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by Conor mihell
O
n a cold, foggy day, Thom Lambert plays his six-foot freestyle kayak down the
Ottawa River in the low water levels of November. Except for his party of four boaters, the
river is empty. He catches a trashy ride on the pulsing foam pile of Garburator, bypasses
the ledged bedrock undercarriage of Bus Eater, and stops to spend more than an hour surfing at
Pushbutton, a mellow cresting wave at the top of a narrow chute. Lambert plays competently,
linking cartwheels with blunts and flat spins in the fluid, freeform dance of freestyle kayaking. This
is the type of paddling 48-year-old Lambert lives for—the rejuvenating, non-competitive river
running playboating that keeps him busy 60 to 70 days each year.
Lambert can understand why some boaters will sit in line for hours in the height of summer
waiting for the sheer joy of butt-bouncing on the glassy face of fast-moving water. What he finds
bewildering, however, is why some paddlers don numbered bibs, partake in judged 45-second
wave rides and spend the rest of their day under a tree, waiting for results to be posted. “A very
small group of very skilled, very committed athletes participate in competitive freestyle and no one
else really notices,” says Lambert, who lives in Haliburton, Ontario. “I lost interest in it a long time
ago. As much as I love playboating, watching someone else do it is a bit like watching paint dry.”
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