Outdoors Maryland; 35; Whitewater Best-Of

Whitewater Maryland has some of the best shabby written in the 1989 Whitewater World Championships is a classic example of the kind of theory that can be unleashed on rocks and water and are put together in just the right way creating a perfect natural slalom racecourse just hangs him gates and go. But what if you wanted to have a bike water Dubois where there wasn't any white one. But if you wanted to build an artificial boys white water machine. John Anderson and Scott Wilkinson two local Whitewater racers knew the perfect place to construct an artificial whitewater course. At the Pepco power plant in Dickerson Maryland is a 900 foot sluice way where water drawn from the nearby Potomac and used to cool the plant's generators is returned to the river warmed by 15 to 20 degrees. The Dickerson discharge canal was literally a whitewater course waiting to

happen. An artificial slalom for us is not a new idea. Quite a few exist today though most are in Europe. During the 1972 Olympics races were held on an artificial horse in Augsburg Germany 20 years later Whitewater racing returns to the 92 Olympics in Barcelona Spain. The event will be held on a newly constructed artificial course at La Salle doorjamb. Best paddlers on the U.S. team and the team coach live and train in Matal about to go. The only thing lacking was an artificial horse a training course that would give them the edge as they go for the goal. That's really good. We have got to be. You just. Feel Endicott is the U.S. Olympic team coach. I remember 10 years ago I had to exercise and having practices there.

Below. Where we. Now have it for us. We'd look up stream and say gee wouldn't be great if we had of course up there. A real one and then we just happened it never happened. So it was an old idea. And Anderson just made it happen. He had WILKINSON I guess just decided to really push it. They put together a very professional proposal. I like the idea it's seemed kind of exciting something new and different to do with this charge otherwise you know it's just there you take your. Best run about early June and take half. A pint and here came to me and I. That had this idea from the Bethesda Center for Excellence that we turned the discharge canal into a training facility for the U.S.. I. I must admit my first impression was Shakeshaft finally got around the bend and going crazy. But. On reflection now you know what the word Olympics is mentioning the things that to happen and so it really went from

there. The project got the green light. But there were still some big questions to be answered. When you go about designing a whitewater course. How do you get the water to do what you want it to do. John Anderson an architect by profession relished the challenge of designing and building a white water machine. Am I. The primary tool was a model. I was a working model of water running in it. But David Taylor research center was very excited about the whole idea and they volunteered the use of a fabulous facility something called the circulating water chamber which was perfect. Tried testing single rocks in the current. They didn't do very well. Not the rock and roll. On there by themselves. When you start putting a bunch of them together and they all start acting together. And making water do what you want to do. We were surprised. If anything how accurate the model was take to call.

Up any trash. Now the U.S. team members had just come back from the new Olympic course over in Spain. They basically wanted to create a carbon copy. Of course that they're going to be racing on this summer in the Olympics. We ended up not creating a copy of the one biggest rapids on the Olympic course which was called Hulk Fox. And this rapid is probably the biggest one on our course. This is a low hollow hemisphere shape. Again on the wall either on a flat or sloping side. Once we've got our design that was the first step and that was in many ways almost the easiest step because then came the hard part which was transferring our design on the model up to the real thing. These guys were just a whirlwind that came in with a work crew of about 25 people and spent a total of 10 days manufacturing 75 boulders.

I think what was tricky was trying to create. A design for the boulders. That would not be. So big and heavy that the cranes would not be able to put them into the canal. This had never been done anywhere in the world before. Every other artificial course has built anywhere in the world has been built. Bone dry. John Fred and all of Pepco supervised the construction. I remember we broke this thing with water flowing well water never stop. In the pipeline. I've never seen. Two. Guys here I think they were all infected with the gold. We didn't. Read it this. Way we're. So much skeptical at first. But when the word Olympics is mentioned. Good things seem to happen and happen fast. Really had one mission and that was to sound the best. Prepared. Team of

