The U.S. Women's Whitewater Rafting Team
United They Raft
By Anne Beman

If you look past their paddling backgrounds, the members of the U.S. Women's Whitewater Rafting Team seem an odd bunch. One's a sophomore at Cal State, one's a former crew rower, one's a former member of the military police, one's an avid sailor, one's a retired cook.

But for Kelley Kalafatich, Sue Norman, Julie Munger, Juliet Wiscombe, Brooke Winger and team captain Beth Rypins--the best women's rafting team in the world as decided last September at the Camel World Championships in Costa Rica--their pursuits off the river are secondary. It's the more than 100 years of paddling experience between them that sets the stage for their success.

"This is a dynamic team of women, with a lot of experience--and personality--between them," says Mark Joffe, director of the 1998 Sotar Cup National Rafting Championships and operations manager for the World Championships in Costa Rica. "They're definitely the best women's team out there."

Being the best, however, isn't easy--especially when each team member is used to calling her own shots. Putting six women accustomed to picking their own lines together in one boat could easily turn into a cat fight. But if those six unite as one, as is the case as the U.S. women's team, the results speak for themselves. The team has rallied for two consecutive world championships, one on Africa's Zambezi in 1997 and the most recent on Costa Rica's Rio Reventazon.

Their biggest advantage, the team readily admits, is their collective experience and ability to work as a team. "Everyone has something to contribute," says Rypins. "And what we lack in brute strength, we make up for with in technique and teamwork." That, says Joffe, is an understatement. "By winning at both Gore and Costa Rica--and at the Zambezi a year ago--the U.S. women have showed they are a step above all the other women's teams," he says. "They even beat a lot of the men's times by simply working as a team."

Still, it hasn't been easy. Ask any one of them what the hardest hurdle to overcome was, and the answer is learning to work together. "Our biggest problem is figuring out how to communicate with one another," says Wiscombe, who joined the team in 1997. Although their individual resumes fill reams of paper, their experiences as team players are minimal. "The most remarkable thing about this crew," says Norman, who won the National Slalom Championships in 1982, "is that it is building a team among women who are used to being leaders. It's one of the most challenging, enjoyable and sometimes frustrating things I've ever done. But it proves the whole can be greater than its parts."

Some of the team's parts have been together longer than others. The team has existed in one form or another since 1986 when Rypins and Munger founded a group called All WET (All Women's Exploratory Team), which quickly claimed first descents on California's Clavey, South Fork of the Stanislaus, and Upper South Fork of the American rivers. It also notched a first descent on the Boh River in Borneo. A 1989 version of the team, the Amazonkis, which included Munger, Kalafatich and Norman, raced in Russia's Chuya Rally, taking second twice against men's and co-ed teams.

Eight years later, four of the original team members were back at it, and their experience working together showed. But they weren't guaranteed a berth at the World Championships until they proved themselves; the team had to first win the National Championships in Colorado's Class V Gore Canyon. "That was real good training for us," says Kalafatich, who spent the first two training days, as well as the ride to Colorado, flat on her back, which she had injured wind-surfing. The team practiced with only five members the first two days, and had to quickly adjust from their roles as commercial guides to team players. "That was the hardest thing we've done as a team," says Munger, adding that the steep, rocky nature of the river was a far cry from the big water of Africa's Zambezi the previous year. "It was perhaps the hardest run we had ever raced together."

Naturally, not everything went according to plan. During training, Rypins swam three times in two days, which played into her psyche. "I'm not used to getting trashed," she says. "I'm a Class V guide, and usually not the swimming type. But once we got on the river and saw it was within our ability, I was able to relax."
Norman echoes the psychological difficulties the team had to overcome. "It was intense," she says, adding that sometimes people responded to their fear with anger. "Sometimes we would snap at one another, but we had to keep that in check." Eventually, the team relaxed and put together a solid training run the day before the race. During the race, they came together even more, keeping everyone in the boat and staying strong during all three disciplines--sprint, slalom and downriver. "That's the way it is with a lot of things," says Munger. "You're afraid of it until you understand it. Then you can let go of the fear."

Their teamwork prevailed, and the six ended up beating the other five women's teams and taking fifth out of the 12 men's teams--a strong enough showing to earn them a trip to the World Championships a month later in Costa Rica. And people were quick to applaud their efforts. "People recognize the amount of work we put in," says Norman. "When we get going, we're like a well-oiled machine. We've elevated ourselves so we have a unique technique and rhythm."

