Book review

Rebecca Lawton is an author and natural scientist whose passion is exploring and writing about the natural West, according to her Web site. In her book Reading Water, Lessons from the River, she shares her experience boating and guiding on western rivers including Idaho’s Selway and Salmon Rivers, the Yampa in Colorado, the Green River in Utah and Colorado, and California’s Stanislaus before construction of the New Melones the late 1970’s. She writes about her first river trip in 1972 and how she was taken by the beauty of the canyons sloping to the river. She was one of the first female raft guides on the Grand Canyon section of the Colorado River.

Lawton’s descriptions of the western rivers and wild areas describe a world very different compared to my familiar southeastern rivers. Her vivid descriptions of eddy fences that guard swirling back currents refusing to let large rafts out are few and far between on the rivers that I frequent. Lawton’s descriptions of eddies covers a full chapter and includes:

On the Colorado, eddies reign supreme. They’re fierce, enormous, greedy—they could suck the Queen Elizabeth off course. Currents on their eddy fences boil so high, you need a stepladder to see over them.[…]once you’ve bagged an eddy— or it has bagged you—you’re said to be eddied out.

Her story includes how she began her professional guiding career by showing up “uninvited to spring training in California.” Lawton describes the swollen spring river as a “beast gone mad” with waves that “rise to the sky like unmapped mountains.” She handled the oars of her raft as well as the male veterans; however, she was not hired for that first season. Lawton was determined to work on a river and hitchhiked to Utah to guide on the Green and Yampa Rivers.

Lawton attended the University of Utah, studying geology and natural history. The book contains her insights into the geomorphology of the land and river systems. She writes about reading the water and follow the thalwaeg, or line of maximum depth and current as it meanders down the river. “Let the river pull you to the best channel. In flat water it will carry a boat downstream faster than rowing. In rapids, it will find a way between boulders or through the deepest safest channel nine times out of ten.”

Her paddling stories are interspersed personal stories. Not sure why Lawton included stories that have nothing to do with rivers, I soon realized that we all come to the river for different reason influenced by our personal stories.

Reading Water is much more than a series of trip reports and river reading tips. Lawton weaves stories around her love for rivers and the outdoors. I came away from reading the book with a deeper appreciation of river systems and protecting what is left of our free flowing rivers. When I am on the river I look at it somewhat differently now. I look for the thalweg and deeply appreciate the free flowing water.

by Mark Holmberg
From The Eddy Line, November/December 2009

The Complete Whitewater Rafter. Jeff Bennett. Ragged Mountain Press. Camden, ME, 1966. ISBN 0-07-05505-x. 196 pages, well illustrated. $15.95. Available through NOC.

Whoa! The Hawk reviewing a book on white water rafting? Que Pasa? Rafting is even lower than kayaking. Well, I was finally completely responsible for all aspects of raft support on this summer's expedition to Hell's Canyon, so I figured maybe a source book would be a good idea. I searched through all the raft books at the NOC store and settled on The Complete Whitewater Rafter.

I wasn't disappointed, and if you're thinking of rafting, it's a must! Indeed, if you are interested in almost any aspect of white water boating you should at least look this book over. It includes the best fully illustrated description of river morphology and dynamics that I have encountered (with the possible exception of William Nealy's Kayak).

Jeff Bennett has been doing rivers in North and Central America as a guide, white water instructor, international racer and professional photographer since the early 1970s. He has co-authored several other books, including Class Five Chronicles. The Complete Whitewater Rafter is the culmination of his river experiences and the progeny of his previous book, Rafting!. Although sole author, he envisions The Complete Whitewater Rafter as the culmination of a river-running evolution that has been ongoing for the last half century. He has borrowed tips and techniques from contemporary instructors and classic technique textbooks.

Bennett characterizes this book as a complete course in river running. For those who raft, the book has it all, beginning with a chapter on the Evolution of Rafting: From Powell to Paddle Cats and ending with a chapter that covers becoming a professional guide, white water photography, rafting for the physically challenged and rafting with children.

I primarily bought the book to get tips on oar rigging, and everything was there, including all existing boat, frame, and oar designs. The chapter on gear maintenance and repairs was first rate and complete (it even included material on maintaining wet suits, dry suits, lifejackets, and pumps). For those with interests in paddle rafts, the book covers all the strokes, and more importantly, has an entire chapter on Paddle Captaining: The Art of Whitewater Choreography. Several major rafting companies include this as mandatory reading for guide certification.

