IDAHO WHITEWATER WEEKEND
BOISE, MAY 5TH
IWA Used Equipment Sale
 National Paddling Film Fest
 
ANNUAL IWA USED EQUIPMENT SALE

Our biggest and most popular event will again occur at the parking lot next to Lucky 13 (and catty-corner from co-sponsors Idaho River Sports) in Hyde Park, Boise on May 5th.  Bring your boating (and related) gear for sale to your fellow boaters.  The usual financial aspects will be in place:
 • You’ll get a seller number (and won’t have to write your name and address for every item).  Sorry, no number, no proceeds to be mailed.
 • You set the price (and can change it if you check back in at the sign-up table later.)
 • We collect the money and ship checks for your portion later.  Standard cut is same as before:  5% to Idaho for sales tax; 10% to IWA for fund raising.
 • Check-in begins at 8A.M.  Sale starts at 9 A.M.  No exceptions.  (But if you have numerous items, we will have pre-registration opportunities.  Call/e-mail Mel Johnson @ 343-0970/n2wh2o@micron.net.)  Drop by and pick up your unsold stuff before 3 PM or it will become a donation to IWA (and thanks!).
 
 Other sale stuff.
 • Yes, volunteers needed for the sale (set up, operations during, breakdown/clean-up) and data entry afterward.  Sign up to do one or the other.  Again, call any of the officers or Mel to find out pre-sale details and discuss sales event logistics, or just show up at 7 A.M Saturday morning at the Café d’Itallia across the street from Lucky 13 in Hyde Park for a pre-sale briefing.
 • All volunteers will be visible:  free t-shirts of event staff.  Also free pizza (and probably a beer or two).
 • Warning! This year Boise City P. D. Code Enforcement is going to be checking for sales tax permits.  If you’ve been selling off the back of the truck, expect a hefty ticket.  IWA has a sales tax permit, as do the other merchants in the area.
 • The Board is willing to entertain any and all of your suggestions, recommendations, or other thoughts toward using this year’s proceeds. What put-ins, take-outs need improvement?  Where should we put an outhouse?  Who might you want to hear from on safety, exotic locales, and unknown rivers?  E-mail us your ideas at idahowhitewater@hotmail.com.

NATIONAL PADDLING FILM FESTIVAL

The 18th annual National Paddling Film Festival is coming to Boise on
Saturday May 5th at the Basque Center brought to you by Idaho Rivers United and IWA is co-sponsoring.

The Film Festival highlights people powered watercraft in a world class
collection of whitewater and boating films.  We will span the globe with
videos from the serene to the extreme.

Among other shows, we will present the "Triple Crown of Whitewater"
featuring favorite Idaho boaters Jerry Moffatt, Rob Lesser and Wink Jones.
 It highlights thundering trips down the Susitna, Alsek and Stikine Rivers
in Alaska and British Columbia with a special tribute to Walt Blackadar.

We will also show a slew of new extreme kayaking videos including the Film
Festival winner, ‘The Get On the Bus Tour,’ runner up, ‘Rainy Daze’ and many
others.  In addition to these, we will have a surprise rafting video from Sobek Expeditions founder Richard Bangs.

Tickets are $10, available at the door.  Doors open at 6:30, with the festival beginning at 7:30.

There will be door prizes from our favorite Idaho manufacturers and river
businesses. Beer and wine will be served.

Proceeds will benefit Idaho Rivers United.  For information, please call Dan at 343-7481.

 Vince’s Idaho Whitewater Page Just Gets Better ...and gets a new address
    Ask your search engine for the above name, or type in: www.idahowhitewater.net, and you’ll see IWA (Twin Falls) member Vince Thompson’s labor of love.  Links to lots of places (river levels, weather, other organizations, etc.), Pictures, Trip Reports, Gear for Sale, the Middle Fork Salmon Peak Flow contest, and much more like information on shuttles & river maps.  Also, through Yahoo, he’s got a full-blown Idaho Whitewater e-mail based discussion group.  Of interest to all:  IT’S FREE!  While the Yahoo spot was not arranged by IWA, it is the function we’ve been talking about: communication between boaters. It's on the web at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/idahowhitewater.  (Or, why type? just use the link from Vince’s page.)

 We were going to publish a trip article, but Vince already did.  Check out the Three Forks to Rome trip he did in early March.  With pictures!