Costa Rica's Rio Reventazon was another story. The 1998 Camel Whitewater Challenge's course included complex Class IV-V rapids on the Catie and Peralta sections of the Reventazon, which was running big and brown from heavy rains.

The U.S. women out-paddled the Slovakia and U.K. women's teams without much contest, and they did well among the men in the slalom, taking 11th out of 18 ("We were psyched about that, but our goal was the top 10," says Rypins). The sprint was based on teams' finishes in the slalom, and the U.S. women started against three-time World Champions Slovenia. "We had no delusions about beating them," says Rypins, "We were psyched just to be starting with them."

The start for the downriver race was based on teams' standings overall. Racing in the third of four heats, the U.S. women got off line in the section's biggest rapid when three rafts ahead of them stalled out and forced them to change course. "We went into a monster hole that should have flipped us," says Kalafatich, adding that it washed Rypins and Wiscombe into the river. At day's end, the U.S. women finished 15th overall in the downriver race, beating one men's team.

In both the national and world championships, the U.S. women made good on their three-pronged goal: to spread the word about rafting as team sport; to inspire fellow women competitors; and to set a charge under the quickly growing sport. But their job is far from over. "There are a lot of places where raft racing is way ahead of us," says Glenn Lewman, owner of Grants Pass, Ore.'s Whitewater Manufacturing, which sponsors the national and world championships. "It's new in America. The sport needs a shot in the arm to enlighten folks about how fun it is, and the women's team is doing just that."

It was Lewman, a member of the board of directors for the International Rafting Federation, who petitioned to include women's events as part of the world championships. And he doesn't want to stop there. In 1998, organizers paid all the U.S. women's expenses except airfare; this year, he'd like to have them fully sponsored when the world championships head to Uganda's Nile.

Members of the U.S. women's team, naturally, would like that as well. And they realize they have something to give prospective sponsors. "We're a great marketing tool because of the increase in

popularity of women's sports," says Rypins. "That, combined with whitewater's growth, makes us a very visual vehicle for anyone who wants to use us as a billboard."

The Team

Beth Rypins, 35

Beth Rypins grew up in San Francisco and started kayaking at age 15 on the American River, where she later took a job as a cook at a local kayak school. She quickly learned she had more future in the latter than the former. "I made chicken one night and it turned out really bad so I threw it across the room," she says. "That's when someone said, 'I hope you turn out to be a better kayaker than you are a cook.'"

She has. Starting in a Hollowform, Rypins progressed to paddling a Mirage, Dancer, RPM and Vertigo. Now, as a member of Dagger's Team D, she gets to test the latest boats when she's not raft racing, guiding in Chile, expedition boating in South America, Canada or China, or hosting an outdoor TV show. "What I really love about river running, and kayaking, is that it's a vehicle for exploring new places," she says. "It's like being on this conveyor belt that makes it possible to see a remote canyon in Africa or an untraveled river in California. You get a different perspective on what the sport is."

Her greatest paddling experiences have been on expeditions, including Peru's Paucartambo and Colca Canyon, British Columbia's Stikine, and Africa's Zambezi. She admits she is no longer pushing the limits like she used to and is content enjoying international guiding and paddling. "When I was younger, I was driven to find my limitations," she says. "I created who I am, and confidence and self-esteem have come along with that."

Julie Munger, 36

"I like to know what can go wrong, plan for it, and deal with it," says Julie Munger, who has worked as a commercial guide since she was 18. "There's no fear once we push off from shore."

Munger was on the All WET team in 1986, and has guided in Russia, Nepal and Tibet. She teaches swiftwater rescue for Rescue 3, is a trip leader and guide on the Tatshenshini and Alsek rivers for Alaska Discovery Expeditions, and guides in the Grand Canyon for Arizona Raft Adventures (AZRA).

This experience has landed her in the guide seat position for the team. "But it's a team effort," she says. "I'm really just watching everyone." The team's four-point system, she adds, is key to their success. They use front and back positions, not merely one power point in the back. "That way, we make sure everyone's head is into it," she says. She's also the team cheerleader, making sure they're where they need to be in the river. If they're not, she'll bark out a command even though everyone already knows what the raft needs to do. "It really is magic when you have six people paddling toward the same goal," she says. "It's an example of how to work with something instead of controlling or overcoming it."

