The 2007 Reverse Freestyle Kayak & BoaterX Competition turned out to be the biggest and best kayak competition ever held in Atlantic Canada.

Paddlers from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine and Quebec made their way to Saint John to compete at the world famous Reversing Falls . So much happened over the weekend so without further adue here is what took place.

Thursday June 21st

Francois Bergeron-Proulx (Francky) of Montreal was the first out of town competitor to arrive. I had never seen a padler so anxious to get on the water in my life. He was kind of bummed that he missed the tide that day after driving ten hours straight but he was glad to get rested to rip up the wave on Friday.

Friday June 22nd

Most of the Reversing Falls locals went out for a practice day along with Francky and other Atlantic Canadian paddlers. The wave was more like a hole for most of the session but there was fun had by all. Later that evening most of the Nova Scotia paddlers arrived and there was a pre-competition warm-up party held at the Cox’s residence home of the Legend Harold Cox.

Saturday June 23rd

For the freestyle competition all competitors lined up in the eddy. The Quebec and Maine paddlers paddled the wave just as well and in some cases better than the locals. Guillaume and Francky were collecting air-miles all day. After day one we were able to separate the paddlers into an Intermidate and Advanced Division.

The BoaterX was cut down to 10 competitiors that would go head to head in the final on day two.

The party that night was amazing. Red Bull took everyone to O’Leary’s pub for supper followed by what would turn out to be the Reverse Freestyle Dancing and Drink Your Face Off Competition. In good Maritimer tradition we hit the steets for a good ole fashioned shin dig. Everyone ended up at The Ozone where the Quebec Paddlers showed that they also had moves off the water.

Saturday June 24th

The good thing about the Reversing Falls is that the tide starts an hour later everyday. Paddlers met at 11:30 AM (some still weary from the night before) to get ready for the final day of competition.

The Intermidate Division went first.

The competition was close but at the end of it the results were as follows:

1st Dominique Gauthier (Montreal)
2nd Dan Coates (Saint John)
3rd Andre (Fredericton)

Dan and Dominique were tied but Dominique had the bigger moves which put her in 1st place.

BoaterX followed the Intermidate division. It was awesome to see 10 paddlers going head to head at the same time. The results are as follows:

1st Chris Hull (Maine)
2nd JB Bal (France)
3rd Guillaume La Rue

The Advanced Divsion was amazing with everyone going big. The results are as follows:

1st Guillaume La Rue (Montreal)
2nd Francois Bergeron-Proulx(Montreal)
3rd Laurie Brown (Woodstock)

The Advanced Finalists
A Special Thanks goes out to Katie Arbuckle and Natalie Aresenault of Red Bull for providing us with the infastructure and the means to hold this event without the help from Red Bull the Reverse would not be possible.

The Biggest Trashing was awarded to Mark Richard and the Biggest Aerial Move was a tie between Guillaume La Rue and Francois Bergeron-Proulx (Francky).

Also special thanks to those people that helped me with the event:

Mark Richard
Monica
Chantal Cox
Chris Eager

Tim Cox
Ken Johnson
Harold Cox

and the many other paddlers that were willing to lend a hand at the event. Thanks to all that participated and we look forward to seeing everyone again next year.

The recap video will be posted online soon.

On another note AtlanticKayaker.com is pleased to announce that the 2007 Lawrencetown SurfDown will be taking place on September 22, 2007 at Lawrencetown Beach in Nova Scotia. The event website with all the information will be coming soon.

Till Then Have a Safe Summer and Hopefully I will see you on the water.

Dustin Barker
AtlanticKayaker.com