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Mountain Wayfarer
sea kayaking and sailing
by Marek Uliasz
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Texas Water Safari 2001
paddling observer's report
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Texas Water Safari - The World's Toughest Boat Race!
260 miles non-stop from San Marcos down
the San Marcos and Guadelupe rivers, then across the San Antonio Bay on the Gulf Coast
to its finish in Seadrift, Texas.
I learnt about the Safari sometime in the beginning of this year and started to gather all
possible information: visiting
the Official Texas Water Safari web site,
reading reports, lurking at the safari discussion
board and then asking questions, studying results and split times from previous years,
watching the safari videos (again and again ...).
I started to think
about entering the Safari, but decided that I needed a year to prepare for this challenge. So,
the TWS 2002!
My wife Connie agreed to be my team captain. Encouraged by Connie and Pat Gunn-Spencer, I decided
to drive to Texas to watch the 2001 Safari and paddle part of the race course as my first
training. Below is the report from our trip.
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June 7, 2001
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We left Fort Collins, CO early in the morning and started our journey to Texas with my
home built kayak, CLC Patuxent 19.5, on top of the car:
south to Denver, then east through eastern Colorado and Kansas, then turning south to Oklahoma.
In Kansas we spent some time in "Frontier City". I cannot resist the temptation to photograph
old cars, trucks and ghost towns
(see my Images from the Past).
Heavy storm in Wichita. Stayed the night in Norman.
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June 8, 2001
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Texas! Heavy trafic in Dallas and much worse in Austin. Finally, we reached
San Marcos at about 3 pm. We would be staying in San Marcos for the next two days.
No problem to find Aquarena Springs,
but ... nobody was there. We were driving around.
Spring Lake Dam. Joe's Crab Shack. Back to Aquarena Springs. Then we saw a car with a kayak
on top: Team #32. Aha, Aquarena Springs and City Park are not the same place!
This explained the inconsistencies in the course description I had noticed in safari reports
and videos from the last few years. The start had been moved below Spring Lake Dam in 1999.
We would be following Team #32 down the river all the way to Seadrift.
City Park. Boat checking. Briefing. A lot of boats.
A lot of people.
After watching the safari videos so many times I recognized many teams and race veterans.
Later that night we visited Rio Vista Dam and tried to find the access to Cottonseed Rapid.
I still don't know what is the "old cotton gin" mentioned in the driving directions.
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June 9, 2001: safari day 1
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This was my photography day. I took a spot below the Rio Vista Dam at about 8:20 and I wasn't
the first one there. The crowd of spectators was growing with each minute
leaving not much room for my tripod.
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Rio Vista dam
9:00 - the safari start in City Park. A few minutes later first boats arrive to Rio Vista dam.
<
Team #21 with West Hansen at the bow is portaging the dam. Mynars are coming!
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Mike Shea and Bugge team speed up below Rio Vista
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<
Cowboys riding their submarine through Rio Vista spillway
Many teams choose to run the spillway instead of portaging. Most of them are swamped with water,
many capsize. Kayaks are doing great here.
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Cottonseed Rapid.
Driving directions for today are much easier: just follow the crowd! More problems with parking.
<
Boat #21, first team at Cottonseed:
West Hansen, Jeff Wueste, Ian Adamson and Allen Spelce.
They finished the Safari in 3rd place, 41:53h.
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Boat #40 - "Mynars" team, the Safari winner in 36:03h.
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9 person Bugge team #181, finished 2nd in 38:35h.
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"Like father, like daughter", boat #123. Sandy and Tom Goynes enjoy a casual ride through the
rapids where other teams seem to fight for their lives. They finished 16th in 51:24h.
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"Grumpy Old Men". Nate Stewart, Charlie Stewart and Richard Miller finished 13th in 50:08h
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Different styles of kayaks in the safari.
<
Mike Shea (#48) and his Rocket surf ski. He portaged around the rapids: appeared suddenly from the bushes
just after the long boats. Mike finished 15th as first kayak, after 51:08 h.
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Jack Krohn (#49) missing the infamous rock at Cottonseed.
He finished 41st in 75:29h
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James Quinn (#32) finished 43rd in 76:31h. The same rock in his course ...
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and sea kayaking by Thomas Mendenhall (#1986), finished 44th in 77:33h
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Cottonseed Rapid story continues ...
Wait for me!
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Where is my boat?
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traffic jam ...
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"Close to Heaven", boat # 12, Ginger Turner.
I had the pleasure to meet her the next day when paddling below Gonzales and admired
her steady paddling. Ginger finished in 80:10 h
(1st woman solo).
