Ottawa River Update

By Nick Troutman

After the month long Colorado Competition circuit, Emily and myself
drove for 30 hours up to the mighty Ottawa River up in Canada. This
is where I grew up, and learnt to kayak, and no matter how long I
have been away it always feels like coming back home. The River, my
friends and family, it is all great to come back to. I will coach the
Keener Program for the next 4-week and train for the World
Championships.

The whole time is was driving, which was most of the trip, I couldn’t
stop thinking about how sweet the New All-Star would be on the
Ottawa. Man, I was right. I was hoping to get on Buseater, though
that didn’t happen, but the beauty is that at almost ever level there
is at least one World Class place spot somewhere on the river.

So for the past week the level has varied from ¾ up to 8 ½ . I have
been able to surf Baby Face, Chopping Block, Big Kahuna, Waikiki
waves, Right side and Left side Horseshoe, Phil’s Hole, 7/8 Hole,
Black’s hole, Upper No-Name, Triple Nipple, and one of my favorites
Corner Wave. Corner wave has been in the longest, and is a favorite
of mine; so it is easy to understand that I have spent the most time
surfing there.

Corner wave is a dynamic wave, which is extreme steep, very diagonal,
and is stands around 4 ½ feet tall, and also has a hard eddy to
catch. Though if you can work your mind around all of that it is a
ton of fun, and a really sweet surf.

Here is a quick little video from one evening of surfing at Corner
Wave and Right Side Horseshoe, after work.