2008 Newsletter 01

Scouting and Venturing March 15, 2008 Volume 08, Issue 1

Letter From The Race Director

By Stephen Lynn ~ Crew 300

Inside this issue:

The Day the Sky Cracked Open

2

Memories From Arkansas

2

Practice, Practice, Practice 3 From the Eyes of Paul. D 3 Batesville Practice Race

4

Race Schedule

5

2008 Pre-Registration Form

6

Cross Word

6

List of Important Registration Forms Pre-Registration Local Tour Permit National Tour Permit Medical Form

Well, it’s that time again to start thinking about the race, and judging by the number of visits to our website, it appears that many of you already have. Our website which has been on-line for about a year, is approaching nearly 15,000 hits!

Of course we are hoping that it translates into many new teams for the 2008 race. It is our goal to reach 50 teams by 2010, but of achieve that a bit early. If you are a new team this year, please let us know you are coming in order to help us plan. Pre-registration is now open and you can save $5 per entrant if you register by July 1, 2008. The fee this year includes a race T-shirt.

By registering early, it will enable us to have the correct numbers and sizes of T-shirts and to plan our meals. A brief email from each of you would be a great!

last day and the sixth leg Saturday morning covers nearly 21 miles from Sylamore to Dam No. 3. This will be the longest leg of the race and may take slower aluminum teams over 3 hours. The seventh leg is 12 miles between Dam No. 3 and Dam No. 2. This leg has been skipped in the last few years due to construction of hydroelectric generators at the dams. The eighth leg is the final 8 miles from Dam No. 2 to Batesville. The point of all of this is to remind you that you have the option of adding a fifth or sixth paddler to your teams. My experience has been that four person teams (particularly novice teams) tire considerably when the 21 mile paddlers have to return and paddle again on the last 8 mile leg.

Fresh paddlers could help your team’s placing in the race considerably. This would The 2008 race will also apply to the first day return to the full 120 mile when there are also 3 legs. course. For those of you that As George Latus, the have never competed in the Race Host from Crew 320, full 120 mile race, please discussed earlier, we have keep in mind that the final several new awards for this third day is long! The river year’s race. Traveling current normally slows on the trophies will be awarded for

all Cruising and Aluminum class winner’s exc ept Beginner’s. Novice teams in the Aluminum classes are eligible for the traveling trophies if they have the shortest accumulative time for their class (example, Boy’s Aluminum Novice winners can win the Boy’s Aluminum Traveling Trophy if their time beats the winning Boy’s Aluminum team). A Traveling Trophy is kept by the winning team for one year. They are responsible for engraving the trophy with their team’s name and the winning year and returning it to the race.

If they are unable to attend the following year, it is their responsibility to ship the trophy to the Race Director or Race Host prior to the race.

We will also add an award for the winner of the Talent Show on Friday night, so plan ahead! We should have the performing stage back this year at Sylamore Creek Camp.

If you have any questions about the race, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

For more information please visit: http://www.whiterivercanoerace.com/

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White River Canoe Race

Volume 08, Issue 1

The Day the Sky Cracked Open

By Ashley P - Crew 320 Russellville AR I woke up at sunrise on the second day of the 120 mile White River canoe race. The morning air was thick with mist and the lingering wet scent of fire from the night before. I peered through the mesh window of the tent out toward the river. The water was completely covered with a blanket of fog, save the two or three inches of suspended air between them. It was flowing at a steady pace against the rocky bank and with little interruption of the glassy surface. Every once in a while, I would see a stick cruise by barely floating above the surface, faintly outlined in the shape of the fabled Loch Ness monster. I let the crisp morning air fill my lungs as I laid my head back down on my Lumberjack camping pillow and tried to go back to sleep, while the far off sound of thunder made low grumbling noises like that of an

angry dog.

At the race, the sky was almost as black as dusk and the mist on the water was still thick.

The dark clouds were packed tightly like stones, ready to fall at any moment. Bolts of lightning would occasionally illuminate our faces as we stared up while our stomachs would nervously voice our concern. “We will have the race,” one of the officials announced. “If the thunder comes less than five seconds apart pull your boat over and wait.” With clenched fingers, we cautiously eased our boat into the ice cold water. We both stood up to our knees with the White filling ever crevice of our shoes, staring out at what we could see of the river before us, until we could no longer feel.

The water seemed more brisk and there was a new wind out of the east that chapped our lips and found its way easily through the fabric of our T-shirts. Rain drops began to fall lightly around us. I watched them land on the

gunwales of the boat and race each other to the pool forming in the bottom around my red Teva sandals.

“Paddlers ready? 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BANG!” The starter pistol went off, muffling the shouts of the thunder for a moment. The flow of the river was disrupted by the sharp blades of our graphite paddles cutting just above the pebbled bottom. The smooth shaft of the paddle became slick in my grasp and rubbed blisters on my palms.