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John Stockwell's third Safari attempt.
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Staples
Approaching the first checkpoint.
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One of three options to portage the Staples dam.
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<
Thomas Mendenhall is using a cart to drive his 58lb sea kayak around the Staples dam.
To wheel or not to wheel?
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I noticed at least two other teams carrying carts. However, a cart adds extra pounds to your
load and can really be used only for a few portages. Thomson Island, Staples, Gonzales? I may
enter next year with a rather heavy boat, so it is something I need to think about.
We followed the racers and visited all access and checkpoints down to
Luling. At Luling
we saw the first boat portaging over the Zedler Dam: the Mynar team.
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June 9, 2001 - afternoon
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Saturday afternoon I started my training for TWS 2002. For my warm-up just 6 miles
from San Marcos to Westefield crossing and
3 portages: Rio Vista, Thomson Island and Cummings Dam. I decided to portage Rio Vista -
it was not so easy to carry my long kayak through the crowds of kids playing above and below
the dam.
< The racers are gone. San Marcos River is quiet again.
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<
Approaching Cummings Dam just after confluence with Blanco River.
Upper San Marcos looks like a tropical river.
It may sound strange but, after paddling in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming
for 12 years, San Marcos and Guadelupe Rivers remind me of the rivers and streams I paddled in
Poland years ago. Maybe it is that green color ...
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June 10, 2001 - safari day 2
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My 1st day on Guadelupe River: Gonzales - Hochheim, 38 miles without access points or any
significant landmarks.
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I passed several paddlers just below Gonzales and then nobody till Hochheim, just deer, turtles
and snakes. I managed to maintain an average speed on the water of about 5 mph. The river was really slow
and the current was not adding more than 1.5 mph to my speed.
Hochheim. We had a longer talk with John Stockwell's brother
who worked as his team captain while John was trying to recover from muscle cramps. He didn't.
We moved our temporary headquarters from San Marcos to Victoria.
The first teams were finishing that night.
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June 11, 2001 - safari day 3
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My 2nd paddling day on Guadelupe River: Cuero - Victoria,
40 miles. More attractions than yesterday: access points in Thomaston and Nursery, and three sets
of rapids near Thomaston bridge.
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<Racers on Guadelupe River.
They choose the slow and shallow leg
of the river on the left of this gravel bar. The right leg with its swift current and sweepers had
eliminated three teams from the race during the previous night.
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Thomaston bridge access point
< A paddler and his team captain - boat #32
Hot and humid, close to 100F. Fortunately, I was not racing so I could take longer breaks
to cool down in the river and swim. I learned that dealing with the heat and eating under these
conditions may be a serious problem during the Safari.
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June 12, 2001 - safari day 4
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Tivoli
the last checkpoint
< Safari paddlers rely heavily on duct tape
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Seadrift
Several teams are finishing during the award ceremony including solo
kayakers: Jack Krohn, < James Quinn and Thomas Mendenhall
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<Safari boats at the finish line.
My last chance to look at racing boats and examine their rigging.
We left Seadrift at about 3 pm after the award ceremony. We drove along the coast
to San Padre Island. After enjoying beach, sea and waves for a longer while we started our
return journey to Colorado and ended up for the night somewhere north of San Antonio.
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June 12, 2001 - safari day 5
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The safari was still going on when we were driving NW through Texas hill country, then flat Panhandle,
finally reaching more familiar New Mexico. Stayed the night in Raton just over pass from
Colorado.
76 boats finished the safari at Seadrift before 100-hour deadline at 1 pm. 113 teams
started at San Marcos.
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June 13, 2001
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In the morning we crossed the Raton Pass and entered Colorado. We spent some time visiting
the ghost town of Wooton. Some of its history can be found in
Ghosts of the Colorado Plains
by Perry Eberhart.
<The Wooton church or rather his remaining front wall
is well visible from freeway on northern side of the Raton Pass.
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1 pm, Fort Collins. We completed our Texas Water Safari trip:
3000 miles of driving. 84 miles of paddling. We met a great paddling community and we are looking
forward to TWS 2002. Commuting from northern Colorado to southern Texas for training and racing
will be tough ...
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Safari Fashion
Sandy Goynes' Safari 2001 hat
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another nice hat at Cottonseed
can work as a buoyancy aid
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hats and tights - Cowboys
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guys in ties
David and Dennis Kloesel (#6875)
approaching Tivoli
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Thomas Mendenhall finishing at Seadrift
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uliasz@frii.com
other web pages by Marek Uliasz
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