Rapids rage

Artificial whitewater park set to open near Charlotte

It started with two friends doodling on a dinner napkin. Six years later, the nation's first fully artificial whitewater river is set to open to the public this week on 307 wooded acres along the Catawba River, a 10-minute drive from uptown Charlotte. With a price tag of $35 million, the U.S. National Whitewater Center's three adjustable channels will create raging rapids that athletes from around the world are eager to experience.

But its main audience will be weekend paddlers who just want to enjoy a thrilling raft trip -- within minutes of home.

It might never have happened if new friends Vic Howie, then a Bank of America vice president, and Charlotte lawyer Chet Rabon hadn't met on a trip to the mountains. Since that day, the idea they hatched during dinnertime conversation has earned an endorsement from the U.S. Olympic Committee, backing from six local governments and nationwide publicity.

After running into delays and controversies this summer, the vision was realized last week when the first paddlers braved the man-made rapids to practice for a weekend kayaking competition.

The center will simulate all the best features of a natural river, but designers can adjust it for athletic events and pack the artificial course with challenges.

The park opens to the public this week.

In April 2000, Howie and Rabon attended the U.S. Olympic trials on the Ocoee River in Tennessee. The paddlers were talking about the new artificial whitewater course being built for the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia -- the first of its kind in the world. They raved about how great it would be to have one in the United States. Howie and Rabon thought: Why not Charlotte? So Howie doodled the idea on a napkin, then went to his bosses at Bank of America and other uptown power players and sold them on the concept.

After talking up the idea for more than a year, Howie and Rabon held a community planning session to get input on Aug. 30, 2001. Their plan was to build the artificial river in a corner of uptown. (Expected price tag at the time: $15 million.) More than 80 people attended, and the organizers came out of the session with backing and enthusiasm. They jotted down their guesses for opening dates on dollar bills. All of them were betting on 2003. Twelve days later was Sept. 11.

The terror attacks slowed the backers' efforts, but not their enthusiasm. In January 2002, they hired an executive director, Jeff Wise, who was willing to mortgage his house and work unpaid to make the project happen. One of Wise's first decisions was to push for a site outside of the center city because uptown land and construction were too expensive. Working with the Mecklenburg County parks department, Wise scouted alternative sites and settled on 307 acres of public land near the Catawba River.

Breaking ground

The park won an endorsement from the U.S. Olympic Committee in 2002, and an even bigger coup: USA Canoe/Kayak, the governing body for paddling sports, relocated its headquarters to Charlotte to be near the future facility. (Charlotte beat out rival Raleigh, among others.) The most important backing, though, came from six local governments in Mecklenburg and Gaston counties, which agreed to back the park's funding plan. That allowed backers to secure more than $30 million in bank loans and start building in summer 2005.

Even as construction was nearing an end, with a planned June 15 opening date, roadblocks emerged -- literally. A planned entrance road, Whitewater Parkway, wasn't going to be ready by opening day. Builders looked for a temporary solution but ran into opposition from neighbors who didn't want the center's traffic. The battle went to court when homeowners on a dirt road that had been used as a construction entrance built a metal gate to stop traffic.

Builders reached a deal with homeowners and the city in July, allowing for a temporary entrance road. But setbacks still plagued the project as county inspectors required more modifications and safeguards. The first event scheduled at the center -- a canoeing competition -- had to move to the mountains as the delays stretched into August. But about 100 athletes got their first shot at the rapids last week for a kayaking competition organized by USA Canoe/Kayak.

The public will get its first chance to try the new center this week.