KS: You started kayaking pretty late, how did that happen?
LPR: I started paddling when I was 19 years old. My friend Francois Tremblay
and I were looking for an adventure sport to start after our college volleyball
season ended. We got really fired up after watching a bunch of kayaking
videos on YouTube, and ended up contacting Patrick Levesque, who had a
kayaking school in Saguenay.
KS: How did that go? Were you hooked right away, or did it take time for
you to realize that kayaking was what you wanted to do above all else?
LPR: After trying to get in touch with Patrick over and over, we eventually just
showed up at his place with the intention of buying all the gear needed with
money from our government tax returns and going kayaking. Pat suggested,
or really insisted, that we take a two-day course, and then buy gear. Since it
kind of made sense to take a course first, we booked for the next weekend.
The two-day course ended up being a blast, and taught me all the basic
techniques so I could continue to progress on my own. The rest of the summer
was spent trying to kayak every day. Frank was free on the weekends, and
I had a job in an aluminum factory with a really flexible schedule, so the
two of us were able to get out on the water a lot. Mostly we paddled the
Shipshaw, then the Ashuapmuchuan, which is a native word for “where we
see the moose.”
KS: You have since spent a lot of time on the Mistassibi. How did you
end up there?
LPR: For me, the Mistassibi became the key to who I wanted to become.
Early on, I bought the Scott Lindgren movie BlackBook, and discovered that
Quebec was a super badass destination for kayaking. I searched Steve
Fisher’s website and found a post that compared the Mistassibi River to the
Zambezi. From that moment, I knew exactly where I was going to spend a
lot of time. My first real paddling goal was to be able to paddle there by the
end of that first summer.
KS: Did you achieve that goal?
LPR: I did. Actually, my first time down I got stuck
in Mushroom Hole, got an epic beatdown, thought
I was going to die, and ended up swimming and
losing my lunch. Wally, the local raft company
owner, saw my dry bag and rescued it. The next
season, Wally contacted me to see if I wanted to
work for him. I ended up working on the Mistassibi
at Quebec Raft for four or five seasons as a safety
kayaker and guide. Wally puts on a good show – he
makes the safety kayakers show off and surf all the
features to get the rafting clients fired up to inspire
them to try kayaking. Over the years, they have
become really good friends and a big part of my
progression as a paddler.
KS: The Mistassibi is a pretty notorious river for
kayakers. How do locals feel about it?
LPR: For the locals in Saguenay, the Mistassibi only
brings fear into a conversation. They don’t know
much about whitewater, but they know there is risk on the river. They will tell
you, “If you swim, you will hurt yourself,” and “Why don’t you stop kayaking?”
and so on. For the local, old school paddlers in Saguenay, if you paddled the
Mistassibi, it was a river you ran. You didn’t stop and play, and most wouldn’t
take playboats. It wasn’t until more recently that paddlers from Dolbeau and
elsewhere started to use the river as a play run.
KS: Some of the guys you began paddling with have become a pretty
formidable group of paddlers. What is the Quebec Connection? How has
it been something important to you?
LPR: The Quebec Connection boys are the best crew ever. A lot of us started
kayaking around the same time, and have progressed together. The crew part
kind of happened organically, though Dave Fusilli is actually the one who said
we should be called the Quebec Connection. Everyone of the “boyz” is a
character who sparks energy. The QC represents the era I come from and I’m
proud of the group’s achievements.
KS: Though you may have started paddling late, you are no stranger to
athletic competition. Before kayaking you competed in Taekwondo, is
that right? Can you tell us about this part of your life?
LPR: I did practice Taekwondo for a long time, though there was a big
gap in years between those two passions. I began TKD at the age of five,
and competed until I was thirteen, when I placed second at the National
Championships. As a kid, I became addicted to martial arts movies and would
be fighting imaginary enemies like crazy while watching Jackie Chan and
Jean-Claude Van Damme. Above all, the rush and thrill of becoming a master
became my main motivation. I was serious about it even at 5 years old, ha.
I think Taekwondo was something I needed. Even as a small child, I had a
deep aggressiveness that needed to be controlled, and martial arts showed
me ways to do that, and gave me the ability to control impulsive reactions.
