The WRC meets Dave Cornthwaite, part 1

8/14/11

The WRC meets Dave Cornthwaite

It was a historic day for many reasons. Dave Cornthwaite was in the process of paddle boarding the length of the Mississippi River. He had already traveled over 1,000 miles while breaking numerous records, including most miles traveled by paddle board in a day (77 miles). Now, he was nearing Memphis. A group kayakers, canoeist, and paddle boarders met at the Shelby Forest boat ramp to escort Dave and his friend into town. The Memphians included members of the Wolf River Conservancy, the Bluff City Canoe Club, Ghost River Rentals, Outdoors Inc. and the Paddle Board Vendor of Patriot Lake. 

We arrived at the ramp and prepared our gear. As we carried the last boat to the shore, Jonathan Brown talked briefly about the charities for which Dave was raising money.   Dave and Tom arrived right on time. We could see them off in the distance heading our direction. The morning sunlight reflected off their paddles, as they moved down the shoreline. When they reached the boat ramp, cheers went up and introductions were made as Dave and Tom stepped foot on the shore. We went around the circle introducing ourselves and explaining the different organizations that were represented. Dale presented Dave with a WRC tee-shirt. Dave spoke about his journey and his charities which include the AV Foundation (develops water infrastructure in East Africa), Coppa Feel (fights breast cancer), and The Blue Mile ( encourages preservation of the world’s waterways).  He also introduced Tom his media guy. Before we started Dave spoke about traveling on the Mississippi. He told us that it was safest in the main channel, but we had to avoid barges of course. He also warned that we should avoid wing dikes that jutted out from the shore. Water swirled over and around the dikes creating dangerous whirlpools. Dave said that he had been warned repeatedly that he would die the next day. He was especially warned about St. Louis for three reasons: the heavy barge traffic going towards the Chicago Canal, the cross barge traffic that goes back and forth between Missouri and Illinois, and a large rock dike that narrows the river and causes it to speed up. Dale asked if it was because of East St. Louis, a good guess. Dale gathered the BCCC members together to tell us the plan. Instead of having a point and sweep, we would move in a group and not allow anyone to stray off. We then pushed off into the mighty Mississippi.