Striking Gold on the Ocoee

by Dan Celske

Many of us had the chance recently to watch some of the Olympic whitewater 
competition on television, and to see some of the world's best paddlers 
compete on the slalom course in Athens.  The power, efficiency and nearly 
flawless technique displayed by these athletes was quite impressive to all 
of us that kayak and aspire to become better at what they do.  
For a lucky group of CWA paddlers, we actually had the opportunity to 
spend several days on the water and to sample a bit of the Olympic 
experience firsthand with U.S. Olympian Joe Jacobi, and Bob Campbell, 
a former Olympic team coach, at their Gold Medal Camp on the Ocoee 
River in southeastern Tennessee during the weekend of September 11-12.

Joe is a four time member of the U.S. Olympic team, and had recently 
returned from Athens with his partner, Matt Taylor, where they had 
finished eighth overall in the C-2 competition.  Joe won a gold medal 
at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in the C-2 class, the only gold medal 
in Olympic whitewater slalom ever won by the United States.  We learned 
the following weekend that he had followed it up with a gold in C-1 at 
the 2004 U.S. Nationals, as well as a silver in C-2.  He resides in Ducktown, 
Tennessee, right up the road from the Ocoee River.

Bob Campbell, who lives in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, coached with the 
U.S. Olympic team for ten years, and is now involved in a venture which 
designs and develops whitewater courses around the world.

Attending the Camp were myself, along with fellow CWA members Bob Aalbue, 
Chip Pickett, John Moore, Kurt Keller, John Redden and Christina Mack 
(who enjoyed a much shorter drive from her new home in Chattanooga).  
Also joining us was former CWA President Larry Sellers, who had organized 
the outing.  Most of us had paddled together before, and we all considered 
ourselves to be intermediate paddlers.  Our prior collective experience for 
the most part had been limited to Midwestern Rivers in the several years 
each of us had been kayaking.  Needless to say, the lack of water in the 
Midwest, as well as various family and job commitments, had limited our 
paddling time during the season, and left us anxiously anticipating the 
weekend road trip to the Ocoee.

After departing late Friday morning, we made the eleven hour drive to 
the Jacobi residence without a hitch, catching only a bit of rush hour 
traffic in Louisville.  Joe was gracious enough to offer his yard as our 
base camp for the weekend, and upon arriving, we were glad to see several 
members of our party had already set up a screen house and iced the beer 
before we got there.  We quickly popped up our tents, grabbed a cold one 
(not necessarily in that order), and eventually called it a night after 
the long ride.  The weekend weather was going to be perfect, 80s during 
the day and low 60s at night without any forecast of rain.

Saturday morning, we met Joe and Bob C. at a local diner for breakfast, 
then drove down the street to a park along the Taccoa River, where we 
proceeded to gear up, stretch and hit the water.  The Toccoa is actually 
the slow-flowing upriver section of the Ocoee, and straddles the 
Tennessee-Georgia border.  We spent the morning going over a variety of 
topics, including stroke technique, body position, edging and turning.  
Although the material included things we had seen before in pool classes 
and the like, Joe and Bob covered it in much greater detail, with an 
emphasis on the interdependent relationship between your body, your boat 
and your paddle, and maximizing the speed and direction you want your boat 
to go with the least amount of effort and strokes.  We spent the morning 
working on a number of different drills intended to improve and perfect 
our overall technique.  I found it quite interesting when Joe informed us 
that up to 90% of his training time on the water is actually spent working 
on his technique on flat water, rather that whitewater.  

We then set off for an afternoon putting what we had learned to use on the upper 
section of the Ocoee.  I was really excited about finally getting to paddle my 
first eastern whitewater river.  The Ocoee is well known as the site of the 1996 
Atlanta Olympic whitewater competition.  When we arrived, the river exceeded my 
expectations.  The Olympic venue itself is bordered by steep forested hills and 
large boulders, with sidewalks and spectator areas on both sides, as well as a 
large building overlooking the water.  There are bridges crossing the river both 
at the top and the bottom of the 600 meter whitewater course.  This section of  
the river, part of a five mile stretch, is controlled by dam release, and flows 
pretty consistently around 1400 cfs when it’s flowing.  The water runs mostly 
Class III-IV on this section.  As Bob C. explained while we had lunch overlooking 
Humongous (the gnarliest of the rapids on the course, with a nasty keeper hole 
that Bob categorized as a borderline Class V), the Olympic course, which was built 
over a period of two years to the tune of around $20 million for the 1996 Atlanta 
Olympics, actually constricted the river to one third to its normal width, but allows 
plenty of room for overflow in the event of seasonal flooding.  The river was 
restructured to create various hydraulic features and obstacles, and accommodation 
was provided to allow for the placement of slalom gates and spectators 
(15,000 attended the 1996 competition). 

Joe and Bob C. recalled their 1996 Olympic experiences as we finished up lunch 
and got ready to paddle.  Ironically, it was three years earlier to the date, 
as Bob C. was getting ready to start the World Rodeo Championships that he had 
helped organize, that word of the 9/11 World Trade Center tragedy was received, 
resulting in cancellation of the competition and stranding of many international 
competitors, bringing back a more somber memory of past days on the course.

