Whitewater Research & Safety Institute, Inc.
4066 Worthington Drive
Park City, UT 84098
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Gil Turner
gilrtrnr DeleteThis @aol.com
Release Date: Mon. 11 Aug. 2003
FAMILY TRAGEDY RESULTS IN "WORLD'S SAFEST WHITEWATER HELMET"
At 22 years of age, Lucas Turner of Park City, Utah, was a seasoned
veteran of the extreme sport of whitewater kayaking. As an avowed
environmentalist and staff member of the Southern Utah Wilderness
Alliance, he became an integral part of in their wilderness
reinventory and lobby efforts.
While an admitted thrill seeker in back country skiing and kayaking,
he was neither careless nor reckless. As he double checked his helmet
strap before launching his small boat into the roiling waters of
Idaho's North Fork of the Payette River in July 1998, Lucas had no way
of knowing this would be his last whitewater adventure. In fact, it
was to be the last day of his life. That helmet he so carefully
secured before shoving off into the boulder- strewn rapids was fatally
flawed. A fact that became tragically apparent when he became
inverted in the raging current of a rapid known as "Jacob's Ladder."
For an expert "boater" like Lucas, that was not especially dangerous.
He could easily bring his kayak upright again using a maneuver called
the Eskimo roll. But as his head and upper body plunged into the
violent waters, the forcesof the dangerous rapids pulled his tightly
strapped helmet back, exposing his forehead. A fraction of a second
later, Lucas slammed head first into a submerged boulder. The blow
killed him instantly. Had his helmet stayed in place, there is a very
good chance Lucas would have survived the impact.
His death stunned his close-knit family. It outraged them as well.
Lucas's father, Gil, wondered why his son's helmet had failed so
completely. He went looking for answers and what he found was
shocking. There were no industry or government standards for
whitewater sport helmets. Even more astounding, not a single helmet
sold for use in the whitewater environment had been specifically
designed, developed, nor tested for this extreme water sport! Most
were so-called "cross-overs," helmets originally designed for inline
skaters, bmx riders skier, and other sports where a helmet is prudent.
While they might afford a good level of protection on dry land or the
ski slopes, they were far out of their element in the extreme
whitewater environment that requires a helmet to provide "multiple
impact" protection and remain tightly secured on top of the head.
Gil Turner intended to do more than mourn his son's death; he decided
to use it as the starting point for some meaningful and necessary
change. He retired from a 25-year commercial real estate career to
devote full time and all of his resources to develop a safer helmet. A
helmet for whitewater sports that would provide more than a false
sense of security became what some would call an "Obsession" for him.
Turner founded the Whitewater Research and Safety Institute with the
intent to develop a safer helmet, and in doing so, develop the first
helmet that would be subjected to the hydraulic forces and potential
blunt head trauma injury potential in the whitewater environment.
From this he could also develop the first whitewater helmet standard
from the results of the necessary impact testing. For the next three
and a half years Gil Turner and his younger son Nick, a civil engineer
graduate of Montana State University, and a well-known expert
whitewater kayaker, dedicated much of their lives to that effort. The
results are nothing short of remarkable. With knowledgeable
perseverance the Turners got Johns Hopkins University interested in
the problem.
Their World Renowned Bloomberg School of Public Health co-sponsored
the project with Whitewater Research & Safety Institute, and set two
of their brightest mechanical engineering students to work designing a
true whitewater helmet. The project was completed in May 2002, and can
be viewed in detail at
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/home02/may02/helmet.html." target="_blank">http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/home02/may02/helmet.html.</a>
After a year's effort, engineering students Michael Cordeiro and Chang
Lee produced a helmet that not only could absorb significant multiple
impacts, but would stay firmly in place when hit with the powerful
hydraulic forces created in the whitewater environment. They tested
the helmet's revolutionary retention system by strapping it to a head
form and blasting it with a high-powered stream of water from a fire
hose at 42 mph. To measure it's impact resistance to dangerous blunt
head trauma forces, they measured it against the 6 most popular
helmets currently being sold for use in whitewater sports. Under the
tuteledge of Dr. Andrew Conn, senior ME lecturer at JHU, the results
they obtained using an impact measuring machine they designed and
constructed themselves surprised even them. The new WWHIP (WhiteWater
Head Impact Protection) Project helmet prototype sustained g forces to
the head of sometimes less than 20% of those forces transmitted to the
head using the inferior helmets currently being sold for whitewater
use.
The new helmet will also be inexpensive to manufacture. Consisting of
a lexan shell and multiple layers of water resistant EVA foam, it is
expected to sell for less than $50 per helmet, with the outfitters and
whitewater sporting good stores receiving huge discounts to make it
readily and easily available for the 2004 boating season. Reflex
Engineering of Bountiful, Utah is the primary engineer, and with
Whitewater Research & Safety Institute created the Whitewater
Technology Corp, and have moved to make this breakthrough head
protection available to the public. Prototypes of the "World's Safest
Whitewater Helmet" will be featured at this year's Outdoor Retailer
Show beginning August 14-17.
Pre-production orders will be taken from outfitters and retailers at
the ORS,and by early nextyear, just in time for the 2004 boating
season, the remarkable new and safer helmet will be available on-line.
The Institute has developed a unique and attractive website through
Extreme Business Solutions,
Inc. <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.whitewaterhelmet.com" target="_blank">www.whitewaterhelmet.com</a> along with a huge e-mail database
consisting exclusively of members of the whitewater community. The
Institute's Mission is "To promote whitewater recreation safety and
save lives by disseminating knowledge and improving equipment. Gil
Turner knows it will save lives and reduce the serious head injuries
now being suffered in Whitewater Recreation Activities. Currently
there are 32 million whitewater enthusiasts in the United States
alone. Research conducted by The Institute indicates at least
one-third of all fatal accidents in the sport are the result of blunt
head trauma forces that can incapacitate a boater and lead to injury
or death. In particular, The Institute has independently issued a
"Voluntary Recall Demand" for the Protec Full-Cut Helmet that is
particularly dangerous due to it's lack of an adequate retention
system. It does not prevent the helmet from rotating backwards,
thereby exposing the forehead to the dangers in the whitewater
environment, and has resulted in numerous documented severe head
injuries.
Increasing the danger, new smaller, more maneuverable watercraft are
now attracting many boaters to smaller creeks and rivers, where rocky
obstacles are harder to avoid and the risk of head injury is all that
much greater. While whitewater boating can never be risk free, those
looking for adventure on the wild waters may soon be facing far less
danger, thanks to a family that refused to see only loss in a personal
tragedy. Thanks to a father who wanted meaningful answers. Thanks to
a young man whose last day on the river was the beginning of something
of real value; a gift of greater safety to many he will never know.
Those who will come after him, down the twisting, thundering path of
the whitewater will be able to rely on a helmet that will provide far
greater protection in this extreme, dangerous, but rapidly growing
sport.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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