Dartmouth Student Film Depicts Kayak Racing

The breathtaking excitement and beauty of White-water kayak racing is captured by Dartmouth students in the film "Wild Water" which had its premiere in Hanover on November 7, under the auspices of the Dartmouth Film Society and the U. S. Olympic White Water Committee.

Focus of the film, taken in color by Jon Fauer '72 is the World Kayak Championships held last June in Merano, northern Italy,on the Passer River, under conditions of difficulty and danger which the melting Alpine snows made Grade 4 on a scale of 5.

The U. S. National Team, strongly Presented by members of Dartmouth's Ledyard Canoe Club, placed 5th among kayak racers from 23 nations for the best American showing since the white water world championships were first held in 1953. The U. S. team was paced by Eric Evans '72 of Hanover, the current national white water champion whose tenth-place finish in the half-mile white water slalom through 30 gates at Merano was the best U. S. showing among the best kayakersin the world.

The film was taken for the U. S. Olympic White Water Committee to acquaint the American public with the relatively new but fast-growing sport, in which the Ledyard Canoe Club rates among the leaders, and to raise interest in and financial support for the U. S. White Water team which will compete in the Summer Olympic Games in Germany.

The final competition for places on the American White Water Olympic Team will be the nationals in Maryland on July 27-30. The team will leave the United States two weeks later for Augsburg, Germany, for training on the River Lech, where the Olympic white water races will be held, starting August 28.

Other Ledyard Canoe Club racers who appear in the film include Dave Nutt of Hanover, a senior at Middlebury College, and his sister, Peggy Nutt, a graduate student at the University of Vermont, children of David C. Nutt '41 of the Dartmouth Geography Department, and Sandy Campbell '67, who is now director of the Outdoor Program at Hampshire College.

Assisting in the making of the film, which starts with sequences of white water slalom on the Mascoma River in Enfield, are Fred Haas '73, who composed the electronic music for the film; and Jay Evans '49, Assistant Director of Admissions, U. S. Olympic and National White Water Team coach and Eric's father, who narrates the film.