Hotline Blurbs

Paddling for...Votes

As if campaigning from the back of a railway caboose had become passé, Democratic Senate candidate David Osterberg last year staged a Canoe Campaign across Iowa. Osterberg's campaign consisted of four "river journeys" across the state to highlight concerns for the environment, regulation and water quality. Along the way he pitched tax breaks and other incentives for property owners who practice environmental responsibility and sustainable agriculture techniques along the state's waterways, which could be "economic development engines," capable of drawing tourists from within and outside Iowa. "I've been struck by how different the water quality can be on one stretch of river," says Osterberg. The canoe campaign took him on stretches of the Big Sioux, Des Moines, Missouri, and Mississippi rivers, meeting with groups in cities along the way to discuss the environment, social security, the farm economy and regulation. Apparently his ideas-and paddling campaign-didn't hold much water with Iowa citizens. Osterberg was defeated by incumbent Charles Grassley in a landslide election. -ahb

Win a Raft Trip on the Wheel

Whitewater rafting in Idaho isn't the normal prize you'd expect from one of the longest running game shows in the country. But if you look closely, you'll see Whitewater Rafting on a Wheel of Fortune wedge-land there and you'll be whisked away to Riggins, Idaho, where you'll join Idaho Afloat for a trip on the Lower Salmon River. "They got our name because we were the first whitewater rafting company in Idaho on the Internet," says Idaho Afloat co-owner Jeanne Howard. The Wheel touts the trip as a $2,200 value, and picks up the tab for airfare and half of the company's expenses on the giveaway. Since joining the show's sponsor list in 1995, Idaho Afloat has been approached by The Dating and Newlywed games for similar promotions, but it has shied away. "We're a little unsure about the audience of those shows," says co-owner Bruce Howard. "We didn't know if those would be the people you'd actually want on a river trip." -ahb

Outdoor Filmmaker Drowns

Award-winning outdoor adventure filmmaker Lynn Clark, 35, of Forester Falls, Ontario, drowned while working and playing on the ice-choked Ottawa River earlier this year. Clark was kayaking an open stretch of rapids on the Ottawa near Beachburg, Ontario, and was preparing to film two other paddlers when she capsized, was trapped beneath the ice and drowned. "The world is going to miss Lynn's work," says Veronica Griner of Easley, S.C.'s Perception. "Fortunately for all of us, she left her mark on everyone she met and left behind enough reminders so she will never be forgotten."

Clark's work can be seen in a series of half-hour whitewater paddling shows on national networks in the U.S., Europe and South America. She was the recipient of a number of honors from the National Paddling Film Festival, Waterwalker International Paddling Film Festival and Banff International Festival of Mountain Films. She had recently returned from a month of filming in Chile. "She was a pretty incredible woman," says Ken Whiting, former Ottawa resident and current World Rodeo Champion. "She developed a lifestyle for herself in which she made a living and gained the respect of all who had seen her work. A lot of people would never consider trying many of the things she succeeded in doing." -ahb

Olympic Course Preview

If George Jetson were a kayaker, he would feel right at home on the new 2000 Olympic Whitewater Course under construction in Australia. Housed at the International Regatta Centre west of Sydney, the course is only the second slalom site in the world-joining Barcelona, Spain's La seu d' Urgell-to have a mechanical conveyer belt, connected by ponds at each end of the course, to ferry racers back to the start. "I think the competitors will really like it," says U.S. Canoe and Kayak Team spokesperson Lisa Fish. "They won't even have to get out of their boats-they can paddle right onto the conveyor and get shuttled back up." Upon completion, the course will fall 18 feet in its 975-foot length, and will be between 26-46 feet wide with artificial beaches. Course designers will place boulders to create race features. The icing on the artificial cake are six three-foot-diameter water pumps located adjacent to the tail pond that will re-circulate 565 cfs back to the head pond to create the course's current.

-For more information, including a virtual reality tour of the course, visit www.slalomsite.com/index.html. -Peter Stekel

Cussing Canoeist

Profanity and paddling don't usually mix. At least that's the feeling in Standish, Mich., where a sheriff's deputy recently ticketed local Timothy Boomer for using foul language after capsizing his canoe. According to Associated Press reports, Boomer was paddling his canoe on the Rifle River, and after upsetting the boat he upset a woman and her two children with a lash of profanities. An officer heard the commotion and ticketed Boomer under an 1897 Michigan law that prohibits cursing in front of women and children. A judge then upheld the archaic law, ordering Boomer to stand trial. Although Boomer's defense attorney William Street argued that the defendant was within his First Amendment rights, County Judge Allen C. Yenoir didn't buy it. "This cannot be what the framers of the Constitution and the First Amendment intended to protect," he told reporters. The case had not gone to court as of press time. -edb

