Several veteran teams entered the 1964 Texas Water Safari vying for a total pot of $6,700 and tropies for the 500 mile canoe race down the San Marcos River and down the Texas coast to Corpus Christi.

Prior to the race, 28 of the nation's leading travel writers had gathered in San Marcos to cover the nation's toughest canoe race. Ten days were scheduled for the completion of the race, but even including an official delay due to 40 mph winds, the race was completed in a surprising total of 80 hrs and 27 minutes. A record was set when teams reached Seadrift in 63 hrs and 20 minutes.

Entries that year included Ronald Bohlender, the national kayak slalom champion. Bohlender, who has almost always finished in the top three in any race he has entered, failed to complete the race. Olympic canoe champion Frank Havens and his partner John Ruckert also entered the race. And a woman entry, Mrs. Willye Waterman, who has entered the race three times, was among the finishers. An Austin team of Albert Basey, 74, and John Byrns, 38, entered the race, but were ironically forced out when the younger man sprained his back.

The Michigan team of Al Widing and Bob Gillings won the '64 Safari. Gillings was on "To Tell the Truth" in August following the race. The first place total prize included a $3,000 moose and bear hunting trip for two.

1970 Texas Water Safari Results

(13 of the 26 teams finished the race.)

1.Robert Mitchell/John Evans 56:03
2.Tom Goynes/Mike Wooley 58:06
3.Gary Knight/James Mitchell 60:33
4.Steve Meredith/Lester Mount 61:26
5.Paul Carr/Wayne Walls 63:31
6.Sonny Callaway/Art Turner 71:41
7.Jim Pearson/Gerry Katrula 80:31
8.Charles Davis/James Chambers/Maurice Chambers 83:16
9.Al Barth/Bob Smith 86:53
10.Owen West/Don Walls 88:24
11.Mike Smock/Richard Smock 106:59
12.John Nabors/George Terry 110:54
13.Alton Moore/Billy Anders 118:20

This was the race that my dad and Owen burned their leaky canoe at the end of the race, which they had borrowed from my brother Wayne Walls.

1970 was the last year that the race went to Port Lavaca, so that explains why the times are so slow (56 hours for first place). As I recall, we had until Thursday morning to get to Seadrift. Then we would leave that morning for Port O'connor. On Friday we would paddle from Port O'connor to Indianola. And on Saturday we would finish at Port Lavaca.

Mike Wooley and I got to Seadrift sometime Monday morning. We had to survive until Thursday on the freeze dried food that we had taken with us down the river. We could also catch fish, crabs and seagulls if we wanted to. We did have some fine feasts in those good old days... I especially remember the hard head catfish cooked on a stick over a creosote fire - nothing quite like it.

I remember on the last night being so hungry that I silently opened the first aid kit (trying not to wake up my tentmate, Wooley) in which I found some Pepto Bismal tablets. I had to eat them very quitely, but they tasted as good as a fine steak dinner.

Just imagine getting to Seadrift and having to wait until the next Saturday to take your shower and eat a real meal... That was in the days when men were men and we smelled like it.

Roger Zimmerman's account of nearly meeting his maker in the 2000 TWS follows:

I was paddling my tippy solo boat in the rain on the San Marcos River staying near the bank of the outside bends to get the fastest current. It was day time. All of a sudden the bank on the right side with a dead tree on top caved in right in front of me. The bank that slid in looked as big a small house. Two seconds more and I would have been buried under tons of dirt. The dead tree broke up as it hit the water. A huge splash hole was created as all the dirt and the tree hit the water.

I hit the splash wave (maybe 3 feet high) immediately, went up and over it and into the splash hole. Me and my solo boat went to the bottom of the hole with me still upright. The hole was big enough that my 20 foot boat floated freely in the bottom in a horizontal position amongst all the broken tree parts. I did not hit any of the tree going into the hole and none of the falling tree hit me. When I looked up I could see the surface of the water about 6 feet above me with a wall of water all the way around me. The bottom of the hole had to be more than 30 feet in diameter with the walls nearly vertical.

I took a deep breath and prepared to be covered with water as the hole closed up, but it happened slowly enough that the boat rose up and floated me to the surface safely. About that time I heard Norm Thomas who was paddling a ways behind me say "Thank the Lord' because he thought the river had swallowed me up for good. It happened so suddenly that my pulse rate did not even speed up. We paddled on and talked about what a lucky person I was to have survived. I vowed never to paddle near high banks again when it was raining or real wet.

