July/August 2001 - Bluegrass Wildwater Association
Transcription
July/August 2001 - Bluegrass Wildwater Association
Newsletter of The Bluegrass Wildwater Association July/August 2001 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: French Doors and Shriveled Carrots Dear Whitey Waters The “Gracious” Take-Out Free the Ocoee Safety Lines Kayak Roller Derby FRENCH DOORS AND SHRIVELED CARROTS The Kentucky Contingent: Kyle Meserve, Elizabeth Pugh, Jeannette Quinn, Dave Merrifield, Amy Quinn, Lee White, Kathy Cole, Paul Bracken Madawaska. From the start, hearing the name brought to mind visions of grandeur – great rapids, fast water, quick learning, awesome paddling…I first heard it mentioned at dinner on the return trip from the Emory-Obed after the Y2K beginner’s trip that I knew was only the beginning of my kayaking adventures. As I reveled in the memories of the weekend past, I remember sitting, eating pizza, listening to those at the table talk about what an incredible experience Madawaska had been for BWA paddlers in the past, and would surely be that year again. Right there and then I decided that one day I would go. Little did I know that before it was over, my strongest memories of continued on pg. 4 1 Dear Whitey Waters Whitey has been an icon in the paddling community for several years, and now has agreed to share the vast knowledge accumulated through trials and tribulations in the boating world. From equipment questions, to technique suggestions, to relationship problems, Whitey will help you through it all. Just ask Whitey. Bowlines is the Newsletter of the Bluegrass Wildwater Association, PO Box 4231, Lexington Ky, 40544 Club Officers 2001-2002 President Vice-President Treasurer Secretary Safety Program Newsletter Cyber Communications Conservation National Paddling Film Festival Coordinator Equipment Coordinator At-Large Members: E-mail your questions to the newsletter editor: kmcole01@uky.edu Be sure to put “Dear Whitey” in the subject line Dear Whitey, My knees hurt after a day in C-1. What can I do? Neal Soffly Wildwater Cats Rep. Past President Dear Neal, You might consider getting RK, or Radical Kneeectomy. The surgeon severs your Anterior Excruciating Ligament and sutures it to your Medieval Collateral Ligament. You can kneel without pain for hours after that. Or you might look into LASIK, or Large Arse Sit In Kayak. Many boaters find their butts support more load than their knees. Whitey David Reed Duke Urch Burgess Carey Dave Merrifield Larry Cable John Foy Kathy Cole Don Spangler Terese Pierskalla 859-527-5898 859-266-3777 859-351-9444 859-223-5943 859-255-8961 859-278-2536 859-272-4744 859-277-7314 859-277-9737 Dave Margavage 502-876-0468 Tom Hillman 859-624-4373 Karah Nazor Liz Kaufmann Bruce Rishel 859-879-6538 Join in on the Fun! BWA website: http://www.surfbwa.org Join the BWA! BWA Membership $20/individual; $25/Family year entitles you to receive the newsletter, discounts at many local and out of state outfitter shops, use of club equipment, discount at pool rolling sessions, a listing in the BWA Handbook, a stream gauge guide, and web site with a listserve for members’ messages. Meetings are held at 7:30, the second Tuesday of each month at Mark’s Feed Store, Lexington, Ky. Dear Whitey, Any ideas to make Olympic paddling more interesting to TV audiences? Straight Mann Submission of Newsletter articles preferred on zip or floppy disk (Mac or PC) or typed. Pictures can be digital or ready to be scanned. Please include stamped envelope for return. Files can also be emailed to: kmcole01@uky.edu Dear Straight, Glad you asked. One word: Biathlon. Imagine paddlers running class V rivers & pausing at selected eddies to take rifle shots at targets (rafters, open boaters). It works in skiing for the winter olympics. To make it more interesting, we could have the paddlers take shots at each other. We could make boating more popular than WWF and roller derby combined. Whitey Dear Whitey, I've been dating a really great guy who's charming, witty, handsome, and treats me like a princess. But there's one big problem. He paddles a Crossfire (yuck) and constantly flips and swims in eddies. This is very embarrassing for me since I'm a class V boater. I'm thinking of dumping him. What should I do? EZ Girl Dear Whitey, I think you're funnier than Scott Adams, better looking than any Backstreet Boy and a better paddler than EJ. Secret Admirer Dear EZ, Ah love. Do you love paddling more than you love this dude? If so, dump him. If not, compromise. Maybe you can fish him out of the Nantahala on one weekend and he can be your shuttle bunny on the Russell Fork the next. Perhaps most importantly, does he make your girlfriends jealous of you? If so, keep him. Whitey Dear SA, Thanks, Mom. Whitey 2 middle of summer! That meant