If you were inclined to go over the 18-foot waterfall in Ohiopyle State Park in Fayette County, how would you do it?

A) In a kayak -- after acquiring the necessary skills -- and under controlled water conditions with a life jacket, a helmet, a paddle to get you to the best place to take the drop and a fellow kayaker near the base of the falls to lend a hand if you need it?

B) In a swim suit with no life jacket, no helmet, no control over the current that sweeps you over the falls and no one below to rescue you from the roiling whitewater that can entrap you?

The correct answer, of course, is A.

Thousands of kayakers and a few canoeists from all over the country have run the falls in the annual American Whitewater Ohiopyle Over the Falls Festival in Ohiopyle. But the organizer is threatening to move the event.

Paddlers have made more than 13,000 runs over the falls since the festival began in 1999. There have been a few injuries, primarily to the paddler's back, but nothing long-term. There was one back injury during this year's festival on Aug. 22.

Outside of the festival, eight persons have been swept over the falls since the park opened in 1970, according to park ranger Floyd Hawk. Four drowned, including two in the past two years, and four were rescued. They were wading or swimming in the Youghiogheny River above the falls, got caught in the current and were unable to grab one of two nylon safety lines that have kept others from going over the falls.

Barry Adams of American Whitewater, one of the paddling festival's sponsoring organizations, believes experienced kayakers and canoeists should be able to run the falls any time they want provided they comply with the following conditions:

Paddlers would be required to use single or double occupancy kayaks and canoes, register before running the falls, and continue around Fern-cliff Peninsula to the take-out there or another 6.5 miles to the Bruner Run take-out. The water level would have to be 1.8 feet or lower on the official gauge at the launch area. Running the falls alone, and the use of rental kayaks and canoes, would be prohibited.

"I think we have demonstrated that the falls can be run safely," said Adams, 56, of Swissvale, a semi-retired certified public accountant who has been a kayaker since 1984.

But the state isn't convinced. On July 31, the Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks, which sanctions the Over the Falls festival, decided against allowing paddlers to run the falls at other times.

Adams said he will participate in a conference call next week with the other six members of the Ohiopyle Falls Access Committee to discuss the possibility of moving the festival to Valley Falls State Park on the Tygart River in West Virginia. He said the waterfall there is open to paddlers year-round.

Adams said the committee will request a meeting with bureau director John Norbeck before any decision is made about the future of the festival that draws thousands of spectators every year.