Minneapolis Gets Preliminary Nod for Whitewater Park

When early Voyageurs passed through present-day Minneapolis, they were confronted with a 70-vertical-foot rapid. A group of whitewater enthusiasts hope to return it to its original glory, using it for paddling instead of portaging. The Mississippi Whitewater Park Development Corporation (MWPDC), which last year got Minnesota state legislature to appropriate $100,000 for a feasibility study headed by Ocoee Olympic course designer John Anderson, is going full steam ahead with plans to create a whitewater park at lower St. Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis. "I am fairly confident the study will say it's a good idea," says MWPDC chairman Bill Tilton. "Then all we'll have to do is raise the necessary funds." Tilton estimates the course will cost around $5 million to construct, and adds that the first step is to go to the table with the site's two landowners-a local power company and the University of Minnesota. "We hope to be on solid ground within the next couple of years," says Tilton. "It's an interesting case as it combines urban paddling with the reclamation of a river. After all, the area where we want to build the park used to be a giant rapid."

For more information, contact: MWPDC, 2220 Firstar Center, 101 East Fifth Street, St. Paul, MN 55101; (651) 224-7687. -edb

Fishermen Cause Slalom Switch

What do fish swimming upstream have in common with slalom racers vying for a berth on the next U.S. team? Apparently, not enough. Fishermen on Maryland's Savage River, the proposed site of the 1999 National Slalom Team Trials, had reservations about raising the water level enough to make a slalom course. Rightly so-the trials occur when the fish are spawning, and too much flow could spell a mass-kill. So, the fish were granted a stay of execution and Tennessee's Ocoee River landed what it considered a great catch. With last minute juggling, the Ocoee Whitewater Center hosted top paddlers from around the nation May 14-16 for the team trials. "We're finally reaping the rewards of being a world-class competition site," says 1996 Olympic Team Manager Lisa Jacobi. "Hosting the team trials means we have a shot at securing the 2000 Olympic Trials. And we are already the host site for the 2001 World Championships." -edb

No-Octane Regatta Welcomes Paddlers

Held every Father's Day since 1991, the No-Octane Regatta for Wooden Boats, held on New York's Blue Mountain Lake, welcomes all wooden boats propelled by person or wind. This year's event was no exception, with countless canoeists and sea kayakers paying homage to wooden craft of all shapes and sizes. Sponsored by the Adirondack Museum and the American Canoe Association, the Regatta mixes serious paddling competitions with recreational events like the hurry-scurry race, dump race and jousting competition-all of which are designed to help spectators and participants appreciate the uses and forms of wooden boats. "It's the only event of its kind where people can enjoy an early summer day in the Adirondacks and experience the beauty and joys of wooden boats," says museum public affairs director Ann Carroll. Toy boat building, guided tours of the museum, demonstrations and workshops, a life-sized Street Puppet Theater, children's workshops, a barbecue barn dance, and guideboat cruises are all part of Regatta Weekend. Info.: (518) 352-7311. -ahb

A True Boat Test

Sometimes the best feedback comes from the field. In a testament to boat durability that could never be duplicated in a testing facility, England's Guy Baker recently dropped his Pyranha Acro 275 kayak 1,000 feet into the Humbo Gorge while hiking into Peru's Colca Canyon. According to reports, the kayak slipped from the back of a pack mule and bounced down a 70-degree precipice of scree and rock. It took more than five hours to recover the boat from the gorge, with damage restricted to a few scrapes and two missing end caps. As fate would have it, the rescue and ding-test was in vain: the kayak-loaded with three days' supplies, a digital video camera and a sleeping bag-was lost two days later when Baker swam on a Class V section on the river. -Heather Gunn

Thinking Ahead

Those wondering when Montreal, Quebec's Riot Kayaks is planning to release its new Saiko kayak are advised to keep their helmets on. Marking one of the most foresighted production schedules in paddlesports history, company co-founder Corran Addison blanketed the market last fall with a press release announcing the debut date for the kayak to be 12:01 a.m., Jan. 1, 2000. "Can you think of a better way to define a new millennium than with the most radically advanced kayak ever conceived?" he asks. "The 20th century is not capable of handling it." -edb

Travel Discounts for Paddlers

If international expeditions and competitions have left you cash-poor, look into the new Fitness Travel Card (FTC) discount card which, among other things, offers a 50 percent discount on canoe and kayak passage on airlines for boat-toting paddlers. For a $74.95 annual fee, FTC members receive unlimited access to RacePlanner.com, the largest race information and registration website; members also can book travel reservations directly through the FTC Ticketing Desk. Continental, TWA and Delta airlines, as well as Alamo and Avis car rentals and over 10,000 hotels all provide additional benefits to paddling cardholders.

Visit www.fitnesstravel.com for more information. -ahb