| WE Lac Taureau...

On a passé notre dernier long WE a l'Auberge du Lac Taureau, dans Lanaudière, QC, un endroit de villégiature de luxe, situé près d'un lac magnifique. Martine et Julie de Jumana Boards nous ont invité pour que je fasse des démos de SUP et c'était aussi l'occasion d'étrenner le modèle de production de la Dolphin (fraîchement arrivé de Chine).

Voici une petite vidéo de SUP bomb dropping sur le quai près de la plage, de belles images grâce à Nhu.

#riversup #supwwqc #jumanaboards

| Sherbrooke yeahh...

Last Thursday we went to visit Sherbrooke for the 1st time and it was beautiful, but seriously what a weird post-apocalypticindustrial-zombie town? It feels like it comes directly out of a comic book or videogame, which i can appreciated of course :)

It was raining around Montreal and didn't seem that bad in Estrie so we drove by St-Jean to pick up Nhu's parents and headed down to a discreet urban swamp directly located in central Sherbrooke, the Marais Real-D Carbonneau. Right after a good snack (yummy spring rolls from the in-laws) we went for a walk around this nice humid zone.

I wish we could have seen serpentine turtles or snakes but we only came across a few frogs, lots of different birds and few fishes, notably a good size catfish which was very curious.

This place is only about 5mn away from downtown and we were ready for a coffee break. The old city centre is beautiful and has a lot of history with its museums, old brick factories and many shops.

The view of the raging central Magog river, lush vegetation, electric dam and industrial buildings has a very special "end-of-the-world"vibe, i need to go back there in winter when it's foggy... such an inspiring spot for a photo shoot!

Well, on a Thursday afternoon, it was much quieter than i expected after hearing so much about the reputation of that student town but on our way back, the bars were starting to fill up quickly. We had a great time and we'll be back, especially when their surfing wave will be ready :)

| CPR-KSF...

J'ai passe les 2 derniers jours avec des profs de KSF pour un nouveau cours de 1er soins (16h). C'etait de toute facon obligatoire pour completer la formation d'instructeur de SUP avance en eau calme qu'on a faite il y a deja quelques semaines. Cela a eu lieu au shop de Navi sur la pointe-Nord de l'Ile-des-Soeurs. La temperature fut plus clemente au 2eme jour et quel plaisir de se prelasser au soleil pendant les courtes pauses et durant le lunch. J'ai pu assister au travail des castors locaux, ainsi qu'a la construction du nouveau Pont Champlain non loin de la.

OK sinon cote cours, c'etait intense mais necessaire car on oublie facilement les protocoles a suivre, ainsi que tous les milliards d'acronymes censes nous aider a agir rapidement comme S.A.M.P.L.E. Notre prof etait vraiment drole et competent, le truc interessant, c'est qu'il a essaye d'adapter au mieux nos pratiques a des scenarios potentiels pour des urgences en riviere. C'etait bien sympa en tout cas :)

creepy un mannequins sans son visage...

| OKAsion...

This WE we went camping at Park National d'Oka. My 1st idea was to go visit (and surfing) Long Sands Beach in Maine but it was too short notice and all the campgrounds are still closed at the moment, so we decided to stay around Mtl. The park is only an hour away but was quite empty during this cold weekend.

Our camping spot was perfect, quiet and we even had time to set up our hammock and enjoy it for the 1st time :) the evening was too cold to stay outside so we just started a fire to toast our bread before eating inside the van.

We already went a few times to Oka but never explored the Eastern sector, which is quite interesting. There are some beautiful hike trails and a tall watch tower located in front of the swamp La Grande Baie. This area was actually flooded, some part of our path sometimes disappeared underwater and we had to improvise. The great thing is that it gave us the chance to see a lot of the local wildlife like turtles, frogs, snakes and beavers!

There is a large heronry at the Grande Baie marsh. Although we didn't have the chance to see any baby herons.

Next time we hope to visit the historic site of the Calvaire d'Oka. Anyways, so many other things to do there: SUP, fatbike, hiking, bird watching and many more! Let me know if you have experienced some great things in this park and any recommendations are really appreciated. Cheers!

| Jumana Dolphin 2016...

This week i met with Santiago from KLDN for a field test of the Jumana Dolphin. It is the whitewater specific model from Jumana that i've designed and been intensely testing for about a month. It has changed a lot since the early prototype we received in the Fall of 2015 and it's a real fun board to ride.

We ran down the river from the middle section to the bottom of the park and surfed a few times (or tried to), this is still the pre-production model and i have a few tiny things to adjust before the release of the 2016 model. However despite those minor tweaks i am very proud of that board, stable yet nimble, predictable and pretty well balanced, the diamond shaped design came out nicely, the grip is phenomenal and i enjoy the addition of the stomp pad for surfing. So far we have only heard positive comments about it so it should be a good seller.

By the way as a follow-up of my long time wetsuit testing, i can say that i really love my Rip Curl Flashbomb 5.5/4, so warm and stretchy that it helped me ride through the Canadian winter with maximum efficiency and fun.

#whitewatersup #supsurfing #supwwqc

| Paques & hike...

Bonnes fêtes de Pâques!!! Nous avons profité d'une superbe journée de printemps (environ 16°C) pour se faire une randonnée au Mont St-Hilaire, cela faisait plusieurs années que je n'y avais pas mis les pieds et ça valait le coup. Il restait encore un peu de neige en sous-bois et sur les chemins, ce qui rendait la promenade encore plus plaisante. Nous avons pris le chemin Rocky Rouge qui contourne le lac Hertel, encore gelé.

On a eu le plaisir de voir les habituels tamias (p'tit suisses) et écureuils peu farouches chercher de la nourriture, ainsi que des bernaches (outardes) se prélasser sur le lac, au soleil. Les castors du coin ont fait un travail incroyable et c'est dommage que nous n'ayons pas eu l'occase de les apercevoir :)

| Off the Beaten Path...

Today we've organized the official Premiere Quebecoise of the film Off the Beaten Path by First Track Productions, an excellent video of Fatbiking! A few members of our ever-growing community - Sons of Fatty - came for some drinks and good time :)

A big thank at the sponsors and organizers of the event, it was a success and it really makes you want to go out and bike anywhere, everywhere!

Until next time... #fatbike #OffTheBeatenPath 
Enjoy the trailer and if you've never tried fatbiking, please give it a try you won't regret, trust me.