50th anniversary Texas Water Safari Saturday

The precursor to the Texas Water Safari was a 370-mile, month-long float in 1962 from San Marcos to Corpus Christi by a self-described country boy and an employee of the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce.

?It was a publicity stunt,? said Bill ?Big Willie' George, the country boy who provided most of the food for the journey with a .410 shotgun and fishing lures he kept in his hat.

George had no idea what he was starting, but his partner, Frank Brown, had a vision of a race.

On Saturday, more than 130 boats will the mark the 50th anniversary of that float by racing a 260-mile course to Seadrift, starting in the same spring-fed lake George and Brown did.

The boats have changed from George's 12-foot aluminum Lone Star skiff. Most are now custom canoes of Kevlar and carbon fiber.

The fastest teams will paddle nonstop for two days, and their food will consist of powdered carbohydrates and protein. A shotgun is simply too much weight.

While the style is different, the spirit of the race and what it does to those who complete are not.

?There are no losers in the race,? George said. ?You are down on the river with a paddle in your hand, and it looks like a person has never been there before. It is a hell of an experience.?

While George hunted squirrels and fished, Brown was promoting the adventure to the press.

?We made a hell of a team,? George said. ?I knew how to keep it floating, and he knew how to keep talking.?

In 1963, Brown organized the Texas Water Safari and billed it as ?the toughest boat race in the world.?

In the race brochure, he told competitors ?this event has been deliberately designed to test to the utmost your physical endurance, ingenuity, seamanship and will to win.?

Of the 57 boats that started, two reached Corpus Christi, and Brown landed a six-page photo spread in Life magazine documenting the 12-day race.

Although Brown has died, racers have shown up in San Marcos every June for the safari he started.

Over the years, the course was shortened, with the finish line moving from Corpus Christi to Freeport, and then Port Lavaca, and, in 1971, to Seadrift.

Rodger Zimmerman was the third boat in the Safari on that first race to Corpus Christi.

?I got the farthest of anyone who did not finish,? he said.

Having run out of food in Victoria after paddling 200 miles, he survived on a subsistence diet ? the race rules then and now do not allow any resupply. He managed to get to the saltwater but could not get his 10-foot canvas kayak to cut through the swells.

?I was so disgusted with myself I said I would never go again,? Zimmerman said.

But in 1994 he was back and won the novice division with a partner. The next year he went solo. This year he will watch the race and assist a team captain, handing out water from the side of the race course.

It is the only assistance allowed.

Next year, when he turns 76, his goal is to be the oldest person ever to finish the Safari.

?I think the river is addictive,? said Tom Goynes, who was a fixture in the race for years and is now supporting his daughter, Sandy Yonley, 30, who will be doing the race for the 11th time. ?You get to where you just enjoy seeing the river like an old friend year after year.?

And the racers get to know the river intimately.

John Bugge, 61, has completed 33 of the 35 safaris he has entered, more races than anyone. He has won almost every class from unlimited to solo to parent/child multiple times.

?It's the hardest and worst thing that happens to me every year,? he said.

Like Zimmerman, he has lost all his food. He also has had partners quit and felt his back tighten up to where he could hardly pull a stroke while sitting up.

He delights in dealing with the challenges. He sees it as preparation for any other difficulty he may face in life.

?It comes down to how you handle it,? he said of the race and of life.

He reminds those who will take his advice the pain and anguish from paddling for 24 hours can only get so bad. That quitting is easy and if you keep going you may actually start to feel better.

This year, Bugge is racing with Bob Vincent of Dorchester, Ontario, who at 69 has raced in Austria and England. He has built rafts and raced them down the Amazon and won a 460-mile race on the Yukon.

He agrees with the race promoters that the safari is the toughest.

Not only is the paddling nonstop ? for those who want to win ? but the logistics, June Texas heat, insects and the nature of the course bring a set of challenges that no other race has.

?In other races you portage around the dams,? he said. ?In the safari you go right over them. It's scary as hell going over the dams.?

But he keeps coming back.

The next generation of paddlers is following the same pattern.

Last year Courtney Weber, 21, was the youngest woman to finish the safari in a solo canoe.

This year she will go with her younger sister, Cayla. He mother, Myla Weber, and father, Jim Weber, are each going in solo canoes.

For the Weber family, a year is not complete without participating in the Safari, Courtney explained.

?I definitely feel like there is nothing I can't do because I did the safari solo,? she said.

Next year she will start in Baylor's doctoral statistics program.

For George, taking a boat from San Marcos to Corpus Christi was one of the crowning moments of his life.

?But you ain't got money enough to get me to do it again,? he said.

Instead, he prefers to watch the racers. Once across the finish line, they join a unique club, and he welcomes them in.

cmcdonald@express-news.net

Colin McDonald will participate in the Texas Water Safari this weekend.

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