all they ever seem to. Go on. Because. Of. Course. They. Get an idea. Anyway. Certainly is a tribute to John Anderson and Mr. Wilkinson because

it's almost exactly like you said. DICKERSON Whitewater's was made possible by Pepco. With the support of local contractors and businesses who generously contributed their time and skill in constructing this new world class. Someone once said that the whole thing will last. While. When the dog days of summer hit the big down the lazy Potomac offers little solace or inspiration. But if your sport is Whitewater the place to be is just a few miles upstream for a classic street that that's tough to beat be. Running with the big dogs at the Great Falls race. One of four in the adrenaline racing series. The Great Falls race is by far the shortest and the most intense.

With an average run time of seventy five seconds. The course drops. 55. Vertical feet. Ending in a spectacular plunge over the spout. A 22 foot waterfall. Running of the race or just running the falls is crucially dependent on water love. No actually I've never done the Great Falls where I run the fall. But. Once. The falls like. Well depends on the level. Fortunately I went down. A foot. Over the last 12 hours so I'm a lot happier about that than I would have been if it were 3.1. Works. I think that the hardest part is the spout just because the angles and the kind of tricky ness of the water a lot of people don't think that but I think the spout is the hardest part. Was.

The. 0.

0. 8. A. Good Boulder can make a Classic's run look easy. But a classics writer assesses a severe penalty for the smallest mistake. Oh. I. See. Looks. Like. But then there's Eric Jackson.

So coming out. No. I. Guess. He's about 26. Know. There were over 50 entrants and the Great Falls race this year. 37 of them ran the course in less than 80 seconds. 80 seconds. Of. Adrenaline. Early on that steamy Sunday morning. The Great Falls of the Potomac a formidable barrier to navigation

the up river traveler is confronted by an insurmountable wall of rock in the water. And for those who drift downstream to near the front line the bottom literally drops off as the river tumbles over 55 vertical feet in less than a quarter mile. Water cascading through a perplexing array of Rocky chutes of which very few lead anywhere. But today Whitewater enthusiasts have taken on the navigational challenge of the Great Falls and found it to be great fun. This year the annual Great Falls race introduced some new laws.

Tom McEwen was one of the early pioneers. The original right were all on the second of the fall that we call the Scout which is on the Virginia side. But this year the race is right out in the very middle of Great Falls. So there are rapids on the right and rapids on the left and there's a single line. The race consists of two big drops a 18 foot high waterfalls and then another 15 foot high waterfall. And then there's a couple of Little Rock in between. So it should all be over in about 60 seconds. The first rapid of. Gray from. The. Practical. Use. Makes you sick. You see what's at the bottom of it yes. This is really easy to say on the wrong ones.

We've got 28 racers signed up. They will probably have about 30 total biggest races in the past but that was. Kind of our goal this year is to tone it down a little bit and not make it seem like a mass event where we're going to attract. Or encourage people to race who probably should be out there practicing a little bit more ahead of time. That's something that only extremely experienced boaters should do and only after getting out there scouting they are studying the route because if you make. A wrong decision and you go down the wrong side out there. You won't make it. And. Run. A bunch of times. And yesterday I was out practicing. This middle line. So. I could do it this way yesterday. First drop is called grace under pressure and went into the top of it. I got. Flipped by that little corner of the top and in the pool above grace under pressure upside down. I rolled up just in time to go down and that. Drop. Right side up. Then the hole swam out of my boat my skirt popped and I left my boat but went down the falls. I swam really hard for a

rock and I got up on a rock and that was last night. Thank you everybody for coming out today I really appreciate everybody showing up especially you guys that drove a long way for

that. It's really great that you can comment participate. All right. Let's start with start with the kayaked and third place with a time of 52. Fifty two point forty six seconds is Kurt Braun left right. Third. Place. Good job done here. OK second place with a time of fifty one point 21 seconds. Number 12. Right. All. Right. Good job. Thank you. Clay came up all the way from North Carolina the Phillies how to do this. We both did OK in first place kayak with a time of forty eight point forty nine seconds. Number 28 Scott. Exactly. Right.

