Even Better Than the Real Thing

What does $35 million get you? The most high-tech man-made whitewater park ever.

by Mark Anders, Men's Journal LLC
Illustration by Bryan Christie Design
06/2006

Paddlers are used to dealing with feast-or-famine conditions, whether squeezing in runs before a creek empties after a storm or riding out frothy dam-release cream. But starting this month they can binge anytime they want, after the U.S. National Whitewater Center (usnwc.org), the planet's largest man-made whitewater park, opens in Charlotte, North Carolina. Aimed at both newbies and elite paddlers (it was designed in part by world champion kayaker Scott Shipley), the center will feature four separate channels -- and 4,000 linear feet -- of Class II­IV whitewater. Kayakers and rafters will put in at the Upper Pond and then choose one of four runs, from beginner to advanced. Shipley gave Men's Journal the highlights of what to expect.

1 Slalom Course 1,000 feet long and with a gradient of 21 feet, this is the steepest pumped course in the world. It features movable obstacles that enable the organizers to customize each rapid.

2 Pumps Seven huge custom-built pumps will flood the whitewater channel with 536,000 gallons of water a minute. "They can fill up a 25-meter swimming pool in 18 seconds," says Shipley.

3 Conveyor The 110-foot conveyor whisks paddlers to the Upper Pond in 60 seconds. "It's not like hanging onto a T-bar or a rope tow," Shipley says. "You just paddle up and it sucks you onto it, and off you go."

4 Park 'N' Play The 550-foot freestyle channel has three Class III play spots designed for surfing and aerial maneuvers. And if you get washed downstream, you can climb the bank and walk back up.

5 Surf Wave "We designed the wave to be adjustable, so we can make it un-intimidating, wide, and flat," says Shipley. "But we can also dial it up so that it's seven feet -- past vertical -- and it breaks."