Shaneslogic

Archive for the ‘Ottawa River’ Category

As I was leaving for my trip up to Canada to test the new Biscuit protos I got a couple of the new production Remix XPs to bring along as well. I figured they would be fun to have, because of all the flatwater on the Ottawa and Marlow said that the fishing was good. You can’t playboat all day every day, can you? Well I can’t.

The XP is based on the Remix. It has almost the exact same lines and proportions as the Remix. All we changed really was the width, length, and I did peak the ends of the bow a bit to help it track just a little better. Woody and I have paddled these boats in a bunch of places on fairly hard whitewater and they have performed really well as a whitewater boat, then when you hit the flatwater you just drop the skeg and chill.

The first time we had them out was on the Ottawa river. Marlow was fired up to do some fishing, and the sun was setting after a full day of playboating so it was all relaxing. Except for the fact that we needed to get down through Phil’s hole. The boat was paddling well though so Marlow got the idea to try to surf the Hero Wave above Phil’s. Not a big deal but if you wash off too far one way you have a decent chance of ending up in a big hole. Fortunately there is a big pool below the rapid. But what happened was that the XP surfed the wave like a dream. Mar was able to cruise around on the wave and “carve” about. Then a really funny thing happened Marlow got this idea, “hey I am going to drop the skeg”. Thats when the really funny part started. The boat tracked perfectly on the wave. Marlow picked up his paddle, and of course the first thing you do is “air guitar”, then he pretended to fall asleep, and then lay his paddle down and just sit there while the boat just cruise surfed a nice wave above Phil’s hole. Next, “lets test the hatch and spray skirt”. Marlow takes off and drops through Phil’s backwards and everthing holds on fine.

Of course after that its back to serious fishing. We cruised the flats from McCoys back down to CJ’s house fishing all the way. Mar caught a couple of fish looking like the true outdoorsman that he is and actually caught a pretty nice fish but after getting it in the boat it got away while shooting pictures of all things. After our first test of the final production Remix XP 10 we are giving it a huge thumbs up and who would have thought it would surf waves like that. Self support on the Canyon here we come. Hope everyone’s summer is going well. Shane

Classic Ottawa Scenery

There is a slideshow to all the photos at the bottom of the post.

It was sooo dry here in the south that I decided to drive up north to paddle in Canada. They had been getting lots of rain and even as recently as a couple weeks ago Buseater was in so we knew we would find something good to paddle. Even at the in between levels that we were looking at on the Ottawa there were plenty of smaller play spots to test on. So it was a good start for checking out the Biscuit protos.

Setting up the new boats

The crew was:
Me: (43) Once I knew how to playboat, a little, but now I am an off the couch playboater.
Yonton: (young punk) He is a fantastic playboater who has made the finals in several world championships, but also a little off the couch.
Justin: (older than Yonton) Justin is more of a river runner but also a good playboater.
Beaz: (old as dirt):) Beaz is my old paddling buddy from travels in the past. His claim to playboating fame is ’97 Worlds in an Open Canoe and poster boy for Perception in a Super Sport.
Marlow: (young punk) Marlow, well you all know Marlow. He is one of the top wave paddlers in the world.

CJs House Along the River

We were lucky enough to be able to stay at Camp CJ (Cindy Jamison’s) place along the Ottawa river. Its easy paddling distance to the main two runs and super close to Garburator and McCoys. It was perfect. Thanks CJ.

Ed wheeling

Afer driving all day we did stop off at the Black River to paddle at Hole Brothers at a horrible level. Not sure why we did that but hey a day on the water is better than a… We had the whole crew from Hudson River Rafting out in the boats. The wave was slow and not very dynamic but folks were able to do some stuff and it did turn out to be a good testing of how the boat did on smaller, slower features. It showed me that I need to work on the speed a touch more and probably make the ends a bit more slicey but that was about as much info as I could get out of this spot at this level.

Yonton working the blunt

Once we got to the Ottawa the levels weren’t perfect but there were several smaller spots that were really fun and our first day on the river was a really fun evening paddle as a storm rolled in over the plains. There was a slow wave hole that was perfect for mellow surfing, spins, and blunts. And a very good little play hole that were getting most hole moves to work. It was here that we really figured out that this thing is very good in a hole. Its super well balanced and likes to be vertical. It was a little shallow for big loops but there were lots of good loops and McNasty type things going on.

Under cool stormy skies

Then we noticed just on the other side of the island from the smaller play hole there was a bigger faster spot that was giving up some blunts and good fast cartwheels.

The sun came out the next day

Justin Wheeling

After the first couple of days testing on the Ottawa we all felt pretty solidly that this thing was great in the hole. We were able to test it in several different types of holes and actually found a couple waves that were a little bigger as well. And our thoughts at the Black were confirmed on the slower waves. “I would like it to be a little faster on smaller slower stuff.” What was surprising though was how well it took off on the bigger stuff. On the two bigger waves that we were able to paddle on the Ottawa the Biscuit started to speed up, and it got loose as hell.

Speeding up on the bigger waves

Yonton clean bluntin’

Here is the slideshow to all the photos. There are somewhere around 40 shots of our time on the Ottawa testing the Biscuits. If you have anything you would like to see let me know. Or if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Later
Shane