| SUP Valleyfield...

Et hop une autre vidéo de SUP a Valleyfield, beaucoup de premières pour l'équipe, tout le monde a au moins essayé la partie supérieure du parc (la plus difficile), c'était la 1ère fois aussi que je réussissais à la passer entièrement et a surfer la petite vague dans la section moyenne. Nhu progresse de plus en plus et elle va bientôt réussir à surfer avec moi! Cet été est décidement le plus beau depuis mon arrivée au Québec, on en profite un max avant le retour du froid :)

| 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

| Riviere St-Charles...

Hier j'etais a Valleyfield pour une bonne session de SUP d'eau-vive avec Martine de JuMana Boards, Mat et Andrew (qui a fait le detour d'Ottawa quand meme). Une journee magnifique malgre l'annonce d'orages par Meteomedia :)

On a meme eu la chance de voir les loutres locales descendre les rapides avec une aisance incroyable, comme pour nous narguer, c'etait cute et amusant et ca prouve a quel point cette riviere est propre!

La vague etait relativement facile a surfer cette fois...

#supwwqc #SUPwhitewater #supriver

| School of Rock...

Beautiful Sunday in Verdun and mini-surf trip at the Rock Island, we departed from the Natatorium and it took about 35mn to reach the it, i was slightly delayed because of the G-Rocker being pulled behind me. Pat rented a board at KSF and really enjoyed the day.

The view of Montreal is really something, you need to be there to understand it's worth the effort it takes to get there, the island even has some camping areas with tables and fire holes :)

The little waterfalls are easily accessible and offer a free spa, or you can take off your fins and start to bomb drop them on your SUP! Anyway there is plenty of choice and lots of things to do there.

There are 2 small waves to ride and lots of short drops to play with on the south shore of the island. It's like a fun natural whitewater park. I've surfed a while and found that my Astro Stream was better for that environment than the small one.

It was the last time that we rode the G-Rocker as i've decided to sell it in order to buy a hardboard for surfing, more news coming soon!

‪#‎sup‬ #‎whitewatersup‬ #supbail

| Ottawa Whitewater Clinic...

Here are some photos from the Ottawa whitewater clinic we jointly organized with Paddlefit and POP Spirit last weekend, it was a blast, a big thank you Jodi for the course and all the useful tips, can't wait to go back to the Pushbutton rapids in a few weeks. Our student group was amazing, the food/service at Owl Rafting was very good and it's the best start of the season we could have hoped for. It's raining today but i wish y'all a HAPPY CANADA DAY on Turtle Island.

Jodi surfing waikiki, a fast and scary wave...

On the last run of Saturday we decided to run down a scary wave train above waikiki, when i realized where we were going i was honestly scared to death and we all ended up drinking lots of water after the huge 1st hole. I couldn't breath at all after resurfacing under my board, lost my paddle in the action and basically just tried to hang on my board (bottom is slippery) until I could ferry in the last eddy to rest for a bit. I ended up pretty beat up, hurt my knees on some rocks and also a few fingernails, sprained my right thumb and learned a valuable lesson:

- Lesson #1 always scout if possible and get the most accurate information on the river and flow.
- Lesson #2 rapids are way stronger than you! ride at your level.

On Sunday the weather wasn't as good and the water level was at zero, everything looked different, the waves were much bigger too. We spent some time working on our bracing and this is one of the most important thing to learn for whitewater SUP i can tell you, especially if you want to surf.

#‎paddlefit‬ ‪#‎popspirit‬ ‪#‎supwwqc‬

| Vague-a-lame...

Happy International Surfing Day!!!

I brought my friend Jean-Olivier at the vague-a-guy in Verdun for his 1st Canadian surf session and it was really fun. He used to surf a lot in La Reunion and Hawaii but like most people here, he didn't know that Montreal is actually a great spot... and now he's hooked again :)

I can regularly stand up now on my G-Rocker and start to control a bit more, it was tough just to get there but worth it! Still need to work on my bracing to stay up longer. Peace.

| Un bon Dimanche a Montreal...

Des qu'on trouve un peu de temps pour se balader on en profite pour faire du velo et decouvrir des coins qu'on ne connait pas. Hier on a fait une belle boucle en prenant notre temps (3h quand meme). Apres ca je suis alle surfer pendant encore 2h a la vague-a-Guy, je commence enfin a me lever mais ce n'est pas gagne, bref grosse fatigue mais quel bon Dimanche!

Semaine precedente a Lachine

| Random news...

Pas grand chose de nouveau recemment, ca travaille fort au bureau ou on s'approche rapidement de la fin du jeu et ca devrait etre une belle surprise (sortie cet ete). La semaine derniere j'ai vu Yao et j'ai reussi a l'emmener dans un resto vegetarien, oui oui tout est possible! Ca fait tellement du bien de revoir ses vieux potes, d'ailleurs on passe un gros bonjour a toute la marmaille de France et d'ailleurs.

en costume chez Vego...

Saturday was a rainy and cold day so i decided to join Igor at Habitat 67, he's a great local surfer and SUP instructor from KSF. It was my 1st time riding this famous standing wave and i was both excited and terribly scared, with almost no line-up yet, nor any spectators there were no excuses to choke! 