that “Rocky Top” should not be very rocky and there should be some great surfing waves at the “Confluence”! Sure enough, everything was as you hoped and by the time you got to the Canyon you were not sure you could handle much more fun (but you did!). At the takeout you were feeling so good you did not even complain about carrying your boat up the hill to the car. It did not take long to tie the boats up and head back home. “What a perfect day!” Wrong! You just missed some of the best moments of a river trip all in the name of being quick and efficient! Slowing down and taking twenty or thirty minutes to enjoy a “gracious” take out is the sign of the sophisticated experienced paddler. What is a “gracious takeout”? It can be any takeout. It depends only on attitude and a little preparation. It takes advantage of that feeling of satisfaction and contentment you have after a day of fun on the river. A “gracious takeout” gives everyone time to relive some great moments and start weaving the stories that can be told and retold around the campfires in years to come. Not the least, it gives everyone time to build bonds of friendship before heading back to the everyday world. So when you get that boat to the top of the hill, slow down and have a “gracious take-out! Don Spangler The “Gracious” River Take Out This is where planning ahead is important. Open your cooler and pull out a beer or pop and a snack. (Shame on you if you did not bring some extra to share with the newer or less experienced boaters.) You spent a lot of effort on the river and now is the time to help your body to recoup. Your gear needs a few minutes to dry out anyway! Don Spangler It has been quite an unexpected day! Last evening you got a call from your paddling buddy that an unexpected thundershower had brought up the Big South Fork to 5400 cfs, making a run on the BSF a sure thing for Sunday. Your buddy said he would pick you up at 6:30 in the morning and you would meet the rest of the gang at Burnt Mill Bridge about 10:30. This would guarantee a noon put-in at the O & W Bridge, the traditional favored put-in time for a BWA river trip. All you had to do was get clearance from “the powers that be”. You breathed a sigh of relief, you fortunately had not put off doing the weekend “chores” till the last moment, so that should assure a no hassle clearance for going boating! You were right! No begging this time...it was also remembered that the last time you did not get your “Hydrotherapy” you were miserable to be around the next day. So it was “Hip, Hip Hooray! A boating I will go!” Take time to hear about Dave’s first ender, or Bill’s swim at First Drop and to relate your “drop in the hole from hell” tale. Savor the day and your friends. These moments do not happen often enough. There will be plenty of opportunities to “rush” and be efficient at work on Monday. You can extend the glow further by organizing a visit by all at a great restaurant on the way home. By great I do not mean one of those fast food or chain restaurants. This should be a unique day from begining to end! You eat enough at them back in Lexington. Go for the “hole in the wall” with the great local catfish and hush puppies or some other southern specialty. In short, the “gracious takeout” is developing the habit of enjoying to the max the total experience of paddling: the day, the river trip, your friends. You will never regret those moments you spend savoring a gracious takeout. So slow down and have a gracious takeout on your river trips! That Sunday morning, things went like clockwork! Your padding buddy was on time for a change and off to the river you went. Things could not have worked out better, and everyone was on the BSF at noon. The river had dropped down to 2600 cfs, a real treat for the 3 cont. from pg. 1 Madawaska would revolve around French doors and shriveled carrots. start the competition. Ironically, then, as it turned out, Kyle and I ended up in the same group. It was truly the Kentucky contingent, with only four total in the group with 3 being from Kentucky (Elizabeth was the third). The trash talk between Kyle and I started immediately when I paddled over upon my demotion and said “great, now I can show you up every day and it will be easy for everyone to see”, and continued when he stated as his goal for the course “ I just want to kick your butt”. At that point, I began to feel sorry for our paddling companions who it appeared were in the middle of the battle zone! Fast-forward a year to the 2001 BWA beginner’s clinic. Things were different! Surrounded by friends instead of strangers, we enjoyed camaraderie (and lots of beer) around the campfire. Woodford Reserve was THE menu for some, (read Cole, Merrifield and Meserve), and as a result entertainment was at a peak for those