Finally, the book has several chapters on multi-day trips, which review packing and carrying gear, river camping and cooking, and river exploration. This material is applicable to anyone who is contemplating a multi-day trip (whether raft supported or not).

If you are not particularly interested in rafting, check out the book for the information in chapters 5, 8, and 10. Chapter 5 - River Morphology: The Dynamics of Running Water looks beneath the surface at river mechanics, laminar flow, turbulent flows, chaos, helical currents, and meanders and relates all this to tongues, upstream Vs, standing waves, diagonal waves, haystacks, breaking waves and stoppers, pillows, undercuts, rooster tails, boils and holes. It's really well written and excellently illustrated. I will probably scan in some of the illustrations and make slides to use in lectures for paddling classes.

Chapter 8 covers running rapids in oar rigs and paddle rafts, but the information is equally applicable to hard boats. Again, the illustrations and suggestions on tactical approaches to rapids are excellent. Finally, chapter 10 - Rafting on the Cutting Edge discusses class V rafting, including boulders and slots, waterfalls, high water techniques, and even steep creeking. I hadn't even imagined creeking in a raft, but it is done. I have a whole garage full of hard boats for every possible use. This book has made be consider getting an R-2 for this year's creek season.

by William C. Reeves (The Hawk)
From The Eddy Line, August 1996

Book Review: Sea Kayak Rescue: The definitive guide to modern reentry
and recovery techniques, by Roger Schumann and Jan Shriner, 2001

I should begin this review with a bit of a disclaimer. I know Roger and have recommended him as an outfitter and instructor in the past. More to the point, Roger once rescued me in the mouth of Tomales Bay (near, as I learned later, the great white shark rookery) after I got slammed by a boomer, so I come to any discussion of his rescue skills with some preconceptions.

Anyway, I was very impressed by this book, for several reasons. One is its completeness (well, almost; more about that later). This book talks about more kinds of rescues than I have ever seen collected in one place. More importantly, every rescue mentioned is dissected to a high level of detail, including step-by-step instructions for each, and occasional comments based on the authors' experience with that particular rescue.

Rescue. Let me say a word about that word. Schumann and Shriner begin the book by suggesting that it might be better, especially with less experienced students, to avoid the word "rescue" altogether. Many of us have seen paddlers who consider a class successful if they stayed upright, not whether they learned anything. Above all else, do not swim! This is partly because they are afraid of being in the water, or of being cold, but perhaps also because they want to avoid being "rescued," and all the emotional and personal baggage that entails. Better, perhaps, they suggest, to talk about "reentries" instead, a much less loaded word (They also suggest "recovery," but anyone with a wilderness first aid background will prefer to avoid that one).

I was pleased to see that the organization of the book follows my own plan in teaching rescues (Yes, "rescues." Schumann and Shriner give up on the "reentries" idea early on, in a bow to common usage). That is, to begin by teaching braces so that a re-whatever will not be necessary, then to move on to wet exits, basic solo and assisted reentries (OK, I'm going to use both terms), and more complex moves like reenter and roll, Eskimo rescues and rolls, and special circumstances and tricks like sling assists, rescuing loaded sea kayaks, and double re-entries.

I think this learning sequence is essential. Practicing bracing moves easily into practicing snapping up off a partner's bow, because the two movements are dynamically identical. This prepares students well for the Eskimo rescue. I know that students have trouble learning Eskimo rescues directly if they haven't learned to hip snap yet.

The last two chapters deal with towing in a good amount of detail, and a Consumers' Digest review of three commercial products for rescue: the Back-Up, the Sea Seat, and, yes, sp...spo... don't make me say it...all right, sponsons. Hmm, my WordPerfect spell checker just flagged "sponson" as a misspelled word. They were fair towards, but not enthusiastic about any of these products.

There are also a couple of chapters about preparation and prevention and basic safety gear. These say basically the same things that we all know about PFDs and signaling devices (no, they don't identify the ultimate handheld VHF) and float plans, but are useful reading nonetheless, especially if you keep asking yourself "Do I always do that?"

The book is profusely illustrated with black and white photos, usually at least one per page. These are occasionally a bit foggy, but as Schumann and Shriner do most of their paddling in Northern California, it may just been that the light really did look like that.

As an added bonus, there are several stories interspersed among the procedures, with compelling titles like "Reentry at Punta Diablo" and "Counting in Dog Years: Tale of a Rock Garden Bow Rescue." The stories generally avoid the "No shit, there I was..." tenor of most paddling tales, while still maintaining a high level of realism and providing a lesson for the wise to heed.