As we turned the bend, the clouds cracked and expelled a torrent of freezing rain. I could feel the drops as they landed on the top of my head and trickled their way down between my strands of hair onto my scalp.

The water flooded my eyes until everything was a misshapen blur.

My throat was raw from shouting, and felt as if I had just swallowed sand paper. The paddle grew heavier and heavier with each stroke and made my muscles cry for relief. My arms

were on fire, but my body was cold. An arctic breeze off the river shook me until my bones hurt. “We’re sinking,” Ruth yelled through the unce asing din. I stared through miasma eyes at where my feet had been resting in the bottom of the boat. The frigid water had been slowly inching up my legs and was now level with me knees making the sides of the boat almost level with the water. The river began to invade our boat over the gunwales like the Huns into China. Tornado sirens stabbed at our ears like the aggravated groan of fighting cats.

Then the sky began to stone us with hail as if we were biblical criminals. Each hit felt like bullets on my skin. I kept my head tucked low. The sky bellowed again as we rounded a swift turn.

Finally we spotted the iron bridge, a mere phantom in the mist. The world grew quiet, all I could hear was the violent pounding of my heart inside my

hard and extremely focused.

They had passed the Russellville team by finding some deeper water. They paddled 7 strokes each side and were sprinting the entire 7 mile course. When my partner and I crossed the finish line, we found out one of the Minnesota boys was in the ambulance. They had sprinted 7 miles in extreme heat and when they crossed the finish line in 1st place, they jumped into the ice cold water. After a few moments in the cold water one of the boys went into a minor state of shock.

Both the Minnesota and

Russellville team waited outside the ambulance for about half and hour. Despite all the competition, the Russellville team was extremely sportsmanlike and when he recovered everyone was there to greet him. For the Minnesota team, the best memories from Arkansas include not only paddling the race against some great competition but also spending time with the amazing people we met and competed with during the race.

Memories From Arkansas

By Kirsti H. Crew 2117, Duluth MN. The Minnesota boy’s team was extremely excited for some real competition at the Arkansas Canoe Race this past summer. Throughout the first few legs of the race, the Russellville boys team and the Minnesota boys team were neck and neck in overall time.

However, the Minnesota team fell far behind when they gouged a hole in the bottom of their boat and had to paddle/bail their boat for the last few miles on the

second day of the race. When it came to the last day of the race, the Minnesota team wanted to finish strong. Despite knowing they couldn’t win the overall race, they were determined to work their hardest till the end.

As a fellow paddler, my partner and I were about 1/3 of the way through the last leg when we heard the boys teams coming up behind us. Since the Russellville team was favored to win, it was a surprise to us when we saw the Minnesota team speeding past us.

They were breathing

For more information please visit: http://www.whiterivercanoerace.com/

White River Canoe Race

Volume 08, Issue 1

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Practice, Practice, Practice Emile F. so cold and clear, to stories Explorer Post 313–Bogulusa, LA about how we’d be camping for eight days straight and even Last year was my sixth something about a talent show. year to participate in the In retrospect, none of these Explorer/Venturer White River stories did the race its justice.

Canoe Race. Many things have As we have attended changed over those years, from numerous different races, I’ve the people participating in the heard paddlers say things like, race to the race course itself. At “My favorite part of the race is the same time, some things have the beginning and the end.” I never changed; competition has agree, that is, if I’m referring to always been fierce, participation my experiences at other canoe has steadily increased, and the races. The White River Canoe water has always been freezing Race is unique in that the cold. Born and raised in conditions are ideal for canoeing; Louisiana, my perspective of the the current is swift (at least on race is much different than that the first day of the race), the air of say a person from Arkansas; is cool, and the sights are differences in geology, climate, amazing. Growing up in and culture make this event a Louisiana, these paddling pleasant change from Louisiana conditions are unheard of. In for the week of the race. Over L ou isiana, the water is my six years, this race has given moving…that is moving slowly, me many great memories that the air is definitely not cool, and will never be forgotten. the sights are nowhere near as Looking back to my spectacular as the Ozark first year as an Explorer, there is Mountains. Besides the great one thing that really sticks out: paddling conditions, the race has the anticipation of a trip the always brought in great older members referred to as competition.

“Arkansas.” Being from LouisiEach year, my team has ana, we have never called the a motivational quote. One year, event the “White River Canoe our quote was “He is best who Race,” instead, we have always trains under the severest referred to the race as just conditions.” Even before that “Arkansas.” I’d hear story after year, our universally understood story about how the water was quote was “Practice, practice,

practice.” Rain or shine, we have always practiced five days a week. All of this hard work is done in preparation for the trip to Arkansas. Although we have other races throughout the summer and even have our own 110-mile marathon race in Louisiana, nothing has ever tested our skills learned in practice better than the White River Canoe Race. Paddlers from around the country, who have also been training all summer, come to the race to give you a run for your money.

