Life After Surgery

Hello!
I figure I would throw up a post of life after shoulder surgery.  It has certainly cut into my boating time along with the new job.  The surgery was about 3 weeks ago now.  My shoulder has healed up nicely and I can not wait to get back into my boat.  Although I have a long winter of physio and strength building in front of me I am still looking forward to planing my next adventure.  Any ideas anyone?

From Grahame Hamilton

 
So with my time back here in Ottawa I have been using it working my new job at MEC and taking photos of some of my friends paddling.  Here are some shots from Hogs Back Falls and Odyssey wave on the Ottawa.

John

Catching the ball (Photo by Greg Moore)

Bryan doing it! BryanHogsBack

Grahame looking epic Previews

Ian (insert your comment here) NovOdassyWave2009-11-07

Grahame rocking out NovOdassyWave2009-11-07

The wave from above NovOdassyWave2009-11-07

Warming Up NovOdassyWave2009-11-07

Ian back looping NovOdassyWave2009-11-07

Grahames line KayakPremiereAndHogsBack

From Garb

From Garb

From Garb

Ian and Phil NovOdassyWave2009-11-07

Thank you Seals Skirts/Season Ender!

From TurkeyPaloozaGullRiver

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to Seals Skirts, my newest sponsor.  My new skirt arrived in the mail shortly after I arrived back in Ontario so I took it out for a test drive on the Gull.  It is great!  Easy to get on, super dry and fits great.  It is one sweet deck!   Check out the Seals site here!  I would also like to thank all my sponsors for helping me out!  It was by far one of my best seasons and I wont ever forget it for sure!

In other news,  my season is officially due to...guess what???? Yeah...you got it...shoulder dislocation!  It happened Sunday at the Gull River in Earls Hole!  Thank you to Dennis for driving me to the hospital!  And I guess I never thanked Grahame for picking me up at the hospital this spring...so thanks Grahame!

My surgery is coming up very shortly now.  Hopefully it goes well and I will be back on the water shortly! 

Johnny Misadventures

From TurkeyPaloozaGullRiver

From TurkeyPaloozaGullRiver

From TurkeyPaloozaGullRiver

From TurkeyPaloozaGullRiver

Fall Photography

Here is some of my fall photography...enjoy

Johnny

From Fall09Shots2

From Fall09Shots2

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From FirstWideAngleLensShots

From Fall09Shots

From Fall09Shots

From Fall09Shots

From Fall09Shots2

From TurkeyPaloozaGullRiver

Jeep in Google Street View

Well thanks to my friend Adam he found the Jeep in Google Street View sitting in Calgary!  Check it out!

From Pictures

http://maps.google.ca/maps/mpl?ie=UTF8&moduleurl=http:%2F%2Fmaps.google.ca%2Fintl%2Fen%2Fhelp%2Fmaps%2Fstreetview%2Fmapplet.html&mapclient=google&layer=c&cbll=51.064277,-114.101255&panoid=I59w6hyUrHAgz_hj1zL-WQ&cbp=12,26.39,,0,10.83&ll=51.063798,-114.102952&spn=0,359.980795&z=16

Johnny

Immersion Research

Immersion Research posted a quick update of my summer stories with a few great photos.  Check out the article at ImmersionResearch.com

"October 7th, 2009"

Road Trip 2009 – All across Canada

I had one of my greatest summer ever as far as paddling and progression goes. It started off with another shoulder dislocation early in the spring. I decided that driving to Fort Smith NWT would be the best way to keep my mind off boating well I drove.

The drive from Ottawa was long. But when I got to Fort Smith and saw the Slave River my shoulder started to feel good. I got so lucky to catch the right water level for a wave named Roller Coaster. Maybe one of my favorite waves now. After the Slave went into flood and no one knew what waves where in. It was to high for the high water features! The month on the Slave was amazing for me. I think it is a must paddle river for any play boater!