After some brief demonstration on the water by Joe in his C-1, we all put in at 
the upper bridge and paddled a short distance upstream to another set of rapids 
just above the Olympic course, where we spent several hours working on ferrying, 
peeling out, catching eddies, reading the current and trying to take what we had 
worked on in the morning and utilize it effectively on faster water.  It was 
obvious right away that the Ocoee is much pushier than most of the water that 
were accustomed to in the Midwest, so we really had to focus on what we were doing.  
Towards the end of the afternoon, those of us who wanted to try to tackle the Olympic 
course then got the chance to do so.  After following Joe and Bob’s lines, we ran the 
first couple of drops pretty nicely, and even though the river was a bit intimidating 
at first, I was starting to feel pretty comfortable.  The next drop, aptly titled Slam 
Dunk, claimed its first victim, however, as Bob A. got flipped going over it and turned 
sideways in the hole at the bottom, which momentarily held him, and he got separated 
from his boat.  Fortunately, he was able to swim over to a nearby eddy and escape a 
much nastier swim downstream.  We figured we’d call it a day there.  But not to be 
outdone by his less experienced pupil, Bob C. continued downstream with Joe, and 
graciously demonstrated (intentionally, I’m sure) how to flip over just above Humongous, 
and roll up just in time to avoid getting completely pummeled in the keeper hole.  

We finished up the day by viewing videotape of ourselves that Larry had taken while 
we were on the water, and then enjoyed a traditional Southern meal of fried chicken, 
chicken fried steak, black eyed peas, fried okra and all that good stuff at a local 
restaurant while watching video of  Joe and several other participants at the recent 
Olympic competition.  It was really cool to hear Joe tell stories of his experiences 
in Athens and the other Olympic venues where he had competed.  He offered some really 
interesting insight not only on the competition itself, but on the spirit of the whole 
event and what it was like hanging out with different athletes from all over the world.  
He even broke out his gold medal and passed it around for all to see.  

The following morning, we went back to the Taccoa and spent the morning fine tuning our 
new found skills in and around the slalom gates that had been set up. 
After lunch at Joe’s house and more videotape, we turned towards  the middle section of 
the Ocoee, just downriver from the Olympic course.  This section of the river is controlled 
by a separate dam, and runs with almost continuous Class II-III+ rapids for about 5 miles.  
We put in about a third of the way down, at a spot known as Double Suck.  It features a 
drop of about 4-5 vertical feet, with two separate holes on the way down that can catch 
the unsuspecting paddler and suck him in, hence the name (although I suspect the rapid 
got its name more because if you get stuck in the second hole, it wouldn’t just suck, 
it would double suck).  For a couple of hours thereafter, we continued to refine our 
paddling in the rapids at the base of Double Suck, then headed downstream.

After passing several named lesser rapids and playing around for a while, we hit Double 
Trouble, a fast stretch of  Class III whitewater with some really big irregular waves, 
where the Ocoee claimed its first real carnage of the weekend.  All told, only three of 
our group of seven survived the rapid, and I felt sort of bad for Joe, Bob C. and Larry 
as they chased down the scattered bodies, boats and paddles.  Fortunately, everyone 
recovered unscathed, and we had a good laugh about it.  We continued on through several 
other named rapids and finally took out at Goforth Creek. Although we covered only perhaps 
two miles of the Middle Ocoee, we definitely got our money’s worth that afternoon.

The following day, before heading back home, we were able to get in one more paddle.  
Originally, we had planned on hitting the nearby Tellico River, but it didn’t have 
enough water, so we took an early Monday morning drive over to the Nantahala, about an 
hour east.  The Nantahala, another dam release river, is not as technical or challenging 
as the Ocoee, but is a fast, fun ride over eight miles of continuous Class II rapids.  
It’s an absolutely beautiful river, running through lush green forest and finishing up 
with a nice Class III drop at Nantahala Falls just before the takeout.   Nothing too 
hairy, but the perfect way to finish up a great weekend of paddling.  We had the river 
pretty much all to ourselves (a rarity on the Nanty, from what I hear), and played 
around at various spots on the way down.  Nonetheless, although I was feeling pretty 
good the whole weekend on how my paddling had progressed, even hitting my rolls for a 
change, the Falls provided me with an abrupt reminder that I ain’t there yet.  After 
missing my line, not having enough speed and failing to get a good boof stroke in 
before the ledge, I caught my stern in the falls and was treated to the first reverse 
somersault I’d ever done in my RPM.  One lost nose plug, a mouthful of water and a 
refreshing swim in the 50 degree water later, I walked back up to the Falls with my 
tail between my legs just in time to see the rest of the group run it much more successfully 
after witnessing the way not to do it.  

After getting packed up and doing a little shopping at NOC, we hit the road, taking a bit 
of a detour through the Smoky Mountains National Park, and were home in time to get a few
hours of sleep before what promised to be a truly brutal next day at work.  All in all, 
it was a great way to spend our first road trip paddling out east.  The scenery was incredible, 
the rivers pretty amazing, and a good time was had by all.

Many thanks goes out to Joe Jacobi and Bob Campbell for putting on a fantastic clinic.  
Not only are they great kayakers, but really good teachers and fun guys to just hang out 
with.  If anyone gets the chance to participate in one of their Gold Medal Camps in the future, 
do it.  You learn more in a weekend than you might otherwise in a year or two a paddling.  
Also, thanks to Joe and his wife Lisa for being such gracious hosts, and to Larry Sellars for 
arranging the whole thing even though he’s off and gone to Chattanooga.  Hope to see y’all 
on the river soon.