A few particular techniques merit comment. Schumann and Shriner mention the deck rigged paddlefloat reentry as a useful ploy, but are not wholeheartedly enthusiastic about it unless you always paddle your own kayak (with the same paddle) and never flip in borrowed boats. They are also a bit disparaging about such Brit standbys as the All In rescue and the HI (aka, Ipswich) rescue, although they do refrain from Roger's earlier claim that "Ipswich" is an Olde English term meaning "a good way to break a paddle, dude."

A couple of ideas caught my fancy and I tried them out at a rescue clinic I ran recently for a couple of local clubs. For example, incorporating a sling into a paddlefloat rescue adds a few seconds to the setup time and shaves much more than that from the reentry time, while adding a ton of stability. Some students who were struggling to keep the paddle in position hopped right back in the boat when we added the sling.

Another of Roger's tricks that most of us use is the rough water simulator for bracing and reentry practice, which consists of someone yanking the kayak back and forth and up and down, grinning maniacally while the victim tries to stay upright or get out of the water. The RWS is a big improvement over the standard "edge 'til you start to fall" bracing drills. I've hurt myself being the RWS, though, so I've started using a pair of ropes tied to the bungees and crossing under the kayak. It requires two people to be the RWS, but you can get a boat really on edge with a brisk pull on the rope. Keep the ropes short, though, so you can be close by to offer a hand up if needed. Wayne Hodorowitz has a variant on this rope trick that simulates a broached surf; he's written about it in Sea Kayaker.

I wouldn't feel like I was giving good value in a review unless I had a few quibbles, so let me get into those now. I was interested to find that one of the rescues that I use and teach that didn't make it into the book. This is the parallel eskimo rescue, in which the rescuer approaches the upside down boat parallel (what else?) and lays the paddle across her lap and the upturned hull. The victim reaches up, grabs the paddle between the boats, and snaps up. I taught this one to my wife so we could demo it, and she really likes it, as the rescuer is very stable. If you're worried about a victim reaching up and grabbing your cockpit rim and pulling you over, don't. I challenged a student in the last rescue clinic to pull me over that way. All it does is pull you over onto their deck (Assuming they are still in the boat, of course. A swimmer can and will pull you over easily). It may be necessary to place the victim's hands correctly on the paddle. Put their thumbs together, Meg informs me, which is a trick I hadn't come up with.

A second departure for me is in the starting position of the paddlefloat rescue. I really don't like to start aft of the paddle, which necessitates a usually graceless pirouette over the shaft (Schumann and Shriner call this the sea star move, which sounds exotic, but I've never found sea stars to be very graceful), when you could start on the bow side, and in your first move stick your leg into the cockpit. Schumann and Shriner say that this only works for shorter paddlers, but I've got a 33" inseam and size 12 feet, and it works fine for me. The aft starting position does get you climbing up on the stern deck, which is lower than the cockpit, so that's a good reason to do it that way if you can't get up easily.

I can't quibble much, though. This book is a solid resource, pulling together most of what there is to be known about sea kayak safety and rescues, and doing it in a readable, occasionally even witty, style. It's definitely worth the $14.95.

By Steve Cramer

by Suzanne Welander, Bob Sehlinger, & Don Otey

If you only have one book in your paddling library, this is the book to own!

Eventually you will want to paddle a river that you are not familiar with. This book is where you start when you have questions about river length, scenery, wildlife, directions, access points, rapids, gradient, or other hazards. Virtually all of the rivers in Georgia have a detailed paddling review as well as some of the more popular spots in nearby states.

The fact that this book has not won a Pulitzer Prize is a travesty. Obviously the nominating committee doesn't contain a single paddler.

Suzanne Welander (Author)– GCA member

“Two individuals in particular had a significant influence on the content. ” (Page XV)

Dr. William “Hawk” Reeves (Potato, Cooper, Sope, Mossy, & Warwoman creeks) – GCA member

Roger Nott (Jacks river & GCA Library) – GCA Historian

Contributors:

Dan MacIntyre(Page 16) – GCA member
Doug Woodward (Page 49-55) – GCA member
Dan Roper (Page 133-137) – GCA member
Steve Cramer (Page 353-355) - GCA member
Allen Hedden (Page 365-367) – GCA member
Linsey Meeks (Okefenokee Contributor) – GCA member
Brookie Gallagher (Okefenokee Contributor) – GCA member
Dick Hurd (Map updates) – GCA member
Gary DeBoucher (Previous version) – GCA member
Elizabeth Carter (Smooth water) – GCA member

Georgia Canoeing Association – GCA guide book (XV)
GCA trip reports from The Eddy Line (XV)

I apologize to the GCA members that I must have left off this list. My point in listing these people who contributed is that the GCA “wrote the book” on paddling in Georgia. Not to take anything away from Suzanne Welander at all, but if you are looking for an expert on paddling in Georgia, the GCA phone directory would be a good place to start.