Kelley Kalafatich, 37

Kelley Kalafatich, whose paddling expertise helped land her a job as a double for Meryl Streep in The River Wild, started guiding on the South Fork of the American when she was 16. "I've been in the river business a long time," she says. Since then, she's kayaked, surf kayaked and guided rafts almost anywhere there's water. "I'm just trying to make a living sitting in a boat," she says.

After winning the World Championships, she returned to California's Napa Valley Marina, where she and partner Mark Kocina docked their home until sailing to Mexico for the winter. She has stuck to her career in paddling because of the people who work on the river, and because they are accepting and supportive of women. As for the U.S. women's team, she says, "When it works, it's wonderful. When it doesn't, we talk about it." She reiterates the challenges of putting six women used to being leaders into one boat and making them teammates, and agrees with the team's mission to promote and inspire raft racing. She offers an appended goal, as well. "Wherever we go--Africa, South America, Russia--there are environmental issues, whether it's a dam, animals in danger of extinction, or problems upstream. I'd like to focus on that by writing letters or doing whatever else can be done. The countries are asking us to do that."

Sue Norman, 41

Sue Norman learned to kayak 28 years ago in Kernville, Calif., from Tom Johnson. At 17, she began slalom racing, but went into the army on her 18th birthday to help pay for college. "I had hoped to train and race," she says. Instead, she was sent to Germany where she worked with the military police. She also taught kayaking for the Armed Forces' recreation center. After a three-year stint in the army, she taught kayaking in Colorado and reconnected with Cathy Hearn and John Lugbill, with whom she had competed earlier in life. She also saw "Fast and Clean," a video focusing on Lugbill and Hearn at the 1979 World Championships. "It was about those kids in D.C. who had worked really hard," she says, "and I had a flash that it could have been me. I said to myself: 'I wonder if I can do this. If so, I need to do it now.'" She went to D.C. and trained, and won the qualifying race for the World Championship slalom team. "My whole life turned around," she says. "I borrowed money from my dad, and went to Wales that year." She competed through 1986, winning the U.S. Nationals in '82.

For the Amazonkis, she was the kayaker, competing in downriver and rodeo events. "But we have Brooke do all that now because she's young and tireless," she says. Her role on the U.S. women's team was cemented in 1990 at the Project RAFT Championships on the Nantahala when their team, including Munger, Kalafatich and Arlene Burns, took second. "It happened when another woman and I discussed how to apply wildwater and slalom to raft racing," she says, adding that it introduced her to the team dynamic. "It's a neat feeling to do well in a team."

Juliet Wiscombe, 25

Juliet Wiscombe, 25, works as a second-grade school teacher in Oakland, Calif., but that doesn't dampen her background in rafting in the least. "My college roommate was a guide, and she convinced me to give it a go," she says. "So I went through guide school with Whitewater Voyages and started guiding during the summers." With six years guiding under her belt, she is now a manager for Whitewater Voyages and runs summer rafting camps for children age 12-17. But her real contribution to the team comes from her rowing background. A former crew rower in high school and at the University of California, Berkeley, Wiscombe draws inspiration from Norman and her other teammates. But she recognizes that with her background, she too can be inspirational. "We're almost like pioneers in that there haven't been many other women's teams," says Wiscombe, who joined the women's team for the 1997 World Championships on the Zambezi. "At Gore, a lot of teams got exposed to what raft-racing is really like. Every year after this, there will be more and better competition."

Brooke Winger, 21

"I learned a lot from the team," says Brooke Winger, a Cal State/Long Beach sophomore who is the number one ranked woman on the U.S. whitewater rodeo tour." It's weird being the youngest and the newbie, but this year is much better." Sponsored by Wave Sport since last spring, Winger learned to kayak with her brother Ethan on the American River with Tom Long's kids club. She started rafting in the spring of '97. "For me, it's not only unity with water, it's unity with the whole team," she says. "We're out there for a single goal. We learn from each other, and we learn from the water. That's something very few sports let you do." And, she concludes, "We all agree there's nothing better than being on the water all day."

--Next year's Camel International Whitewater Challenge will take place in Uganda on the White Nile in July, while the 2000 event will be on the Futaleufu next February. The 1999 rafting series will have three selection races (Ocoee River, Tenn., April 10-11; Kern River, Calif., April 24-25; and Clear Creek, Colo., June 4-6) and a National Championship on Colorado's Gore Canyon Aug. 21-22. Selections for the Uganda event will take place on the Kern, while the Gore Championship will determine who goes to Chile.