Now imagine sitting in a piece of plastic, being tossed around in ice-cold, churning whitewater, and trying to stay ahead of 29 other maniacal rowers splashing angrily on your trail as you float uncontrollably towards a nine-foot waterfall where nothing more than a few feet of water separates you and your one-man boat from a rocky riverbed below.
This weekend, the 89-year-old organization and Dartmouth Outing Club affiliate hosted the first annual Ledyard River Festival, which stands to become one of the premiere paddling event in the Northeast.
While Ledyard has historically been involved with promoting the region's paddling culture, no comparable event had ever been held in the Northeast, although such events take place frequently and annually in other parts of the country.
"Ledyard is a club that supports the paddling community at Dartmouth -- so whitewater and flatwater kayaking and canoeing," Alice Bradley '11 said. "But it's also a big part of the paddling community in the entire Northeast."
Kayaking enthusiasts from around the country got to enjoy competition on some of the Northeast's most challenging rapids over the weekend, as the Ledyard Canoe Club helped the Dartmouth Outing Club celebrate its 100th anniversary.
"The Northeast has a lot of really great rivers -- there's a lot of people who kayak around here," Bradley said. "River festivals happen in other parts of the country, but there isn't one in the Northeast."
The weekend's main event was the Wells River Rumble, an annual race that Ledyard took charge of for the first time this year after inheriting it from former organizer Jolyon Rivoir-Pruzsinski '00.
The Rumble was host to a record number of competitors this year, and even more spectators.
"There were 30 competitors," Bradley, who helped time the race, said. "It was bigger than any other year."
A vast array of competitors showed up for the Rumble, which took place in Wells River, Vt., including a host of nationally-renown kayakers.
"There were a lot of paddlers from around the Northeast, and even a few from father south," Bradley said. "[They were] people we had met in North Carolina on our spring trip."
The event's organizers utilized press releases, radio advertisements and a web site to publicize the event, as well as kayaking message boards and word of mouth, Eric Larson '10, one of the event's organizers, said. Many of the top kayakers attending the event were personally invited by Ledyard members, Larson said.
The Wells River course is a mass-start, downriver kayak race that requires the competitors to traverse numerous ledges and waterfalls, including a nine-foot drop called El Salto Falls.
John Gerstenberger '11 won the Rumble for the second year in a row with a time of 13:03.
"The race itself is pretty unique," he said. "Waterfalls and steep rapids are difficult enough on their own, but when you add being out of breath from sprinting down the river and racing side by side with competitors, everything becomes even more challenging."
Other events on the weekend included a Kayak Rodeo and a triathlon.
The Rodeo was held on the White River near West Hartford, Vt., and involved participants surfing single waves. They were judged on their ability to spin, cartwheel, and loop -- essentially a freestyle competition on churning water.
This year, Ted Devoe, who finished third in the Rumble, took home first place in the Rodeo.
"[Devoe] is very well-known nationally as a world-class kayaker," Larson said. "He's a great freestyle kayaker."
On Sunday morning, the final event of the weekend was the triathlon, which consisted of a 5-kilometer run, 16-kilometer bike and a 3-kilometer paddle.
The weekend also featured cash prizes and equipment for participants, live music and a celebration on Saturday night that drew approximately 70 people.
