Since I was largely ignorant about the sport of kayaking, I decided to consult the Dayton guru of kayaking, Bernie Farley, a life-long resident of Dayton who is the co-owner of Whitewater Warehouse at 104 Valley St. One look at Bernie’s weathered face and I knew it was one that could launch a thousand kayaks. Bernie has spent decades of his life in the outdoors, mostly in kayaks.
I asked Bernie why anyone in his right mind would intentionally float upside down in a kayak in the boiling waters below a large man-made low dam in the Mad River? Bernie corrected me immediately.
He explained that the two structures installed by MetroParks in the Mad River just south of Eastwood Park and two more which will be built in the Great Miami River near Riverscape next year are not low dams, but are “whitewater play features.” Low dams are used to create deep pools of water upstream from the dam, but in addition they are designed to allow a lot of water over the top of the dam.
They are also “killers.” If someone falls into the seething water below a low dam the hydraulic wave curls back toward the dam and pulls the person under the water. It makes no difference how good of swimmer one might be, you drown. The hydraulic wave of “play features,” however, curl in a way that will “kick a person out” and away from the play feature.
That was a comforting thought until Bernie went on to say that whitewater kayakers don’t want to get out from the play feature’s wave. They paddle hard to stay in the wave as long as they can, even when their heads are under water. It is only while a kayaker stays in the wave that they can perform the tricks that turn them on. One trick is to bury the nose of the kayak in the wave so that the rush of the wave flips the boat end-over-end, like a cartwheel. The goal is to stay caught in the wave and do as many cartwheels as possible. I had naively believed that the purpose of kayaking was to navigate the boat through the vortex without capsizing. Bernie said that can be fun, like riding a Ferris wheel, but doing loops in the maelstrom is more like riding a roller coaster.
For a person who is terrified of roller coasters like I am, there are more relaxed forms of recreational kayaking. Bernie said the most popular use of a kayak is for fishing. Even just watching kayakers surfing in the hydraulic wave is entertaining. So, how can a casual, unsophisticated observer sitting on the banks of the Mad River could tell the difference between a talented kayaker and the inexperienced one?
“See who is swimming and who isn’t,” Bernie said.
The beauty of kayaking is that just about anyone can learn the basics in one lesson. In season, Whitewater Warehouse offers an hour-long float down the Mad River every Wednesday evening. Scores of boaters rush from work to paddle down one of the cleanest and most scenic rivers in Ohio.
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