This year's Canadian National Championships was also the second stop for the North American Championships, which mean't that all the big names were out in the mens and womens kayak. The event was held on garburator on the Ottawa River which was dropping and rising and doing all kinds of weird stuff the 2 weeks before the competition, so everyone was hoping it would stay up for the event. Then we found out that Sharky and Wilderness Tours got a release of water for the weekend, and that we had nothing to worry about which was awesome. The week before was a little crowded with all the boaters out trying to get some rides on the super flushy garb. On the friday before competition, I went out and had one of the best sessions I have had in a while. I was a little surprised with myself, because it was at a flushy level and everyone was flushing off and I was sticking some pan-ams and silly flips. So the night before there was opening ceremonies at WT that I missed, because I was probably on my way to bed with my teddy bear. Got up the next morning and the water was at about -1.3/4 I think, which means it is still flushy, but without the water release we probably would not have been able to surf it. So I was pretty excited that the level was still flushy because last night I had such a good practice session. Well I almost missed my comp, because I was eating hot dogs at WT and they were ahead of schedule, but I rushed up and made it. First ride, I was still trying to digest a few hamburgers and I think I just flushed. Second ride I caught the wave, thank god, and scored a some points, nothing much. But at this point I realised that there was only 4 of us in the C1, and none of the others had caught the wave after second rides, so I was doing alright. Third ride, I caught the wave again and managed to get a pan-am and a pretty crappy silly flip. So, I ended up winning the comp, but I was not that pleased with my rides, I should have been but i knew I could have done better. So it was a successful weekend, and sunday I had to drive to university for frosh week, and here I am at school and I should probably be studying.
Dylan Boles
