In Your Dreams Paddling Itineraries That Will Make You Drool
Paddler Magazine
July/August, 1999
Davey Hearn
Age:
40
Hometown: Bethesda, Maryland
Days paddled: 287 (400+ paddling
sessions)
Days home: 246
Number of countries visited: 11
Number of rivers paddled: 25+
Frequent flyer miles earned: 27,220
Most unique shuttle vehicle used: Oxcart, Upper Pacuare River, Costa Rica.
Runner up: Pullman Motorcoach Bus-boats fit underneath diagonally.
Worst spanking traveling: Picked up a parasite in Costa Rica diagnosed as blasto-systus hominus, which made me pretty weak for awhile. On the same trip,
I also had my boat broken by an "unnamed" airline on the way
home.
Davey Hearn on the Soca River, Slovenia
photo by Jennifer Hearn
Worst spanking paddling: On the slalom course in Liptovsky, Slovakia, I
flipped to my offside onto a rock and tore my
paddling jacket. Still, that pales in comparison to getting arrested in 1996 for
surfing the Potomac at flood and getting dumped in the parking lot upside down
in my boat by the National Park police.
Favorite destination in 1998:
Returning to the 1992 Olympic Whitewater course in La Seu d'Urgell, Spain.
Next on hit list: Sydney, Australia, for the 2000 Olympics.
1998 Itinerary: You can't get in more than 400 paddling
sessions in one year without having a paddling itinerary that reduces your
shoulders to rubber. Even though Olympic C-1er Davey Hearn notched the majority
of these days near his home in Bethesda, Md., he definitely put in a few miles
traveling. "It wasn't as big of a year as some-especially for air travel," he
says. "But I still managed to get out a lot." The final days-paddled tally came
after he sat down in April and
filled out his tax forms. The total for 1998 came to 60 days on foreign trips and 52 days on domestic trips, with in-between days filled with training locally.
After training at home on the Potomac River through January, Hearn headed to Costa Rica's Rio Reventazon for the National Team Training Camp. From there it was back to the U.S. and the Southeast for the Nantahala Doubleheader
and training on the Olympic course before rallying north to New England for a series of races. The pace continued in
May with the U.S. Team Trials in Wisconsin, a downriver race on the Potomac and the Potomac Whitewater Festival. June saw training at home interrupted by a flight to Germany for the World Cup circuit. After driving to Augsburg to practice on the 1972 Olympic course, he headed to Slovakia for World Cup #1, Slovenia for World Cup #2 and back
to Augsburg for World Cup #3. In between, he squeezed in a trip for "fun" on the Soca River.
July's routine of Potomac training was sidetracked by a drive to Wisconsin for World Cup #4, followed by a visit to South Bend, Ind., to win his record 16th National Championship. Naturally, he ran the Upper Yough on the way home. The harried itinerary resumed in September when he flew to Spain to train for the 1999 World Championships and final World Cup, before returning home for Gauley Fest-the first time in recent history he had been in the country to do so. Although the arrival of his first child, Jesse, in February might slow down his travel plans somewhat in 1999, he doesn't plan to let any grass grow under his wetsuit booties. "I should be real busy in 1999," he says. "Especially with the Olympics coming
to Australia."
to read more http://www.paddlermagazine.com/issues/1999_4/dreams.htm
