On the Black Water today, Saturday, 04.22.2006 with "The Sean" and Mark (Salisbury).  No Kenny today, something about having to rake leaves and 'make a pie';  not too sure what that was all about.  Meet up with Steve
Jones and his buddy, Dave,  on the river who drifted in and out of our group  during the day.

  The Black Water had a schedule 600 CFS release.  It was a fine day.  The river was at fun level.

  Mark had his new Jackson Superstar out today.  His talents worked that kayak to its extremes.  Mark's river strategy was to limit the scratches on his new kayak by using his head-helmet combination as a shield against the rocks.  He was quite amusing to watch as he slowly flipped in swirl water and to his credit, stuck with and made a saving roll in shallow, bumpy, class 3ish rapid on the river.  I was quite surprise that he did not swim on that rapid.  I was quite disappointed as I was reaching for the camera.  Would
of been priceless.

  Oh Yeah, Sean had a non-scheduled exit in which "TK" provided river assistant that highly attributed to a safe outcome.  I risked personal safety to move out of his swim line down the rapid.  Sean had a 50-75 foot bumpy ride at the end of the river outside of his kayak.  However, the camera was stowed at that point, lesson learned on my part.  He complained about bumps and bruises. I was required to lower Sean’s AMC rating card by one 1 class for complaining.  Sean did grill again, best food ever.  

Overall, it was a good day on the river, actually the best ever.

The Ottawa River (rivière des Outaouais) is a Canadian river which for most of its length defines the border between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It rises from its source in Lake Capimitchigama in western Quebec, reaches the Ontario border at Lake Timiskaming, flowing southeast to Ottawa, where it tumbles over the Chaudière Falls and further takes in the Rideau River and Gatineau River. Between the Chaudière Falls and Rideau Falls lies Parliament Hill perched atop a steep and militarily strategic gorge. The Ottawa River drains into the Saint Lawrence River at Montreal, forming Lac Saint-Louis. The length of the river is 1,271 km and it drains an area of 146,000 km².

My river charma increased by +3 for the day.