Playboating with Jim and Monique

It was a beautiful evening on the potomac…and that’s just the female volunteers. Seriously, the weather was great, we had old timers, we had new timers, and I was delighted to enjoy my first volunteer night after being kept away by travel and training. So enough about me…its all about the vets…ok and the paddling. While returning pros (Rob could teach me a few tricks!) strutted their stuff in Maryland Chute, Sang landed a loop (ok, it landed on his head, so I guess it was more like an ender or something else - I need vocabulary help here). I didn’t get too watch Brian tame the Ace, but I’m sure he had a good time from the smile he was sporting. With a few tips from Monique and Ross, Sam nailed his first (and second and third) combat role with me leading the cheering, while Joe proved on his very first day on the water that he was meant to be a kayaker.

Thanks to everyone for letting me join the party and for a great night on the river Fern

We will start out with stroke drills as always. Then go up to MD Chute and then over to VA Chute.

Posted on MCC Paddle Prattle by snowwrestler on June 25, 2008 at 12:27:22:

Well, it looks like we’re into summer water levels already. I’m guessing it’s going to be at or below 3.2 tomorrow evening, so we’ll be at VA Chute for the rodeo. At that level it is a bit flushy but many vertical moves are possible.

Registration will take place in the lower lot at Anglers from 4pm to 5:15pm. The comp will start up at VA Chute at 6:00pm. See you tomorrow night!!

The MD Chute Out is a free, fun, community freestyle competition. The competition is low-key, and participants help to judge each other. Please come out and have a good time paddling with your friends and making new ones! Prizes are given away in a raffle after the event, open to all participants.

This year the MD Chute Out is part of the World Kayak Hometown Throwdown series, a national series of low-key, fun grassroots freestyle events. Coverage at:

www.worldkayakblogs.com/throwdown

Hometown Throwdown sponsors for this year are: Jackson Kayak, American Whitewater, Red Bull, Mion, Smith Optics, Immersion Research, and Kayak Session.

Additional Md Chute Out sponsors include PotomacPaddlers.com, Ned Poffenberger Art and Architecture, the Bethesda Center of Excellence, ChasingRain.com, and the New River Academy. These great folks help us have fun!

The MD Chute Out is a Valley Mill Kayak School event.

The level will be about 3.3′ which is a little low for MD and a little high for VA so we will decide where to go when we get there. Either way we expect to have good times and learn a thing or two.

See you there!

Monique & Jim

As many of you know, I was seriously wounded in Iraq in 2005, and lost my right leg. I am not alone: the war has produced more than 800 amputees of various degrees of severity, and many more with burns, joint fusions, and other issues resulting in decreased mobility. For many of us, the solution to our mobility issues- the thing that enables us to get around our college campuses, places of work and worship, golf courses, and other locations, is the Segway. A Segway is to a person with a mobility problem as a guide dog is to a person who is blind.

Originally designed as a “hip and cool” device for people to get around their communities, the Segway has become, in some respects, a ’standing wheelchair’ for many of us for whom a wheelchair is not required. It offers unlimited indoor and outdoor mobility, quiet operation, safety, and increased longer-distance mobility. In addition, it offers greater health benefits because of the reduction in the amount of time we spend sitting on a daily basis, and greater dignity because of the ability to carry on conversations at eye height with a standing person instead of at navel height. This is not to say that a wheelchair is not dignified in any way- those who rely on wheelchairs for their mobility are undoubtedly grateful for the mobility they offer- but simply to point out that standing is more similar to walking than sitting is.

However, for a variety of reasons, certain venues which allow wheelchairs (Federal law requires it) choose not to allow Segways. Part of this is the perception that Segways are dangerous- in fact, no person has ever been hurt by a person with a disability riding a Segway- and part of it is a fear of new technology. In any case, Disney Corporation and its affiliates, as well as numerous mall conglomerates, choose to allow their fear of the unknown or new to overrule their compassion and common sense, and force those with Segways to use rented, unfamiliar wheelchairs to negotiate their parks and venues. Interestingly, Disney World in Orlando offers Segway tours of its parks in the morning (for a sizable fee), and its executives use Segways to get around the park, demonstrating that it is not the device which Disney fears, but the use of the device by a person with a disability. In other words, Disney is choosing to discriminate on the basis of disability, in clear violation of the spirit of Federal Law and common decency.

