Paddlers,

Welcome first time visitors, as well as those re-visiting the Coastal Bend Paddlers site.  We are excited to provide you with newsletters, events (upcoming and recaps) and photos, so please visit often. 

Paddling Schedule:

Spring has sprung and it's time to get back to our Thursday evening paddling trips.  Anyone interested, we meet at the boat launch in Riverside Park at 5:30pm every Thursday evening to begin a 4 mile adventure along the Texas Paddling Trail.  We take out on the south end of the park by the old power plant.  This is a wonderful opportunity to get out on the water, enjoy the sport as well as nature, and meet new friends. 

06-04-09   WOW!!!  What great Thursday evening runs we've been having.  With 24 boats on the water, there was much fun, laughter, and camaraderie.  Along with the many paddling enthusiasts comes a very wide variety of "vessels".  It's wonderful to be able to check out all the different boats and get tips on how they handle.   Again, there were several new friends who joined us, so we thank them for coming out and sharing the evening with us. 

Updates:

Coastal Bend Paddlers has been busy having fun.  We have had several things going on this year already.  In January we enjoyed sponsoring a kayaking clinic at the Man to Man Expo in Victoria.  In February many club members attended a Victoria Reads event at the Victoria Public Library.  Club member Steve Reagan gave a talk on boat and personal safety while on the water.  In March several club members enjoyed an awesome overnight Spring camping/kayaking trip on the Guadalupe River.  It was a 20 mile trip starting at the US 59 loop bridge and going to the take out past the swing bridge at the Dupont Plant.  Camp was setup 15 miles into it, finishing the remaining 5 miles Sunday morning.  An absolute awesome adventure.  On May 2nd, our club gathered in support of the preliminary race for the Texas Water Safari.  What an amazing sight it was to see approximately 71 teams start the race off at the same time.  The river was "boiling".  Kudos to our very own member, Roger Zimmerman and his teammate, as well as member Ken Startz. 

Roger's partner was Jack Elvig and Jack turned 76 years old on May 2, the day of the prelim.  He has finished the Texas Water Safari 17 times to Roger's 4.  Roger turned 71 on April 18th.  They set two new records for the prelim race:  Jack became the oldest person to ever finish the prelim, and as a team, Roger and Jack became  the oldest team to ever finish the prelim with an average age of 73.5.  John Stockwell broke Roger's record set last year as the oldest male solo finisher of the prelim, as Roger was 70 then and John is now 71.

Roger and Jack finished the 41 mile course in 7 hours, 56 minutes, 53 seconds.  They were 12th in the tandem unlimited class and 59th out of 71 teams that entered.  Their team captian was Norris Teague and Jim Waller was his helper. 

Roger's daugher's finace', Michael Ludford finished 62nd overall in 8:06:37 and finished 12th in the solo unlimited class.  His team captain was  Debbie Lageman, Roger's daughter.  Michael's longest paddle before this prelim, was 25 miles.  He was ahead of Jack and Roger until they passed him at the Nursury bridge.

Ken Startz raced with his son.  They finished 18th overall in 6:04:31 and won 1st place in the parent/child class. 

We will be looking forward to many exciting events to come, such as The Texas Water Safari; The Sweat Equity Challenge to benefit the Habitat for Humanity, Victoria; a summer paddling clinic; an overnight outing/camping trip; summer picnic; etc.  Check website for information.

Events:  Be sure to check out our Events calendar.

News:

Coastal Bend Paddler members participate in the Texas Water Safari