In Taekwondo, they teach perseverance, respect, self-esteem and other
values that really helped shape and mold me as a child. The masters were
like life coaches. They really taught us that yes, being great at Taekwondo
was important, but that it didn’t matter how good you were unless you were a
good person, and carried the values of Taekwondo into all aspects of your life.I grew up training hard and, step by step, started fighting in regional, provincial
and national championships. I remember making a lot of friends, and I always
gave my opponents a lot of respect, but when it was time to fight, I could turn
on the “aggressive switch” and, more than often than not, would end up on
the top of the podium.KS: Do you think there are any similarities between Taekwondo and
kayaking?
LPR: If there if there is any similarity between Taekwondo and kayaking, it is in
developing the reflexes needed to be in constant “shark attack mode,” and
learning to be and move in a sort of flowing momentum. You have to process
what is happening really fast in Taekwondo if you don’t want to get knocked
out and lose your fight. It is the same in kayaking. There are some basics to be
learned, and when you’ve repeated the motions enough times, they become
natural, nearly instinctive responses that make you react positively and wisely,
without doubt and fear. For me, the reflexes and trust I learned are a huge
part of being able to style a beatdown or an off-line situation.KS: What about the differences? Is there anything you really value in
kayaking that you didn’t get from Taekwondo?
LPR: In terms of differences, there are a lot. One of the things I love most
in kayaking is how there are no rules. For me, kayaking equals maximum
freedom of creativity. When I started Taekwondo, I loved being able to master
the technical side of the sport: having all the kicks dialed on both sides, being
fast, strong and precise in my movements and timing.In competitions at the time, there were judges who
would determine if kicks scored. There was a lot of
human error, and the system was open for corruption,
meaning the winner of the fights wasn’t always who
it should have been. Because of that, it wasn’t always
that you gave your best, and that the fight was
accurately represented by your score, but rather by
the judge’s preferences, which was really frustrating.For me, the sport stopped being something I loved
to watch. It stopped being about the powerful,
explosive kicks, and instead became all about
doing only the fastest moves to get as many
touches as possible in a certain amount of time. As
a result, the sport lost a lot of the style and creativity
that initially drew me into it. It is one reason why I
don’t have a lot of interest in competing in freestyle
kayaking. I don’t want my confidence and passion
for the sport being judged by a rule system. For me,
kayaking is, “shred that wave, do something nobody
else does, and get stoked for all your friends pushing
super hard.” I think that mentality helps enable you to elevate your skills and
push the level of the sport.KS: Do you think there is anything in particular from competing in
Taekwondo that has helped your kayaking progress?
LPR: The mental approach of competitive fighting is good for boating, as it
forces you to put everything aside and deal with what is in front of you. If you
doubt, you lose... in both disciplines. Emotions are for after. But, on the other
hand, surfing big waves has taught me to not be fighting. You have to keep
moving, and learn to work with the wave. Fighting the water tires you out.
When you are tired, it’s harder to be steezy or to link big tricks in one ride,
which is my main goal these days. I think the advantage of my Taekwondo
background is the reflexes I developed from learning to anticipate and
respond to a complex exchange of kicks. Training gets you ready to respond
to any style of opponent. In kayaking, the feature or waterfall in front of you
requires you to adjust your angle, speed, and body position, all in a fraction of
a second. The more tasks your brain is trained to digest at the same time, the
more you’ll be in the flow for when it really counts on the river. It’s all about
timing! BOOM!KS: It isn’t always easy to compete at an elite level so young. Where there
any challenges for you? What led you to stop?
LPR: Yeah, to be competitive at that level meant training six days a week,
some times far from home. It’s hard to be thirteen, on a diet trying to lose
weight, especially with parents who are about to divorce.One of the hardest things I had to deal with during that time was jealousy.
Another kid’s parent ended up getting a newspaper article published
about my upcoming participation in Canadian Nationals. He was quoted
saying that I wasn’t ready to compete. When I came back with a silver
medal, he was so mad, and began bullying me to the point where I no
longer enjoyed training.“...MY FIRST TIME DOWN
(THE MISTASSIBI) I GOT
STUCK IN MUSHROOM
HOLE, GOT AN EPIC
BEATDOWN, THOUGHT I
WAS GOING TO DIE, AND
ENDED UP SWIMMING.”