perception" ONE WlTH WATER [ we started Perception" back in the '70s. ] SO IOU'LL UEtOERSTAEtO IF TIJlE EXACT OAlE IS A LITTLE FUZZI. WE WERE DOING A LOT OF THINGS BACK IN THE '70s, BUT WHAT WE WERE DOING MOST WAS PADDLING. WHICH IS iOW PERCEPTION GOT STARTED. WlTH A BUNCH OF PADDLERS WHO WERE WAY INTO KAYAKING AND WANTED TO 'ADDLE THE BEST BOATS IMAGINABLE. 23 YEARS LATER, WE'VE GROWN INTO THE WORLD'S LEADING MANUFACTURER - OF MODERN KAYAKS. WE'VE PADDLED MORE WATER, CREATED MORE INNOVATIONS AND INTRODUCED MORE PEOPLE TO THE SPORT OF KAYAKING THAN'ANY OTHER BOAT MAKER. YOU MIGHT SAY WE'VE COME A LONG WAY SINCE THE '70s. MAYBE. BUT THEN AGAIN, MAYBE NOT. FOR A COPY OF OUR NEW W99 CATALOG, GIVE US A CALL AT 1-800-59-KAYAK. 01999 Perception, Inc. www.kayaker.com Departments Letters ......................................7 Forum ...................................... 4 r Bloodshed and Irony by Bob Gedekoh Tackling the Big I by Dan Halsey Briefs .................................... 72 50 1 r South Yuba Gathering r 20th Ocoee Double Header Dreaming of a Whitewater r Book Review r Enter the 1999 MPFF Christmas r Russel Fork Results I by Whit Deschner 42 1 River Voices ................................... 66 r You've Gotta Run It Bored of Inquiry r Kayaking Sucks mhanKatz Conservation .................................. 14 A twentv-oneV Foot ]Rip in a r Director's Cut r 30th Anniversaw Wild & Scenic Rivers Act r Nisqually Whitewater Releases, Sixteen Foot Raft Welcome Back Boaters? / by A. ~cottDouglas 52 Safety .................................... 63 r Foot Entrapment and Swim Drills by Charlie Walbridge Access .................................. 21 r Your Contributions at Work r Yellowstone! Events .................................. 30 r AWA Events Central r 1999 Schedule oi River Evenls r NOWR 1998 Point Series Winners Cover Photo: Yellowstone photo by Rich Bowers Publication Title: American Whitewater Issue Date: JanuaryIFebruary 1999 Statement of Frequency: Published bi-monthly Authorized Organization's Name and Address: American Whitewater P.O. Box 636 Printed on Recycled Paper Margretville, NY 12455 American Whitewater January / February 1999 To make matters worse, I knew that if I messed up on the Moose it would be in avery public way. The Bottom Moose, like the Russell Fork, attracts large crowds of boat- ers who congregate at all of the major rapids to enjoy the carnage. If I screwed up on the Moose it would be all over rec.boats.paddle - with my luck even before the ambulance arrived! ast October, after years of procrastina- One of the disadvantages of editing this tion, I finally made the pilgrimage to magazine is that many of you assume that I I, the Adirondacks to paddle the Bottom am a really hot boater. Asad but undeniable Moose. For more than a decade I had dodged consequence of this is that many of you the Moose with a host of lame rationaliza- would love to see me take a thumping. Don't tions.. too long a drive.. too short a run.. deny it.. I know what mischief lurks in your too crowded.. too cold.. better water closer black hearts. (Well, I know what mischief to home. But in 1998 the cards were stacked lurks in my black heart, and I figure most of against me. My excuses weren't going to cut you aren't any nicer than me.) it anymore. First, my old friends Chris and The truth is I certainly am not a hot Carin Koll, who arrange the Moose releases boater; I'malukewarm boater at best. Those and host the festival, were getting justifiably of you who have seen me in action know this. testy because I never came to visit their play- "You should have been there! We had suc I take my share of river trashings and I often ground. Second, the mid-Atlantic was in the a great time. XXX (who lives on class tell about them in this column. But writing midst of a drought; there just wasn't any- water) slammed into a rock at Shurform ar about a spanking six months after the fact is where else to kayak. Finally, the hot dogs I knocked all the meat off his knuckles ar a lot different from making an ass of oneself boat with were starting to look at me with swam. YYY (who is better than me) got stuc in front of a hundred hooting yahoos. I don't arched eyebrows every time the Moose was in the hole at bottom of Fowlersville Fal mind shedding a little blood in the company mentioned. Word was that I was afraid of the and would probably have drowned if son of a few select friends, but not the entire East Bottom Moose. guy in a huge open boat hadn't crashed in Coast paddling community! There was more than a little