Canoe-Kayak Championships, Jonquiere / Desbiens, 1979

The 1979 Canoe-Kayak (Slalom and Wild Water) World Championships will take place in Jonquière and Desbiens, Quebec from June 30 to July 8, 1979. It will be the first time the event has ever been held outside Europe. The slalom demands a river with a minimum current of two meters per second, and with obstacles such as rocks, rapids, counter-currents and bridges. The course is approximately eight hundred meters long with twenty-five to thirty gates suspended over the water. Above each gate hangs a sign indicating to contestants whether they must pass through going forwards or backwards, and whether they must glide through with the current or paddle upstream through the gate. Athletes strive to complete the course in the shortest possible time, losing points for touching gates or missing them. "Wild water" racing, on the other hand, merely requires a fast time. But the course is at least three kilometres long and boasts numerous rapids, high and irregular waves, breakers, rollers, back-eddies and difficult drop-offs. The Canoe-Kayak stamp was designed by Jon Eby of Toronto. Using a posterized adaptation of photographs, the designs convey a sense of the stamina and skill needed to participate in this strenuous sport.