Texas Water Safari 2010 with a Camera instead of a Paddle

Yucca flowers in front of my Fort Collins house remind me that it is time for Texas Water Safari. This 260 mile nonstop paddling race from San Marcos to Seadrift start every year on the second Saturday of June.

Texas Water Safari was my first racing experience and still remains the most important one. We went to Texas to observe the 2001 Safari, then I finished three races solo: 2002, 2003, and 2005. I couldn’t attend the race postponed due to flooding in 2004. Connie was my Team Captain. It appears that she really didn’t like that job after all (what a surprise …), but she wrote some good tips for team captains and support crew.

My TWS reports and pictures are still available at Mountain Wayfarer (some links may be broken). I gathered most of these pictures (165) into a slide show below. The far left button in a toolbar opens a gallery page with four picture albums.

This year I am returning back to Texas Water Safari, not in a boat, unfortunately. I am flying to Texas with my camera, so more pictures will be available soon.

Related posts:
My Experience in Three Famous Ultra Marathon Paddling Races

Which Boat to Paddle in 2010 MR340 Race?

68 days to the 2010 Missouri River 340 Race and I am still not decided which boat to paddle. In the first four MR340 races I paddled four different solo boats:
2006 – Spencer X-treme canoe (mostly double blade)
2007 – WSBS Thunderbolt-X kayak (double blade)
2008 – Kruger Sea Wind canoe (single blade)
2009 – Surfrigger outrigger canoe (single blade)

Well, I don’t have a new boat for this year race. It also seems that I need to add a new criterium to my boat selection ranking: which boat (or rather paddle) hurts less my shoulder, wrist, elbow, etc. This year the elbow provides a challenge.

Recently, I was mostly paddling the Thunderbolt kayak. It is because I am lazy and this boat is the easiest and quickest one to upload on my car roof. 116 miles on the North Platte River in Wyoming with Sea Wind this incoming weekend will provide some additional data to think (and feel) about. The worst scenario: replacing a paddle by a camera.

Related posts:
2010 Missouri River 340 Race
3 Years of the Missouri River 340 Race series:
Bryan Hopkins, West Hansen, Christina Glauner, Chuck and Di McHenry, Katie Pfefferkorn
My Experience in Three Famous Ultra Marathon Paddling Races

Wyoming Outback Challenge Gone …

For the last three years Jerry Nyre from Canoe Colorado organized and sponsored (including cash prizes!) this great marathon race on the North Platte River during Memorial Day weekends. The race started at Hot Springs in Saratoga and run 44 miles down the river across a quite remote area to Fort Steele (I-80 boat ramp). It was usually high and fast water and, typically, some headwind closer to the finish.

Thank you Jerry! I had a good racing and spent together with Connie and our dogs three wonderful weekends in Saratoga.

Unfortunately, the Wyoming Outback Challenge will not by organized any more. The organizers were obviously disappointed by a poor participation. Here is what Eric Nyre wrote at Canoe Colorado forum this year as an explanation:

Last year was the last year of the race.
Local racers weren’t interested.
Racers from other parts of the country wanted free loaner boats/ transportation.
We gave it 3 years, and the crowd kept getting smaller. So no mas, we’re paddling the White instead.

I don’t think that Eric is the best person to comment on that event since during these three years he never showed up at the race neither as an organizer nor as a racer.

Canoe and Kayak Racing Magazine – March/April 2010

Morgan House, a sprint kayaker, the first US Indoor Kayak Championships, the role of interval training, rest and recovery in paddler’s training cycle by couch Shaun Caven, developments in surfski racing, strength training for racers by Abel Hastings, a preview of the Show-Me-State Canoe and Kayak Marathon, a review of high tech training paddle, Excalibur …

All this and more in the March-April 2010 issue of Canoe and Kayak Racing Magazine.

Missouri Breaks 150 Race Cancelled

Missouri Breaks 150 Race planned for June 13-13, 2010 (150 miles from Fort Benton to Kipp Recreation Area, Wild & Scenic Upper Missouri River, in two stages) has been cancelled. Race organizers didn’t get a permit from BLM. See some related discussion at RiverMiles.com forum.

Bummer! I just started preparation for three long races on the Missouri River this year. I was even hoping to connect the Missouri Break 150 race with a short visit to Glacier National Park. My plan “B” for the 2nd weekend of June is to use some frequent flier miles and to fly south to photograph Texas Water Safari this year.

2009 Popular Posts in Fitness Paddling Blog

A dozen of the most popular posts in this blog during last year.

Most popular means with the highest number of readers. These include also articles from the old blog before I migrated to wordpress platform. Some posts need update. The article Is Ultra-Marathon Kayak and Canoe Racing Growing? was written in the middle of 2006 before the first Missouri River 340 race.

1. 14 Tips on Kayak Forward Stroke Dynamics by Mark Zollitsch

2. Tips on Training, Boats and Paddles for Endurance Paddling Races

3. 2009 Rotten Egg Race – Results, Pictures, Handicap System

4. 3 Years of the Missouri River 340 Race

5. 12 Pictures from 2008 Missouri River 340 Race

6. Carter Johnson on Training for Ultra Marathon Kayak Races

7. 13 Tips on Training for Endurance Paddling Races from West Hansen

8. A Simple Suction Cup Mount for Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS

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