The Texas Water Safari, or "World's Toughest Canoe Race", is a 260 mile canoe race from San Marcos to Seadrift TX.
It begins at Aquarena Springs and continues along the San Marcos river until the Guadalupe river confluence near Gonzales.

Teams must carry all supplies with them, except for receiving food and water from a team captain along the route.
Throughout the race, rapids, log jams, mosquitos, and the brutal Texas heat all try to stop teams from making it to the finish across the San Antonio Bay.

Top teams can finish in under 40hrs, but for most, the goal is to make it to Seadrift by the 100hr cutoff.

I've completed the race 3 times now (heck yeah!) but wasn't able to compete in the 2020 race since it was cancelled due to covid :(

Our most recent running of the safari was during debatably the worst conditions to date. There were high winds, record heat, and most importantly - low water levels.
On top of that, the southeast winds generated up to 4 foot waves in the San Antonio bay, making it extremely difficult to paddle across. Conditions for the race would be much worse than during practice.
This year the team was running a 4-man Bugge race canoe with a low profile and slender design. The boat was naturally less stable than previous canoes we'd used in the past, and looking ahead to the bay, we were all worried.

We had not completed the Texas River Marathon, the preliminary race, so we were assigned a lucky row-16 start.
Right off the get-go we cruised past many teams with our superior manpower, and leapt over Spring Lake dam. Continuing on to Rio Vista falls, we portaged the first two drops and seamlessly glided over the last minor chute.

Thompson's island went similarly well, and we were in good spirits with only a minor incident on the twisting San Marcos river.

We were not so lucky at Cottonseed Rapids, where we were unable to slip by an aluminum canoe on our preferred line. The current pushed the boat wide left, and the team bailed as we cascaded over the rocks. The boat was pinned between the left bank and a large boulder in the middle of the river, and the bow began to sink. Worried that the boat could snap in half at any moment, the team struggled to help the canoe over the obstacle. Along with our confidence and pride, we lost several places, but were able to all hop back in and run the remaining rapids with ease.

After the exciting first portion of the race, filled with sharp turns, dam portages, and rapids, the race all blends together. Mosquitos emerged by the thousands to swamp our headlamps at night, crawling through our hair and into our noses. With little sleep, trees turned into ogres and nobody was quite sure what they saw. We continued to bumble our way along, frequently dragging the canoe and sliding into branches, but steadily made our way to the bay.

The bay was just as promised - choppy. Despite the tip-prone canoe, we made it nearly to the far side of the bay before finally succumbing to the waves.
Shawn and Mason were seperated from the boat, and the boat drifted slowly to the far shore. Dylan and I flipped the canoe to drain the waterlogged boat, and paddled back to fetch our approaching buddies. We re-convened on shore and paddled to the edge of the barge canal, where we paused before cutting backwards through the chop to the mainland.


Now within eyesight was the finish - Swan Point, but with no chance of paddling though the chop, we trudged through the waves, hauling along our boat.

After some time walking it around the docks, we reached a more sheltered area, and piled in for our push to the finish - arriving just in time for the finishers banquet of fish and shrimp, a well-deserved reward for the hungry team.

Paddlers: John, Dylan, Mason, and Shawn.
TCs: Sharon, Claire, and Sydney.

The team suited up for a promising safari in a 5-man Bugge canoe. Water levels were good, and we were ready to paddle.



Paddlers: John, James, Dylan, Mason, and Shawn.
TCs: Sharon and Kaitlyn.

Paddlers: John, Dylan, Mason, and Shawn.
TCs: Sharon and Sydney.

Paddlers: John, Dylan, Mason, and Shawn(martindale).
TCs: Sharon and Sydney.