It seems like only yesterday when I received the race application in the mail. On application it said “Five to six miles of class 4 and 5 rapids, limited safety”. I sent my 5$ money order to the West Virginia Wildwater Association by U.S. Mail. September came and I was able to get a ride with Peter Skinner and Jack Kennedy. Peter was driving his blue pickup truck with a cap covering the 8 Foot bed. I met them at a gas station off Route 78 near Clinton around 5:30 pm. It was a light rain. We loaded my C-1 on top of the cap. I laid in back of truck while the other two had the front seat. I watched the road go by. At this time, I started canoeing C-1 in June 1976 when I bought the boat at the Esopus Slalom race. So, I really did not have much big water experience. Now it is the middle of September, a year and 3 months later.
We arrived around 2:30 am at a church. They slept in the back of the truck and I got the picnic table behind the church. It was early Saturday morning the 17th of September. We got up around 7 am and drove to the put in on the Upper Gauley. It was amazing. There were at least a hundred paddlers there’ all looking to test their skills. This was the first big showing of paddlers on the Gauley River. Even paddlers from Chicago came there. I had my back pack stove going and cooked something which I cannot remember what I ate.

I met Ginny there and a guy named Tom. The three of us would run the Lower Gauley. It was a mile walk in along a railroad bed. There is a railroad tunnel nearby. So, if you walk another mile of tunnel, you get 4 more miles of river. Yes I did it; but that was the following year. We got in our boats and off we went. The rapid leading to Mash was technical. Mash had 8 foot waves with me getting caught at the top of wave and surfing it sideways. Heaven Help You and Pure Screaming Hell rapids were technical with river curving to the right.
That evening I met back up with Peter and Jack. Ate something on my stove and went to sleep.
It is now Sunday September 18th I was walking down the railroad bed alone. It was around 8:30 am. Ginny and Tom went to run the Upper Gauley. It was foggy as most West Virginia mornings are. It was around 60 degrees. I got to the river; as race started 10 am. There were about 6 C-1 paddlers, 5 K-lW paddlers and maybe 12 K-1 M. Two members of the U.S. team who raced in the world cup in Europe that year were there. This was the big event. The toughest wildwater race in North America. Nothing came close at that time.
I got in my boat and my number was called. I paddled to the starting line. They counted down from 10 and then they said
“Go”. I was off hammering away. Though the technical rapid and then Mash. The eight foot waves seemed easy. Some more rapids with six foot waves. Then “Heaven Help You”. This is where everything went wrong.

I flipped at the top of the rapid as a cross current caught the back of my boat. I made my roll. But more disaster to follow. At the bottom there is a slot with a roller or stopper. It stopped me, spit me out and I flipped in the boils behind it. I made my roll in the boils of the eddy line. That is when I saw the “Limited Safety”. Two guys in kayaks. They told me two paddlers flipped and swam. Whew. No swimming for me that day, I hoped.
The last rapid was after 6 miles of river; this was “Pure Screaming Hell”. The water pushes you into 3 consecutive holes at the bottom of the rapid. I punched through. Paddled another 100 meters and saw the finish line. It was the timers and helpers on this large rock to river right. The small crowd cheered. There was no banner across the river. The rock was the finish line.
I found Peter, Jack, Ginny, and Tom. Peter and Jack got in the truck. I got the front seat and we headed home. It was the experience of a life time, never to be repeated as that was the last Gauley Wildwater race.
I retired from Wildwater racing in 1983 after competing at the U.S. Team trials on the Peshtigo River in Wisconsin. I made the B team, then went to the A team when a competitor did not want to compete in the Europa Cup that year. So, I made the A team but declined also and bought a farm rather than go to Europe.