A new agreement between Whitewater Ontario and Algonquin Outfitter's Boatwerks will have AOB offering whitewater paddling instruction out of WO's base on the Gull River in 2010.

The Minden Whitewater Preserve on the Gull River is privately owned by Whitewater Ontario (WO). The new agreement allows AOB to operate instructional courses out of WO's facilities at the Preserve. AOB course participants will have access to WO's campground, washrooms, kitchen, AV lounge and other facilities.

AOB has been offering instruction out of their Minden store since 2003, but courses were only run on-demand and classes were restricted to the public parking and footpath area on the Gull's river right shore. AOB operations manager Jeff Strano says the new arrangement will allow AOB to schedule courses for summer weekends, make use of WO's underutilized property on the river left shore, and create a revenue stream for WO.

Strano says on-request instruction could begin as early as late April, with scheduled weekends starting in the summer. "[AOB] has always been a really flexible paddling school—somebody could walk in to the store and book a course for the following day because we have a full-time instructor on staff," he says. "We’re going to try to keep it flexible but we’ll also have 6 or so scheduled weekends with more than one instructor."

Strano says programs will run the gamut from multi-day whitewater kayak instruction to 3-hour and 6-hour courses, as well as whitewater canoeing, flatwater recreational kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding on flatwater and whitewater. Participants can make use of AOB's dedicated fleet of instruction boats. 

"Our paddling school has been keeping an instructor busy in July and August for years with just impromptu courses. We’re going to let it evolve and grow as we need to," says Strano of his expectations for this summer.

For more information on Algonquin Outfitters Boatwerks visit www.algonquinoutfitters.com/abt/1d.html

Details of the agreement are outlined in this late February press release from Whitewater Ontario:

Whitewater Ontario (WO) and Algonquin Outfitter’s Boatwerks (AOB) are pleased to announce an exciting new agreement that will help to strengthen instructional programming on the beautiful Gull River near Minden, Ontario. The two organizations have reached an agreement which will see AOB utilizing WO’s facility on the Minden Wild Water Preserve to provide whitewater instruction on the adjacent Gull River.

The two year agreement will begin this spring with AOB’s presence helping to increase the use of the Preserve by providing high quality instructional courses on a regular basis throughout the paddling season.

Whitewater Ontario President Jim Tayler says “This is an exciting opportunity for WO to work closely with a commercial member in the fulfillment of one of our organization’s strategic goals. AOB is a solid organization already based in Minden with terrific people who are committed to building the sport of whitewater paddling.”

Although the paddling season is still several months away, AOB operations manager Jeff Strano, indicates that preparations are underway for instructional courses to begin in the spring of 2010. By renting space at the Roger Parsons Centre, AOB will be able to enhance the quality of their programs, and with WO, continue to develop and support whitewater paddling across our province.

Photo credit Marilyn Scriver