While registering canoes the evening before the race, teams scope each other out, trying to figure out the winner before the race even starts. The reality is that the winner is undecided until the race is over. Penalties, damaged canoes, and flipped canoes all affect the outcome of the race and can even determine the winner of the race. After the race is over, and the trophies are handed out, it’s back to Louisiana to show our home towns what we have accomplished. Year after year, I have competed in this marathon and it has never grown old; every year has its ups and downs that make it unique from any other year. As I grow older, I have come to realize how much this

race means to me.

As a college student in the field of Engineering, there is much pressure to get a summer internship to better the chances of getting a desirable job later.

This past summer, I had an offer to work a summer internship in Austin, Texas. This decision was one of the hardest I’ve made in my life; I could either give up my canoeing team and take the internship, or stay at home and paddle another summer. After talking with family and friends, I came to my final verdict; I was going to paddle and make the trip to Arkansas again. I could just have easily taken the internship and worked all summer to improve my resume, but something told me that being there for my team was more important to my life at the time. We have our whole lives to work; experiences such as the White River Canoe Race are once in a lifetime chances to compete and have a tremendous amount of fun at the same time.

In my six years as a member of Bogalusa Explorer Post 313, “Arkansas” has never failed to be a great event with many people to meet, sights to see, and paddlers to race. I choose to live it while it lasts.

bodies would let them. The quick-change was successful and we finished the leg. It's moments like that we live for. We give up most of our summer to train for one race. Five days a week, rain or shine, we paddle on. We practice with that race in mind, and that's what keeps us going.

At the end of the race, we know

we have accomplished something. We know we did what we were trained to do and did the best we could. This race taught me that hard work pays off, and that's something I will never forget.

From the Eyes of Paul D.

By Paul D. and everyone was watching with Explorer Post 313–Bogulusa, LA anticipation. In a way I was nervous, but I knew what I had It was cold, the sun was to do. I had done it many times out and I couldn't be more before. I looked at my partner, ready. As I stood almost knee wondering if he had the same deep in the cold water of the feelings. Just when I thought I White River, I waited for our was going to die from suspense, team to come around the bend. our team had come around the It was the first day of the race, bend paddling as hard as their

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White River Canoe Race

Volume 08, Issue 1

Canoe Jokes Boat attendant: Come in canoe # 9, your time is up.

I repeat: come in canoe # 9, your time is up.

Canoe # 9 your time is up. Please come in!

For the last time, canoe # 9 will you ... ah ... canoe # 6, do you need assistance?

"This Photo by Bill Cains recently made the cover of Canoe News which also featured an article about the race. The teams are Minnesota front, Bogalusa left and Russellville middle"

Chris was walking through the countryside one day when he came to a deep, wide river with a very powerful current. As he looked around wandering how to cross he saw Ray on the other bank. He shouted over "Ray, how do I get to the other side". Ray looked up and down the river and shouted back "But Chris, you are on the other side!"

Batesville Practice Race

$5 Off Special Offer Pre-registration will begin January 1, 2008 to July 1, 2008. During this period teams will be allowed to register and get a $5 discount for each racer or advisor registered. After July 1, 2008 the discount will expire and you will have to pay the full entry fee of $35. The entry fee includes a T-shirt, four evening meals, and camping. This is quite a bargain these days!"

To register please visit our website at:

April 5th - Hosted by Independence County. This will be an 8 Mile Canoe Race from lock 2 to the Batesville Bridge on the White River. This is the same as the last leg of the National Invitational that we have in July.

Schedule

Contact Information

9:00am Registration at lock 2 (Locust Grove) about 8 miles west of Batesville.

George Latus Crew 320 Independence County 870.799.3690 arlatus1@yahoo.com

10:00am Race Begins

12:00pm Lunch and Awards Ceremony will be at the Edward House Pavilion. This is Entry Fee: $5.00 per person close to where we take out at the end of the Big Race.

www.whiterivercanoerace.com or call Stephen Lynn at (479) 885-1037

Online Registration registration.whiterivercanoerace.com

Online Registration: http://registration.whiterivercanoerace.com/

White River Canoe Race Official’s Addresses Race Director

Race Host

Stephen Lynn P.O. Box 99 London, AR 72847

George Latus P.O. Box 91 Sulphur Rock, AR 72579

(479) 885-1037

(870) 799-3690

Crew 300- Russellville, AR

Crew 320 - Batesville, AR

Email: ozarksjl@centurytel.net

Email: arlatus1@yahoo.com

Canoe Race Word Search Answers

If you would like to place an article in one of the upcoming newsletters. Please contact one of the Race Officials.

We’re on the Web! www.whiterivercanoerace.com Come and join us in one of the most unique, challenging, and fun scouting events in the country. The National Invitational White River Canoe Race will take you down some of the most scenic country in America. The race is an adventure of over a hundred miles from the heart of the Ozark Mountains near Bull Shoals Lake to the foothills of Batesville, Arkansas. The event is more than just a race though. There are many special activities for everyone.