truth to that him and knocked him out. ZZZ (who nev So, before I went to the Moose, I bought rumor. Over the years I had edited a lot of screws up) got knocked off line at Cryst a new helmet and PFD that I hoped no one articles about the Bottom Moose.. articles and fell sideways fifteen feet onto a big bo~ would recognize. And I double-checked to peppered with references to jagged undercut der pile. Boy, is he scuffed up. It was the be make sure my Blue Cross card was in my rocks, potentially lethal holes and difficult weekend ever!" crux moves on the brinks of fearsome water- Well, it sure sounded like a lot of fun!' falls. You know the old saw, "You need to go All of this made me a little skeptical. ( here, but the current carries you there." I course, I'd heard similar horror stories abol published reports of broken boats, a near lots of the rivers I paddle and it hadn't stoppc drowning and, years ago, a fatality. me. But something about the Moose mac My boating buddies didn't make it sound me uneasy. I had an eerie sense that if a whole lot more inviting. They would limp attempted the Bottom Moose I was going home from the Moose saying things like, screw up and get hurt. Call it apremonitio Editor: Bob Gedekoh, Box 228, R.D.#4, Elizabeth, Pa. 15037 Emeritus Editor: Chris Koll Contributing Editors: John Weld, Pope Barrow, Ambrose Tuscano, Bill Sedivy Art direction1Graphic designProduction: John K.Victor Contributing writers: Carla Garrison, Jonathan Katz, Ed Ditto, Lee Belknap, Joe Greiner, Mark White, Bruce Farrenkopf, Nathan Lewis, Brik Miller, John Foss, Paul Tefft, Howard Davidson Production Assistant: Richard and Teresa Augustin Advertising Director: Phyllis Horowitz, Box 636, Margaretville, New York 12455 (914) 586-2355 Safety Editor: Charlie Walbridge, 230 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422; Phone 215-646- 0157; fax 215-643-0668; email [email protected]. Conservation and Access Editors: Rich Bowers, Jason Robertson, John Gangemi,l430 FenwickLane, Silver Spring, MD, 20910 Phone (301) 589-9453 Fax (301) 589-6121, email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Missing Copies and Address Changes: Contact Phyllis Horowitz American W'hiteulater is printed by SPENCER WALKER PRESS, INC., Newark OH. All rights reserved. American White water January / February 1999 2 out of 3 medalists at the 1997 Rodeo wallet, just in case. I was resigned to my fate. World Championships What the hell, I figured, let the games begin. Well, I hate to disappoint you, but to make a long story short I paddled the Bot- were wearing tom Moose on Saturday and Sunday without a bit of trouble. On Saturday Chris Koll gave A me the deluxe tour. I was a bit anxious but Mountain Surf we scouted all of the rapids and I chose the conservative lines. Fowlersville and Agar Falls were a hoot. Shurform and Powerline were challenging, but fun. Knife's Edge looked a little iffy, but really wasn't that big a deal. (No, I didn't sneak it.) Crystal looked real iffy, but after I saw several floundering, out-of-control boaters survive the rapid in spite of themselves, I figured I could too. We had a great meal at the Koll home- stead on Saturday night and we cleaned the Bottom Moose Sunday morning in an hour and a half and started the long drive home. Of course, on both Saturday and Sunday, .. because they work! my hair dog buddies, Chuck, Jim and Joe, tackled Magilla, an ugly class Vfalls that lies just below the conventional Bottom Moose take out. It took one look at it and said, "Oh (301) 746-5389 no, Homey don't do this s...!" Besides, somebody with steady hands and nerves of steel had to hold the video camera. The boys paddled Magilla several times, but most ev- Made with pride in Friendsville, MD erybody else passed on it, so I didn't feel too wimpy. Incidentally, Magilla is named after Gorilla, a rapid on the North Carolina's Green, another river that I have avoided because of a "premonition." Now we come to the irony and bloodshed. Whitewater Dancer II The day after I got back to Pennsylvania This video has it all! Underwater my lawnmower threw a rock that whacked rolls, the 89 Worlds, Rodeos, Hot me on the foot. It hurt like hell but I didn't wave and hole surfing, Class V wive- , really think any serious damage had been outs, Tunes by world famous fiddlemadter\ done so I kept on cutting the grass. About PAPPA JOHN GREACH! HI-FI stereo 55 Min five minutes later I discovered that the side of my shoe was soaked with blood. The rock had punctured my shoe, gashed my skin and chipped one of the bones.