of us sober enough to enjoy it. Late that evening, the topic of a Madawaska wager was introduced. By whom? Who knows? As I recall it, it went something like this: Kyle: “I’m going to kick your butt in Madawaska.” Jeannette: “ Yeah, right. Let’s make a bet. You name it.” Somehow, the competition took on a life of its own. Kyle soon began using his now famous weasel words of “well, we never worked out the details”. Before I knew it, people I had never talked to before were coming up to me and saying “so, did you kick any butt today?” At one point someone Kyle had never seen paddled past him on the river and asked “how about those French doors?” But the kicker was when Claudia sat down at dinner with us one night during (surprise) a discussion of “The Bet”. As a result, she overheard the supposed terms of our wager, and felt a bit put on the spot. After all, her rating could be the thing that gave one or the other of us the victory. As she said “I didn’t need to hear that!” Now, I had in mind something small like, say, $100. But No! My husband, armed with his immense faith in my abilities, blurted out “how about French doors?”. So, before the night was over, we had agreed to a little bet. If I performed better at the school, Kyle would install the French Doors Paul and I wanted in our bathroom at cost (free labor). If Kyle performed better, I would pay him double his normal labor rate. With the memories of last year’s clinic still fresh in my mind (with the bottom of Kyle’s boat more visible than the top, and that paddle that has “HELP” inscribed), I wasn’t too worried J. The next morning I fully expected that Kyle, sober and in the light of a new day, would think better of his bet and worm his way out of it. But, again, no! He surprised me by not only remembering the bet, but saying that we needed to “work out the details”. At the time, I did not recognize that statement as code words for “we’ll never get together to work out the details, therefore there will be no bet”. So at the start of the Madawaska trip, from my perspective, THE BET was on! “May the best paddler win!” The first day of the competition, oh, I mean the school, dawned bright and clear. Although, as Kyle kept pointing out, no official rules had been established, a pattern seemed to develop. Over the course of the day, we pretty much decided who was “ahead” for the day. At first, I had no idea how everyone seemed to know “the score” before any of us had shared it. Before long though, the truth emerged. My enterprising and clever sister had planted a spy in our group! She recruited the Barb the “Spy” one non-biased person in our crew (Barb) to give her regular updates on progress – A SPY!!!!!!! So the report was given daily and general consensus seemed to build regardless of how Kyle and I might have felt about the whole thing. The first day though was pretty clear, since Kyle spent quite a bit of time visiting with the fish, checking out the local underwater vegetation, as he peacefully meandered through various wave trains at Chalet rapid. Kind of reminded me (happily!) of last year’s beginner’s clinic. YES! So day one was a clear victory for me. Yippee! French doors on the way! The first strike was made during the class groupings. As many of you know, the first day students are placed in groups based on their performance in running gates in flatwater, and then a follow-up conversation with Claudia, the director and owner of the school. As we did our runs through the flatwater gates, Kyle was placed in one group, while I was initially placed in a “more advanced” group. You know, the one with the paddler whose mother won a silver medal in a kayaking event in the 1972 Olympics. Wooohoooo!! . Lucky break for me when I was displaced by a better paddler and demoted to Kyle’s group. Later, I was accused of biasing my placement by name dropping (Ocoee!) while neglecting to mention swimming the Olympic section. My response? Hey, whatever works. I couldn’t hold back on being Bullish! I was out for French doors and there was no use waiting for paddling to begin to 4 Elizabeth exhibited a brilliant maneuver where as she made the turn downstream she flipped, and then rolled beautifully right into the eddy. What a move! It became more graceful each of the three times she performed it. During this same timeframe, Kyle was working on immortalizing himself. To get from the eddy between gates 11 and 12 to the one behind what was formerly known as SWIMMER’S rock, one needed to ferry up and onto a wave heading towards river right, and then turn and punch through a hole to hit the eddy. The trick on this run was to make sure you hit the hole straight on – tricky! As Kyle swam this rapid over and over, Gates at Chalet Rapid (Kyle’s Rock on left). Picture taken without dam released