With courses for everyone from the absolute beginner to seasoned river
rat, they offer courses for tandem canoeing, solo canoeing, kayaking and
SUP.There areweekend courses,women’s retreats, and instructor certificate
courses,which can all be catered to any budget; stay inone of their cabanas
with a full meal plan, or stay in your own tent and cook your ownmeals.
If you’re in the cabana, just think of this as an all-inclusive resort: everything is
taken care of.All youneed todo is showup, be ready toget in the boat andbe
ready togetwet.There is nothing to think about exceptwhitewater.
Instructorswill teach strokes like prys, draws and forward strokes.You’ll learn
how to enter and exit flowingwater.You’ll learnhow to safely swimdown a
sectionofwhitewater.They’ll use video to analyze your stroke, andhelp you
perfect it (a lifelongpursuit).You’ll learn rescue techniques, river etiquette
and acronyms for reading sections of river.They’ll teach youwhat youneed to
know topaddlewhitewater.
It’s onmy drive home that it finally hitsme. “Holy shite,” I say tomyself out
loud.“Thatwas awesome. Paddlingwhitewater is so freaking fun!”
Over the previous five days, I think I’ve been toobusy learning, concentrating
and thinking.Today,we let it all hangout.We paddled every challenging rapid
in the LowerMadawaska Provincial Park, some ofwhichwereClass III.And it
was super, super fun (even the rapids I endedup swimming through).
TheMadawaskaKanuCentrewas the firstwhitewater paddling school in the
world and remains one of the best.My bowman came fromCalifornia.There
are people from all over NorthAmerica inmy five-day course. It’s easy to see
why; if you’ve everwanted to learn topaddle inwhitewater, this is the place to
do it.And it’s only 3.5hours fromYonge andBloor.
–Colin Field
22
MLBLUE
SPRING2017
All youneed to do is showup, be ready to get
in the boat and be ready to get wet.There’s
nothing to think about except whitewater.
TOP LEFT
The lodgeand rental fleet.
ABOVE
Eddybreak.
BELOW
Thegoods. COLIN FIELD
