Thrill Ride
By Sean Kelly
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, June 8, 2000; Page M01
Eric Jackson likes kayaking so much that he moved from a house in Bethesda to live in a recreational vehicle with his wife, two children and two Dalmatians so he can travel from one white-water competition to the next.
Jackson, 36, who grew up in Bethesda, is considered one of the nation's best white-water paddlers. Last weekend, he returned for one of his favorite competitions and entered most events in the Potomac Whitewater Festival, including the spectacular race down the powerful and dangerous rapids at Great Falls.
"It is very rare for a city as large as Washington, D.C., to have a white-water resource like the Potomac," said festival co-manager Drew Verdecchia, 28, of Brookmont, a neighborhood in Bethesda. "It offers everything from Class V and VI rapids and waterfalls to world-class slalom training grounds."
The annual white-water competition attracted 150 paddlers from across the United States and Canada. Some, like Jackson, are professionals who crisscross the country seeking the thrill of riding the rapids, while others are amateur weekend kayakers.
This year, steady spring rainfall has raised the river's water level so race coordinator, Paul Shelp, 36, of Kensington, decided that the section of river known as the Fishladder on the Maryland side of Great Falls would be the best course for the athletes. Only the very best among the festival's kayakers were allowed to compete on this narrow and dangerous run.
"This is the steepest white-water race in the United States," said Shelp. "It drops over 60 feet."
Jackson added, "The Great Falls white-water race is the best of the three extreme white-water races in the country because of the head-to-head competition." In the finals of that race, the three fastest paddlers race down the falls side by side.
The white-water competition is held every year to benefit American Whitewater, a national organization that has served as a conservation advocate for rivers nationwide since 1943. It hosts 25 white-water events throughout the country.
The event, held just a few miles up river from the White House has an international reputation. South African Steve Fisher, 24, who spent four years developing his professional paddling skills on the mighty Zambezi River in Zimbabwe, came to race against Jackson, his friend and nemesis and last year's champion.
The surging white water at the base of Great Falls is ideal for riding waves against the water's current facing upstream. But only the more experience paddlers entered the rough water for the wave riding competition.
"Wave surfing at Great Falls is a lot of fun," said Amy Gibson, 27, of Great Falls. "They are my favorite waves anywhere in the world. It's just an explosive ride."
Justin Vansagey, 19, who considers himself a beginner, headed out to practice for his first freestyle rodeo competition. "I've been kayaking for four years," said Vansagey, who is majoring in the Adventure Sports program at Garrett Community College near Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland. The competition is a "a cool event," he said.
Amy Brown, 22, perched on a rock to watch kayakers take practice runs for the Great Falls race, which she won two years ago. Brown, who grew up north of Baltimore, had surgery last winter to repair a separated shoulder. "I've dislocated my shoulder in four different countries kayaking," Brown said, joking that she began kayaking as an infant. "I'm paying my dues now."
Next to her sat Carter Hearn, 67, father of internationally renowned Olympic paddlers Davey and Cathy Hearn of Brookmont. Hearn has been paddling on the Potomac since the 1960s. He's paddled all the Potomac River rapids in the Washington area, except Great Falls.
"I've never paddled down them," he said. "And I don't intend to. I'm just here to watch."
When the Great Falls race began, the first person paddling down the Fishladder was Shelp. After going gracefully through the first rapid, he bounced wide to the left at the base of the falls and headed into the second rapid, which had part of a log jutting out over it. He ducked just in time but his boat hit a hidden rock and turned him upside down.
Several contestants had trouble making the turn into the second rapid. But it mattered little to Jackson and Fisher.
While Jackson dominated most of the festival's events, it was Fisher who prevailed this year down Great Falls.
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