THE STABLE SHOULDER
Paul Collins, M. D
(IWA member)

The water is starting to rise, the Main is over 1000, and there is only a few days left for skiing as I write this, so that means boating is soon to be here (In fact, it has been “here” all winter – ask Zimo!).  True, as skiers know, there is not that much water up “in the bank,” but there will be a season.

As part of the IWA safety plan, we are going to put a few hints about how to stay in better shape than the bottom of your boat this year. Also, we want you to prevent missing any of the season and only have a few scars to show for it.  Not fun!

So, we will start with the shoulder and a few things you can do to prevent this extremely flexible joint becoming too flexible and dislocating.  I have seen a whole textbook of injuries from boating and rafting, but dislocations of the shoulder rank up there with the worst.  During one of the many safety programs being taught this year by Les Bechdel of Canyons and Tom Long of Cascade, as well as others, there will be information on how to put the shoulder back into joint once it comes out.  The bottom line is that in this piece I want to focus on how to prevent these dislocations.

The shoulder is an amazing joint.  It has the greatest range of motion and at the same time has amazing stability – unless the limits are exceeded.  If these limits are “pushed” the ligaments and tendons that hold the shoulder together can and will be torn, resulting in an unstable joint.  Unstable means that the stabilizers are not functioning enough to keep the shoulder together and the joint pops out – usually in front or anterior.

In your kayaking classes you undoubtedly learned about the dangers of incorrect high braces, and I hope personally you never had a bad experience with one.  Bill Nealy’s book – “Kayak” – is a great place to learn about being safe with a paddle, and there are video’s too.  If you have ANY question about what I just wrote – get one of these sources and get smart about safe shoulder positions.

The issue here is to strengthen the shoulder muscles so that you can safely use the techniques in these sources with the confidence that your shoulder will stay put.  To this end, we will talk about some anatomy.  Take a look in a mirror at your shoulder – either one.  You can see that there is a collarbone coming up from the middle of your chest out to the shoulder.  When this gets to the shoulder, you will start to feel the Deltoid muscle.  In weight lifters, this is where the “buff” comes from.  What you can’t see is that under this “beef” are a set of muscles called the Rotator Cuff that function to help keep the “ball” of the shoulder joint in the correct place.  If they don’t work, or are overpowered, the shoulder can literally be torn out of the socket. These are the ones we want to focus on today.
The rehab tools are pretty easy here.  You want to get a stretchy cord, like a bungee cord, that is fairly easy to stretch, but still has some strength.  You can also go to a place like Koppel’s Browzeville and get some rubber hose that will work too.  Just remember the aim here is to strengthen some pretty small muscles – not try to “buff up.”   Got them? Good.

Now, we will focus on three directions of strengthening;
1. Internal rotation – pulling in
2. External rotation – pulling out
3. Abduction – pulling up

Sounds simple and it is.  The issue is to make sure you do these exercises enough to keep the shoulder joint in perfect position for strength and function.

Next, you have to remember that you need to isolate your exercises from the strength of the deltoid.  To do this, for internal rotation and external rotation, you need to put something like a pen under your arm-pit when you do your exercises.  This keeps the deltoid out of the action and focuses on the muscles that need the help.

Let’s start with the front of the shoulder.  Put the pen or whatever under the shoulder and place the stretch cord into a door (Hopefully one that won’t be opened while you are working out).  Stand away from the door until there is a small amount of tension on the cord, and pull the cord in to your chest.  Congratulations, you have just exercised the subscapularis muscle, or the front of the rotator cuff.

Next, with the pen in place and the cord still in the door, turn around so that the arm is against the chest.  Now pull out and – wow – you have exercised the infraspinatus.  Do ten internal rotation exercises, followed by ten external rotation exercises in three sets resulting in thirty of each exercise.

Finally, after each set of these, take the cord out of the door, take the pen out of your armpit, and stand on the cord.  Now point the thumb forward as you grip the cord and pull up as far as you can.  This strengthens the top of the rotator cuff – the supraspinatus muscle!  Do ten of these and with the exercises you have already done, you are well on your way to having a strong and stable shoulder that is much less likely to develop a rotator cuff tendonitis.  Congratulations!

