Paddler News Feed

 

•	Features
•	Hotline
•	Paddle People

< July August 2004
	Hotline
blurbs

The Mississippi River Challenge

Paddlesports pledge event raises funds for river conservation

Those looking to canoe or kayak a two-day, 44-mile journey, while contributing to river conservation, can do so Aug. 7-8 at the Mississippi River Challenge. "It's a rare opportunity for you to camp overnight in historic Fort Snelling, paddle the only gorge on the Mississippi, and negotiate the cavernous St. Anthony and Ford locks," says organizer Dennis Davidson.

Six or more paddlers can register as a team, and be considered for such prize categories as most creative team name, best team song, largest team and most successful fund-raising team. The journey goes from Coon Rapids Dam to Grey Cloud Island. At Fort Snelling, paddlers will be greeted by frontier soldiers and settlers and take part in an evening of music and revelry. Shuttles, snacks, meals and admission to Fort Snelling are included in the $30 registration fee. Premiums are available for those who reach $500 in cumulative pledge funds, and entrants reaching $100 in pledges can enter a drawing for a new Bell or Wenonah canoe. All pledge funds support Friends of the Mississippi River's work to protect the river in the Twin Cites region. Info: (651) 222-2193, www.mississippi-river-challenge.org.

Boats and Votes

With the Mississippi River as a backdrop, Paddle for the Presidency urges young people to dip a blade and vote

Though some people may want to paddle the candidates during this year’s highly contentious presidential election, a group of young adults are using their paddles to get their peers to the voting booths. Paddle for the Presidency, led by 23-year-old Coloradoan Doug Vilsack and five of his canoeing friends, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan voter-awareness campaign taking place this summer on the Mississippi River, the vein of several electoral swing states. In the effort, the group is canoeing the entire length of the Mississippi, inviting young voters to join them on the water and at campsites, where they’ll discuss politics and why it’s important for young Americans to vote. "It’s not about who wins the election but about having a say in who wins," Vilsack says. "We’re not advocating any candidate, only that people should take the time to choose their own candidate."

Vilsack and Co. launched the project last winter. As recent grads of Colorado Springs’ Colorado College, the friends wanted to stay in touch through canoeing, thus sparking the idea for the journey. Though Vilsack volunteered during the Iowa caucuses in February, few have serious political experience or aspirations; they just want to help young people get involved, pointing out that those aged 18-25 have the lowest voter turnout of any age group. So far, they’ve sent paddling invitations to every United States senator and representative, with some success. They got a response from Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, and former Democratic frontrunner Howard Dean said he would join them for a stretch. Of course, that could just be politics as usual. "We’re still waiting to see on that," Vilsack admits. As for President Bush, Vilsack is looking for a way to get an inside line to offer a personal invitation. The group is also corresponding with at least 4,000 people via e-mail, proof that the idea has caught on. "It’s wild," Vilsack says. "We get calls every day. It’s neat to see something like this catch hold and that there are other people who believe in that same thing you do." And who’s he voting for? "I don’t think that’d be a good idea to tell," he says with a laugh. Info: www.paddle4president.com.

—mh

Serving Youth

Disadvantaged youths have an advantage when it comes to paddling in New York this summer. On Aug. 5 the 44th Annual Youth Canoe Regatta on Harriman State Park’s Lake Sebago will draw more than 1,600 spectators and 900 campers and staff from 11 participating camps to a 32-event regatta.

Hosted by the American Canoe Association’s (ACA) Atlantic Division, local camps and Palisades Interstate Park Commission, the regatta features up to six heats per event, with paddlers racing in one-, two- and four-person canoes. Paddling a fleet of rag tag boats, the kids, aged 6 to 18, come adorned in camp colors, war paint, life jackets and a rich assortment of silly hats, making it hard tell boys from girls. What’s obvious, however, is their determination as they zigzag toward the finish. Despite collisions and swims, they persist to wild cheers from the shore. As the day heats up, jubilant paddlers "accidentally" tip over while officials try to keep the races on schedule. Volunteers in yellow scuppers work feverishly to fish capsized paddlers and craft out of the lake.

For the camps, the regatta is the highlight of the season. Some kids train throughout the summer for what is, for them, a highly competitive event. Other camps participate less seriously: Their kids arrive in camp several days before the race never having paddled a canoe in their lives. Both, however, enjoy the surroundings, competition and, more important, the chance to get wet.

The majority of the campers come from inner-city neighborhoods in Harlem, South Bronx, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and others in the New York metropolitan area. "Canoeing and kayaking kept me out of trouble and convinced me that there were better pursuits than gangs and drugs," says ACA regatta official Scott Greifenberger, who was introduced to the sport through the Sebago Canoe Club in Brooklyn. "This is my 14th year running the event and I’ve seen what a positive effect it has had on young people." Info: www.ACA-AtlanticDivision.org.

—Joe Glickman