Axel and Amiya at the start.

The madhouse start of the race. See Amiya's blue shirt?

This is one of the 7-man boats at Cottonseed Rapid.

'The Bobs' wrap their boat around a rock. See the beginning of another 7-man boat coming through Cottonseed Rapid.

$B!F(BThe Bobs' did a riverside repair using zip ties and found sticks.

$B!F(BThe Bobs' get their boat back together enough to paddle on down the river. They dropped out at the Staples checkpoint because they were having to bail too much.

Axel and Amiya's run of Cottonseed wasn't as smooth as planned.

Axel and Amiya at the Fentress bridge crossing.

Amiya at the last checkpoint before the end. This is mid-day on day 3.

Axel at the same checkpoint.

Axel and Amiya approach the saltwater barrier.

Axel and Amiya reach the final checkpoint at Seadrift.

The team and support crew.

Axel's Account (Team Member)

After 750 miles of training and 2 postponements the Water Safari 2004 finally happened. After having lots of rain in the month preceding the race water levels on the San Marcos were higher than average and water levels on the Guadelupe were high. The flooding that led to the cancellation of the race before had caused the river to reroute itself around one of the dams  -  it was now standing high and dry, while the river had created a new path.

I felt that we were well prepared, having paddled more than 400 river miles (mostly on the San Marcos), often in 40 mile long segments. To put it in perspective, at the start of our preparation I considered 40 miles a good distance for a 3 day trip. Probably our most important preparation trips were the hard ones: paddling the bay in high winds until we finally gave up and got out and walked, paddling 10 hours from Lulling to Gonzales at night, then getting the car stuck by the river at 3am, and doing the prelim race in pouring rain. That was pretty good preparation for what the river could throw at you. A fun thing about the practice runs was that as the race drew closer you'd always run into other safari racers, and everyone was ready to share advice and experiences.

The first section of the San Marcos has quite a few portages in it, and with 75 boats competing, there was quite a traffic jam. At the first one we had to wait in line for a few minutes, the second we actually ran  -  taking on some water, but overall being quick, and on the third dam most people chose a different route, allowing us to go quickly. The fourth dam was the last with a traffic jam. The first miles went by pretty quickly, we ran Old Mill rapid well, but we messed up on Cottonseed, the hardest rapid in the race. Our approach was as planned, but I think we were too confident and didn't talk it through, so we messed up the run-out and ran onto a rock  -  we got going again quickly, but we were a little upset as we had done only good runs of the rapid until the actual race. Our land crew was there to watch.

Onward we went, to Martindale and Staples (the first checkpoint), doing our often practiced portages. Alex gave us water at Staples and Amiya's uncle gave us encouragement. We paddled on from Staples to Lulling (second checkpoint). The section was very familiar, but we had to constantly watch for the right routes around the fallen trees.

From Lulling we headed on toward Palmetto (third checkpoint), hoping to get there while it was still light. The safety officials for the race did cut a few slots into some dangerous strainers where fast current was pushing into fallen trees to allow safer and easier passage. When we got to Ottine Dam we realized that we were pretty tired. It is hard work to pull the boat out of the water, drag it through mud, then over rocks and down a rocky slope around the dam. Our hands hurt really badly while doing this. Amiya slipped, but didn't get hurt. A few minutes later we arrived at Palmetto. Checking in with the team captain always raised the spirits.

We prepared the canoe for the night  -  getting out the headlamps and installing our headlight for the canoe. We did specifically scout the next stretch to better anticipate the portages and logjams we were going to have to negotiate. For about an hour after sunset the bugs were incredible  -  they hovered around the headlight and also our heads, but after a while they disappeared. At this point the boats were spaced pretty far apart and we did not see anyone in front or behind us. When we finally saw lights we had come to the worst of the two portages. Three crews were fighting their way over a jam in the middle of the river  -  we knew the right side was the better place to go and actually passed all three teams by doing a quick portage. The second portage followed. We did it quickly, just as practiced the week before. The paddling is slow but easy from there to the end of the San Marcos. We reached the confluence where the current picked up and breathed a sigh of relief that we had finished the trickiest and hardest section of the race. But it was only a third of the total distance.

