MANIFLOWBA FINDING DREAM WAVE

Heir to the one of the largest rafting companies in North America, Joel Kowalski was in a unique position to discover “Dream Wave” on the Northern reaches of Manitoba’s Nelson River. Seasons spent in search of behemoth waves formed by Eastern Canada’s spring floods and hours trolling Google Earth created a system of knowing what to look for, when to go, and the skills to make the most of it. Four years of planning, two attempts, 3,000 kilometers (1875 miles), an iPhone photo, two rafts and a team of some of whitewater’s best freestyle paddlers later, they found river gold, proving dreams really can come true.

WORDS BY JOEL KOWALSKI PHOTOGRAPHY: SETH ASHWORTH, KALOB GRADY, THOMAS PATERSON,

“THEY THOUGHT WE CAME UP THERE TO DIE. THEY COULDN’T BELIEVE IT, THEY THOUGHT WE WERE NUTS. WE GOT A LOT OF LOOKS… LIKE, LOOK AT THESE WHITE BOYS, WHAT ARE THEY DOING UP IN HERE? THE FEAST THEY MADE US WAS LIKE THE LAST SUPPER FOR THEM, YOU KNOW, BEFORE SENDING YOU OFF INTO THE SPIRIT WORLD.” HAL ON THE CROSS LAKE LOCALS. THE TRIFECTA: HOW TO FIND RIVER WAVE GOLD When I first stumbled across Dream Wave in 2012 on Google Earth, I knew I had found a winner. I had spent hours poring over maps of Northern Canada in Google Earth with the goal of finding big, surf-able river waves. Seeking the perfect combination of high volume flow, the right amount of gradient, and super-hard bedrock, with…

You're reading a preview of

Kayak Session (Digital) - 1 Issue, spring 2017

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.