We've got some big races coming up here in England opting lending for the world to the world. All right. Her name is J.B.. She is among the most majestic sailing vessels to grace the Maia's River near St. Michael's. She has another name. The. New. Name that defies her state and appearance but hints at a heritage that reaches back to the first seven months on the Chesapeake. It began with Native Americans who lived on the waters of the Chesapeake in what is now Maryland and Virginia. The Indians made their canoes of a single log which was hollowed out with burning coal or hot stones called dug out canoes. These boats were quickly adopted by settlers who over time modified the designs by using European shipbuilding techniques. Settlers built their canoes of several logs pinned together and they powered the hybrid craft

by adding sails. You probably won't believe me when I tell you that this boat's made out of logs but it is this boat is comprised of five pine logs it's called a Chesapeake Bay log canoe that's called the Chesapeake Bay long canoe because they're indigenous to the bay and we find this particular type of a log canoe. Nowhere else in the world. When the Europeans first came to the bay they needed a way to get around. And what with all the large trees the fabrication of a boat like this was a practical thing. They cut down a tree and make a boat. And until recent times they have been been useful to the farmers and the people who lived on the bay for local transportation for carrying their farm products around. And lately we just race on this boat was billed as a racing boat. Her name is spirit of wind down. She's 27 feet long made of five logs all together with wood. There's only about 18 of them left sailing on the bay. Some of those boats are 100 years old or

more. We know that document a hundred years old or more you know who built them and we know where they were built. We know who owned them since. Bill Hamlin sails the oldest log canoe in the fleet. Her name is Sandy. Sandy is about 135 year old log canoe that. I acquired in 1955 from Captain boli Tyler at fishing creek near Thomas Point light. We traced her back 50 years before that to. Road River area and the male beach and she was known as the store Bilboa because the people that used to honor in those days would. Run up a store bill. And then the store owner would take her back for the store bill. And then of course he'd sell it to somebody else to get his money out of it. So there are few practical uses for a log in to the art of building one is very much alive. Sidney Dixon who felled the yellow pines for his spirit of white town in 1971 was the first to undertake construction of a log the

new since the 1940s. Now he's working on a second going to called a Brogan. It's a wider and longer log in New more like the sailing work boats of a century or more ago in designing and building is going to Dixon employs methods that the new builders in Maryland have used for generations. Now the Burgan has a boat maybe 40 feet long and as a dream I came up with something in my mind's eye that I thought would look like this. This isn't the first physical expression of the boat. I made two other three other models first but I said about this general design here. I've drawn the logs in on a bottom in India. To see where they would exactly fall I decided the breadth of the boat would be 13 feet. So if my logs required by 12 that calls for 13 of them after having made this model and settled on the form of it

I made a pattern model or a Boulder's model and you'll say it's only half a boat as we presume we're smart enough to make the other half like this one. Now instead of drawing the logs in here we've got them in separate pieces. So we take it apart like this. We make it part one at a time and then put it together. The scale of this model is three quarters of an inch to the foot so that a sixteenth of an inch on this model equals an inch on the real boat. This magic tool is the ads My favorite tool. So much fun to use some antique tool tools probably 100 years old or more it's been in service for 90 years that I know of because I know the men that owned it before I did the louvers Baltimore have records of their work. And it's a chisel really set crosswise to the handle with a little bit of

weight. You don't swing it like an axe if you let it. Go racing season typically begins on the Fourth of July weekend in St. Michael's. In the weeks leading up to the first race. There's more activity in the backyards along the river than there is on Main Street. Preparation is a necessity a ritual and a tradition. The mahogany deck and every area we like to get on three or four coats of varnish really for protection of the wood. Keep water out and the sun off the air. This boat was built in 1931 by great uncle John B. Harrison. I've been saying it for about eight years. The other two boats have their onboard and blossom. Are built by my great great grandfather Sid Covington. My great grandfather whose name was Sidney Covington was a canoe builder and man of many talents at Tillmans island and he built all canoes in the 18 hundreds. He built a series of so-called Island Bieber boats