water. people gradually stopped calling it In the meantime, there was much discussion among swimmer’s rock, and instead just starting referring to it the Kentucky contingent, The Spy, and other interested as KYLE’S rock. I spent some time upside down in this parties as to how points would be scored. If one hit the same wave that day…the first time rolled and missed eddy-did that give additional points? What about the eddy, the second time rolling and still catching the nailing the “sweet” combat rolls? Were there points for eddy (inspired by Elizabeth, no doubt!). This gave me the best swimming technique? The idea of breaking major bonus points in The Spy’s eyes and put me on down the whole process was almost overwhelming to top in the competition again for the day. the trained observers. But from the reports I have heard, there was definitely a concerted effort to keep Now, I don’t like to mention this, seeing as it is my the tallies fair and square! article and all, but the truth is, although Kyle was coming out behind each day because of his affinity for On the second day of the school we paddled down the fishes, he was doing a much better job than I was from the dam and in theory were practicing the sweep at navigating gates and making eddies. I was spotted low brace or Duffek. However, our instructor kept telling by members of the KY contingent bumbling gates and us not to eddy out as we traveled down river. “We’ll do almost missing eddies, while Kyle was sailing through that when we get further down” or “ there are better places to do that” are the quotes I remember. The Spy and I were a bit frustrated, but managed to relieve some of it by sneaking in some eddy-work when our instructor wasn’t looking. Then, Kyle slyly capitalized on my frustration by scoring his first major points as we went through Staircase rapid. He executed a beautiful sweep/duffek into Football eddy at the base of the rapid. I on the other hand paddled right by it and frantically scrambled just to get into Fumble eddy right below. YIKES! I was behind! And to make it worse, he hadn’t even swum yet that day! Things got better (from my perspective J) though as we finally made it to Chalet, where we were “allowed” to work on catching eddies. Our instructor said “OK, let’s try these intermediate eddies, and if you get them all the first time then Kyle and Elizabeth at Garvin’s Chute on the Ottawa we’ll know you guys have it and we can move on. This was the first time that I seriously considered that looking remarkably coordinated for someone who our instructor might be on drugs or had perhaps couldn’t roll a boat. And he had caught football eddy suffered one too many concussions. Needless to say, earlier that day…. Was the tide turning? As mentioned we did NOT make all the eddies on the first run, earlier, there was much talk about how those kinds of although I believe this was when Elizabeth began things would play into the final tallies. Feeling threatperfecting the patent-pending “rolling eddy” stroke. In ened by all this high-falutin’ maneuvering, I decided I moving from an eddy on river left to one on river right, had better play some mind games with the man just to cont. on pg. 6 5 cont. from pg. 5 throw him off stride for the next day. The “school” day had officially ended, and we were just paddling around in an eddy at the bottom of Chalet. My plan to unnerve Kyle was 2-fold. My first move was to just keep rolling my boat over and over again as many times in a row as I could. In truth, I just like to do that. But I thought the added bonus of reminding Kyle that some people DO roll couldn’t hurt! Then, I asked Kyle if I could try out his new boat – an awesome Outlaw. He generously turned it over to me, and I paddled it around. Sweet! Then I rolled in it a few times just to prove that it could be done…as I mentioned to him, some of us were starting to wonder. Happy with the icing I had just put on the cake, I headed up to the cabins for grub, beer and fun, happily again thinking of those French doors. Thursday dawned beautiful and crisp. The nervous energy at the breakfast table was palpable. After all, The Wager had been a hot topic and this was the day of reckoning! I noticed a few huddles occurring with the Kentucky contingent and The Spy. Speculative glances were sent our way. The pressure was building! On this day, the plan was to practice the intermediate eddies again (so much for one time through and move on!), and then to finally go to the intermediate level gates. Our instructor was somewhat fond of the “start with the hard stuff and work towards the easier stuff” philosophy, so the only gates we had had the opportunity to do up to that point were the advanced. Although The Spy did very well on those, the rest of us spent our time just