Norm's eye witness account follows:

The year was 2000. I was 8-10 yards behind Roger Zimmerman, was just tracking his pace. We had not met yet, he was just some solo guy that I was catching up to and was going to run with for awhile. We were coming up on a sharp right hand turn with a peninsula of bank about the size of three pickup trucks, bank 7-10 feet high. It was raining pretty good, but not real loud.

The only sound was a little ccrraaack, and the bank slides into the river and a tree, maybe three feet in diameter, with it. I got a real good look at it because I was pushed over to the other bank and barely made it under a branch with the second wave. I thought the first wave was big til the second wave came up. That's when Roger disappeared.

I rode the outside of the wave and looked down into the hole like a doughnut with Roger in it. Then he came up, I came down, and we said our howdies. I remember looking down maybe 3 to 4 feet to see the top of his head in the hole.

As you know, 2006 was a brutal year of low water paddling, consisting of many spots where it felt like we were dragging the boat across gravel bars more than we were paddling. In those conditions we did see a large amount of cattle and wildlife wading in the river, particularly at night. This being our first Safari, we didn't really understand the importance of a good lighting system so we mounted three flash lights to the bow of our canoe and thought we were ready for several long nights of paddling.

With the water so low there were many spots where stumps and branches of long dead trees were sticking up from the bottom, we hit as many as we could and went around the rest. In the middle of the second night we were slowly paddling along when my partner Mike said to me, " Are you going to go in front or behind it"? I looked up at what to my eyes was a large brown stump in the middle of the river with a good flow on the right and a tighter channel on the left so I eased the boat to the right and went for the better flow.

As we approached the stump and Mike saw the direction I had chose, he said in a very loud voice, "You're going in front of it"?! To my amazement the stump transformed into a very startled cow about 6 feet in front of the boat, snorted and ran up the bank next to us. I laughed so hard I almost fell off the back of the canoe. Often times when we are paddling Mike still points out the cattle to me so I'm sure to miss them, even if they 50 yards away from the river.

26 boats left San Marcos, Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. on their long journey to Seadrift. After many hardships along the way, 7 boats reached their destination. Only 5 teams were recorded as officially finishing the race.

From the 5 teams, 4 were members of H.C.C. The Canadians were disqualified after receiving aid when they reached the Bay. Buddy Mitchell (the only 1 man team) ran over the time limit but continued on to complete the race.

Buddy was presented the Sportsmanship Award. Pat Oxsheer and Tom Goynes were overall winners and also won the Rowing Division using double blade paddles with a time of 57 hours 38 minutes. Gary Knight and Mike Wooley were second in the Rowing Division. Sonny Callaway and Owen West were third in the Rowing Division. Morris Mason and Frank Land won the Paddling Division and second were the DeWinne Boys.

Tim Janak and Tom Sofka were the only team left in the Amateur Class, but did not complete the race for lack of time.

My husband, Jimmy, and I (I am Luci) have been involved with this race since 2004, volunteering at one of two of the many checkpoints, first Hochheim, then, at Gonzales. We were hooked after our first year at Hochheim, which we worked with a couple of dear friends, also amateur radio operators, also known as “hams”. We have witnessed many amazing stories, which we never had the chance to hear the complete story of, but, I thought I would mention a few here, hoping to get someone to tell a more complete story. I was extremely impressed with the story of how this particular race whipped the butts of both the UK military and the US Marines in the same year. The story I heard goes that, upon hearing that the Safari was hyped as “The World’s Toughest Canoe Race”, a unit of the UK military accepted the challenge, thinking that a canoe race in their own country was tougher. The US Marines, hearing of this unofficial challenge, put in their own team, both teams pledging to finish the race with no problems. I have always been curious about at just which point this happened, but I have been told that both teams dropped out before the end of the race.

I have personally witnessed some amazing stories. The first year we participated, there was the tandem team of Texas State Troopers. Early in the race, one of the team members experienced disorientation and ended up hitting his head (?), causing him to have to drop out. His partner, determined to finish, gathered a bag of rocks to try to balance the canoe, and finished the race, paddling a tandem canoe alone. I personally remember him coming into Hochheim, his boat looking like it was power driven because the front was so far out of the water, and I remember feeling an odd sense of pride when I heard about him, coming across the bay, struggling for every inch, and finishing, in spite of the odds against him. I remember one man, who starts the race nearly every year, and goes as far as he can, in spite of his age (I don’t know exactly how old he is, but most of this society would have put him in a nursing home, years ago). Then there was one year, in Gonzo, when I saw a man, sporting a false leg (that’s right, an amputee, I thought it was amazing). I don’t know what boat he was in, or if his team finished, but I thought it was wonderful.

