Bryan, Graeme and I headed to Sturgeon Falls over Memorial Day. If there was ever a trip that was Blessed this was it. Everything went perfect and when it didn't we had solutions drop into our laps. We arrived late Friday night and set camp and went to sleep. We were up early and hooked up with Craige and Tom for a little Sturgeon action. The day went great! Sturgeon was huge and very intimidating...for me. The swim would be long if you missed a roll even with the motor boat we brought along. Happy to say no swims that day with our group. Bryan told me right off the bat not to even consider "warming up" on the little stuff. Just throw yourself right into the big stuff and get it over with. This spring Mike L. told me when he learned to kayak in Colorado that his instructor told him to try three rolls...and if you don't come up after three rolls...to try five more. Bryan suggested I try the second wave and I declined and said I was going right for Chamelion. As I was getting into my boat Bryan said...Nora...try three rolls...and we both laughed! I was off. I paddled out above the island in the biggest, glassiest water I've ever paddled and looked down at Chamelion waiting for me...no turning back now. The guys were all on the Island watching as I slowly dropped closer to Chamelion. We were all smiling (for different reasons) and I think we were all holding our breath. I hit it dead center and started surfing...WhooHoo!!! Whoops...I caught a vertical cartwheely thing and flipped. No problem setup for my roll...oopsie...rolled on the second wave...back over...setup, roll again...son of a gun...I rolled up on Learner's wave...back over...setup, roll again... %?&*%$$# where the %^$*&? did THAT wave come from?? Back over...setup, roll..whoo hoo finally up! OK that was BIG FUN and the start of a great day! Natalie and Mike came out and joined us and it was just us from the states enjoying the beautiful, warm sunny perfect day! That evening we headed to Whitemud. We arrived late and Bryan, Craige, Graeme, and Tom went out to play. Whitemud is incredible! Huge!! I opted not to paddle and just ran Bryan's SLR camera. The sunset was fantastic and the clouds mirrored the waves we had paddled that day. Of course that meant storms moving in. I had left my tent windows open and was worried as we raced the lightning home. Bryan reminded me of how perfect this trip was going and not to worry. Sure enough..the rain held until about 15 minutes after we arrived back at camp. We slept thru rain all night and more thunder in the morning. Over an inch fell that night. The rain stopped and our group was added to with Bill, Brian, and Marie joining us. Evan also joined us for his first time at Sturgeon so it was a great group going out. We all went to Sturgeon Falls with the exception of Craige and Tom who went to Whitemud for some huge air blunts on Scarey Wave...they got em! Bryan Z and Graeme were going big and got their blunts in also this weekend. The rain held off until late afternoon when the temp dropped and the storms hit. Back at camp it was a no brainer to "upgrade" our camping situation to yurts. We packed and moved into our yurt and enjoyed warm accomodations and watched video and talked stoke from this weekend. This morning I was up early and packed my tent up while ice pellets came down...brrr! I think this trip everyone of us successfully accomplished what we wanted to do...truly a Blessed trip! Manitoba just ROCKED! Now as for the photos I only ran my camera as an after thought so I didn't get many. I did use Bryan's alot as we all did and he had close to 700 photos on his card on one camera and plenty of video on the other, so be sure to check his blog out.
