Chambly in, Eardrum burst, Bussi on hold...

Now nearly one and a half weeks ago we arrived in Montreal and after two days of sightseeing and getting the boats from Riot we headed for the first session on Canadian soil this year. We even went for a new spot concerning myself, which was the Chambly Wave approx. one hour from Montreal depending on the traffic.
Really an awesome spot where all wave moves can be done and sticked. Altough the first session was quite cold. Imagine that, we left Munich with 26 degrees celcius and the first day we arrived in Montreal is started snowing! So it was time for gloves and neoprene hoods on the water... Luckily the weather god had mercy with us and the summer was showing up in Canada as well... Most of the German Team headed to Ottawa to check out the waves there but I decided to stay a few more days in Montreal as the level of the Ottawa was low and apparently the Chambly wave was much better for training and having fun... I was lucky, as I could team up with part of the French team (Stephane, Mathieu, Jules and Mat) as they had a car which is quite a necessity for Canada. Well, there the luck ended. On the second session on Chambly I blew my eardrum. I'm not quite sure if it happened on my slow cali roll or just while taking out the earplug. Anyway the plug was bloody and blood was coming out of the ear. Quite scary I must say if you have never experienced it before... So it meant heading for a doctor to check it out. Meaning in Canada the fastest way - go to the hospital emergency. Interestingly they charge foreigners straight up front for 850 bucks where you might get back something if the treatment doesn't sum up to that...
The docs bottom line was the eardrum is broken and I should rest until it is healed whenever that might be...
So from then on it just meant filming, taking photos and not getting too pissed about not beeing able to paddle. Meanwhile we arrived also at the Ottawa at Wilderness Tours where I have to say the food is quite nice and eating it three times a day and not yet paddling might result that I swop the Astro 54 with the 58... Anyhow the waterlevel is still too low on the Ottawa and therefore Busseater is not running which is the only consolation for me beeing an "invalid". Nevertheless it sucks not beeing able to get on the water.
Well, during the next two days it should be decided on which wave the competiton will be held and if my ear heals nicely I might get one or two rides before the competiton.
Below a few shots from Chambly, quite crappy but I was already condemned to the shore when the big photo-sessions were going down... but on the other hand I got a few nice shots of whater for a change ;-)






pictures by Fabian Krummreich