Willamette Kayak and Canoe Club will be hosting Whitewater Safety Weekend from June 13-14.   Teva strongly supports this cause, as safety is our #1 priority.  We are donating apparel and Mush sandals to the event's raffle.  Please visit http://thisriverlife.blogspot.com/2008/06/wkcc-safety-weekend-2008.html for more information.  Below, Melissa Burns of Wend Magazine gives an example to why this weekend is so important.

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This 2-day weekend has saved lives. Last spring I was on a Class 2, super mellow WKCC float on the Mill City to Mehama section of the Santiam River in Oregon.  It was a warm, sunny day and we had a big, fun group of about 15 participants. Many of us knew each other, either from paddling together or from participating in past safety weekend events.The run has one rapid of significance, a drop into a small hole on the far left side of the river. It’s easily avoided but most of our group ran it that day. One of the new kayakers swam and ended up pinned, underwater on what had to be the only tree in the entire river. Watching the group spring into action was amazing. His head was out of water in less than a minute and they quickly got him unpinned and off the log. I am convinced that were it not for the whitewater safety training they received during the WKCC’s Safety Weekend and continued practice of the skills and techniques they learned, that our friend would have drowned.