Island bird Island blossom. I'll tell you the island bride. We have bird blossom but the other three are disappeared. So both boats had to have bars and sails and a fair amount of work as well. We have done a great deal to the halls particularly over the years particularly with preservation. We use a great deal of modern materials. Polyester epoxies fiberglass carbon fibers anything that will help strengthen and hold the boats together. They're subject to such enormous strains with the springboards. And one way of pacifying the other it's really miraculous that the holes hold together as well as they do the miles River Yacht Club is the Center for a lot of new racing and events are sanctioned by the Chesapeake Bay logs sailing the new association. A high performance boat. They really move very rapidly and it takes a well-coordinated and skilled crew to get the best out of them. If you don't get the best out of them they capsizes.

And you pay the penalty of having to take the boat apart in the water frequently fighting sea nettles as you go. That's a sporting enterprise. And. For displacement holes they go very very rapidly. And that's much of the thrill of sailing. Of course. Competition is sometimes serious when the day is done and the masts come down for the night. The crew of a second or third place boat can often be seen in conference trying to decide how to win the next time. Over long canoe racers celebrate together. First place on March. 10th. In his book Chesapeake Bay log news maritime historian M.V.

Brewington predicted the log goodnews demise. They lose knowing eyes and skilled hands brought the canoe to the height of its perfection. Are fast going the road. The sport of racing seems doomed. The year was 1937 and the growing gym would be glad to know that he was wrong. Marylanders have a rich love affair with the water. But that rich love affair with Maryland's waters can be consummated without spending a fortune. For. These nautical devices have been called everything from doughnut river riverboats to every man's yacht more commonly known as plain old inner tubes. It.

The. It's. The. The. Gun powder river. Or rowing the winding strip of liquid beauty kept alive by pretty boy Dan. Part of Baltimore City's water supply system. But this hardly looks like the innards of the big cities plumbing system.

This is a place of precious life. In these same waters where the tradition of tubing is carried on every summer and fall. Live the rainbow the brook and the brown. The noblest of names from the family of trout thing that makes this street special is that it is a. Stream that supports wild brown trout stream. Raised rainbow trout right near a metropolitan area and Eastern what we call the eastern megalopolis. I don't know of another place that has this much water this good quality water on public property in a pristine environment like this. This close to a major metropolitan area. These men are taking a count of trout in the gunpowder river. They pass a mild electrical field to the water which momentarily stuns fish. The fish is then called for measurement. This operation and others like it will become more prevalent throughout

the world. For as an ever growing human population moves in on nature every single fish every plant and every bit of natural life becomes more precious and must be accounted for. It's just comforting to know that with the hustle and bustle that we have in in the eastern seaboard that there are places like this where a person can go and find solitude and enjoy the beauty of nature. It's also very nice to be able to come out here and catch trout. Honest to goodness wild trout. Without having to drive. 500 miles or fly a thousand miles and spend huge sums of money it's really nice to know that this still exists only 20 30 minutes from downtown Baltimore. And as the human population expands it demands more and varied uses from whatever natural resources are left. There are other users of the river which one can only see by leaving one to.

A nonthreatening and seemingly non-threatening rock struggle shows its colors. And further up the band an evergreen from Reddy's sports to ensure more of its kind. And of course wild flowers. Mainly to be an active sport.

Just the gentle push of the water. Quietly taking you past scenes of green to your destination. Of course for some. Temptation to stay on the room is. Just too strong. It's so relaxing. So on wind. They feel compelled to go floating for ever. But sometimes you can take a good thing just a little too far. Flight Rauner. Part of Western Maryland storybook wilderness and the setting for the recent 1989 World canoe and kayak championships.