working on eddy skills. So the morning ended up being great fun, because the intermediate gates were truly a hoot. From my standpoint, it was really quite difficult to execute them cleanly. Not surprisingly, The Spy did very well, and Kyle also did several very nice runs through the gates (uh oh!!!!!) I on the other hand flipped and rolled on my first attempt. Was there a pattern here? Elizabeth was giving it a try, but in all truth, her heart really didn’t seem in it. By this time we were all tired – it had been a long week. But wait! What was this? Suddenly, it appeared that Elizabeth had her own cheering section! I looked up, and what did I see but Dwayne, the OC-1 instructor, up on a rock. What an incredible bundle of energy that man is! He was chanting “Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth”. Well. I thought I had seen the gates done nicely by Kyle and The Spy, but I had seen nothing like what transpired next! As she looked up at Dwayne, Elizabeth’s eyes began to glow with determination (or was it something else???). She then effortlessly moved up to gate 20 and executed a flawless run as if she had been doing it all day. The cheers were deafening! As Kyle complimented her on her performance, she stated “I can do anything if you just put a carrot in front of me”. Hmmm....Thus, in our minds, the saga of Dwayne and Elizabeth was born. Needless to say, that night, the bet was a secondary topic of conversation! The next day though my negative karma came back to haunt me. Kyle spent the morning catching eddies and Butterfly Rapid on the Ottawa then rolling at a surf hole as well! I on the other hand was just barely catching the intermediate eddies. The only thing that even kept me in the running that day was the rolls I kept hitting and the swimming that Kyle kept doing. In my mind it was shaping up pretty clearly…I was performing better in the rolling area, while Kyle was performing better in maneuvering. This battle was tighter then I had anticipated. And sure enough - by the end of the morning Kyle had captured his first win – he was ahead for the day! The Spy seemed broken-hearted as she informed me that she had had to make that sad report to my sister. In the end, no one in our group did the “test” to get an official rating. More time to paddle and play! However, we did run the intermediate gates one last time before we paddled down to play in some surf holes. And in a suitable “end” to the bet saga, neither Kyle nor I realized that Claudia was there when I did my last run through the gates. Even so, I was determined! I had only managed to catch all 5 gates once, and I was hellcont. on pg. 7 It was starting to look like the bet would come down to the wire. Both The Spy and Elizabeth had gracefully bowed out of testing; expressing that they were there purely for fun and that testing wasn’t in their best interest. That left the fierce competition between Kyle and myself! 6 reimburse TVA for lost power revenues. When water is released on the upper Ocoee, it bypasses the Ocoee No. 3 powerhouse. Since the 1996 Olympic course was built, TVA has provided about 13 days of free water on the Upper Ocoee for races and special events. An additional 20 days of water have been paid for each year by outfitters that run rafting trips down the river. Whitewater releases on the middle Ocoee are financed through a $7.4 million appropriation paid to TVA in the early 1980’s. Under that plan, outfitters are gradually reimbursing the US Treasury through rafting fees. The $20 million made each year by commercial outfitters on the middle Ocoee recirculates at least five times in the community, generating a total direct and indirect benefit of $100 million. By contrast, the TVA would make only $268,000 from selling the power made with that water, and that money leaves the community, going straight to TVA’s coffers. Nor would the TVA suffer undue harm by releasing the water. The Ocoee No. 3 powerhouse generates only 28MW - not even 1/100th of TVA’s total generating capacity of 29,469 MW. And this will become increasingly marginalized as TVA further expands capacity by opening new plants over the next two years. Free the Ocoee Terese Pierskalla On July 26, 2000 the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) wrote to American Whitewater (AW), thanking their Ocoee Festival for “contributing to the economic wellbeing of the Ocoee region”, and also to alert AW that “after 2001 TVA will no longer provide free water for whitewater events on the Ocoee.” Founded in the 1930’s, the TVA’s mission was to provide flood control, navigation, reforestation, and agricultural and economic development for this Appalachian region. Now the largest electrical utility in the US, the TVA’s focus is on producing power. Even though it is definitely