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< May/June 2001
	Hotline
Spring Deaths Haunt Kayak Community Grennan Guth perishes in Chile; Ed Owens passes away on Pigeon

With the deaths of three well-known paddlers in an eight-week span, spring 2001 is shaping up to be as daunting as the tragic summer of '97, in which five popular paddlers passed away paddling. The casualties started Jan. 16 with the death of California photographer Barry Tessman (see Frames, page 50). That was followed by the Feb. 1 death of North Carolina kayaker Ed Owens, a long-time fixture in the eastern paddling scene and a former employee of Perception. Owens perished after wet-exiting and swimming through a series of hydraulics on the Class IV-V Drys section of the Pigeon River. Lured to the Drys by a construction project that re-directed flows to the streambed, Owens was recirculated in one hydraulic before floating into another and finally getting rescued by onlookers who attempted CPR. "He'll be missed greatly," says friend Steve Jordan. "Everyone here is pretty shaken up about it."

The other tragedy occurred March 15 when Brennan Guth, owner of Missoula, Mont.'s Tarkio Kayak Adventures, died while kayaking a seldom-run, three-part Class V+ rapid on the Rio Palguin near Pucon, Chile. Paddling companion Eric Nies attempted to rescue him after Brennan became trapped in an undercut cave and likely became hypothermic before potentially trying a submerged exit. His body was recovered a day later. "It's another tragic loss for the boating community," says Dan Gavere, a long-time boating buddy of Brennan's. "He's an irreplaceable ambassador for the sport. Whether he was teaching, competing or just regular river running, he always made sure everyone was having a great time. I think he learned a lot of life's most valuable lessons from being on the river."