At this point, I must put in some personal input. My husband, Jimmy, is blind. He was born with a congenital disease that has been slowly robbing him of his eyesight since birth. He was able to see more when we were married, 22 years ago, and I have watched the change over the years. I have always been personally proud of him when he doesn’t let things get in his way of something he thinks he can do (I have even watched my husband climb and stack over 50 feet of radio tower with only ground support), and feel some of that same pride when I see or hear of someone who is “handicapped” doing the same, so, the amputee that took on the challenge of this race doesn’t get my sympathy, he gets my praise for not letting the world, or general perceptions get him down, and took on the WORLD.

Jimmy and I have been hooked on this race since 2002, even working the Hochheim site in 2004, the year the race was postponed twice due to flooding. We found a swamp under that bridge that year, and I have heard that our site was the worst for ground support among all of the rest of the sites that year. We have always managed to arrange our schedules to be able to participate. We have been matched with all kinds of Checkpoint Officials, from those who, basically, ignored our presence, to those who worked with us. The first of those I can remember is in 2004 (I call that the “Swamp Safari”) when the official spent as much time playing with our two daughters and their one friend as she spent doing her official duties. One year, in Gonzo, the Checkpoint Official “kidnapped” our clipboard, recording the times for us and hiking up and down that hill to allow us to report the times (the clipboard was later recovered by one of our daughters, claiming her “right”). I have recently learned a few interesting facts. The first year we were involved, we were testing a new system, developed by Pat Babb, to keep the time reporting current. She developed her own spread sheets, matching the “official” spreadsheets, with line numbers matching, for consistent reporting. I was told of many checkpoints, where the radio operator just jotted stuff down on scraps of paper, sometimes loosing track of what had been reported and what had not. This system of hers has worked very well. For many years, a system of reporting that incorporates amateur radio and computers (called packet) has been in place, creating a database which was much more up-to-date than in the distant past. Last year, Harvey Babb, Pat’s husband (who has been communications director for many years) got together with another amateur radio operator (who happens to be a “computer nerd”) and developed a program that uses Exel along with the packet radio system that allows any radio operator, no matter how much they understand, to enter data. The system had a few bugs last year, but worked very well this year, allowing for the most up-to-date reporting of times and boat status than any year in the past. Kudos to Pat, Harvey and Jeremy.

I have heard, many times, that this race wouldn’t be possible, in it’s current format, without the support of the hams, and I thank everyone who has expressed this to us. I give most of the appreciation to Pat and Harvey, but, even they wouldn’t be able to do it without the rest of us, who are crazy enough to spend sleepless nights on the river, sunburnt, bugbitten, sleep deprived, and, sometimes even stressed, yet we come back every year, just for the experience of watching the true definition of the term “grit”.

Along back in 1980 I had a bit of free time on my hands along the first of June, and had not gotten to paddle my kayak in some nine odd months. A friend had got me interested in paddling the Safari in USCA crusier, but then decided I lacked the right stuff for the task. Since my interest was peaked I loaded up an old Phoenix Issear kayak on the truck and hauled it over to Goynes, inquiring about whether or not it was an adequate craft for the trek. I caught Tom and Pat out working on their monster team boat, playing mind games with the British team (...they were over in super light, high performance boats...light enough to break if looked at too harshly). As we were all there, Pat asked Tom for something that was up in the other end of the boat (which was posed up on a couple of saw horses). Tom hopped into the canoe and walked out to the cantilevered end to get whatever it was... demonstrating the crazy strength of the boat. As the Brits walked away shaking their heads, I stepped in with my questions: Was the boat right for the task... did it make sense to go out and give it a try?

I got a strong positive with assurances all around that that boat had entered any number of past Safari's. They knew what they were talking about... so.. might as well give it a go.

Since it was not exactly a year of strong preparation, I held to the pattern. The day before the event I went to Safeway and proceeded to outfit myself for the trip. It was one stop shopping.

At the boat check-in I deposited my bag into the boat cockpit and drifted away to see the more exotic and prepared entries. Unfortunately, I noticed that my entry seemed to attract a bit too much attention, especially when the inspector showed up. There initially was a too stern face and looks of doubt as he called down the list for the required items. Lighting system: I reached down and held up the little squeeze light that you could put between your teeth and bite down on to make glow; damn handy little lights. The crowd laughed and he checked off my "system" with a look. PFD: yep, comfortable floating cushion, lifeguard approved. Food: loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter. I can not recall the details of the rest of the list except for that last item. First Aid Kit: I reached down and held up a can of Coors... the crowd roared... and the final item was signed away. I was an official entry.

