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August 6, 2009

By Nick Troutman

I have been up in the Ottawa Valley for the last 5 weeks of the summer, and it has rained pretty much everyday. Though this means that we haven’t seen Garberator this summer, it does mean that we have been able to check out a ton of different play spots instead. It also means that the water levels have been abnormally high for the whole Ottawa Valley region. With the rise of the Gautinue River came the wave known as HIGH TENSION!

This wave usually has a short window of opportunity, mostly seen in the spring run off. Though in one week I was able to paddle High Tension three times. First with Stephen Wright, when the wave first came in; we then came back with the Keeners, for their weekly river trip; then again for the third time for the whole weekend with Emily, Dane, and EJ.

High Tension is possibly the smoothest wave I have ever surfed, standing 8-10 feet tall, an extremely steep face, enabling some huge air potential.
We have all been working on some new moves in our new Star series boats. Emily was getting her first Airscrews, Dane was working on a move he calls the Bear Screw, EJ and I was practicing competing, Stephen was working some clean spins to Helix, and the Wave Monkey, and I was mainly working Back Airscrews and a couple Wave Monkeys too.

Here is a quick little video I put together from my session with Stephen.

Nick Troutman