Profile: Dick Rhodes

Thursday, August 27, 1987, p. 11S
Things Are Happening section

PROFILE

Dick Rhodes

By TOM RUE

UPPER DELAWARE -- Richard Rhodes' name may not be too well known among Upper Delaware residents, but perhaps it should be.

Rhodes heads a group of over 80 volunteers, known as the National Canoe Safety Patrol (NCSP), who work on the river. Together with livery operators, ambulance groups, and the National Park Service (NPS), the canoe patrols have dramatically cut the number of river-related fatalities in the area.

On behalf of the organization, Rhodes accepted a certificate of appreciation from the NPS this past March. But rarely in the local press are the volunteers given the notice they clearly deserve.

According to Rhodes, the patrol was organized in 1977 to work with the U.S. Coast Guard which then had jurisdiction over inland waterways including the Delaware. In order to avoid excessive government safety regulations, several canoe and kayak clubs banded together, and with the American Red Cross, proposed a civil water patrol to work downriver near Lambertville, NJ.

However, when founding commodore Chris Nielsen examined statistics, he discovered a greater incidence of recreational drownings on the Upper Delaware, Rhodes explained. As local people remember, it was not uncommon for four or five deaths to occur annually at Skinners Falls alone.

To their surprise, when the patrols returned to the river in 1978, Rhodes said they found that jurisdiction had been transferred from the Coast Guard to the NPS. But knowing a good thing when they saw it, the NPS came up with a program whereby the Safety Patrols would work jointly with rangers as "Volunteers In Parks" (VIP).

According to park service figures, 18 rangers are posted on the river on a typical weekend. By contrast, 69 VIP's this summer have logged between 14 and 162 hours each.

Each April, the NCSP provides a two-day water safety training program which is mandatory for all Upper Delaware rangers. Rhodes estimated that half of each season's new rangers have had no prior canoeing experience.

Rhodes credited the support of local commercial liveries, as well as NPS cooperation, for the success of the River Patrol. "Some people, like the late Frank Jones, understood what we were trying to do and supported us from the very beginning," he recalled, noting that Kittatinny continues to contribute camping space for volunteer use.

Rhodes and other volunteers interviewed expressed excitement about 21 of their members being appointed as one of four safety teams to serve at the 1988 Nationals and 1989 World Whitewater Championships on the Savage River in Maryland.

A letter from Rhodes appeared recently in The American Canoeist, journal of the American Canoe Association, outlining NCSP accomplishments and offering to serve as a model paddling patrol organization for other areas.

Canoeing and the NCSP are a family project for the Rhodes. Together with his wife, the former Mary K. Huey, who married in 1983, and their 3 year old son Ryan, Dick said he spends as much time as he can spare on the Upper Delaware.

Mary is also a member of the organization. Although their trips upriver from Arebier, Pennsylvania are made jointly on weekends, Mary said taking care of Ryan prevents her from logging as many hours on the river as her husband.