My support crew was a couple of woman reporters following the event... I gave them my motorhome with a guaranty that they would get it to the finish line. I did not see them until that point. They were only good for water anyway and hell, ther river was full of that. (Somewhere after 90 miles the crowds somehow figured out that maybe I was really doing the event "solo".. and there began to appear a gallon of fresh water at each checkpoint with my name on it... damn good crowd).

I eventually saw that finish line... and I can still remember that meal. The girls were there with the motorhome.

Tom and Pat gave me a bit too much congratulatory welcome, overly surprised that I was really there at the finish line in that boat. I was sort of confused. They were the ones who had assured me that it made sense. Then Pat smiled and said "... well, no... what we said was that boat had entered a number of Safari's... you never asked us if one had ever finished in it.." Ah, dry Texas humor... I do miss that.

...that was a great way to pass an idle weekend as summer began to bloom.

Note: 29 years later, and ideally with a touch more preparation, I plan to go back and see what it feels like to retrace those waters in 2009. Guess I should go buy a boat

This is a compilation of thoughts from each of us on the team, Greg and Wes as paddlers, and Stacey and Gerald as bank runners. The story is split up in sections with each of us telling our story as we go down the river. This represents most of what we can remember. We are sure there are other events that took place that we don’t remember or have unconsciously chosen not to remember.

The Texas Water Safari is deemed “The World’s Toughest Boat Race.” The race starts in Spring Lake at Aquarena Springs in San Marcos, Texas, and follows the San Marcos River into the Guadalupe River all the way to Seadrift, Texas. The course is a total of 262 miles by river. The rules require a team to carry all of their supplies, and they cannot accept any assistance from anyone except their designated team captain. The team captain can only provide ice and water and must sign the team in and out of each of the twelve checkpoints along the way. It is the team captain’s responsibility to know which checkpoints the team is located between at all times. To successfully complete the race, teams must reach the seawall in Seadrift in 100 hours or less. Paddlers for Team Wynn were Greg Wynn age 40 and Wesley Wynn age 38. Team Captain was Greg’s wife, Stacey, (I’ll leave out the age on this one), and co-team captain was Greg and Wesley’s Dad, Gerald Wynn. Greg and Stacey reside in Port Lavaca and Wes and Gerald reside in College Station.

THE MOST ASKED QUESTION: WHY???????

Greg: I have been asked this question on numerous occasions and have probably never given a good answer. I’ll give it another try, but I realize some will never understand why anyone would want to do this. Three distinct events worked together to convince me to give this a try. 1.) As a young child, I have fond memories of living in San Marcos as my parents worked on their Masters Degrees every summer. Wes and I were taken down to the river quite often, and I distinctly remember being taken to see the start of the Water Safari sometime in the very early 70’s. I still have pictures of that day that run through my head. On occasion throughout my life, I have thought about what it would be like to be a part of this adventure. 2.) In June of 1990, I was severely injured in an industrial accident. The accident resulted in me losing my right eye and severely scarring my lungs. Up until this point in my life, I thought I was bullet proof. This event changed my perspective on life. I had always considered myself to be a decent athlete but found myself challenged to do what I once did. My cardio vascular endurance was affected, and that had some underlying affects on my psyche. The macho side of me wanted to once again prove I could compete. I thought about a marathon but realized I just didn’t enjoy running that much anymore and wasn’t sure my lungs could do it. I switched my thoughts to riding in the MS 150 bike race. After a few weeks on the training bikes in a fitness center, I realized I didn’t enjoy the size of the bike seat and didn’t like the thought of riding on the highway to train. I always have enjoyed water, so I began thinking about the Safari again. 3.) Two men from work who I consider super athletes began training for the Safari. They made several attempts at it and finished the 2006 safari in 62 hours. Their stories were very intriguing and were the final straw in my decision. Thanks Mike and Emmett!!! On top of all of this is the fact that there are very few people who can claim to have finished this race. Why not live a little and be one of those few? I felt a lot of emotion going into this race and had many thoughts as I prepared. There are several emblems and sayings on the boat that many might not understand; they each represented something special to me. On the back of the boat there is a running WB that I traced off my grandfather's and his brother’s cattle brand, Wynn Brothers. I couldn’t think of anything more appropriate for Wesley and me. What better way to represent the family name. My grandfather was Alvin Wynn and someone who I greatly admired. I wish he could have been around to be a part of this. As I was looking through my attic for the lightest life jacket I could find, I ran across my grandfather’s life jacket. He had written his name on the back, and he used to wear it when he went fishing with me. I carried this with me and wore it as we crossed the bay. Our boat number was 1944. In 2007 when I signed up for the “Prelim” race in my single person kayak, I wanted to be boat number 44 since that was my high school football number. Forty-four was taken, so I chose 1944. 1944 was the year my parents and Stacey’s parents were born. 1944 was the winter my grandfather spent fighting in Belgium. And 1944 had the numbers 44 in it. On the gunnels of our canoe, I wrote two sayings. The first was “Every day is a holiday and every meal is a banquet." This is a saying one of my high school coaches used quite a lot, and I have referred to it many times over the years. I knew that to paddle 262 miles I would need to have a good attitude and be grateful for the opportunity I had been given. There were several times during the race when I had to refer to this statement. The second statement was “The second best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing." This comes from a song that Allison Krauss sings. Mom has told me several times this was one of Dad’s (Gerald’s) favorite songs. He probably didn’t know it, but this was a tribute to my Dad, a man who I highly admire and respect and who has been incredibly influential and supportive my entire life. What better way to look at such a race than to know you have been given the opportunity to play. After all, you have two options. You can sit on the sideline and watch and later have regrets that you never tried, or you can get out there and give it your best and live with the results. In this situation, I’m certainly glad we chose to play.

