Former Olympian's Book on Canoeing Wins National Award
By Karen Chavez, Staff writer
Citizen-Times.com
Nov. 27, 2003
photo: Special to the Citizen-Times
Wayne Dickert, instruction manager
with the Nantahala Outdoor Center
in Wesser, NC canoes through
Nantahala Falls earlier this year.
WESSER - Wayne "Wayner" Dickert remembers walking into a stadium full of flashbulbs, like millions of fireflies before his eyes.
With a miniature American flag held high, he waved and walked with a goofy smile. It was the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and Dickert was representing his country as a whitewater canoeist.
"It was almost surreal. You just look out and you're kind of speechless," said Dickert, 44, head of canoe and kayak instruction at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. "I was completely clueless of anything going on around me."
So clueless, that later when friends sent him videotapes of the opening ceremonies, Dickert didn't realize he was walking right alongside runner Carl Lewis.
The whole event was like sleepwalking. Dickert and his tandem canoe teammate, Horace Holden Jr., were the hometown team. Alternates for the 1992 Olympic Team, they finally made the '96 team cutoff with an amazing come-from-behind race at the Olympic Team Trials, then finished ninth at the Olympics on the Ocoee River course in Tennessee. It was good enough for Dickert, who has been blessed a second time around this month with national attention. This time, he handled it with more composure.
On Nov. 6, he and co-author Jon Rounds got word that their book, "Basic Canoeing: All the Skills and Tools You Need to Get Started," won the National Outdoor Book Award in the instructional category.
It might not be the Pulitzer or come with a cash prize and a stand on a podium, but in the growing world of outdoor writing and publishing, the NOBA is the equivalent of Olympic gold.
"Within the industry, it's prestigious," said Rounds, 57, a professor of English at Harrisburg Area Community College in Lancaster, Pa. "From a marketing standpoint, it should give us a bump in sales. It gives you a little bit of clout."
What is a NOBA?
The National Outdoor Book Awards, which gave out the first awards in 1997, is the highest honor in the outdoors publishing world. It is a nonprofit, educational program, sponsored by the NOBA Foundation, Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education and Idaho State University.
The purpose of the awards, which were announced earlier this month in Orem, Utah, is to recognize and encourage outstanding writing and publishing in nine categories: history, literature, children, nature, instructional, adventure guidebook, nature guidebook, design and outdoor classic.
"We're not related to the National Book Awards (which were announced last week), but we're quite similar," said Ron Watters, chairman of NOBA, which is based in Pocatello, Idaho. "There's a lot of excellent writing going on in the outdoor field and there's been a need for a means of recognizing this writing."
Watters said the winners are chosen by a panel of judges consisting of educators, academics, book reviewers, authors, editors and outdoor columnists from across the country who have no connection to any publisher.
In the case of the instructional book category, Watters said, judges are looking at six criteria, including: overall impression, interest and content, writing, graphics, design and mechanics.
In "Basic Canoeing," it was the easy to understand graphics that clinched the winning spot, he said.
"A book that has good graphics really helps. This book had good graphics and good illustrations, and that combination did a very good job of helping readers understand how to follow the instructions."
The book is a basic how-to, from the fundamentals of paddle strokes to picking a boat and how to portage. Dickert, who served as the technical consultant, calls it "the comic book style."
"A lot of guide books have a photo or two and a bunch of text," he said. "This book has sequential photos that lead you through progressions of what we're talking about and include little tips that tell you what to do."
Dickert served as the model for the photos, demonstrating correct strokes and body positions. The visual format sets it apart, he said, and makes it more like watching a video. But it's something that you can take with you in the boat and refer to as you paddle, or display at home on the coffee table.
Paddler turned author
Sitting in the NOC Outfitter Store - where his book sits on display for sale - on the banks of the rushing Nantahala River, Dickert admitted he didn't even know about the NOBA before his book was published this past spring. The book itself came to him by accident.
Rounds, an established writer and writing instructor, was working on a canoeing book. Not knowing much more about the sport than it includes a boat and a paddle, he decided to look up an expert. So he called NOC.
"It is the mecca for paddling in the country, and probably beyond," Rounds said of the outdoor outfitter and instructional school. "I didn't know Wayne, but he was the perfect guy. If you've ever canoed any distance, the wrong way, you sure appreciate good technique. You just watch Wayne for five minutes and you learn so much."
Dickert not only looks good in a boat, he came complete with hefty credentials. He paddling canoes and kayaks for about 27 years.
Wayne Dickert has been appointed head of canoe and kayak instruction at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in Wesser. He is a former Olympic paddler and has had extensive experience in the whitewater sports world. He grew up near Cleveland, Tenn., and first started paddling at age 18. He began racing when he was 22, and after college went to work for USA Canoe and Kayak, the governing body of paddling sports, when he moved with the Army to Washington D.C. After three years, he moved back to paddle on the Ocoee River and then joined NOC as an instructor in 1988.
After his Olympics stint, Dickert served as slalom development director for the U.S. Canoe and Kayak Team from 1996-1999 and now sits on the board of the Nantahala Racing Club.
He is now working with Rounds on their next book, an instructional kayaking guide. While Rounds was the lead writer on "Basic Canoeing," he said he's sure Dickert's input clinched the NOBA win.
"He's a huge part of it," Rounds said. "He's got perfect form, but what sets him apart is he's also a teacher. He brings all that experience, plus he's a very patient guy. There's no way you could write a good book on canoeing without Wayne. In my opinion, he's the best."