The problem with Disney is not theoretical: in December of 2006, I was staying at a Disney property and planning on going to the park the next day with my wife and friends, but was informed by my host (a Disney executive) that my Segway was not welcome. As you can imagine, this would have been crushing to my daughter, had she been along on that trip. I, and many others like me, have worked very, very hard to be able to stand and walk- to be told that I’m only welcome if I’m willing to sit is insulting to me. I suppose it’s a matter of pride in some ways, but I am proud of my service and sacrifice, and have no intention of allowing Disney or anyone else to force me to use a wheelchair when my injuries don’t require it. The Segway is a means of resuming my life as closely as possible to what it was before.

But you can help: On Tuesday the 18th of June, the Department of Justice released a “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” which seeks public comment on whether Segways should be accommodated in the same way as wheelchairs when they are operated by a person with a disability. You can help by simply contacting the Department of Justice and stating that disabled veterans and others with mobility issues should be accommodated in all circumstances, whether they use a Segway or a wheelchair. It would be best to express your views in your own words rather than quoting me, but only because “form letters” are counted by DOJ as single comments rather than separate ones.

HOW TO HELP:

1) You can do it on-line here (do the same thing on both links: they are for government/public facilities like courthouses and for private entities like stores, malls, and amusement parks, respectively:
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=SubmitComment&o=090000648062a623 and http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=SubmitComment&o=090000648062a604

2) You can mail in comments to ADA NPRM, P.O. Box 2846, Fairfax, VA 22031-0846. Reference “CRT Docket # 105″ in your first note and “CRT Docket #106″ in your second note. Again, it’s two different things, so write TWO NOTES, one with CRT 106 and one with CRT 105 as the subject.

3) FORWARD THIS NOTE TO OTHERS. In 2004, when I requested stockings for my soldiers in Iraq, I received over 1500. I’d like this same level of commitment to those who returned on stretchers and are trying to get their lives back!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions:

Daniel
thegadehouse@yahoo.com

Despite the thunderstorms which forced us to hang out for a while on the beach, we had another great session last week at the MD Chute. Sang was still in town getting ready for his Colorado trip. He was tearing it up in one of the Jackson Funs. We also had a special visit from Bill! Bill was trying out his new specially outfitted WS T1. He is able to roll it in flat water and is working on getting his roll in the wave train below the MD Chute. Bill got several surfs and is learning to adopt a more aggressive posture when surfing. We also had Brian come out for the first time. He enjoyed the playboat and said that it was more comfortable than an RPM. However, by the end of the evening he was cold and having some knee pains. After the session we went back to our house and found him a paddle jacket that should help keep him from getting cold. Next time he comes out he is going to wear knee pads which will hopefully protect his knees and reduce any pain.

SYOTR,

Monique & Jim

As always we will meet at Angler’s lower parking lot at 5 PM. The forecast is for 3.7′ a great level for the MD Chute. Also a great level for S-Turn and O-Deck, but the logistics of getting to those spots are prohibitive for an evening trip (and O-Deck would require longer boats).

SYOTR,

Jim & Monique

Monique setting the guys up in some of our new playboats (courtesy of our sponsor Jackson Kayak!)
Sang is pretty stoked about returning to the Potomac
Newly minted ACA Whitewater Instructor, Troy teaching Lise the wet-exit and checking Kevin’s roll
Rob shows us a sweet ender	Eli in action (photo by Lise Robinson)

Follow this link for more photos from the playboating class.

We welcomed some new paddlers to Wednesday and saw a return of some “alumni”. Sang & Kevin were in town and Sang was so excited to back on the river after a 2 year lay off. We literally could not wipe the smile off his face. A little rolling refresher and it was like he had never stopped! And don’t get me started about Ely. First time on the river, first time in a playboat, and believe it or not… first surf on the Maryland chute wave the second time he paddled in!

Lise came to take pictures and many thanks to Troy for pitching in his brand new ACA certified instructor skills and getting her up to the island… I think we’ve hooked another paddler!

Rob & Troy were tuning up for their Colorado trip… Rob, I’m sure that full spin will come in handy!

Well last week was cancelled because of tornados! This week is on and the forecast is for 3.9′ so we will work our way up to the MD Chute. We are expecting some new students and plan to emphasize core skills to help them come up to speed.