Chambly, which is where we remain two days later. The Richelieu River flows through Chambly before it dumps into the St Lawrence. Richelieu is a pretty big river by my standards. Probably about 10-15,000 cfs of flow. I could be way off on that. Anyway, enough volume to form a two really fun waves where we paddled for a couple hours upon our arrival on Wednesday evening. We had an all day session on Thursday too. A local paddler named Francois (Frank) Bergeron showed us over here and paddled with us both days. He paddles a Vibe and is also in the video. There is one wave here that is about 3-4 feet tall and another one, which is a bit smaller.
Me on the top wave.
Chris on the bottom wave.
Both waves are pretty fast but very friendly. The Orbit Fish is incredible on these waves. So fast. This boat is noticeably faster than saaaaay…greased lightening, the gestation period of a rabbit, a ninja, or anything in between. We can’t wait to head over to Montreal today to surf at Lachine, which is supposed to be about twice the size, Twice the size of what you might ask? Maybe twice the size of a Holstein cow, or Uranus. ?? Anyway, the bros told us the wave was like 50 feet tall or something.
So take a gander at our video footage from Chambly. It was a real hoot and if you're ever around Montreal it is worthwhile to go surf there if it's going. PC and Mac users both should have no problem viewing this video in Quicktime format.
16.3mb
Music on the video is by Statistics
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