Igor surfing his Badfish 6'11"...

I went 3 times and that's it, enough to be completely toasted and frozen (especially my hands as i forgot to take some gloves, idiot), it's TOUGH, just to hit the wave (backward) at the right spot without being flushed out is a challenge... and then you have to swim, paddle back to shore against the rapids, climb up a steep/muddy hill with your board between the trees and loose rocks, return to the starting point, wait for your turn in the eddy and close the loop, it's a full workout. Igor helped me a lot, he showed me the entrance/exit points and made everything look easy, unfortunately i didn't manage to surf that day -too much of a noob- but at least i know the place and i'll be back soon.

view of this amazing spot in summer...

Yesterday we went to Chinatown for some yummy Dim Sum and my partner bought a cool bike (2nd hand), apparently this is the end of our folding-bike period. Bises.

Vintage style...

| SUP surf...

After searching for a long time about inflatable SUP surfboards i finally found one; the Paddlestroke G-Rocker. I wanted something easy to pack to bring on camping trips, hence the inflatable choice, they also are more resistant than hard boards, less prone to dings and scratches and fun enough for a bad surfer like me. The size is going to be practical for our local waves and should have enough flotation to be stable under my weight.
Its measurements are > 7'2" long x 33.5" width and 5" thick. It costs around US$ 895.00 and it seems perfectly fit for beginner up to advanced river surfers.

valve bump visible under the nose...

I was first interested by the Badfish IRS or Cobra 6.6 but it was too difficult to get some answers from them or even Boardworks, on the contrary Greg at Paddlestroke SUP was very reactive and quite stoked to send its 1st board to Canada. Cool energy and it was very pleasing to deal with him. Now that the weather is finally getting warmer i'll soon go try it out, soOo excited *_*

| Ultimate SUP clinics...

I just came back from an incrediblemazing trip to Ottawa's awesome river. The Canada's first Ultimate SUP Challenge is happening this WE hosted by Owl Rafting with some of the best whitewater stand up paddlers on the planet. I left work around 6:00 pm yesterday and drove straight to the camp (which is amazing btw) hoping to enjoy a good night of sleep before what should be a busy day in the water.

nice fire pit at the camp and the van with the roof extended...

Unfortunately that night was really cold (~12ºC) and i wasn't prepared at all so it was pretty miserable to be honest, at least it was great to stay in the van with an open roof for the 1st time since i bought it. The breakfast was filling enough and the view on the river is absolutely breathtaking.

Although the staff didn't really know what was really happening on the SUP side (they are specialized in rafting) and i apparently missed an email from the organizers with all the useful instructions so i ended up following the instructors on their way to the Pushbutton rapids and arrived on site way early, the class i subscribed to would normally start at 11:00 am but the overall schedule slipped out a bit. There is no way i could miss the two clinics offered today, best excuse for a well deserved day-off :)

behind me is Johno Fosters, Starboard rep, ready to surf...

Jonah, Badfish rep enjoying the class...

Dan Gavere is probably the most recognizable name in white water SUP today and he was giving the Introduction to whitewater class. Arriving early was a good opportunity to see the 1st group jumping in the closest (intimidating) eddy and starting to experience the trouble of navigating through chaotic currents, raging foam, rocks and big waves. It's always impressive to see pros at work (true for all sports and domains) because everything they do seem so easy and natural compare to us, mere mortals!
We've learned the foundations of paddling in a river, and how to make efficient use of bow draw strokes, ferry across the stream and do eddy turns in and out. It was great to try, fall, fall again and eventually manage to play in the current, everything that seem impossible or too scary at first became progressively more accessible.  We all enjoyed the class, Dan gave us plenty of information without excess so we could focus on applying the basic techniques step-by-step, and he doesn't care about the clock, what a great job. In the end we were all smiles but also dead tired.
Now it's all about training and the Lachine rapids will be a good playground where i can repeat those fundamentals and get back into shape.

John from Distressed Mullet...

exhausted crew...

The following clinic was about to start as they were waiting for me to catch my breath. I had 5mn to drink a little, eat a cereal bar and realize that i have to go back in the water without any strength left.
Mike T rides for Badfish, he is an amazing SUP surfer who travel the continent with his dog in a large RV and a trailer full of boards. He gave the Introduction to river surfing class, seriously i was completely toasted at this point, but the excitement took over.
Another great moment of learning and practising new techniques, we've all tried hard to surf the Pushbutton wave but it was too small to stay on it (although Mike and Dan did it). I could use the bow draw efficiently to get on the wave many times which felt good, the girls on our team did really well, they seemed to enjoy the class tremendously.

I wish i had the energy to try the big wave on a River Surfer 8' board but my body just shut down, too tired to survive the crazy wave train behind so i choked. And you know, walking over the aggressive slippery rocks with all your equipment and a wet board is enough to make you think twice about the priorities ^_^

Returning home was very loOong and boring, especially after such a beautiful and exhausting day, this trip was totally worth it and i can't wait to meet these guys again, everyone was so helpful and friendly. It's difficult to explain how much i've learned and appreciated the exchange of information and knowledge with all these people, it's a great community and a fantastic sport!
Thank you Harmony, Dan, the staff and all the volunteers for the organization of this amazing event.

Merci,

T.