Andrew and I found out about the Texas Water Safari in early 2000. Some friends from church, the Zeeks, asked Andrew to be Team Captain for them that year. He had a great time being Team Captain and thought we should try to do the Safari for ourselves. So we started rigging Christopher's (our older brother) old 3 rib Alumacraft canoe for the Safari.

The Start of TWS 2001

Our first canoe race was the Junior Water Safari of 2000. There we met other Safari racers that were able to tell us how to better prepare for the Safari.

On Friday June 8th, 2001 we were on our way to San Marcos to check in for our first Texas Water Safari! Dad was going to be our Team Captain and we were entering into the novice class. 9:00 am Saturday the gun sounded and we were on our way to Seadrift, 260 miles away!

Everything was going great on Saturday, even though we did have a little trouble as Cottonseed. However, it didn't damage the canoe any and it didn't cost us to much time.

Sunday we passed the third place novice canoe. We were holding our position and keeping on a 59 hour schedule all the way through Sunday night. Things were looking good for us, and at the time the race wasn't as difficult and painful as we were planning on.

Before the race people had told us about the hallucinations they would get on the Safari. Sunday night I found out what they were talking about. One time there were lights from a house (which was real) and I saw all these people lined up on the banks cheering for us; I even heard them. I asked Andrew, "Do you hear that?" He said "What?" "Just wait; I'll tell you when I hear it again. There it is, do you hear it?" He told me it was just a coyote. I still think it sounded like people cheering for us. I didn't tell him until after the race that I saw all the people cheering too. It still seamed so real. Andrew claimed not to have any hallucinations, but I'm not so sure.

Sunday night at 12:15 pm. -- 180 miles down river -- the unexpected, unwanted, and unplanned thing occurred. We got caught in a really bad sweeper that flipped our canoe. The water was moving fast and was over our heads. We thought we would hold on to the canoe and ride it out, but then we heard people hollering at us. They were standing on a tree in the middle of the river right where we were headed and their lights were shining our eyes!

Only a few seconds later, Andrew and I had the canoe in our chests pinning our backs to the tree. (At this point the canoe was upright and full of water.)

Approaching Palmetto State Park

Somehow Andrew managed to get the canoe off his chest and himself up on the tree. He said he really didn't remember what happened; all he knows is that he got safely on the tree. On the other hand, I remember quite clearly almost everything that happened to me. While I was still pinned to the tree I saw in slow motion the canoe tipping towards me. I knew the canoe was going the last place I wanted to and was taking me with it -- under the tree! I don't think I was under the tree very long, I really don't remember. When the current pushed me out on the other side of the tree I felt like I was flying by all the branches that I could hold on to. I finally got hold of a vine, which held me just long enough to grab a larger branch. I was going to stay like that and rest a minute but the rest of my body was being washed downstream, so I wrapped my legs around the branch too. I was able to catch my breath and climb over to the main part of the tree where Andrew and the other two racers were.

Somewhere while all this was going on Andrew got the canoe free from the tree (it got stuck under the tree) and tied it up to a branch.

After we got to the small island that was about 11 feet from the tree where our canoe was tied up, we found out that the other boat that crashed there was Fuzz Busters 3711. They told us they heard their canoe break and wanted a rescue team to get it out from under the tree.

Not long after we got on the island another canoe did the same thing we did. We tried to warn them (Doug and Steven) ahead of time, but they didn't hear us. They too ended up in the same fix we were in.

About 2:00 a.m. we started to get cold and wanted a fire. We had a lighter and tried to start a fire but there wasn't anything dry enough to burn. The only thing dry that might have burn was toilet paper. We soon learned that it only smolders.

Now we were soaking wet, sleep deprived, getting cramped muscles, and getting very cold. It was pretty obvious to Andrew and I that we weren't going to be able to sleep because we were already starting to get hypothermia. Instead of sleeping we would walk around to keep ourselves warm. A little later (by this time I've lost all track of time) Andrew found an emergency blanket that someone apparently had lost. We were able to wrap up in that, keep warm, and sleep.

Before sunup Monday morning the rescue team arrived to get Fuzz Busters out. The rescuer decided our canoe and Doug & Steve's canoe was too dangerous for us to get ourselves. He said we could sign out of the race and he would go get the canoe or we could try to get it and we would be disqualified for taking an unnecessary risk. We were stuck, so we signed the paper. He got our canoe out then the Fuzz Busters out. He didn't even try to get out Steven and Doug's canoe, he said it was too dangerous. However, with a little teamwork we got it out a little later.

Signing the paper that said we were out of the race just about killed us. That was the last thing we wanted to do. There was only a little over 80 miles left in the race and we were more than ready to finish it. Instead we followed some friends and watched them finish.

Andrew and I didn't have to say anything to each other; we were thinking the same thing. With God's help we would definitely be back for Safari 2002 to finish what we started.

While waiting for a year to go by we continued to paddle and do the other safari related races. Andrew also bought a new 5 rib aluminum canoe to race the Safari since Christopher's canoe was well used and pretty banged up.

After what Andrew and I went though last year in the Safari, we were more determined than ever to finish. Last year we really didn't care what our time or placement were as long as we finished. Since we didn't finish in '01 we were hoping for 1st Novice and overall time of less than 70 hours. As the Safari drew closer we realized that the Novice class this year would be a lot harder than last year. Additionally, the low water wouldn't help us finish any quicker.

Andrew's friend from Arizona, Chris Miller, was our Team Captain. Mom, Dad and Stephen (our 14 year old brother) would be going with Chris to help out and cheer us on.