Now, if you do these on a regular basis, your boating will be much more safe as you will have the strength to help hold your shoulder in place.  Here is a web site to review these points – just use the cord rather than the weights they show if you want to;
http://rsi.about.com/health/rsi/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aafp.org%2Fpatientinfo%2Frotcuff.html

There is no way this can absolutely protect you from dislocations, but it will be a great foundation.  See you on the river.

Paul Collins MD
Intermountain Orthopedics
383-0201
 [This was written at the editor’s request before the ski season ended. While we got it before the Statesman, they published it first.-Ed.]

Steelhead and Salmon Spawning Sparks Floating Restrictions

The Payette National Forest is preparing to issue a special order that would affect floating and boating on sections of the South Fork Salmon River, Big Creek, Lake Creek, and the Secesh River.  These sections of water would be closed to boating and floating April 1 through May 31 and August 1 through September 30 based on a Biological Opinion issued by National Marine Fisheries Service.  The purpose of the seasonal closure is to protect spawning steelhead and salmon, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in the following areas.

• On the upper South Fork Salmon River from the Payette National Forest boundary at Goat Creek, downstream along the South Fork Salmon River Road to its confluence with the East Fork of the South Fork Salmon River.

• On all of Big Creek from its headwaters downstream to its confluence with the Middle Fork Salmon River.

• On all of Lake Creek, north of McCall, from its headwaters downstream to the confluence with the Secesh River, and continuing downstream from the confluence of Lake Creek and the Secesh River to Chinook Campground.

This special order does not restrict floating and boating opportunities
along the East Fork of the South Fork Salmon River or from the confluence of the East Fork and South Fork Salmon River downstream during these dates.

Signs informing floaters and boaters of the special order will be posted this summer, so the closure will not go into effect until August 1, 2001.  The closure is expected to continue on a seasonal basis until steelhead and salmon are delisted.

"Wild salmon and steelhead numbers are still extremely low, and any loss of eggs from natural fish is important to avoid," said Dr. Dave Burns, Payette National Forest Fish Biologist.  The fish favor shallow areas for releasing their eggs.  Since shallow areas have less water available, there is a higher probability of floating and boating activities disturbing spawning.  In some cases, suitable areas can also be spread across the width of the river channel making it very difficult or impossible for a floater to avoid passing through the sites.

Dan Skinner-IWA Newsletter co-editor and Conservation Organizer, Development Specialist, Idaho Rivers United, ph  (208) 343-7481 dskinner@idahorivers.org
http://www.idahorivers.org

Another Local Rescue Clinic

The Cascade Raft and Kayak River Rescue Clinic dates are scheduled May 19-20 and May 26-27.  We will schedule more as demand warrants.  Price is $175 for the two-day clinic, which includes a fabulous lunch on the riverside deck at the Cascade River Center.   All equipment is provided, and the clinic is designed to meet the needs of both rafters and kayakers to sharpen their water safety skills, learn boat to boat rescue, and gain technical information required to be self sufficient.  The shelf life of rescue techniques is limited to practice and awareness.  If you haven't thrown a throw rope in the last month, you need a refresher to stay current and be effective in river rescue for when the situation presents itself.

        Tom and the Cascade river staff have had multiple rescue opportunities on the Payette River and on rivers in Chile to fine tune and make practical the  techniques that really work for the recreational boater.  Tom is known on a national level for his river rescue expertise, and will be speaking on river rescue as well as providing on-water clinics for the Rocky Mountain Wilderness Medical Conference in Boise, May 21-24.

Safety 101
 
The people who showed the fine film Liquid Lifestyle 3 (at Idaho River Sports on March 27th thanks, again, Jo and Stan) started with an unusual introduction:  safety.  Sure, they are just kid hair boaters flying all over the world in search of adventure, but the personal tragedy of the loss of a brother on the river compelled Willie Kern to suggest, strongly, three basic safety items.

 The helmet which protects the head whence all stupid ideas spring…and protects it when the stupidity becomes danger.  If you have any doubts about helmets, here are just two observations.  Have you ever seen a good hard shell boater, whether at Banks or falling off a 99-foot waterfall, without one?  Did you notice over the past couple of ski seasons we’ve gone from virtually no one to about a third of the people wearing helmets?  Save your noggin-once lost, it isn’t repairable.

