Topic: River recommendations needed for beginners

[JohnCyr]

Larry is right on this one... Took a buddy whos a Triathlete paddling 2 summers ago in the center waves at champlain...went from pillar to pillar... and then took him down the waves after a few wet exits.... Asides from that..depending on his willingness and height/weight.. I might be able to take him down the Ottawa in a duo with on the next cdb outing...

[egilbert]

Thanks for the recommendations.  I might take him out Thursday or we might just wait for weekend and start off small in flat water. 

Elizabeth

[Larry W]

Your uncle needs to learn how to walk before starting to run.

Unless your uncle is the athletic type of person and able to pick up sports easily, take him out to flat water first.
See if he can paddle in a straight line, then do a wet exit. If he isn't "comfortable" hanging upside down getting water in his nose there is no use continuing on to whitewater.

If you really like your uncle, take him on a course but don't tell him where you are going.... Paddlers Co-op is the least expensive.

Larry

My uncle has asked me to take him whitewater kayaking next weekend.  That being said, he's never been in a whitewater kayak, let alone in whitewater.  Since I'm a relatively new paddler myself (<15 times in whitewater), I want to take him to a river where we can practice eddying out, peeling out, and ferrying but also go down some small rapids.  I'm hoping for a river with relatively low consequences since I've never performed a whitewater rescue before.  So that rules out the Ottawa and the Haute-Gatineau, which are the only two rivers I've paddled in the area... 

Any river recommendations within 2 hours of Ottawa would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks!

Elizabeth

*I do realize this is like the blind leading the blind but he insisted that he doesn't want to take a course to start...  I'm going to try and convince a friend of mine to join us but he's got about as much experience as I do when it comes to whitewater and he's also new to the area.

[ChristianG]

Bring him to the middle waves at Champlain bridge next Thursday when there are a lot of other paddlers around... You can also paddle up to the bridge and go from pillar to pillar, it's a good eddying practice. There's not much else that's safe and near help around here.

--C.

[egilbert]

My uncle has asked me to take him whitewater kayaking next weekend.  That being said, he's never been in a whitewater kayak, let alone in whitewater.  Since I'm a relatively new paddler myself (<15 times in whitewater), I want to take him to a river where we can practice eddying out, peeling out, and ferrying but also go down some small rapids.  I'm hoping for a river with relatively low consequences since I've never performed a whitewater rescue before.  So that rules out the Ottawa and the Haute-Gatineau, which are the only two rivers I've paddled in the area... 

Any river recommendations within 2 hours of Ottawa would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks!

Elizabeth

*I do realize this is like the blind leading the blind but he insisted that he doesn't want to take a course to start...  I'm going to try and convince a friend of mine to join us but he's got about as much experience as I do when it comes to whitewater and he's also new to the area.