Kelly Shannon Kelly Wins Wrangler Rugged Wear Adventures Essay Contest

Greensboro, N.C. (January 13, 2009) – Wrangler® today announced that Kelly Shannon Kelly, member and president of the Florida Outdoor Writers Association, won the monthly Wrangler Rugged Wear® Adventures Essay Contest in November with her account of a dangerous rescue after overturning a kayak in the murky Cape Fear River. Her winning essay, "Fear on the Cape Fear," earned the outdoor writer three jeans and shirt outfits from Wrangler Rugged Wear. Kelly, a staff editor and writer with Traveling Sportsman Magazine, described how her paddling companions were able to keep her bright red shirt in sight as her kayak bounced from boulder to boulder and flipped repeatedly in level four rapids. Kelly writes she was black and blue for two weeks after the experience but credits red and blue – her red shirt and blue jeans – for working overtime that day in a daunting river. “Fear on the Cape Fear” will be retired from the remaining 2008 competition along with the essay of the first two winners Niall Fink of Edmonton, Canada, and Lynne Friedmann of Solana Beach, Calif. To read Kelly’s winning essay, visit http://www.wranglerruggedwear.com.

"Fear on the Cape Fear"
By: Kelly Shannon Kelly, Clearwater, FL
President, Florida Outdoor Writers Association

When my fiancé suggested kayaking, I donned my favorite pair of rugged jeans and bright red shirt. The location? The Cape Fear River. The name struck a chord in me somehow. Maybe it was that scary movie with Robert De Niro… I worried about turning over the kayak and not being able to right it. "Oh, don't worry," the guides said. "That won't happen." One guide buttoned me into my kayak. I got about five feet and Bloop! I flipped. I took my paddle and tried to reach the bottom. Too deep. After over a minute had passed, I was still staring at the same murky silt far below. My fiancé was hollering for a guide to help. Soon I was flipped over, choking and splurting water. I switched to a sit-on kayak. Numerous times over the next four hours, I capsized in the Level Four rapids and was flung against one boulder after another like a human pinball. My companions could easily follow my red shirt. I was almost entirely black and blue for two weeks, but it was definitely an experience to tell my grandchildren. And the jeans and shirt survived the trip!