At Gonzales Dam the safety officials had made a very long portage mandatory. We had always done a short portage, which seemed very safe even at high water. The mandatory portage was long, but fortunately it was a long drag over grass. Our hands were hurting, so the best thing to do was to pick up the front of the boat and run while dragging the boat until the pain in the hands was too much. Then we'd take a break and repeat after a short rest. At least we knew that this was the last portage  -  due to the washout of Cuero Dam.

A mile later we came to the Gonzales checkpoint. Many people stop here to rest, but our plan was to rest in the boat and take advantage of the swift current of the Guadelupe river. Amiya got to rest first. Soon I realized that our light, which did us well on the small San Marcos was not up to the task of illuminating the big Guadelupe. Then again, the river was wide open and no logjams were expected. So I resorted to looking up to see the general direction of the river and listening for current rushing through fallen trees. Whenever I heard something I'd use my headlamp to investigate further and at the same time steer the canoe away. I got into the groove and Amiya got to rest for 2 hours. Then we switched. For the first time in 20 hours I got to put down the paddle and close my eyes. Unfortunately sleeping didn't come easy as I continued to listen out for obstacles. When Amiya actually bumped one, it became impossible. Still, not paddling and resting the eyes were rejuvenating.

By 6am we were back in business with both of us paddling. We were on the longest stretch without any access or landmark. We were not quite sure how far we had come and how far we had to go, so by 9am we had great expectations to find the Hochheim bridge around the next corner. It is amazing what the shapes of the trees and the bank do to tired eyes and brains. That tree in the distance looks like a bridge piling, that flat cut bank over there, is that the bridge? Even arched bridges materialized from properly shaped branches.

Finally, around 10:30, we got to Hochheim. We resupplied with water and continued on a pretty similar section down to Cheapside. It was hot and my butt was starting to hurt. The hands on the other hand had actually improved from the day before. The rest had allowed them to dry. The mellow river made it easier to keep the hands dry while paddling and the Vitamin E seemed to help the healing process well.

Cuero Dam was a treat. It was a bad portage when we first scouted it, but now it was cool to ride a riverbed that just wasn't there 4 weeks ago. From Cuero to Victoria is a pretty lively stretch with good current and quite a few little rapids. It got dark at Nursery and we had the same navigation issues as the night before  -  the river was bigger than our light, only now we were twice as tired...

The race instructions show the bridge at Thomaston, then at Nursery, then the checkpoint in Victoria. It was quite a surprise when there was an additional bridge getting into Victoria with still 5 miles to go. We were tired and worn out from the extra concentration to find our way down this winding section of river.

We pulled in at Victoria to get some sleep. We slept on the ground in a screened tent that the race organizers had put up. Amiya slept well, I had a harder time, but I definitely could relax. After a few hours I got cold and used my life jacket to keep me warm. Eventually I decided to wake up Amiya and Alex to get going again. I felt that I would just get colder, not any stronger. We floated on down, the only section we had not scouted beforehand.

The next stretch was incredibly meandering. Highway 59 could be heard for an hour before we finally crossed it. We heard the DuPont plant for 90 minutes. At DuPont we got water and more encouragement  -  only 34 more miles. The area around and below DuPont was neat  -  very dense vegetation and high water that at times was flowing off into the forest it seemed. I imagined that this was sort of like the Amazon.