far more beneficial to the community to have whitewater releases than to use that same water for power generation, the TVA recently announced they were increasing the fees that outfitters pay for whitewater releases. Outfitters pay the fees to According to the TVA, The Ocoee dams were constructed solely for power generation and were never intended to have any recreational function. The TVA also says they have no stewardship responsibilities on the upper and middle Ocoee other than power generation. cont. on pg. 8 cont. from pg. 6 fully expecting that it was a good omen for her chances of success with the whirling dervish Dwayne…and THAT is a topic for another story! bent on doing it one last time. So I set out, and had an ugly but successful run through those tricky gates. Exhausted, I got out of my boat to watch Kathy’s group perform. They were awesome! As they finished, Claudia yelled down to Kyle “Hey, what about those French doors? Jeannette got a 40 on her run through the gates!” Ha!!! Talk about being put on the spot! Kyle was truly braver than I as he gamely set out to run the gates one last time. As is the way of things, he was unable to make a clean run although I had seen him do it beautifully as least 5 times that morning already. Ah! The luck of the Irish! Happy to have it, I floated off downriver thinking of how nice those French doors would look in my bathroom… So in the end, it was Madawaska, Lamentations from Elizabeth French doors, and a shriveled carrot. Who could have known that finally, those same things would become code words for great paddling, great friends, great fun, and great memories. That night, Amy and I took a walk down to the river to take one last look at the scene of all the fun (and carnage) and to snap some photos. As luck would have it, we found something that absolutely HAD to be given to Elizabeth. There, sitting on a rock, shriveled by the hot sun was (you guessed it) a carrot. We reverently picked it up and hand-delivered it to her, hoping and Story by Jeannette Quinn (with some excellent additions from big sis Amy!) Photos by Amy, Jeannette and Paul 7 our rivers, particularly such an extraordinary resource as the Ocoee. By building the Olympic whitewater course, the taxpayers have already invested millions of dollars in downstream recreation…. The river and the value it creates is part of our common heritage, and should be shared by all…” Although AW will continue to work for free releases on the Ocoee, the TVA needs to hear from us, the boaters who use the Ocoee. Write, call or email your elected representatives and the TVA and let them know that whitewater releases on the Ocoee are important to you. Below is contact information for the TVA and a sample letter from AW. You can also find out more about freeing the Ocoee on AW’s website: www.americanwhitewater.org. AW has recently organized a coalition of paddlers, outfitters, local businesses and others and their goal is the development of a long-term water management plan that balances the needs of competing interests in the basin including power generation, whitewater recreation and reservoir interests. American Whitewater is optimistic that a plan can be developed to meet these diverse interests. Already they have had positive feedback from Congressman Zach Wamp of Tennessee who said “I believe in the shared usage of email Craven Crowell, Chairman Tennessee Valley Authority at: tvainfo@tva.gov Write To: Tennessee Valley Authority 400 W. Summit Hill Dr. Knoxville, TN 37902-1499 Phone: 865-632-2101 SAMPLE LETTER Craven Crowell, Chairman Tennessee Valley Authority Tennessee Valley Authority 400 W. Summit Hill Dr. Knoxville, TN 37902-1499 Phone: 865-632-2101 1996 Olympic Games by taxpayer dollars. In this, not only does the TVA not live up to the 70-yearold requirements of its original charter, it shows a distinct lack of respect for the ancient doctrine of the public trust which forms part of the basis for English common law and America’s legal system. This doctrine establishes that by “natural law, these things are the common property of all - air, running water, the sea, and with it the shores of the sea.” Privately-owned hydropower utilities are able to comply with environmental and recreational requirements based on this doctrine. Why not the TVA? Dear Mr. Crowell: I protest the Tennessee Valley Authority’s extraordinary decision to demand payment for water in the upper Ocoee River below one of the TVA’s dams. The TVA as originally conceived was for the uplift of the Appalachian region, stimulating economic activity so as to elevate the region from its plight. As such, TVA was to control the integrated regional development of the valley’s resources, and whitewater recreation is certainly an important part of this region’s economic