William Gatling

KAYAK The Animated Manual of Intermediate and Advanced Whitewater Technique. by William Nealy. Menasha Ridge Press. Birmingham, AL, 1986. ISBN 0-89732-050-6. 171 pages — generously illustrated, available through REI, Go With the Flow, NOC.

Don't let the title fool you. Yes, I know even the pronunciation of "kayak" resembles the sound made while choking on a chicken bone, but this book is really about river rescue. In fact, KAYAK The Animated Manual of Intermediate and Advanced Whitewater Technique may be the best illustrated primer on river rescue that you can buy. It won't replace larger specialized texts, but it complements and extends their material, and more important, it approaches river rescue from Nealy's vantage point.

William "Not Bill" Nealy should be known to virtually every paddler through his Whitewater Home Companion series, Whitewater Tales of Terror, Kayaks to Hell, assorted river maps, and other cartoons. He has been seriously paddling kayaks for at least 12 years.

On the positive side, he has an apparently serious addiction to steep creeks and flood-stage white water, is one hell of a cartoonist, and I seem to recall reading that he has made the move up to C-boats. Nealy produced this revolutionary book on river safety for intermediate and advanced paddlers. KAYAK The Animated Manual of Intermediate and Advanced Whitewater Technique takes up where the average text leaves off and uses a unique "time-lapse" drawing style to put everything into a unique perspective.

KAYAK The Animated Manual of Intermediate and Advanced Whitewater Technique begins a bit slowly for my taste. Except for a nice discussion of Fear and Introduction to Rapid Anatomy, you could jump directly to page 19, Hydrotopography, where the meat of the book begins.

I've been boating for a while and am beginning to figure out what's happening to water above and below the surface in a rapid (in particular what it's going to do to my boat). Nealy's illustrations of kick, holes, reefs, ledges, Big Drops, and hydraulics was tremendous. He first explains what forces are involved, then he goes on to discuss tactics for running these mothers.

We've all been taught the AWA universal river signals and they're repeated in most paddling texts and guide books. Nealy goes one step farther and presents some more specialized hand signals that the probe may use to modify what y'all learned during scouting. Are these really useful? Do some creeks with people like Will and you'll find out.

Swimming Self Rescue (or "swimming lessons for those who NEVER go swimming"), pages 63 through 73, presented some good illustrated advice on using your partially swamped boat to pull through the backwash in mega-holes, to cross strong eddy lines or eddy fences; on swimming complex rapids and big drops; and on orientation in big holes. His final piece of wisdom, "Above all, don't give up!"

Pages 83 through 109 deal with River Rescue and were intended as a practical supplement to Bechdel & Ray's authoritative River Rescue. This section is great! It is more than a practical supplement, it illustrates things in a way standard text books cannot. I have never encountered a more profound description of Chase Boating than that presented in Kayak.

Chase Boating is an exciting sub-sport of creeking which involves running dangerous rapids while in pursuit of or actually towing fear-crazed victims. Born in the southeast, Chase Boating began as a way to atone for leaving your rescue rope in the car. Since those early days, Chase Boating has evolved into a complex and beautiful ballet of catastrophe. Nealy explains the choreography of this art form and provides seldom discussed insider information such as the taxonomy of good and bad victims.

Finally, The Joy of Flood (or "big water technique if you subtract the trees and debris") is the last section on river safety. I've never read about flood stage tactics in any previous white water book. Should those of you reading The Eddy Line paddle flooded rivers? Nealy recommends recalling the tired but true, "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime." He then discusses the time (trees, strainers, mega-holes, whirlpools, funny water, exploding waves, etc. etc.).

So, go out and buy the book. William (Not Bill) can use the money. If you don't have time to read the book you'll enjoy just looking at the cartoons. Your paddling buddies can read it on the way to the put-in. It fits nicely into a dry bag so you can take it for amusement during multi-day trips. More than likely it'll get lost because someone borrowed it.

by William C. Reeves (The Hawk)
From The Eddy Line, December 1996


Editor- William Nealy passed away in 2001.