Despite drought, Georgia still 'hot spot' for water recreation

Posted: Thursday, November 15, 2007

Last month, Andrew Maser was exploring New Guinea in a kayak for a documentary film.

Earlier this week, Maser, a 22-year-old professional kayaker and filmmaker from Oregon, came to the University of Georgia to spread the gospel of kayaking to UGA students.

Even as Georgia's rivers run dry, piloting the one-person boat is becoming a more and more popular activity.

"The sport's thriving pretty well in this area," Maser said. "The South's kind of a hot spot for kayakers."

Longtime kayakers like Maser are using the sport's growing popularity to tell beginners that loving water also means taking care of it.

Monday night, Maser and David Hoffman, a kayaking instructor with the Oregon company eNRG, showed a group of about 40 students videos about the sport.

Maser's first documentary, "Mission: Epicocity," details his daredevil crew's trip to South America, where they sought out unexplored rivers and floated down 70-foot waterfalls.

Other videos explored social and environmental aspects of kayaking. One showed how a group of kayakers helped a Ugandan village by opening a medical clinic and handing out mosquito nets to prevent malaria, while another documented a massive effort to clean up an Oregon river.

"As soon as you become a user of a resource, you become a steward of that resource," Hoffman told students. "Recreation and conservation go hand in hand."

The eNRG group is visiting nine Southeastern college towns to give similar presentations, and members are going into elementary schools, including Fowler Drive Elementary, to teach children about water safety.

"They love it," Maser said. "There's always huge smiles on their faces. It's great."

Kayakers have had a rough time during this year's drought, one of the worst ever. One river that's popular with advanced kayakers, the Chattooga in Northeast Georgia, is just 4 inches deep in some places, said Caroline Moon, co-president of the UGA Whitewater Club.

Another, the Tallulah River, isn't even flowing in places because reservoirs aren't releasing water, Moon said. The Georgia Power Co., which owns five lakes along the Tallulah, typically schedules releases so kayakers and whitewater rafters can paddle along the scenic river.

"It's awful," Moon said. "That was kind of sad when we found out they weren't releasing the Tallulah this year, but we're dealing with it."

Outfitters along the Broad River - a popular spot for kayakers in Madison County - reported a drop in business last summer due to low river levels, which reveal rocks and make the waterway tougher to navigate.

Although conditions are bad for kayaking, more than 50 people came to the Ramsey Center Tuesday night to watch an eNRG demonstration and take lessons in the center's pool. The crowd was the largest ever at a Whitewater Club event, organizers said.

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