Wes: Unlike Greg, I had no longstanding dream to complete the Texas Water Safari. I had heard of it a time or two but never gave it much thought. My decision to participate in the Safari was primarily driven by the fact that Greg thought enough of me to ask if I wanted to join him in this adventure. It was an honor to be asked.

At the time I really didn’t have any hobbies and it sounded like something interesting to do and something to add to the “things I’ve done in my life” list. If nothing else, it seemed like a good excuse to get out of the house, spend quality time with Greg (which we really hadn’t done in many years), and lose some weight, and it would definitely be a needed break from the go to work, come home, and go back to work again routine.

Stacey: I wanted to support Greg and be there with him. I enjoyed watching him do so well.

Dad: My initial reaction to the Water Safari adventure was why anyone would deliberately put themselves through such torture. I had kept up with the Safari for years and knew it was quite a physical feat. My goal for Greg and Wes was for them to be able to finish the race in a hundred hours or less without injury.

PREPARATION

Greg: Stacey can attest to the fact that I spent many hours researching and reading about Safari preparation and what boat I should purchase. Before it was all said and done, I purchased three boats (this is not a very positive subject around my house). I started off thinking I wanted to do the race solo. I purchased a plastic 16.5’ Sea Kayak, did some training, and competed in the “Prelim” race from Cuero to Victoria on May 19, 2007. I never intended to do the Safari in 2007 but wanted to get a taste of what the racing was like. I completed the ~38 miles in five hours and forty five minutes with a very high water level in the river. I enjoyed the race and decided to keep moving toward the goal. Stacey was pretty influential in talking me out of trying solo in my first safari, so I began thinking about who I could ask to be my partner. Several names came to mind, and several different events took place that brought me to asking Wesley to be a part of it. Wes thought about my offer for a few days and became excited about the prospect. Team WB (Wynn Brothers) was formed in the summer of 2007, and we set our sights on the 2008 Texas Water Safari. I purchased a very used Sawyer Cruiser, kevlar canoe, and we decided to compete in the Colorado 100 race, a race from Bastrop, Texas, to Columbus, Texas. We made several training runs with Dad (Gerald) as our team captain. We competed in the race and completed the 100 miles in fifteen hours and forty five minutes. We particularly enjoyed our rest stops along the way as Dad treated us to grilled cheese sandwiches and huge cinnamon rolls. In the Colorado 100, your team captain can support you however they want. The high water somewhat spoiled us, and we had no clue how low the water would be in the 2008 Safari compared to the high water in the Colorado in 2007. We made our first training run for the Safari in November of 2007 going from Luling to Gonzales. Two days after Christmas, we ran Gonzales 183 to Hochheim on a cold day. When we got in the boat that morning, it was 28 degrees. Thank goodness we kept the boat upright that day. As our confidence increased, we moved up and started training on the upper San Marcos River. On our second run on the upper San Marcos, we knocked a hole in our canoe and decided the Sawyer was very old and brittle and was not going to work for a Safari canoe. Through a lot of discussion on the internet and looking for an aluminum canoe, we were able to find a 17’ Alumacraft Voyager that exactly fit the bill. We had looked for one when we bought the Sawyer but were never able to find one. The Alumacraft is well known in the Safari. It fits into the specifications of running in the Novice class for the race, and the Sawyer does not fit into this class. The Novice class is for those who have never completed a Safari. This was where we wanted and needed to be. Over the course of November through June, Wes and I ran the entire river in ~40 mile intervals. The only section we did not run together was from Victoria City Park to Victoria HWY 59. Stacey and I ran this 12 mile section of the river so I could learn the river and Stacey could get a feel for what it was like. We put in approximately 400 miles of training in 2008, running the upper part of the river from San Marcos to Luling or Gonzales multiple times. During this time, we prepared food and supplies that we thought were necessary. During the month of May, we competed in two warm up races for the Safari. We ran the Prelim race from Cuero HWY 236 to Victoria. We completed this race in seven hours, and to our surprise, we won the Novice division of the race. The next day we competed in the Barrier to the Bay race from the Salt Water Barrier at Tivoli to Seadrift. We once again won the Novice division of this race. I should note that during the Prelim race, we were chasing two ladies in an aluminum canoe who we could not keep up with. We worked hard to stay with them but couldn't. It was our impression that they were in the Novice class. Come to find out they were in the Women’s class for that particular race, and therefore, we won the Novice class. As this story continues, you will hear more and more about Kim and Joy. These two ladies turned out to be great folks who we enjoyed competing against. During the Barrier to the Bay race, we lined up behind Kim and Joy and set our sights on staying with them. We followed them very closely during the race until we hit the bay. When we hit the bay, we decided on a different path across the bay and were able to make it across the bay faster than they did. On that day, we thought they were once again in the Ladies class, but after the race was over, we realized they competed in the Novice division, and we had actually needed to beat them to win the class. We spent quite a bit of time visiting with Kim and Joy, and a friendly rivalry began. We saw them once again during a training run on the San Marcos before the Safari. When Safari entries were posted, we saw that Kim and Joy had entered the Safari in the Women’s division. We were very grateful they were not in the Novice division. They could simply paddle their boat faster than we could, and we didn’t think we would have a chance to beat them in the big race. When we visited with them the day before the Safari, they told us they had changed to the Novice division. Our hearts sank, and we were prepared for them to run off from us again in the upper river. Our competitive spirits began to flow, and we knew we would have to work extremely hard to have a shot at winning. We started this adventure just wanting to finish. We upped the ante a bit, and I created a plan that would have us finishing in just under 75 hours. After winning the warm up races, we began to hope for a trophy. Winning the trophy had just become harder when we found out we were competing against Kim and Joy in boat #2153. We met another interesting team who we really enjoyed pulling for and wished them all the best. Rusty and Jim Boger drove 1,000 miles from Ohio and Indiana two days before the race, drove the river course looking at checkpoints, and then started the race in the Novice class. Wow, what an adventure. I have a great amount of respect for these guys and the effort they made. They were boat #746.

