These pictures were from the 1997 water safari... TeamOMT (One More
Time) with the Hummer as the support vehicle. The two people in the
canoe are Shawn Melnar and Matt Mitchell (myself), we had a great time
and Finished this time. All the pictures were taken by Kim or Joe
Mertens or Sharon Melnar - members of our Captain Crew.
Last years (1996) race, Shawn and partner Chris Cooke entered the
race, except that Chris (becoming the wiseman) backed out the week of
the race. Earlier in the year, I played Team Captain for them during
the Prelim, and told Shawn that _IF_ Chris backed out, I'd do the race
with him (since I had introduced him to the race back in college).
Well, as a nightmare came to reality, the Tuesday before the race, I
got that call. Never having been in this new canoe or used a bent
shaft paddle, I showed up Race morn at 8am and took my place in the
back, and we were off! (*Not to mention that I had been out on the
town till 2:30am on Friday night*) Smiles and no problems all the way
till Hocheim(sp), the 1/2 way mark - made it there in about 32 hours.
My hands were hurting quite a bit from that darned paddle and I had
enough. Argued about my hurting hands and lack of preparation, I
agreed to the practice for the race NEXT year(1997).
And wouldn't you believe it, he held me to my word!!
In 1997 we practiced several times, taking each section of the river
at least once, and the top section the week prior to the race to see
what we were in for. We didn't have time to squeeze the bay run in
like we had planned which proved to be a small mistake.
Race day, started a little smoother this year as I had stayed at a San
Marcos hotel and actually got a good nights rest. We unloaded the
canoe, and packed it up for our journey. Over packed, more food than
we needed yet we were still packed lighter than some of the other
'average' teams. Our prelim race, put us in the 3rd/4th row and we
were off. We took the Peppers side of the island and had to wait
quite some time for a slower team to negotiate the rocks, and as soon
as we jumped back in to the canoe, (CRACK) My footrest/bilge bar
broke when my ankles jammed into it! Harmless but now the bilge
didn't work properly and I didn't have a place to rest my feet, not a
100 yards into the race and our first episode. Successfully having
negotiated the San Marcos river all seemed to be looking up.
We reached Cummings damn and portaged around it, and in doing so, both
of us successfully cut our hands on the spray cover snaps that were
recently installed for our trip across the bay. Ouch, and nothing is
going to heal when your hands are constantly wet and holding a paddle
for the next few days. Not to be out done, when Shawn jumped back
into the canoe to set course down stream from Cummings his seat
support gave way. We improvised and used the water container support
and jammed it under the seat to maintain a comfortable height. All
this, and before westerfield too! Wasn't quite the start we had
imagined.
With the river running high, most everyone was portaging around
cotton seed, but being the fools that we are, we shot straight down
through the middle. We came through with flying colors and a loud
roar from the bystanders as there was only one deep dig to straighten
the canoe out again. It appeared as IF we knew what we were doing
and not fighting for dear life. One bonus was that some photographer
was there and got an excellent shot of us showing our (cough) stuff!
Off into the night, most of the next several hours were un-eventful.
Ottine was well marked and we could hear it. Portaged without
trouble. An excellent light is a must! This time our captain
showed up at the Palmetto check point a little muddy from the
rain/drizzle that had started but they were there none the less. In
1996 they slept right through our supposed water exchange.
Reaching Hocheim, the celebrated 1/2 point we were to take a break.
The rain had continued and soaked us, I was getting cold and it was
still raining we huddled with the captain as Shawn tried to sleep on
the muddy ground. I was still to charged up to sleep, though we had
taken a hour of sleep while the other kept paddling. Finally after an
hour or so we jumped back into the river and back on course, trading
positions with 2-3 other boats at each check point or meal stop.
The next several miles were just a lot of paddling till night fall.
This time night rolled around our battery for our main light was
running weak and wasn't going to last long, so paddling without light
we continued till we heard noises in the distance. This worked well
as it also eliminated the bugs that liked to fly in our teeth. We had
previously practiced this part of the river, except it was a bit lower
when we practiced and it was daylight. All the twisting and turning
and the lights of the dupont plant were confusing to say the least.
We kept paddling and paddling AND paddling not really knowing if were
going in a circle or had missed a turn or what. Finally resorting to
checking the water carefully for something different around the next
corner we stumbled in to a log jam that told us we hadn't been going
in a circle. What a mess, a log jam at night and no banks on either
side to portage on, and the log jam wasn't sturdy enough to step up
on. Since the water was a bit high we made our own way through the
trees and shrubs that would have normally been on the bank. Just as
we made it through we heard our trailing buddies hit the jam.
Ahhh.. daybreak was coming and we were still on course, heading to
Tivoli but still with the water high nothing looked familiar. Then
the giant log jam, the same one we portaged around on our practice
run. Though this time with higher waters it was even longer and
everyone was suggesting to cross alligator lake, so we too will try
the lake. Crossing that darned lake with the head wind took what
seemed like 8-9 hours of paddling, it made the rest of the trip seem
like a walk in the park. Little swells and the name, Alligator Lake,
we didn't want to stay out there long. Finding a way back into the
river nothing looked familiar again. Finally, recognizing the trailer
houses up on stilts we knew we were getting close. Tivoli, unload
all our gear that we weren't going to need for the next 13 miles.
Ahhh, 13 miles, piece of cake, at least that what we thought. This is
the part of the river course we hadn't seen. Paddling down there
river, hey what about that cut off left? Should we go right? Isn't
the bay supposed to be here by now? Hey there it is but the river is
going away from it. Finally getting there, lets put up the spray
skirt and tackle this puppy. The same head wind that had given us a
nightmare on Alligator lake was still blowing across the bay. We shot
straight across the bay and up the far shore and not knowing which
islands to round, we headed for them all. Rounded two or three then
looking back at shore without a clue as to where the finish line was
or even looked like we just paddled along some more hoping for a
revelation. Not knowing where the park was, any place that looked
like there might be people there was a candidate, so we kept heading
that direction till finally we spotted more than 10 people playing by
the waters edge.
The end is near, this spray cover makes my legs hot, my hands are
sore, the cut hurts. Shawn is on auto pilot just moving the paddle,
eyes are open, not sure if they are working. Hey, there is the Crew
and look they honored my only request, an ICE COLD SHINER BEER! Its
over, 33 hours. Where is the shower?
