NOC by the numbers:

• 1 — ranking given to NOC as the top U.S. paddling retailer, according to the 2005 issue of Men’s Journal

• 7 — number of rivers in the Southeast U.S. where NOC operates rafting trips

• 27 — age of new NOC president Sutton Bacon

• 550 — number of NOC employees during peak summer months

• 1972 — year NOC began as a rafting business

•129,000 — estimated number of NOC whitewater trips in 2006

• 15 million — NOC’s annual budget