We got to the last checkpoint  -  the Salt Water Barrier at Tivoli. The crew manning the checkpoint was helpful as our land crew had not arrived yet. The barrier had caught many floating logs and was impassable now. We were not expecting a portage here, but it didn't bother us too much  -  we were too close the finish line now. Our land crew did surprise us with some ice packs at the Wooden Bridge, the last possible access point before the finish. We were in good spirits as we approached the bay. We pulled up to put on our spray skirt, just in case the waves were higher out there than they were right there at the mouth of the river. We got passed by two boats! Imagine that, after spending most of the 260 miles alone, getting passed just 6 miles from the finish stirred up our competitive juices. We paddled hard through the bay and passed those two boats again to arrive at Seadrift in 57:28, 32^nd overall, 3^rd Novice.

So the safari is over. One could say, we have slayed this dragon. I am very happy with our result. We made the plan, did the training and preparation and we executed well. Probably the most incredible thing about this trip was how good we felt toward the end  -  I was expecting sheer misery. Well, the conditions were excellent, we experienced more hardships during the training runs.

It is interesting to put it into perspective  -  I have rafted on the Tatshenshini/Alsek, 160 miles in 10 days, and kayaked the Grand Canyon, 224 miles and 14 days. Doing 260 miles in 57 hours is on a different scale altogether! In an Alumacraft!

The question I get asked is 'Would I do it again?'. I think the answer is yes, sometime in the future. I am not someone who would agonize over how to improve my time by an hour next year. I am more of an adventurer  -  finishing while feeling good and paddling well is more than I could ask for.

So the question is more one of building up a new challenge. I think there are plenty of ways: solo, big boat, wait until I am older, wait until my kids are ready... something new so that the sacrifices  -  spending the training time on the river to the detriment of family time and other hobbies are worthwhile again.

Alex's Account (Team Captain)

Axel finished the Texas Water Safari race. There were 73 boats that started and 56 that finished. They finished 32nd overall and 3rd in their class at 57 hours 23 minutes. Many race records were reset because the water and conditions were ideal. Axel and Amiya kept up a good pace throughout, drank and ate lots so their energy level stayed high and they finished in great spirits. The rules are they have to do this without any assistance except receiving water and ice from their team captain. No one can touch them or help them in any way such as helping them off the rocks when they are stuck or offering them a hand up out of the water when they stop at a checkpoint.
 

The first day was all on the San Marcos river. They had a poor run of Cottonseed rapids, but many people had a bad time there. I have included a picture of one of the boats that got wrapped at Cottonseed. The two guys in the boat were Bob and Bob from Canada. They are seasoned racers in Canada, but this was their first Safari race. They managed to patch up their boat (a pretty amazing feat) and continue down the river to the next checkpoint at Staples, however, they were taking on too much water and had run out of repair material so they decided to get out of the race. Bob told me at the end that they had actually had their boat sold before the race, but he wasn't sure if the buyer would still want it after they repair it. One Bob had stayed in San Marcos to repair the boat while the other one followed the race on down.

Axel and Amiya had a great first day. They were a little tired at the checkpoint in Palmetto at 9pm, but they paddled on through the night. They managed to catch a few hours of rest each while one paddled and the other rested. Their practice runs paid off during their portages where they usually passed people trying to figure out how to get over the obstacle. The Gonzales checkpoint in the middle of the night was a little eerie. You would see a light off in the distance and someone waiting would shout out 'Boat!' and then to the boat 'What's your boat number?'. Whoever's team it was jumped up or was woken up from sleep to get ready for a water handoff. Several people stopped there to take a couple hours rest. Axel and Amiya continued on through the night.

I heard through the race grapevine that several people had to drop out on the San Marcos due to damaged boats from running into strainers or rocks. I heard first hand stories from people who survived swimming under trees while their boats were trapped. Fortunately, no one was injured badly during the whole race. One guy did have to be hospitalized for dehydration.

On the morning of day two, as we were waiting for my team to reach Hocheim Checkpoint, we saw a whole tree floating down the river, roots first. It must have recently fallen into the river because as it rolled over, limbs with green leaves still attached shot into the air waving at us as it passed. The checkpoints were 5-6 hours apart on this day, so my assistant (Jharna) and I went to a hotel to get some rest in a cool environment. Pretty much the whole day was spent in Cuero. All the checkpoints were within 15 minutes drive from Cuero. At the end of the day, we headed out to Victory. When I drove into the Victoria checkpoint, my van (the VW camper) was smoking from the back. It turned out that a radiator hose had busted and was leaking onto the hot engine making lots of steam.