Wes: When Greg asked me if I wanted to do the Safari, he cautioned me that it was going to take a substantial commitment in training and preparation. Over the course of the year leading up to the Safari, Greg did most of the research and work in preparing the boat. My contribution was primarily showing up at various locations on the river and being ready to paddle. I woke up early many a morning and drove to Luling, San Marcos, Gonzales, or wherever to paddle all day and drive home again. I documented our training runs along the way.

Preparing for the Safari became a bit of an obsession over the course of the year, and towards the end of our training, it almost started feeling like work. My thoughts became consumed by the Safari to the point that I often had trouble sleeping at night. Greg lost more sleep than I did and would often comment on running the race, going through gear checks, calculating food/water needs, time, distance, checkpoints, finish times etc. all night long in a pseudo-sleep state. I think that by race day we were both ready to get on with it and attempt to get back to somewhat of a normal mental state

Stacey: Well, with a kayak and two canoes in the garage and packages showing up on the front porch weekly, I admit I was counting dollar signs at first. However, as Greg did his homework and did many a practice run, it made it easier to let him go on that first day and not worry so much. I didn’t have much prep work since Greg prepared all the maps and schedules for me. I did find all of the stops along the way so I would not get lost trying to find the checkpoints.

Dad: I thought it was very interesting to watch the progression of their training. After watching Greg and Wes compete in the Colorado 100, I wondered if they would still have the enthusiasm to follow through in the Water Safari. They seemed to do well on grilled cheese sandwiches and cinnamon rolls as fuel while others were drinking Spiz and Vitalyte. It turned out that they made light work of the Colorado 100 and were spurred on to continue training. I guess it was the weekend after the Prelim race and Barrier to the Bay that I was sure that it was going to happen. Not only did they complete both legs of the race, but they were very competitive, finishing first in both.