development. We request this decision be set aside until such time as the public, including whitewater boaters and American Whitewater, have had adequate opportunity for comment and discussion. American Whitewater has successfully represented our members’ conservation interests with utilities such as Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison, and looks forward to doing so with the TVA. This decision to cut off water in the upper Ocoee riverbed shows an undeniable lack of concern for the burgeoning recreational boating industry on both the middle and upper Ocoee River which last year drew over 301,000 boaters, generating over $40 million for the local economy. Many came to use the $22 million whitewater course on the upper Ocoee, built for the Sincerely, (your name) 8 Safety Lines Larry Cable Wilderness First Aid Course TEXT The cost of the course includes handouts and lecture notes. Our textbook, The Outward Bound Wilderness First Aid Handbook, is optional and is available for an additional $14.95. What do you do when you can’t call 911? Have you had the Red Cross courses and aren’t satisfied with what you have been taught? Maybe a Wilderness First Aid course is the answer. Designed for the serious outdoors person, it deals with improvising equipment, prolonged care and severe environments. I have contacted Wilderness Medical Associates about teaching this class for us in the Lexington area. The course requires a minimum of 14 students; we can teach as many as 25. This is a two day course, 8 hours each day. Cost of the course for BWA members should be around $125.00, according to how many actual students. We plan to offer this course Feb. 3 & 4, 2002. WHAT TO BRING Appropriate clothing for the location and time of year. Remember that, rain or shine, much of our time is spent outside. You will also need a sleeping bag, pens, and a notebook. GRADES are based on attendance (100% required), and performance on both written and practical final exams. Not everyone passes this course. WILDERNESS MEDICINE REBATE Graduates of WFA courses sponsored by Wilderness Medical Associates’ are eligible for a $30.00 rebate when they attend a full length Wilderness First Responder or Wilderness EMT course within one year of their of their WFA course. I have enclosed a course description: Wilderness First Aid Course Fact Sheet PREREQUISITE Students must be at least 16 years of age to participate in this course. 16 and 17 year olds must have proof of parental consent. E-mail if you are interested in this course: lrcable@aol.com CERTIFICATIONS AVAILABLE From Wilderness Medical Associates. Continuing education credit for EMT’s, RN’s, and MD’s may also be available. Check with your state office prior to the course. Certification remains valid for three years. Swiftwater Rescue Instructors Wanted! If you are interested in becoming a Swiftwater Rescue Instructor, please contact me. The club is willing to pay for the training course in exchange for teaching SWR for BWA. If you have the time, e-mail me: lrcable@aol.com CREDENTIALS Wilderness Medical Associates’ courses are widely considered the most complete medical training for outdoor professionals. Our courses are preferred by such organizations as Outward Bound, The National Park Service, The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, many colleges and universities, and the FBI. As Canoe Magazine stated, “Wilderness Medical Associates has become the de facto standard in wilderness medical training.” The course consists of an Instructor Development Workshop on one weekend, a couple of weekends ”mentoring” while other instructors teach the course and a final weekend Instructor Certification Workshop. Time frame is probably going to be late spring/early summer 2002. CLASS FORMAT Varies from 8 to 24 hours over 1 to 3 days. Mornings are devoted to lectures and exams. Afternoons are devoted to practical hands-on sessions and videotaped simulations*. Evenings are reserved for study and assignments. * Expect one or two emergency rescue simulations with made-up victims and stage blood. Second Swift Water Rescue Class Cancelled! I have had only a handful of responses on the available dates for a second SWR class,not enough to put together another class for either date. I will put together another class for the spring, date and location TBA. If you have already paid for this class, please contact me so I can arrange to get you a refund. I will also keep this list so that you will get first shot at next year. CONTENT Topics include patient assessment, body systems, equipment improvisation, trauma, environmental medicine, toxins, backcountry medicine, and wilderness rescue. 