Axel and Amiya came into the Victoria checkpoint at 11:30pm and decided to take a long break there. Their lighting system wasn't up to the wider Guadalupe, so it made navigation at night very stressful since they could only hear stuff and not see it. They slept until 4am, but couldn't rest anymore, so they got up and continued on. Your body and mind does strange things when you are exhausted and sleep deprived like not letting you sleep when you need it.

In the meantime we loaded everything into our backup car and headed for the next checkpoint and managed to get another hour or two of dozing type sleep. The DuPont checkpoint was really beautiful. We saw lots of birds and other wildlife, but the noise of the DuPont factory was always in the background. The official at this checkpoint told us a story of a guy (Henry) who had left early in the night in seeming decent shape. Somewhere towards the next checkpoint, he lost his lights. Somehow, he got turned around and paddled upstream to within a half mile of the DuPont checkpoint. He then got out of his boat, found the gravel road and started walking. Another team captain found him about 3am and walked with him back to the checkpoint while someone went back to the checkpoint to notify the officials. They called down to the next point to get his team captain back up there. In the meantime, Henry got to the checkpoint where they convinced him to take a rest. When his team captain got there, Henry was feeling better, so they walked back to his boat where he proceeded on down the river to the finish.

Axel and Amiya reached the checkpoint about 2 hours later than we had expected, but it was a pleasant place to wait. They seemed in good spirits though and we think the delay was mainly from having to paddle for the first couple of hours at night without adequate lighting. When I was handing them water, I walked down some stairs into the water and forgot that I had my cell phone in my pocket. Needless to say, I have to go buy a new phone now.

After the handoff, we went back to Victoria to see if we could fix the radiator hose problem. It looked simple enough, so I went to buy a part and a pair of pliers (the leatherman was just not enough). We were not able to get the part off before we had to head out to meet the guys at the next checkpoint. While we were there though, many people drove by including park personnel and at least 4 police cars. One of the police cars even stopped a speeder right in front of us while I was under the car trying to get that hose off. Not one person stopped to ask us if everything was ok. I even tried to wave down some park personnel, but they just waved back and drove on.

We made it to our next handoff about 10 minutes late. Team captains get one time to be late or their team gets disqualified. This was mine, but everything worked out ok, because Axel and Amiya were still there and I was able to sign them out. We made it up to them by finding the last bridge crossing (5 miles out a gravel road) where we gave them ice packs. This was not a planned stop so they were pleasantly surprised.

While they headed toward the bay, we headed to Seadrift where we found our hotel, took showers and headed out to the seawall to meet them. Many of the racers who had come in the day before were on hand to watch people come in. The lead boat came in at 33 hours 8 minutes (Sunday, early evening), so there were lots of people who had already had their recovery rest, eaten and showered. We talked with lots of people about their experiences and ours while we waited. We didn't have to wait long though before we saw a speck out on the bay. As it got closer, we saw the flash of red from their spray skirt. Yes, canoes can have spray skirts. I walked down the sea wall to meet them and walked/ran with them back up to the finish line. Every boat that comes in get cheers from lots of people hanging out watching. It's very satisfying to be cheered on by people who had finished. They knew what these guys had been through.

They say they don't intend on doing this again, but people involved in the race swear that it gets in your blood and it's hard to stay away. They may have it right. There were countless people there who had completed more than 1 race. One man there had completed 27 races. One team captain who is retiring this year has captained for 25 years. We heard many stories from people who couldn't quit with just one finish even after they had sworn they would never do this thing again. The stories are endless. The experience unforgettable. I don't know if I would ever paddle it, but I would be a team captain again, anytime.