Why Whitewater Courses (Part 1): What, me? Whitewater?

Articles, White Water Courses

By John Davis, President, C6K, Inc.

Poised on the edge of whitewater at Reno’s Truckee Park.

You’re sitting in a raft with 5 other intrepid souls paddling towards an ever increasing roar. You feel the air cool; you notice a change in the water from still to nervous. You look downriver and see just the tips of boiling whitecaps below a definite horizon on the water’s surface that does not look quite right. As you approach the ominous horizon on the water, you realize that you are about to careen over the top of a drop in the river and hurtle down into a cauldron of whitewater and waves.

Aproaching the horizon of a drop into a thrilling whitewate experience…

You brace yourself as the guide you have entrusted your life to barks out orders;” left back, right forward! right back, left forward!” you look over the top and down into a hole of water you could park your minivan in, then – “All forward! Dig! Dig! Dig!” The raft makes a controlled tumble into the hole of water and then blasts through the top of the wave as the guide continues to exhort the crew to “Dig! Dig!” It seems that as soon as it starts, it’s all over, as your guide says “all stop, relax.” Everyone is safe, hearts are pounding, and smiles are on every face.

Your engaged in a controlled tumble into a hole of water and about to blast through the top of the wave.

As the guide turns the raft upriver, you have a chance to look at what you and your team have just faced and conquered. You think to yourself; what a wild river, what a ride! Then you remember, you’re not on some wild natural river, you’re on a man made whitewater course. You could be anywhere, in the middle of a city, in the suburbs, in a resort – ANYWHERE! You say, almost out loud, to yourself “This is so cool! I’m minutes from home! I didn’t have to drive five hours! – Wonder where I can go with this?”

You could be anywhere, in the middle of a city, in the suburbs, in a resort – ANYWHERE! You could even be in Reno Truckee Park.

The excitement and joy possible at a whitewater park is not a new or novel idea, neither is the idea and methodologies of building whitewater parks. As early as 1972 a whitewater park was constructed in Augsburg, Germany to serve as the whitewater paddling venue for the ’72 Olympics. This course is an “in-stream” modification. The course has remained open to the public since the close of the Olympic games.

In 1972 the first whitewater park was constructed in Augsburg, Germany.

Since the ’72 Olympics, other cities have opted to build whitewater parks in lieu of locating suitable natural venues to support the whitewater paddling events. Barcelona, Sidney, Athens and Beijing have all chosen to construct man made waterways to support the events. These courses are constructed in concert with an existing natural waterway or have been entirely recirculating.

Whitewater courses are constructed in concert with an existing natural waterway or are entirely recirculating.

Atlanta constructed a course for the Olympic Games, but opted for an in-stream conversion on the Ocoee River in Tennessee. In-stream conversions may mean modifying the natural river channel and adding whitewater features or constructing an entirely new channel and rerouting the river. In-stream modifications may be extremely cost effective to construct but are very difficult to maintain.

Raging Ocoee River Whitewater…

Construction of whitewater parks is not relegated to just Olympic competitions. There have been many in-stream modifications in locales such as Aspen and Denver, Colorado and Reno, Nevada. Recently two new completely man-made or artificial parks were built and opened for paddlers. ASCI in Wisp, Maryland (co-located with a ski facility) and the NWC outside of Charlotte, North Carolina both opened their head dams in the last several months. All of these parks have been built as a public work or a privately/publicly funded public work. The commercial viability of these parks is positive in varying degrees. However, the benefits of artificial whitewater parks are numerous.

Whitewater Kayak Rodeo, Kendall Camp Wisp Resort Deep Creek Lake Maryland Whitewater

The Denver, Aspen and Reno parks, all in-stream modifications, built their parks with mostly the same goals in mind. A whitewater park gives paddlers local access to whitewater activities, reclaims or enhances existing parks, creates new business revenues in concert with the park and increases tourism, which benefits existing businesses. Reno had realized a tremendous revenue benefit even with their very short paddling season. The parks at Wisp and Charlotte, while having many of the same goals in mind, also recognized the stake in providing suitable venues for Olympic style competitions and training, and co-locating other adventure sport activities such as hiking, skiing, climbing and mountain biking.

Whitewater rafting - Tully River - Australia…

Besides the obvious benefits of location, activities, training and revenue generation, there are many more useful applications and benefits. The goals of C6K are not only to take advantage of the opportunities other communities and locations have realized from a whitewater park, but to also capitalize on other applications and provide services for community organizations. Whitewater parks are suitable for any urban or resort area. Parks can enhance a resort area with a unique and exciting alternative year-round activity. An urban park can provide the same benefits in any city and provide the community with a resource for many programs. The possibilities are too numerous to get into this time around. We will get back to that in another installment.

admin @ October 31, 2008