Fun and Films Together
To Honor William Nealy
and Support Conservation

Information supplied by Carl Bolyard -WVRC

This year's National Paddling Film Festival (NPFF) was a great opportunity to see what film- makers have been hard at work on this winter and celebrate together to support several good causes. The crowd was really awed by the debut of Kate Geis's film Riversense. This feature-length documentary looks at what makes river people tick and how rivers shape us all. It is also a touching look at the life of William Nealy, his relationship with his soul mate Holly Wallace and their mutual love of rivers. 

The first ever "William Nealy Award" was presented by Holly Wallace during the festival to honor the contributions of Bob Sehlinger, co-founder of Menasha Ridge Press. Menasha Ridge Press is the publisher of Nealy's works, numerous guidebooks such as Wildwater West Virginia and long time supporter of NPFF. Since the inception of this festival by Bob Sehlinger, William Nealy and the dedicated volunteers of the Bluegrass Wildwater Association, the NPFF has raised $57,493 dollars for river conservation

The festival had many prize-winning films in a variety of categories. The Paddler's Choice award went to Thunderballs: The Return of Team C. The video was a professional category film from Rick Gusic who also created Spreading the Disease and Silent Thunder. The infamous team C swims, laughs at themselves, and one woman even gets trapped in her dry top. This one was really a crowd-pleaser with audience laughter competing with applause

Many of the professional category films were slick, glossy and mostly fun to watch. Best of Show in the Professional Division went to Main Stream from Ben Aylesworth and Good Gravy Productions, with lots of vertical paddling action. The Best Documentary went to Julie Keller's America's Most Scenic Rivers, a digital slide show of America's rivers from the Grand Canyon to Great Falls of the Potomac ; it had many great images from around the country. The Best Instructional video was The Kayak Roll a new video edited down for the festival, but it looks like the video is worth seeing in entirety. The Kayak 

Roll is produced by Performance Video & John Davis. Best Commercial video was International Paddle Adventures, which is Ken Whiting’s brochure for kayaking in Chile

 Best of Show in the Accomplished Division was The Search by Vince Shay who has a story about surf kayaking and wave skiing near the Channel Islands in California. The wipeout carnage in this one made some bad river swims look like a picnic. Best of Show for the Amateur Division was Costa Rica, January 2001 which is a vacation video of friends running rivers, eating and relaxing in you know where. David Kahn won this prize. The still image category went to Robert Combs of Alexandria, VA, for Image #1 Kayaker at Great Falls of the Potomac. This show was chock full of fun stuff to watch and worth the drive to see.

   The “Best of the Festival” is available from Bluegrass Wildwater Association – look them up at www.surfbwa.org/

The S. C. C. has scheduled a public hearing on Duke Energy's plans to build a 620 megawatt natural gas electric generation facility in Wythe County near Foster Falls.

The hearing will take place April 25, 10 AM at the Tyler Building in Wytheville.

If you can’t attend the meeting, submit letters stating your concerns. Written comments must be received by April 12, referring to Case Number PUE010721 and mailed to:

Clerk of Commission
Document Control Center
P.O. Box 2118,
Richmond, VA. 23218.

Committee Forming to Monitor Conservation Issues, 
Threats From Increasing Numbers of Power Plant Proposals
Get in touch with President Larry born to find you how you can help with this important issue.

7