As the eyes of the sporting world focused on the powerful rivers of these Maryland mountains. Competitors from around the globe challenge the river gods for a chance to be world champion. It was a big drawing card for Garrard County. But day in and day out there's another Whitewater story here. Friends Ville Maryland population 650. The main street is practically the only street. Life here seems to drift leisurely by. Unlike the raging waters that made this tiny Appalachian town an unlikely Mecca. Thousands of river runners come from all over the country to run wild and scenic upper Yucca again. A beautiful and dangerous river that nobody takes for granted. Few know these turbulent waters like Phil Coleman and Rogers or bell. It was their rafting company which first learned the secrets of riding the mighty yock.

The continuous nature of the river is really what makes it difficult. Twenty rapids in a row very very continuous white water no let up once people get down in the big action here it's just almost five miles of non-stop action. They just can't believe one rapid after the next and. By the time they're done. This I mean I've got to do it again just so I can remember all the names. And there's no substitute for a good guy. That's the one thing precision wrathy really prides itself on as our safety record. And the fact that we do try to take every safety precaution possible we make sure we have well-trained qualified guides. We personally inspect each customer's life jacket to make sure it is. Buckled and adjusted properly. A lot of people get scared a lot of people get freaked out. A lot of people get bumps and bruises. Not so very long ago nobody thought it was even possible to run the property off.

Dave and Dan Damrey pretty much bridged the Dark Ages of upper yock. River running with modern times. They brought a lot of people down here a lot of people the way up the lot of people survived. Back in those days I used to say there's two ways to run the upright. One was to go on your own with your usual gang of boating buddies and plan on using losing a boat. Plan on hiking through the rattlesnake infested countryside or go down with the Demaree brothers. A lot of people thought the memories were crazy to run it but. A lot of people knew that the Demaree is where the people who are good enough to be able to get away with it back in those days. You just take one drop after the other and you Donald Trump plunge drop coins drop in some of these drops are fairly steep you have a series of. Four to. Say eight foot drops. Within. Maybe ten drops within 30 30 seconds. That doesn't give you much time to think or react. So your danger comes in is the speed of your movement.

You're going to. Run under or be trapped under law. This. Is upside down it's swimming out of your being swept under a boulder. Or just be physically beat up by the rocks and so. Demaree still lives on the river. He helped open up. And today he's a CEO though not your average one tiny friends Vail is home to his company which manufactures inflatable rafts used around the world. Our boats are bought by a large variety of people mostly river Outfitters who over run multi-day trips or even day trips locally here on the East Coast. Some of our customers from throughout the U.S.. Call run out of bounds. The. Store counts. We make most of the big motor rigs that are used in Grand Canyon and why friends ville. We don't have any stoplights. Everybody's friendly. It's right in a very very nice setting. Here in the mountains. Really find River right here. Just the place

to be. Everyone seems to agree especially the wind of a woman who runs the most popular restaurant in town. Proper. I've lived around friends all my life. I can't say enough good about it I just I like it. Small town atmosphere. Everyone knows everybody. Well we have a good mayor. We have the youngest mayor I think ever been elected. In the state of Maryland. And he's helpful. It's not unusual to see the Mayor Len Twila a hand from time to time. That's where we are today. Most Americans like to welcome the first motel in Maryland. A lot of people call the rafters. There's a tidal wave the rats are rapping bombs or something. But most of the people who are guides and who are who come down the river are educated people who are really the white collar worker. They love the rap. I'm telling you this is. I didn't make it back. They're all so wound up.

