Join us for the Launch of “Bail! Bail! Bryce Whitmore and the Birth of Whitewater Rafting”
Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind celebration of rivers, guides, and grit.
📍 FOR Office: 3336 Bradshaw Rd, Suite 335, Sacramento, CA 95827
📅 Wednesday, July 2
🕔 5:00 – 6:30 PM
🛶 PLEASE RSVP by SIGNING UP HERE!
Join author Ty Childress for an evening of stories, rivers, and history as he signs copies of his newly published biography/memoir, Bail! Bail! Bryce Whitmore and the Birth of Whitewater Rafting. This compelling new book captures the extraordinary life of Bryce Whitmore, the pioneering founder of California’s first rafting company and inventor of the first self-bailing raft, fiberglass river kayak, and self-aligning oar clips.
“My first trip rowing for him on the Stanislaus began when he took me aside at put-in and asked I’d mind taking down six passengers in a basket boat. ‘Just pretend you’ve done it before,’ he whispered in my ear.”
Through five years of interviews, personal river logs, and more than 250 photographs, Tyler brings to life the wild, untamed early days of river guiding — and the unforgettable people who helped shape it, including Martin Litton, Julie Munger, and many others. With vivid stories of river runs, conservation battles like the fight to save the Stanislaus River, and the wisdom of aging adventurers, this book is a treasure for river lovers and history buffs alike.
“In the firmament of whitewater rafting and kayaking, Bryce Whitmore was my pole star. He led me and many other aspiring river guides to follow lives of riverine fervor. His first craft was a chunk of ice. His last was a wheelchair. In between, he traveled by kayak, raft, canoe, sailboat, roller skates, ice skates, downhill skis, bicycle, race car, and a dynamite-laden truck with worn-out brakes. He was unfettered by traditional modes of transportation and what we know today as “lifestyle.” He did not have a style of living, he just lived, pedal to the metal.”
📖 Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind celebration of rivers, guides, and grit.
📍 FOR Office: 3336 Bradshaw Rd, Suite 335, Sacramento, CA 95827
📅 Wednesday, July 2
🕔 5:00 – 6:30 PM
🛶 PLEASE RSVP by SIGNING UP HERE!
Come meet Ty, get your book signed, and hear how a rafting guide with a camera and a notebook turned decades of whitewater memories into a moving, often hilarious, tribute to a life lived "pedal to the metal." Books will be available for purchase at the event.
About the Author: Ty Childress has worked as a photographer, reporter, river, guide and activist, elementary school teacher, and rammed Earth builder. He was drawn to the California foothills after falling in love with the Stanislaus River and working on the campaign to protect her. His long-term interests include Whitewater rafting, canoeing, kayaking, photography, gardening, origami, sourdough bread making, and getting enough wood in to last until spring. He is the lucky father of three remarkable children and lives with his sweetie pie on an unnamed tributary of Jesus Maria Creek in Calaveras County, California.