About
a month before the 2003 Texas Water Safari, I still
didn’t have a boat, and had never paddled with
my partner-to-be, my brother Marty. Both of these
facts were great causes for concern.
I
finally found a boat, and went to pick up the well-traveled
Wenonah Jensen 18 from Mark
McClain in Irving, Texas. Bright red, in the old
Tuff Weave lay-up, and a not-too-light 63 lbs. She
has two tractor-style seats (non-sliding) and no foot
braces. Mark had purchased this boat many years ago
from Tom Goynes, and thankfully it still had the custom
spray skirt that Tom had made for it.
This
boat had already floated down the Mississippi, Red,
and Trinity Rivers, and now we were hoping to race
it down the San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers.
I
ordered a new ZRE bent-shaft paddle (the 12.5-ounce
Recreation model), and was lucky enough to buy a used
8.5-ounce Black Bart bent-shaft paddle from TWS and
marathon canoe racing veteran Lee Diviny. I knew that
we should have a spare paddle, but I didn’t have
the budget for another $150+ paddle, nor did I want
to carry the extra 2+ lbs. of a cheaper paddle. We
would make “Not Losing a Paddle” one of
our highest race priorities.
The
weekend after I brought the boat home, my wife Shannon
and I put her into Town Lake for a test run. We paddled
twice that weekend, allowing me to get some ideas
about rigging her for Safari (the boat, not my wife).
Marty
came down the following weekend, which was only two
weeks before Safari, and we paddled about 15 miles
in Town Lake, getting a feel for each other’s
paddling and the boat’s handling. That night
we added mini-cell foam foot braces and figured out
a method for strapping our water jugs to the thwarts.
The next morning we took her out and paddled the first
16 miles of the Texas Water Safari course, from City
Park in San Marcos to Staples Dam. This would be the
only training that Marty and I would do together before
the race in two weeks.
Since
Marty lived in Houston and I live in Austin, I continued
to train solo nearly every day in my Dagger Delta
kayak. Even though the double-blade paddle motion
and technique used in my kayak differs dramatically
from the single-blade motion and technique I’d
be using in the race, it was still good to get some
miles in on Town Lake and the San Marcos River however
I could.
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