Project Healing Waters

Last week, I blogged about how Wicked Eddies, the second book in my RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series starring whitewater river ranger Mandy Tanner, features a fly-fishing tournament that I modeled on The America Cup, which is held in Vail, Colorado every fall. The folks at The America Cup are also involved in a worthy nonprofit effort called Project Healing Waters. The tournament organizers offered a Soldier's Day of fly fishing instruction before this year's tournament.

The goal of Project Healing Waters is to provide basic fly fishing, fly casting, fly tying and rod building classes, along with clinics for wounded active military personnel and disabled veterans ranging from beginners to those with prior fly fishing and tying experience who are adapting their skills to their new abilities.  The program gives our wounded warriors a chance to get outside and enjoy nature while becoming competent and confident in a new or revised skill. If you're interested in fly fishing or in helping our veterans, I hope you will check out the website for Project Healing Waters and consider making a donation.

The America Cup International Fly Fishing Tournament

Wicked Eddies, the second book in my RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series starring whitewater river ranger Mandy Tanner, features a fly-fishing tournament. I modeled that tournament on a real fly fishing tournament called The America Cup, which is held in Vail, Colorado every fall. For the book, I replaced the loch (lake) days of the competition with downriver rafting days, held on class I-III whitewater sections of the Arkansas River near Salida, Colorado. Otherwise, the details of how the tournament was run, including wading fishing days, are the same as those in The America Cup.

I was able to include such realistic details because John Knight, the Tournament Director of The America Cup, invited me to shadow him on a competition day. Early in the morning, I observed the check-in of two-person fishing teams and volunteer controllers. These controllers measured and recorded fish catches using large PVC pipes cut in half and marked with inches and fractions of inches. John Knight was acting as a controller, too, so I tromped along muddy, brambly terrain alongside the Arkansas River with him while we shadowed a fly fishing team.

As a thank you to John for his help in researching Wicked Eddies, Midnight Ink and I gave him seven autographed copies of Wicked Eddies to use as prizes in this year's tournament. On The America Cup website, you can see photos of the award ceremony, and copies of Wicked Eddies appear in at least two of the photos. I hope those award-winning fly fishers enjoy reading Wicked Eddies, and I hope all of my blog readers do, too!