Editor's note: This report of a class held June 19-20 and 27-28, 1981, published in the Cruiser of July 1981, was recommended for re-publication by Keith Edmondson, who notes that in those days CCA volunteers led three whitewater courses each summer. John Thomson, a CCA Chair and well-known in the club for his writing, was an Asia analyst for the CIA when he wasn't on the river. He died in 1998 at the age of 77.
Forty six paddlers and twelve instructors took part in CCA's first whitewater course [of] 1981. This put 22 student boats and 9 instructor boats on the river most of the time.
Water levels between 3.5 and 3.7 [on the Potomac] for the two Saturday sessions were quite satisfactory, giving good experience in ferrying, eddy turns, peel-outs, upsets and recoveries. Most students swam at least once. Those who didn't should have. On Sunday, graduation day, the level on the Staircase was adequate but rather frustrating for many of the students. The two feet or four feet remedy—step out and pull off the rocks—had to be used too often.
The weather was ideal, if you discount the torrential rain which came down as we were taking out on the first Saturday. That day was cloudy, overcast—cool in the midst of our summer heat-wave. The second Saturday and Sunday were brilliantly clear. The sun baked us but the air was dry and refreshing.
Three moments of crisis occurred during the class:
On the Friday evening "The Uncalculated Risk" combined with strange terminology—"pry, draw, sweep, peel-out, etc."—convinced one couple that it would be wiser to take the Red Cross class as a refresher first.
On the second Saturday, Dick and Jean, playing around in Offutt Channel rapid (riffle?), became the filler in a canoe-and-rock sandwich—a reminder that accidents can happen to the best of us in the least challenging of places. Jean ended with a severely gashed left forefinger. First aid kits were available, even including an instant ice pack. We cleansed the wound, wrapped it in gauze—and Jean became a passive passenger the rest of the way down to Lock #10. At Suburban Hospital it turned out that she had broken bones in the finger, required numerous stitches and an extended splint. Nonetheless, Jean was right there on Sunday, sometimes paddling, sometimes a passenger, for the graduation exercises. You can't keep some people down.
The third crisis was dramatic—a useful demonstration—but by no means traumatic. A student boat (several instructor boats upset here), going too far to the left, was caught crosswise in the main chute of Bull Falls. Slowly but inevitably the canoe filled. The paddlers, after leaning hard downstream, were able to climb out onto the rocks. The canoe slowly, and reluctantly, began to twist out of shape as we struggled to free it. Then suddenly, as we freed it from the force of the water, the canoe snapped back into shape with only a minor dent in its heavy aluminum gunnel. It says a lot for the qualities of ABS canoes.
The instructors for this course were: OC-2 John Heidemann/John Thomson, Dick Bridge/Jean Goertner, Frank Daspit/Nell Hennessey; OC-1 Bob Yost, Kay Fulcomer, Roger Corbett and Walt Goodhue. Jo Culbertson and David McKelway instructed while teamed up with otherwise partnerless students. David missed the graduation exercises because of an extraneous crisis. He's a volunteer fireman and was detained fighting the fire at the Giant Foodstore at Wisconsin and Western.