Friday, June 14th we were on our way to San Marcos for a start of our second Texas Water Safari.

Saturday at 1 minute to 9:00 am the countdown began and I had butterflies in my stomach all over again.

We had a really good start this year and didn't get tangled up with any other boats. The whole day was going great, just like we were hoping. We even ran Cottonseed better than we ever had in any of our practice runs.

We lost a lot of time Saturday night. Andrew's wrist was starting to hurt him and he wasn't able to paddle much for a couple hours. (When we got home we found out it was a torn ligament). About the same time I started feeling sick but knowing that Andrew couldn't paddle made me feel better and I was able to keep going. When he started feeling better and was able to paddle I really starting feeling bad. About the time we came to the log jam right above Gonzales all the boats behind us were catching up. While we were there we had to fix our light and rest a minute. While we did this many boats passed us. At Gonzales Hwy 90 (73.5 miles) Andrew and I were both out of it so we stopped for 10 minutes to sleep. After the short rest I re-duck taped Andrew's wrist and we were on our way again at 2:15 am. Andrew's wrist was still hurting but I was feeling better.

Gonzales to Hochheim was long, slow and boring. We didn't see anything interesting or anyone that whole stretch of river. Hochheim to Cheapside was the longest stretch of river we have ever run in our life! It almost seemed longer than the 1st 24 hours of the race. We didn't know if we would ever make it to the next checkpoint. The river just kept winding back and forth, and the heat didn't help any. Next to arriving at Seadrift, Cheapside was the best check point to see.

A ready Team Captain

Sunday night/Monday morning we were extremely cautious. Anytime we heard rushing water or came around a corner that looked like there might be a sweeper we would go slow around it; many times we would even walk around it. We knew we were losing a lot of time by doing this but we were not going to be taken out by another sweeper like last year.

We came to Cuero 236 (156 miles) around 10:45 pm on Sunday night. We told Chris we were going to sleep because we knew we need it. We told him to wake us up in 12 minutes but he let us sleep an hour before he woke us up. After the race he told us we looked really bad and there was no way 12 minutes would get us recovered; I guess he was right. Our land crew tells us we were way out of it when we woke up. Mom said she wouldn't come by us because we were so bad. All I knew is I was stiffer than I had ever been in my life and could barley move.

Sunday night, Andrew and I knew when we got to the sweeper that took us out of the race last year. We walked around it even though with the low water it wasn't near as bad as it was in 2001. We were both were very happy to get to Thomaston crossing because last year we never made it there. We stopped and slept there for 12 minutes then were on our way again.

Since we weren't planning on stopping anywhere after Dupont we stopped and slept 10 minutes before heading out to Sea Drift.

Up until Tivoli (242.5 miles) we had been holding 3rd Novice with 4th place not to far behind. 1st and 2nd place had been over 8 hours in front of us since Sunday morning. We were ready to hold 3rd until the end of the race. When we reached Tivoli Chris told us 2nd place pulled out and we were now in 2nd place, with 3rd place being about one hour behind us.

Sleeping at Dupont

Andrew and I were both pretty tired as we passed Tivoli, but knowing that we would be done by sun up gave us the encouragement we needed to keep our heads (for the most part) and keep going. Somewhere after Tivoli I was getting really tired and was starting to space out when we ran over a 7 foot gar. Having that big thing flip all around and just about flip our canoe did a good job of waking me up.

We got to San Antonio bay at about 1:45 am. We stopped to put on our spray skirt and got about 50 mosquito bites in the process. It was a great feeling as we paddled the bay, until 3:45 am when we decided we really didn't know where we were. We should have stopped and waited for the sun or another team to follow before we got ourselves lost. We tried to sleep but the mosquitoes were bad and kept us awake.

Right before sunup, boat number 5 came by and showed us the way out. We found out if we would have gone another 30 yards farther we would have gotten past the grass, seen the lights, and finished 2 hours sooner. It was kind of a disappointment to find out we were that close and didn't finish. I guess that's the way it goes sometimes when you are on the river for 67 hours straight with only 2 1\4 hours of sleep.

In 69 hours and 14 minutes we came in 29th overall and second in our class. What a great feeling it was to finish the Texas Water Safari, the World's Toughest Boat Race!

We are both grateful to God for keeping us safe and giving us strength to finish the race this year. We know there is no way we could have done it without Him.

We also want to say thanks to -

Brandy and Don Zeek - For getting us into this whole mess of canoe racing. If it wasn't for you we would have never known what it was like to paddle three days in a canoe without much sleep and the joy that comes when you reach the finish line.

Christopher - For letting us take over your canoe! It was nice before we got to it and made it look like a well used Safari canoe by all of the battle scars we put on it for you.

Dad - For being our Team Captain in Safari '01 even though we didn't finish. But more so for playing Team Captain on almost all of our training runs and always encouraging us to do better than we did the time before.

Mom - For cheering us on while we are racing and letting us continue to do the Safari races even though you think we almost killed ourselves in some of the races.

Chris - For being a awesome Team Captain for us this year. You were always ready for us with the water and good information.

Leo and Paul Ohlemacher - For letting use your bow light in Safari '02. It worked Great! Also for all the technical advice and making all the races a little more personal by always being so close to finishing when we do.

John Qualls - For all the encouragement and advice you gave us. Also for helping us keep our priorities in order.

And all of those who gave us good advice, and encouragement while we were training and racing. We couldn't have done it with out you.

Dad (Roger), Mom (Janet), Holly, Stephen, Andrew, Chris