Canoeing, Kayaking, Rowing @ Ruby River

Watersheds come in families; nested levels of intimacy. Serbs, Russians, Indians, Amish, the 1.3 billion in the People's Republic of China; as you work upstream toward home, you're more closely related. The big river is like your nation, the lake is your cousin. the creek is your sister. the pond is her child. For better or worse, in sickness and in health, you're married to your sink. - Michael Parfit, National Geographic

Kayaking for sport developed in southern Germany around the turn of the century. Lured by the whitewater rivers rising high in the nearby Alps, people began to experiment with wood-framed, fabric-covered boats based on the Eskimo kayak. Out of the experimentation came the collapsible kayak-das Faltboot. The frame was assembled on the riverbank and inserted into a fabric outer skin. When the day’s boating was over, the Faltboot could be quickly disassembled.

By the time World War II broke out, whitewater competition, the distant cousin of flatwater racing, was well developed. Flatwater kayak racing won a place in the 1936 Olympic Games. The first world championship whitewater slalom race was held in 1949 in Switzerland, and in 1955 the first wild water (downriver) world championship (time trials through rapids) was held in conjunction with the slalom competition.

Whitewater slalom racing began officially in the United States in 1952 on the Brandywine River in Delaware. Early slalom races were typically run in open canoes with a smattering of Faltboots in attendance. In 1958, the first national championship slalom trials were held on Vermont’s West River.