Whitewater Kayaker Crosses Lake Erie What do you do when you're a whitewater kayaker stuck on the banks of Lake Erie? If you're Steve DiCicco, 27, you do the obvious: you paddle across the waterway that sunk the Edmund Fitzgerald. "I live next to the lake and figured what the heck...I might as well paddle it," says DiCicco, who paddled solo across Lake Erie from Rondeau Harbor, Ontario, to Avon Lake, Ohio, in 29 hours last fall. A guide on West Virginia's Cheat and a volunteer kayak instructor for Red Cross, DiCicco trained for the trip by paddling on the lake two to three hours every evening for 10 weeks. "But that didn't help with the wind," he says, adding that next time he would take someone else along to combat boredom. "It was pretty demoralizing...I paddled against a 15-knot headwind the whole way." If anything, however, DiCicco says the trip provided insight into the world of sea kayaking (never mind that he sold his 16-foot sea kayak shortly thereafter). "It let me see what the sport was all about," he says. "But I'm definitely going back to paddling whitewater for a while." Estrada Goes Rafting Fans of the old TV series CHiPS can now see series star Erik Estrada on a raft instead of a motorcycle. In a new TV series called Petersen's American Adventurer (patterned after the successful format of American Adventurer), Estrada will be teamed with Laura McKenzie in bringing celebrity guest stars to exotic locales to participate in such activities as ballooning, parachuting, skiing and whitewater rafting--all of which will likely provide the star with just as much excitement as careening through the streets of Los Angeles.

--To order your own copy of this year's NOWR schedule ($5, plus $3 shipping), call (828) 645-5299.

Bagley submitted his request to the Stamp Advisory Committee of Canada Post in January 1994. Four years--and countless letters--later he found out the hard work paid off. He credits the success to monumental support from the canoeing community. Letters were sent to Canada Post from such parties as the Mason family, the Canadian Recreational Canoeing Association, the National Film Board of Canada, the World Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, the Canadian Heritage Rivers System, the Professional Paddlesports Association and American Rivers. "It wouldn't have happened without all their support," says Bagley. "It just goes to show how much Mason meant to Canadian canoeing."

A canoeist, environmentalist, artist, film maker, photographer and public speaker, Mason was born in 1929 and passed away Oct. 29, 1988. His legacy of books, films and paintings, however, continue to embody the wilderness canoeing experience. His books include Path of the Paddle and Song of the Paddle; artworks include Algonquin Mist, Wilberforce Falls, Mist on the Petawawa, Confluence on Little Nahanni and Campfire on the Pukaskwa; and films include Path of the Paddle, Song of the Paddle, WaterWalker, Paddle to the Sea, Wilderness Treasure, Quiet Water, and Rise and Fall of The Great Lakes. And even after his death, Mason's spirit continues through the WaterWalker Film and Video Festival, a collection of water-related films shown every two years. As an additional tribute to Mason, the Bill Mason Memorial Scholarship Fund was established to help support Canadian university students planning careers in outdoor education and environmental studies.

"Canada Post listened to the feelings of Canadian paddlers," says Bagley, adding that the stamp will be released this August. "It's the least we can do for someone who means so much to Canadian canoeing."

--For more information, contact: Tom Reynolds, Program Development, Canada Post Stamps Products, 2701 Riverside Dr., Ste. N0421, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0B1.

Eastern Rivers Brewing recently introduced three varieties of microbrew named after local waterways: Ocoee Amber, Chattooga Porter and Pigeon River Brown. The Ocoee and Chattooga namesakes are being bottled and are regionally available in six-packs, and all three varieties are rotated on taps at brew pubs throughout Tennessee and North Carolina. Although paddlers aren't necessarily known for their discriminating taste when it comes to such libations, it is clear they are happy with the results. "It's great," says one post-paddle imbiber. "And it helps save rivers, too."

Last year, in conjunction with the American Canoe Association (ACA), Eastern Rivers launched the Pigeon River Rescue Fund to help end the pollution problems plaguing Tennessee's Pigeon River. Eastern Rivers Brewing donates a portion of its profits to the fund and solicits donations on packaging labels. In a more tongue-in-cheek environmental campaign, the brewery launched its Pigeon River Brown Ale to raise awareness about pollution discharged into the river by the Champion International paper mill. "Eastern Rivers Brewing came out of a deep appreciation for rivers," says brewery co-founder Thomas Mann, who got the idea for the brew while working as a river guide on the Ocoee. "They were our inspiration. The Pigeon River Rescue Fund is a way for us to give something back." The guerilla marketing appears to be working. When Pigeon River Brown was introduced at a Knoxville, Tenn., brew pub, local press noticed the indirect jab it took at the Pigeon's main polluter. The front-page headline in the Canton, N.C., newspaper--home of Champion International--read "Canton Residents Not Amused by Pigeon River Ale." While there are other beers named after rivers, and some that even feature canoes or kayaks on the label, Eastern Rivers Brewing represents a first with its origins rooted in paddlesport. And if nothing else, since drinking its products helps protect Eastern waterweays, it gives paddlers yet another reason to celebrate (in moderation, of course) after a day on the river.

--For more information on the Pigeon River Rescue Fund, call Eastern Rivers at (423) 344-0751 or the ACA at (703) 451-0141.

--dj