Garberator Wave on the Ottawa River is one of the most diverse freestyle waves on the planet. August 30th – September 5th, 2015 it will host the ICF Canoe Freestyle World Championships. Its consistency, power and size is the ideal location for freestyle kayaking to showcase the full range of manoeuvres and high flying tricks. The Ottawa River is no stranger to hosting world class events. The first World Cup was on the Ottawa in September of 2006. The World Championships were held at McCoy's Chute in 1997.
Your Organizing Host is Wilderness Tours and Ottawa Kayak School’s. The beautiful 600 acre adventure resort is the location for the athlete’s village as well as the location for daily entertainment, meals and accommodation.
About the Ottawa River
The Ottawa River, upstream of Canada's Capital, Ottawa, is the country's top destination for rafting and kayaking. While most of the river has been harnessed for hydro-electric power, there remains the "Rocher-Fendu", an old French word meaning "split rock". It's where the river flows through two billion year old granite bedrock and an island paradise of 175 islands (in high water) creating a whitewater playground.
The dozen dams upstream have created wide shallow lakes lined with granite which captures the heat of the sun and warms the water. Because watershed is not mountainous, electricity is generated with warm surface water. As a result, the Ottawa is blessed with not only spectacular rapids but also warm water well into September. It's a unique combination.
The event will be held at the Lorne Rapids, famous for its world class waves, Bus Eater in high water and Garberator in low water. The timing of the event coincides with normal Garb levels. However, the Ottawa is "Run of River". That means what is in the system must come down river. While Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has some control over water levels, it is not total. In the highly unlikely event we do not have Garb water levels, we can move to another part of the river. We will be working closely with OPG to ensure we have Garberator levels for the 2015 event.
Wilderness Tours owns mainland adjacent to the islands. All the services - food and beverage, parking, toilets, boat storage etc will be on the mainland, a five minute walk from the event site. Following on the next few pages are diagrams showing the event site from different perspectives.
