Texas Water Safari -The First 100km

Have you ever wondered what the Texas Water Safari was like? The next few installments of the blog will breakdown the race, providing you an opportunity ro understand the race better and what the participants go through.

On Saturday June 12th at 8:50am, over 100 boats will put into the water at Aquarena Springs in San Marcos Texas and pull into their starting positions. For the next 10 minutes, the armada of canoes and kayaks will gently bob in Spring Lake. The temperature will already be in the mid 20C (75F) range and the humidity will be rolling in.

At 9:00am, a single gunshot will send over 250 paddlers thrashing across the lake, crashing into each other and jostling for position en route to Joe's Crab Shack Dam a mere 400m (1/4 mi) away. Once the boats have traversed the little lake, the paddlers will jump out into the mud and water and start a downhill running portage through dense bush, roots, sharp rocks and other racers. Hazardous rocks threaten to twist ankles, tear flesh and damage boats en route to the mouth of the San Marcos River, a river that will take them to the Guadalupe River, out into the Gulf of Mexico and onto Seadrift 421km (262 mi) away, and that is just the first kilometre of the race.

Over the next 3.5km (2.2mi) there are two more dams and 3 portages (2 mandatory). The Rio Vista Dam, a mere 1.2km (0.75 mi) from the race's beginning provides a opportunity to run the small spillway if you don't feel like portaging, however, many boats that attempt are thwarted in their effort and end up capsized with their paddlers scrambling to catch their boat and gear as it floats down the river and then upright it so the can continue as the spillway descends into a 4ft (1.3m) standing wave

In fact, this section of the river is often considered the most difficult part of the race. Aside from the 7 portages, 4 low clearance bridges and 2 rapids, this section contains what is locally known as the "Gnarly 40". Forty miles (64km) of tight, tree clogged and log jammed river channel between Staples Dam and Palmetto State Park. In years of high water, log jams can be nearly a mile long, being unable to paddle them the racers have to traverse across the log jam with their canoe and gear, being careful not to breakthrough or have their boats swept underneath. These "logjam portages" often take more than one trip eating up valuable time. These trees are also prime habitat for black widows and cottonmouth snakes, both highly venomous.

This section also contains the Cottonseed Rapids, a long stretch of rocks and white water with a narrow chute exit which is a favourite spot for many spectators. Many boats that attempt to run this section are swept into rocks, paddlers are tossed from boats, canoes and kayaks capsize and fill with water and gear is swept downstream, if lucky the boats sustain no damage and the paddlers can meet up with their boats and gather their gear further down. Those that are not lucky can find their boats pinned or even rupture their hulls which can either end their race a mere 16km into the race or spend critical time repairing the damage which can be moderate or severe taking up to an hour to repair. Boats pinned to rocks by the force of the water often find themselves in the way of boats shooting the rapids and can cause significant collisions.

If that wasn't enough, the portage at the Ottine Dam is considered one of the hardest by many racers in this race. Due to the strong current of the dam, you must pull over well above it or face the chance of being swept over, you then must pull the boat out of the water and up a steep slick river bank and down a slippery clay slope covered in dense trees, prime location for poison ivy, fire ants, and venomous snakes and spiders, a bite from either can prove fatal to a human in an exhausted and stressed state. Not to mention prime real estate to drop a canoe or injure oneself.

To top it off, racers have to finish this section by 10AM Sunday, a mere 25 hours after the race starts.

This is the first 100km of the Texas Water Safari, "The World's Toughest Boat Race". Stay tuned for the second 100km.