CHECK-IN

Greg: All of the Wynn families met in San Marcos on Friday about noon, ate lunch, and went to the check in. We found a nice place under the tent and began preparing all of the equipment for check in. The check in list must include every single thing you are taking on the trip. We prepared our list of all the items and became a bit overwhelmed with the amount of weight we were carrying. We reviewed the list again and agreed that we had nothing we wanted to leave out. The check in official who went over our list with us was a Safari veteran and made quite few comments about what we had that we didn’t need. We took his advice as very good but didn’t stray from our plan. We eliminated nothing. Some of his advice included leaving out the toilet paper. He gave us some advice in that regard, but I will spare you the details. He also thought we were crazy for carrying two GPS’s. We both enjoy watching our speed and time as we paddle and were concerned about making the Luling 90 checkpoint in time. We each watch our GPS, and we can tell if we are on track or not. After day one, we had no intention of needing both of them. We completed our check in, packed all of our food and equipment into the various bags in the boat, and were done. We walked around the entire grounds and talked to various participants and looked at their boats and rigging. We were amazed at how little some of the novice boats were carrying with them and wondered how they could ever finish. We marveled at how much some of the other boats were carrying. All in all, we felt pretty good about our preparation and what we were carrying. All of the Wynn families went out to eat at the Clear Springs catfish house south of New Braunfels and had a good time. We all hit the bed fairly early, but I can’t say that we all slept well. I was hoping to get a good night’s sleep but somehow knew better. I slept well from 10:30 to about 2:30 and then tossed and turned for the rest of the night. I was thinking of the race as I had done so many other nights leading up to the event. I had run this race in my mind hundreds of times. Now I just needed to do it for real.

Wes: I'm glad we kept the toilet paper.

Stacey: Sandra (Greg's Mom) and I took the girls down the river a little way and let them swim. They also went on the glass bottom boats with Sandra.

