"Now you have her undressed," I said to the US Coast Guard Officer as he paused to take a final photo of our raft.

It was bound to the shore, its pink flag wrapped tight around the mast. Homemade pontoons thudded blue against the wake of a passing barge.

Thud.

Thud.

"Now you have her undressed," he echoed.

And it was true. We felt stripped, my two companions and I, as our persons, purses, and canned foods were packed into a strange boat with the five officials dispatched to terminate our voyage to wherever it is that these rivers first taste of salt.

We felt undone, evicted from the vessel that had been our home for the last seven weeks. They had been seven weeks of intimacy, arguments, sunburn, song, oatmeal and introspection. Time on the raft was metered by the sun, the rain, the rhythm of barges, the mosquito hour, the space between towns, the cans of spinach in our store, the speed of our legs at the paddle wheel, and the people we met along the way. Then yesterday as we were reading in the afternoon sun, men with weapons reduced our lives to two options: take what you can carry and get dropped off at a remote hunting camp, or take what you can carry and get dropped off outside the jail in a town 20 miles away.

None of us had ever been this far south. Without our familiar recourses, without friends, family nor raft, we felt undressed.

===

Press Release: Homemade Rafters Meet Federal River Obstacle

Sept 17, 2007 - Vicksburg, Mississippi

Contact: Jamie Burkart at 816-728-8685 or Laura Mattingly and Libby Hendon at 760-877-4549.

The voyage of a homemade bicycle-powered paddle-wheel raft with three passengers was terminated Saturday by the U.S. Coast Guard near Vicksburg, MS. The rafters put into the river in Kansas City, MO eight weeks earlier and floated 1055 miles down the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers before the Coast Guard impeded their travel on the grounds of the raft's "unsafe condition: lack of propulsion and steering."

The raft is a product of and venue for a durational art project, a relational form. Immersed in a concrete cinematograph, the participants experience the people, places and ideas that the rivers offer to those who release themselves. "Release Yourself onto the Water until it Tastes of Salt," by Jamie Burkart images the connections between civic erosion, Delta poverty, prejudice, strangers, wildlife, interstate commerce, identity, introspection, industry, agriculture, the Dreams and the Possibilities. The raft, composed entirely from the discarded remnants of turn of the century homes, civic refuse, and main brand soda-pop manufacture, activates the potentials latent in any city on the water. The project is open to the public, and distributes invitations at every stop.

During their time on the river, the rafters had 15 encounters with law enforcement including police, fire, sheriff, state conservation, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the US Coast Guard. Some represented the Department of Homeland Security. All previous encounters resulted in a "go ahead."

Saturday Boarding Officer Levi Denham of the US Coast Guard (USCG) found the raft in violation of regulations regarding registration, not equipment nor operation. This was not grounds to terminate a voyage.

He then deferred by telephone to Rear Admiral Joel R. Whitehead, who as congressionally appointed Commander of the Eighth Coast Guard District had the authority to terminate the voyage outside the conventional scope of boating regulations.

According to Denham, the Admiral's choice was made based on

A. the "unsafe situation" in regards to "lack of steering and propulsion"

B. the reports by tug-boat captains that they viewed the raft as having trouble navigating

C. a blog entry by one of the prior participants mentioning an alleged collision.

The rafters' requests to demonstrate the maneuverability of their vessel to the Boarding Officers were denied.

The rafters are now in Vicksburg developing a course of action to gain the permission of the USCG to continue their voyage. They are requesting legal advice and shelter from the community.

They are available to answer questions at any time this week.