Whether you believe the story that the Texas Water Safari began when Frank Brown and Bill “Big Willie” George took on the trek as a bet, or that they did it “just because,” there is no debate that the three-week trip is a journey worthy of the legend. That first “safari’ back in 1962 took a toll on the travelers. Each of them lost 40 pounds and nearly starved to death, but survived to create what has been billed as the “World’s Toughest Canoe Trip.”

Not only has the number of participants skyrocketed to somewhere in the neighborhood of 300, but the completion time is now limited to 100 hours. The route this time will be be made up of four legs:

San Marcos – Gonzales
Gonzales – Cuero
Cuero – Victoria
Victoria – Seadrift

There are several classes of competition as well:

Solo
Women’s USCA C-1
USCA C-1
Women’s Solo
Two Persons
Novice
Aluminum
Tandem Unlimited
Standard
USCA C-2
Mixed
Parent-Child *
Up to Six
Unlimited
Women’s
Master’s *

Classes marked with an * can be combined with other compatible classes

The complete set of rules can be found here at TexasWaterSafari.org

Chris Doelle

Photos by Scott Gregson