I mean they're just going on you now say that they have a good time how great this is the best we've ever done we've done them all over the world Colorado. Now. This is the best. Best river the ultimate rover is. Here. All Friends. Nearly everyone seems to live on the river off the river for the river. Or at least near the river having the ultimate River riding and good old friends Phil draws a top notch craftsman to town among them. Kayak builder Jess Whitmore and his high flying dog Bob. I sort of had to end up being here because I really love this river. It was so much more interesting and fun and challenging. But I came here so many times that all that I started moving here and then I found out that people wanted to buy boats that I was. Building for myself so I started building boats and I got an opportunity and I ended up getting votes or. Little more builds

an innovative kayak for an acrobatic form of paddling called Sport boating. What makes it interesting and fun is that it can. It can walk into underwater currents. And what's up to the the forest squirt that came along you were unable to tap into it. Now there's always people out there just. Experimenting and having fun checking out the underneath the water in the world of cod basically and they're going under water with these boats completely and then reappear downstream and they'll do cartwheels and enders and. All kinds of fun. Things. Right. Here we're. Cutting the waitress. Off Rogers girls race. I. Got a. Very strong. Very light sweet. Rogers Bell somehow finds time to raise wild water kayaks when he is running the river or the raft of

the warm water kayak is. A. Lot longer than your swan. Waterproofed seemed a lot more dangerous up here. To me because they don't turn as well. You can't stop them on a dime or Chechen Ettie right when you need to. Just a little bit. We've. Got to be ready for. I've had some of my. Heaviest action in Whitewater some. Last time actually had to walk out of the river. Because. I live. In one of the Big Rapids. Up and ended up. Losing my boat and hiking. So. They are a little bit more dangerous. If running the river is dangerous. Walking out from the canyon can be too dangerous for hazardous to difficult. If you an early spring. There's a lot of schools and the kids will make sure of it. It's really difficult if you want to know soon the snakes will. Have some problems too.

But tough going is nothing new to the folks around friends ville. Happy Jim Ross has a 70 year record of it stored in his memory. This area is so. Three or four crazy Swedes they came in here. And here in. Ground 17:15. And we had a pretty good bunch of Swedes. They weren't to researchers. We got a few bad and she know it was a custom in them days if you killed a man in a lumber camp friends very you move. Down into West Virginia and. You kept the law. They just went from one camp to the other. But I guess history is 25 percent facts. Twenty five percent guesswork and 50 percent lies. Frenzel is different to me because it was. Always described as a Dodge City. It was sort of a wild place where. When we

first started voting up here. Nobody. Would try to interact with a town. Everybody was sort of afraid of it. They. Run the river get in their cars and take off as quick as possible. But after that first year of voting we started meeting some of the local people. And. Taking out in the local tavern and found out that the people here were sort of wild and crazy just like the voters. Maybe it helps to be wild and crazy if you're going to run the river. The upper Yaki perhaps the ultimate outdoors Maryla experience. Western Maryland has a strong attraction for most city dwellers vistas filled with farmland forests mountains and tiny hamlets abound. All things seem possible. There they go to recharge near drained energies. Friends Ville just off Interstate 68 and tantalizingly close to deep creek seemingly retains a peace

and quiet associated with Norman Rockwell paintings. Man chat in front of the savage and patrons visit the S and S market. But looks can be deceiving. Intermingled with this placid tranquility is Chrisitian rafting a major provider of escape routes for sourly for city dwellers. My partner Phil and I had done a lot of trips in West Virginia where I was starting to get really crowded in the upper yock was new and still very exciting. Not too many people thought it was possible to Raptr commercially and. So that excitement and that challenge kind of brought me here. Well I think a lot of people get lost in the city an air conditioned offices and that kind of lifestyle. This is more out in the open you're dealing with Mother Nature and the forces of nature and. You get to. Experience people as they come out here and. Get away from it all. And. Sort of enjoyable to me to.