Bryan, Graeme and I headed to Sturgeon Falls over Memorial Day. If there was ever a trip that was Blessed this was it. Everything went perfect and when it didn't we had solutions drop into our laps. We arrived late Friday night and set camp and went to sleep. We were up early and hooked up with Craige and Tom for a little Sturgeon action. The day went great! Sturgeon was huge and very intimidating...for me. The swim would be long if you missed a roll even with the motor boat we brought along. Happy to say no swims that day with our group. Bryan told me right off the bat not to even consider "warming up" on the little stuff. Just throw yourself right into the big stuff and get it over with. This spring Mike L. told me when he learned to kayak in Colorado that his instructor told him to try three rolls...and if you don't come up after three rolls...to try five more. Bryan suggested I try the second wave and I declined and said I was going right for Chamelion. As I was getting into my boat Bryan said...Nora...try three rolls...and we both laughed! I was off. I paddled out above the island in the biggest, glassiest water I've ever paddled and looked down at Chamelion waiting for me...no turning back now. The guys were all on the Island watching as I slowly dropped closer to Chamelion. We were all smiling (for different reasons) and I think we were all holding our breath. I hit it dead center and started surfing...WhooHoo!!! Whoops...I caught a vertical cartwheely thing and flipped. No problem setup for my roll...oopsie...rolled on the second wave...back over...setup, roll again...son of a gun...I rolled up on Learner's wave...back over...setup, roll again... %?&*%$$# where the %^$*&? did THAT wave come from?? Back over...setup, roll..whoo hoo finally up! OK that was BIG FUN and the start of a great day! Natalie and Mike came out and joined us and it was just us from the states enjoying the beautiful, warm sunny perfect day! That evening we headed to Whitemud. We arrived late and Bryan, Craige, Graeme, and Tom went out to play. Whitemud is incredible! Huge!! I opted not to paddle and just ran Bryan's SLR camera. The sunset was fantastic and the clouds mirrored the waves we had paddled that day. Of course that meant storms moving in. I had left my tent windows open and was worried as we raced the lightning home. Bryan reminded me of how perfect this trip was going and not to worry. Sure enough..the rain held until about 15 minutes after we arrived back at camp. We slept thru rain all night and more thunder in the morning. Over an inch fell that night. The rain stopped and our group was added to with Bill, Brian, and Marie joining us. Evan also joined us for his first time at Sturgeon so it was a great group going out. We all went to Sturgeon Falls with the exception of Craige and Tom who went to Whitemud for some huge air blunts on Scarey Wave...they got em! Bryan Z and Graeme were going big and got their blunts in also this weekend. The rain held off until late afternoon when the temp dropped and the storms hit. Back at camp it was a no brainer to "upgrade" our camping situation to yurts. We packed and moved into our yurt and enjoyed warm accomodations and watched video and talked stoke from this weekend. This morning I was up early and packed my tent up while ice pellets came down...brrr! I think this trip everyone of us successfully accomplished what we wanted to do...truly a Blessed trip! Manitoba just ROCKED! Now as for the photos I only ran my camera as an after thought so I didn't get many. I did use Bryan's alot as we all did and he had close to 700 photos on his card on one camera and plenty of video on the other, so be sure to check his blog out.
Look what I found in my begonias when I got home!
6 comments:
Next year we'll have to get a shot with 1 person in Chameleon, 1 in Surfers, and 2 on Triple S.
Only 4? We could throw one in Slideshow..if someone is willing to go that is. I think I'm going to enjoy a quiet time this weekend just chasing down rookies for Canoe U. Next weekend is the start of my 5 days off and I'd like to head out paddling somewhere...road trip maybe? I'm thinking maybe Piers or someplace in WI so I can visit my relatives. If anyone's interested...let me know.
Wow! So those waves are at Sturgeon! I've seen those on the RR site and have always been wondering 'cos they just look fantastic!
Me and the other rookies say thanks for chasing after us! :-)
It was our pleasure! It's really fun for us to introduce people to whitewater and see them develop the love and addiction of rivers! You all were a fantasic group and alot of fun! Keep paddling!
Hey Nora, good to know you came out to our local stopping grounds....Sturgeon is pretty nice when the water is up eh? And it's still rising!!! Bring a crew to our local Shindiggggg this coming June 20-22.
Visit the forums off our site for more info...I know you have an account but send others and hope to see you all out! We throw a good party and you can tell the water is worth coming for! Cheers,
Mick
www.WAVpaddling.ca
Hey Mick,
I would love to go back for the Shindigg but unfortunately work prevents me. We all had a blast up there and I can't wait to go back for sure, eh! There is a little competition for that weekend. Paddlemania is the 21st and that should be a good time also. BTW I've heard alot about that party up there and I've heard it rocks!
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