Saint-Laurent (St. Lawrence)

While most play boaters are familiar with the legendary waves at the Lachine rapids, fewer are aware that it's feisty little brother is located just a few miles further down the massive St. Lawrence River. Calling Habitat 67 ('Hab') the little brother to Lachine may be a bit dismissive and misleading. Those visiting Hab rank it among the best play spots they've paddled in the Northeast (which includes the Lachines and the Ottawa).

In recent years, more and more board surfers have been frequenting Habitat, and its safe to say that kayakers are now the minority. Some people are frustrated by this, and at times there can be tensions between surfers and kayakers. Since its more of a surfing destination than a paddling destination now, its important to be courteous and follow their etiquette. Note: a paddler may make it back to shore before the surfer who went in front of them, if this is the case, its often frowned upon to take your next turn before them. Just watch the locals and do as they do.

Habitat is a large, wide wave/hole located about 25-50 meters off shore. Like everywhere else, the qualities of the feature will vary dramatically depending on water levels. Most people know Habitat to be best at slightly higher levels than lachine (75,000-82,000 cms). Higher water turns the feature into more of a hole, and difficult to get to the top of the foam pile to set moves up. The wave greens out between 67,000 and 71,000 which the board surfers love, though its nearly impossible to catch with a modern playboat. That being said, you'll probably have more fun carving your creek boat across the face here than you would have with your playboat on a smaller feature. Extremely low water brings a foam pile back on the wave (less than 65,000), and any air wave move becomes possible again. Unfortunately, when the water is this low, you're surfing a foot or two above the rock. When board surfers fall, they'll often hit the rock, and a miss-timed blunt can smack the

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