Help people sort of forget for a day. The way they live. I don't think I really like Bliley. You look like I've seen some fellow man. Well I try to be but maybe that's part of the reason why need to unwind every once in a while and certainly rafting as a good is a nice good adventure for me. I am done this Werber before last year we all three here did the Golly. It's a little more technical I guess narrower. So you have to do a little to be more precise with your. Steering far as the guides go. But this is something to look forward to you like to put your life in danger. I would say that your life is in danger. It just got to know what you're doing you have to have good guides if you do fall out of the raft and you can put your hand around the rope around the outside on your way out. If you guys happen to fall out of the boat the first thing I want you to

do is try to grab a red strap tightly with both hands hang on. Until I get over to you. Reach over and grab your arm to buy the top of the jack and. Your back up in. The boat. What we did was we did a news article a newspaper excerpt from the newspaper in the post we doctored it up for two of the people that were riding with us make it look like somebody had had an accident he wasn't sure he wanted to go in the first place and we saw the news article is even more scary. Than he got in the water in the first 20 feet you know 20 seconds on the water falls then. Please. Start 26 miles to go. The. That's.

When. You. Oh. Yes. I. To because guys. I heard a rumor that you. Could do. It because well. You know that's true. It's true. How did this happen if you were having such a wonderful time watching Frozen right hand side. My. Final. Thought. The first thing to do was to try and get up to the surface. Immediately. And then the next thing was to get my feet headed downstream. And by the time I did that there was a raft right there you know saying here we are here is the paddle. You know. And they will put me into. The ground.

And you are. An intelligent. Grown man. Would advise other people to come out here and subject themselves to this. But you know I'd say if you're in good physical condition and you want a good ride. Away from the tensions you're willing to loosen up a little bit to what your guide says when he says that I think you'll have a good ride. And if you don't know. Maybe we get killed. Not far from the sight of congressional gridlock just outside the beltway the Potomac River offers a convenient Whitewater playground.

For those in the know. The possibilities are endless. For those thinking of taking up a river sport area Outfitters can provide classes and equipment. Longer. Dave Brown teaches the fine art of cooperation. Tandem Whitewater.

All right. Big Draw strokin about sweeping the stern. Big drop in here drawstrings. Chris come on. They. Yes. Yeah. We on the Potomac River at a point in point called angler's and this is kind of the standard put in for all the people that live in the Washington area that like to come out after work on the weekend. What we've got behind us is a nice row of ducklings who are learning to become Whitewater palace. So when I watch and I lean backwards I push forward on the top half. Now this is I want you to kind of animate this a little bit because it will show to you how you can use your bodies if you use just your arms and paddling. You're going to get very very tired. Aimed at canoeists with little or no Whitewater experience. The day long classes start out on flatwater and move progressively into faster water and stronger current. I'm going to start out teaching the about several canoe strokes. I'd like to people people to

come across the hall. All right start normal. We're getting ready to do any. Kind of paddling stroke attitude. Reach across the canoe and the bow. Now make a circle toward the canoe. And we'll be nice and funny skills and drills like spinning the canoe in a circle around its center of rotation clockwise and counterclockwise. Because I want you to get some mental memory and muscle memory so you can understand and set the canoe up. So it will flow with the energy of the river. Draw right. Draw right. Look over here and a stern look where you want to go. OK sweeping this turn a little bit. Looking good. Very good. Doing pretty good on your first shot. Fantastic. OK let's. Very back. The water is pulling against you and of new calling against the water. And. Dead. Yes.

Got the water out paddle back out. OK. Big drops going. Strong over there they go. What we try to do is. These two. People. Now this. May seem like an odd thing to say but. People. In general need to learn how to work together. That's a lot for a lot of things happen. After spending the morning going through the basics down downstream for the first attempt at running around you want to go down the center of the first V and then line up. And go through the second thing. Is that the crater of somewhere. In the center. Between the end of the ledge or the Big Rock is where you want to start. All right here take out almost into being. All. Don't hold on.

As the day draws to a close the paddlers get to find out for themselves just how much they've learned. Or still have to learn. In a tandem canoe is a bit more. Like one or paddling and just dealing with what the river throws at you. Getting through a rocket is an exercise in cooperation. With a single goal. My. Skills. Well worth learning. Outdoors.

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