Texas Water Safari - The World's Toughest Boat Race! 260 miles non-stop from San Marcos down the San Marcos and Guadelupe rivers, then across the San Antonio Bay on the Gulf Coast to its finish in Seadrift, Texas.

I learnt about the Safari sometime in the beginning of this year and started to gather all possible information: visiting the Official Texas Water Safari web site, reading reports, lurking at the safari discussion board and then asking questions, studying results and split times from previous years, watching the safari videos (again and again ...). I started to think about entering the Safari, but decided that I needed a year to prepare for this challenge. So, the TWS 2002!

No problem to find Aquarena Springs, but ... nobody was there. We were driving around. Spring Lake Dam. Joe's Crab Shack. Back to Aquarena Springs. Then we saw a car with a kayak on top: Team #32. Aha, Aquarena Springs and City Park are not the same place! This explained the inconsistencies in the course description I had noticed in safari reports and videos from the last few years. The start had been moved below Spring Lake Dam in 1999. We would be following Team #32 down the river all the way to Seadrift.

City Park. Boat checking. Briefing. A lot of boats. A lot of people. After watching the safari videos so many times I recognized many teams and race veterans.

This was my photography day. I took a spot below the Rio Vista Dam at about 8:20 and I wasn't the first one there. The crowd of spectators was growing with each minute leaving not much room for my tripod.

9:00 - the safari start in City Park. A few minutes later first boats arrive to Rio Vista dam.

Driving directions for today are much easier: just follow the crowd! More problems with parking.