 Shoes, not for your comfort, but for getting around the rocks, cliffs and riversides when you are needed to help someone else.  Screw fashion, we’re talking support, protection, agility, and security.  You are help to no one if you can’t scramble along the bank to help.  And you’re no help to yourself in that nasty moment of self-rescue (the absolutely first line of defense) if you can’t stand up, walk, or push off something, or otherwise get around.  Your mobility may save your butt or somebody else’s.

 Throw bags you know how to use.  We’re not talking about the one hanging on the front of the cat or raft to tie off.  We’re talking about a vital rescue tool to connect you with someone in trouble.  Not only do you have to have it [body worn throw bags mean never having to get it off a boat], but you have to be able to put it where it counts:  at or just upstream of the receiver.  It does no good to generally loft it out there.  Make sure he/she knows it’s coming and get it to him/her.  The first requires the rescue see it/you.  The second requires practice!  First in the yard so you’ll understand weight, strength and distance.  And more importantly, then on the river…to understand currents, instability (whether on shore or on a boat) and retrievability.

 While these were Willie Kern’s ideas, I’ll add an item from personal experience.  Pulleys on your person.  Stuck in the middle of the South Fork of the Payette on the upper run meant we had to get a pulley out to the boat to establish an angle to get it off the rock.  Simple answer: a pulley on the life jacket would not have meant the extra 10 minutes getting the pulley out to the boat so an angle could be created.  We aren’t wearing the stuff to look cool; it’s the safety, stupid.

 April AIRE Meeting

IWA Board Election Results
 
The IWA by-laws require a board election at each April meeting and we managed it at AIRE on April 4th without an appeal to the Supreme Court, the presence of several attorneys notwithstanding.

 Newly elected board members for 2001-2002 are:
? Mike Cooper
? Ed Crampton
? Mel Johnson
? Jeri Rose
? Dan Skinner (on sabbatical ‘til the Fall)
? John Strange
? Susan Wildwood
 
In accordance with the by-laws, these new board members selected the following as 2001-2002 officers:

President:  Mike Cooper,  362-5344  w70gs@micron.net
Vice-President:  Jeri Rose, 342-3305 airehead@hotmail.com
Secretary:  Susan Wildwood,  383-0390 darkfire@micron.net
Treasurer:   Mel Johnson,  343-0970  n2wh2o@micron.net

 As we have come to expect and really enjoy, AIRE put on a great spread.  Their new facility looks like a heck of an improvement over the Garden City site where they started.  The part of the crew who were introduced is part of a local business success founded in hard work with an excellent idea.  [Frankly, I don’t expect the U. S. Justice Department will come knocking until they have over 60% of the inflatable market; 35% should not be enough to violate the anti-trust laws.  So, congratulations to Greg, (the absent) Alan Hamilton and the crew for fine work.]

Greg Ramp, by popular demand, demonstrated the efficacy and simplicity of the Airecell design.  And thanks to the little kid in the front row who asked him, immediately after the puncture, “Why’d you have to do that?’

The donations of the great buckets (@ $10 apiece, all to IWA), the many gifts, t-shirts, caps (and IWA threw in the last few copies of Whit Deschner’s ‘Travels with a Kayak’) were all well received.  Board members Mike Cooper who ran the meeting (and warned of bad thing to come if our voice is not heard), Treasurer Mel Johnson (who took your money and is counting it madly) and Susan Wildwood (who made sure you are into the database) are thanked for their efforts in running the show.  And just to make the point:  every member who showed up got one free raffle ticket. We sold lots, too.  The winner of the (now) annual take your pick of an inflatable kayak (or use it as a down payment on a set of tubes) was board member and long time supporter John Strange.  [a) the fix was not in; b) he bought $20 worth of tickets!]

 In accordance with the oft-made threat, the membership list was purged of non-paying members (original organizers and organizations excepted).

Our thanks to the outgoing Board members:  Rusty Bowman, Bill Clark, Alan Davis, Chuck Elliott, Bear Hutton, Chris Johnson, Madonna Lengerich, Chad Long, OTHERS?? And special thanks to Ax Yewer (new Dad, less boating this summer.) who served two terms (he was shanghaied for the second one) as President.

 We’ll send out the membership list with the next issue.  Call another boater and get out (early) this summer.

Boat wanted:
Used AIRE Lynx 2 with an air floor.
Marjie Jacobs
jacobm@yahoo.com
208.336.4411

 Communications? Use:
idahowhitewater@hotmail.com