Two weeks prior to the 2003 Texas Water Safari, we were blessed with unusually high amounts of rain for the month of June.

In fact, during check in on Friday, a heavy downpour forced everyone to huddle beneath the pavilion for the pre-race meeting.Marty and I arrived at Aquarena Springs about 1:00 on Friday, and were fortunate to find a good spot beneath the pavilion to setup our sawhorses and get our boat situated. Having pre-filled out our Inventory Check List, we were able to get checked in quickly.

Note: Next year, we are not gluing anymore GU to the inside hull. For one, it was quicker and easier to tear them from the plastic ties, and second, we could still taste the glue on the back of the packets after we tore them off the hull.

We spent some time afterwards walking around, looking at other boats and their setups and rigging. We found the other seven boats that were also in the Standard class with us.

The boat next to ours (Boat #7) under the pavilion was the Tandem Unlimited team of West Hansen and Ian Adamson. Ian Adamson West is one of the TWS’s most accomplished racers. In 1997, West finished the 262-mile course in 3rd place overall, in a time of 36 hours and 45 minutes.

While not as accomplished or experienced in the TWS, Ian Adamson is one of America’s most accomplished Adventure Racers, having been called the Yoda of Adventure Racing. Ian is a four-time winner of the Eco-Challenge, including seven podium finishes; also winner of Raid Gauloises, Southern Traverse, HiTec, and ESPN X-Games adventure races. He’s the two time world record holder for endurance kayaking and a former member of the US and Australian Canoe Teams.

We relished the opportunity to measure ourselves against these types of world-class athletes. We were thankful though not to be in their class, as we could always lie to ourselves by saying “they only beat us by such a large margin because they had a lighter boat, a rudder, and could use double-bladed paddles.”

As it turned out, Ian and West finished the TWS 7th overall and 2nd in their class in 43:12. (Pat Petrisky and Mark Simmons won the Tandem Unlimited and Masters classes, 3rd place overall, with an overall time of 40:25).

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• Check In
• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Image Gallery