After a month on the Slave I headed south west to BC for some creeking. The creeking was amazing. And really really really cold water. I was glad to have my IR drydeck to keep me dry and warm there. It was my first time paddling glacier run off creeks. I got a chance to run a lot of epic BC runs. Tight, steep, continuous is the norm out there. It was a blast.



After that I headed for Skookumchuck. Such an amazing wave. It was my first time in salt water. I learned that I can only left blunt with my mouth open so I kept getting huge mouth fulls of salt water. Not good tasting at all!



I am back in Ottawa now and going spend every day paddling before going in for a shoulder surgery this fall. Wish me luck. Plan is to hit the physio hard this winter and be stronger than ever for next season!
Thanks for all the help and great gear IR!
John Rathwell
http://johnnymisadventures.blogspot.com

Photo's

Hey Everyone,

As I sit here looking to kill some time before my surgery I decided to through together a little mosaic of some of my favorite photos from my trip. 

Johnny

Amazing Trip

Last Paddle of the Gull this Season

Hitting the meat

Well I got in my very last paddle on the Gull this season with a few of my friends.  This river in Minden Ontario is so much fun.  I learned to paddler here and always enjoy coming back.  It just improves your technique so much paddling there.  I am off to the Ottawa River now though!  But here are some Gull photos!

All photos are by Patti Johnson!  Thanks Patti!

Johnny

Bruce Running the Dam GullWithBruceAndPatti

First Drop GullWithBruceAndPatti

Looking down the river GullWithBruceAndPatti

Bruce lining up Whitehorse Falls GullWithBruceAndPatti

Bruce getting ready for impact! GullWithBruceAndPatti

Impact! GullWithBruceAndPatti

Happy to be home GullWithBruceAndPatti

Running the dam

The Story Behind the Jeep

First Getting the Jeep

Well I have told many stories of myself and some of Rain from this road trip. But I have not told any about the Jeep, so here are some interesting facts about it!

- 1995 Jeep Cherokee
-Purchased in Maple Ontario with 160 000 km
-Driven 20 000 km on its road trip!
-Furthest Northern Point - Hay River on the Great Slave Lake Northwest Territories
-Furthest Eastern Point - Montreal Quebec
-Furthest Western Point - Tofino, Vancouver Island on the Pacific Ocean
-Furthest Southern Point - Maple Ontario where I bought it
-Lived in by me and a dog for a summer

Repairs/Stuff I broke
-Rear Brakes
-New Floor
-cracked windshield 3 times!
-broke something in the transfer case...no more 4 low really
-sexy new shifter nob!
-no more 2,3,4 setting on the fan, just low and high!
-near rear hydrolics on the hatch
-2 burnt out head lights (at the same time for awhile)
-Probably more stuff...I just can't remember!

Love,
The Jeep

No Dam on the Slave

Here is a video that my friend Jacqui Whitehead made about the Slave River when I was there. The Slave River is one of the best (if not the best) play rivers in the world and it is currently being threatened to be dammed. Check out the video and join the fight in stopping the Slave from being dammed!


Slave River 2009 from Jacqui  Whitehead on Vimeo.



Thanks for the great video Jaqcui!

Johnny

First Decent of the Otter Slide on a SUP

SUP on the OtterSlide GullStandUpPaddling

Today at the Gull my good friend Jaye talked me into doing the first decent of the Otter Slide on the Gull on a stand up paddle board (SUP). It was interesting. A rapid I have ran 1000's of times in my kayak and never thought of it being hard until I was standing above it on a board! SUP is an old Hawaiian form of transportation they used to surf ocean waves and such. Lately it has been slowly becoming more popular is a river running tool.

After my run Jaye made an attempt as well. We both has our stumbles and scary moments. It is a lot more difficult then it looks!

Johnny

From GullStandUpPaddling

From GullStandUpPaddling

From GullStandUpPaddling

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From GullStandUpPaddling

From GullStandUpPaddling

From GullStandUpPaddling

From GullStandUpPaddling

From GullStandUpPaddling

From GullStandUpPaddling

From GullStandUpPaddling

From GullStandUpPaddling