RACE DAY: Saturday, June 14, 2008 – Day One
SPRING LAKE TO STAPLES, 16.45 miles

Greg: We arrived between 7:45 and 8:00 on race day. There was quite a buzz about the place. We checked our boat once again, applied sun screen, and prepared our drink jugs. Our family headed to Rio Vista to watch the first of the race, and we were on our own. We entered the water about 8:30 or 8:40 and found our place in row seven spot one. The starting grid was posted with nineteen rows of six boats, and we were placed by our finishing position in the Prelim race. Starting in the far left row was a blessing as we had intended to stay to the left and portage the Spring Lake Island far left behind the apartment complex. This positioning let us stay to the left and stay out of the way of the faster boats that would be coming through at the sound of the cowbell. We sat in the boat as the pre race announcements and speeches took place. Just behind us on the bank was the ground crew for Kim and Joy. They assured us that they had been instructed to keep up with us. Apparently they were watching us as closely as we were watching them. A very slow version of the national anthem was played before the race, and then a prayer was voiced. Wes remembers more about the prayer than I do, so I’ll let him share those sacred words if he wishes. I know this was one of many prayers said that day. Stacey shared that she said several, and they were all answered. Some prayers were for safety while others dealt with us making the Luling 90 checkpoint in time to stay in the race. At times during practices, we had our doubts whether we could make it or not. The cowbell rang at 9:00, and we were off. In the first few seconds, we were passed by a six man boat that started two or three rows behind us. The big boat ended up running over a two man standard canoe (boat # 1977) and a single boat. Both boats were flipped and were swimming their boats to shore when we passed them. I didn’t see the actual event, so I won’t comment on it. There is a lot of controversy over who was at fault, and all I can say is that I am thankful we were not involved. We moved over Spring Lake at a good pace but not a full sprint because we both knew it was a long way to Seadrift. As we went across the lake, we saw Kim and Joy pass us on the far right. For all we knew, that might be the last time we saw them. We portaged far left at the island, pulled the boat out in the back yard of a house right beside the apartments, and began dragging the boat toward the apartments. There is a paved alley that we had to cross, and we had looked at it a few weeks before. We had never thought about the prospect of there being a car parked in the alley. We maneuvered around the car and drug the boat behind the apartments and down to the water below the water falls. The advice of a seasoned Safari finisher really paid off, and the portage went very smoothly and quickly. As we pulled back into the river, we came out ahead of Kim and Joy. Things were going well. We maneuvered through the Southwest Texas (now called Texas State) campus without incident and approached the City Park and the Rio Vista rapids. We went under the small walking bridge upstream of the rapids and found Ron (my father-in-law) standing on the bridge taking our picture. We went river left at the Rio Vista rapids and decided to take the safest route and portage left. There were many people watching at Rio Vista including our families, and we were able to see them on river right for a split second. Then we pulled the boat up the stairs and drug the boat down below the second rapid. In practice we always carried the boat, but to save some energy, we drug the boat and didn’t worry about any minor damage we might incur. This portage went smoothly, and we headed downstream. We paddled at a steady pace to the Thompson's Island portage and had to go a little further down river than practiced due to a lot of boat traffic, but we had no trouble with the portage. Between Thompson’s Island and the confluence of the Blanco River, there was quite a bit of traffic. This is a very tight section of the river with quite a few hair pin turns. In this section a boat named the “Horny Toads," which was a father son team, was determined to pass us. On two occasions they attempted to pass us and were caught in eddy currents and ran into the bank. They looked quite frustrated. We never cut them off or got in their way. We just kept paddling and let them pass where they could. They made the pass and went on. During this stretch, we also ran across two of the top paddlers in the state, West Hansen and Richard Steppe, top contenders in the Safari. They had rudder trouble and had their boat on the bank trying to make rudder repair. We paddled on to Cummings Dam and reached the dam for one of the major portages with a mass of other boats. We were in line with about five other boats to lower our boat over the dam at river right. One of the boats just in front of us was “Omar." John Stockwell is his name, and he was one of the oldest competitors to attempt the Safari. We portaged a little different than planned. Instead of me going over the dam first and Wes lowering me the boat, we both lowered the boat. I ran around the end of the dam, and then Wes came down after it. It took us a bit longer than usual, and we delayed the next boat in line by a few seconds, but it was a safe move on our part as the boat was heavier than when we had practiced. We arrived at Cottonseed rapids in good shape, paddled up to the rapids, and got out of the boat river right. Our families were there to cheer us on. We once again took the safe route. We had practiced running this rapid on various occasions, and our success rate was about 60%. We decided we would rather pass on the glory of running the rapids and protect the boat to keep on racing. We couldn’t imagine the disappointment of being knocked out of the race at mile nine. We walked the boat down river right and paddled on. We paddled on toward the Staples checkpoint. Checkpoint #1. Somewhere around Martindale, we saw Larry Hensley sitting in a chair at the edge of the river watching the race. I work with Larry and was surprised to see him, and it took me a minute to recognize him. Staples is at mile 16, has a deadline of 3:00 p.m., and we arrived at 12:50. Our plan had been to arrive at 12:55 and to leave at 1:00. As Wes would say throughout the race as various folks would ask us how we were doing, “We are right on schedule." We expected to find Stacey and Dad on river right upstream of the dam, but they had found a better place. Mike Felchack, who I work with, was upstream and had us dump our water jugs upstream of the dam before lowering the boat down the metal stairs on river right. We lowered the boat without incident, jumped in the river, and walked across to a gravel bar where Dad, Stacey, and Mike and Kelley Felchack greeted us. We replaced water bottles, mixed Spiz (a meal replacement drink that provided each of us 1000 calories between each checkpoint and sustained us very well through the course of the race) and an electrolyte drink named Vitalyte and left the checkpoint six minutes after arriving. During the course of our stop, Joy and Kim portaged river left and passed us. They took pride in that, and later down the river ribbed us a little bit about them sneaking by. I think Dad saw them pass and made a comment to us about it, but I’m a little fuzzy on that detail. We were away from the checkpoint “Right on Schedule", 48th place overall, 3rd place in the Novice class. Next stop was Luling 90, Checkpoint #2, mile 40.47, hopefully before 7:30 p.m., preferably at 6:45 to stay on schedule.

Wes: Day one was a great experience. While the boats were being staged on Spring Lake and everyone was waiting for the start, I couldn’t help but think how cool it was to be one of the crazy guys in a boat about to start a 262 mile canoe race, rather than a spectator on the bank. It also dawned on me that most of the spectators would be sleeping in a comfortable bed that night, while I probably wouldn’t sleep for several days.

The prayer was unlike any I’ve ever heard (in a good way) and probably well-suited to the Safari crowd. It started along the lines of “Dear Lord, we know we haven’t been going to church because we’ve been out training. We also haven’t been reading the Bible. We know that you believe in us, even though some of us don’t believe in you.” I’ll take that over a prayer with a bunch of Thees and Thous any day of the week.

Following the prayer, a slow rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was played on an accordion, and they announced one minute to race start.

I was happy when the cowbell rang and we were off. In terms of gear and training, we were locked in. Any questions of what we should or shouldn’t bring were put to rest.

Stacey: This was a fun and hectic time. I was very nervous at the first checkpoint, but it went well. I was glad to have Gerald with me as well as support from Kelley and Mike.

Dad: This first section of the race was one of the few times we got to see any of the bigger boats. The Rio Vista and Cottonseed rapids were exciting to watch, but I never could figure out why so many boats tried to run the rapids when they knew they probably couldn't make them. At least they got a big cheer from the crowd. I agreed that Greg and Wes probably saved time by portaging.