9 advance from the time trial. After the solo time trial on the course, the interesting part is trying to make your way down a stretch of 8 - 12 feet wide Class 3 whitewater racing head to head against 3 other boaters. It makes for great carnage!! The rules were 1)plastic boats 8' 6" and shorter, 2) right of the first gate and the left of the second, 3) no malicious contact, and 4)finish the race inside your boat. One person was in a 3D, I was in my Inazone 220 and the rest of the women were in creek boats (h20, micro, cfs). Despite a dramatic flip at the bottom of Maytag and a few seconds when I thought I needed to paddle up and around the wrong side of the first gate, I actually qualified for the final. The start was like a yacht race. The competitors paddle around before the line but can't cross it before the air horn. I was the first across the line, but in my short play boat was over taken by one woman (Amy P) at the second drop. I remember spinning on just about every eddy line but reacting quickly enough to block the channel from the other two women behind me. As we approached the second gate there was a lot of boat bumping. We were all digging in hard for those strokes that would put us left of the gate and then right down the last drop. Kayak Roller Derby Amy Shipman As we neared the pour-over that formed the last drop I was sandwiched between the other two women. The So I am standing at the table ready to collect my check and I am surrounded by Tao Berman, EJ, and Eric Southwick. (For those of you who don't boat, these guys are like Michael Jordan, Shaq, Irwin, etc. of white water kayaking.) If it hadn't been for the guy who T-boned my Honda the day before I was supposed to leave for a 2 week trip to Europe, I never would have entered the Women's Open Division (non-pro) Head to Head Kayak Race down the Maytag section of the White Salmon about 20 minutes outside of Hood River, Oregon. When I heard that I could get a deal on a new Subaru as an athlete in the games, I decided to enter. I didn't take the thing too seriously. I had only run the section of the course twice before the day of the race. woman on my right (Rachel) pushed me left of the line and my little 7' 3" playboat did a dramatic stern squirt bow flying up in the air and over my head. I was 6 feet from the finish line upside down and backwards! The idea is that the boaters run time trials to be placed into brackets of 4 people. Some participants don't 10 Apparently, I wasn't the only one upside down or backwards. Rachel had also flipped with her bow downstream and the other woman (Lisa) was facing upstream but at least was upright. As Rachel and I battled it out to get upright, Lisa was working her way backward over the finish line. I won the battle of the hip snaps, glanced down at the bottom of the yellow creek boat and realized a few quick back strokes would put me over the line and out of Rachel's way. What I didn't know as I crossed the line was that Lisa had failed to make the second gate so was disqualified. Also unknown to me was that in the battle to get upright, I had clocked Rachel in the head. She swam out of her boat. It was several hours before I knew that my paddle had hit her and I still feel badly that I didn't get a chance to apologize. Looking back at the minute that it took to complete the course, it seemed a surreal blur of adrenaline, paddles, plastic and whitewater. After watching EJ grin as he easily won heat after heat of the men's race and watching the pro women battle it out with equal heart, I took off to paddle the two-mile Class III/IV section above the race course for the first time. It was beautiful run with a hairy waterfall called BZ falls. I portaged the falls but that will be the location of the Extreme Race (top 8 pro paddlers from the Head to Head). Unfortunately I missed the awards ceremony to collect my silver medal, but I did manage to get my check, free beer and food, arrange for a letter that is my ticket to a good deal on a new car, and walk away with some great memories! Check out http://www.gorgegames.com for some cool photos and the results of the race. Russell Fork Rendezvous October 5-7, 2001, Kiwanas Park, Haysi, Va. A week long gathering supporting the Russell Fork River! Enjoy the cascading rhythms flowing from our stream of consciousness as we gather in tribal fashion to honor the River! This festival is a gathering to celebrate the value and beauty of the Russell Fork River, the mountains, and the people that live there. It is a gathering of friends, kind energy, and understanding, much like the best of the gatherings of the sixties. Whether wearing your tie-dye or your poly-pro, come to have fun, hear good music, boat, hike, bike, or climb in a beautiful place. 11 Bluegrass Wildwater Association PO Box 4231 Lexington, Ky. 40504 BWA dues are now past due! Be sure to send in your moola ASAP. Individual $20 Family $25 12