The 54th Buffalo Bayou Partnership Regatta showcased Houston’s best-known waterway on Saturday March 21. An impressive 730 participants took part in Texas’ largest canoe and kayak race, paddling everything from small solo kayaks to four-person racing canoes. Along the 15 mile Regatta course, they experienced wooded shores, residential homes and apartment buildings, and finally, downtown skyscrapers from their on-the-water perspective.
The weather was excellent: cool and humid in the morning, changing to temperatures in the mid 80s with low humidity in the afternoon. A 10-15 mph breeze from the SW did not pose a problem for the paddlers.
Participants were welcomed, sang the national anthem, and received last minute instructions up at street level, near the San Felipe Street bridge over Buffalo Bayou. Paddlers in the non-competitive class were the first through the gate leading to the trail down the bank to the starting line, for their start at 8:00. To reduce crowding at the bayou shore, competitive paddlers were not allowed through the gate at the top of the bank until 8:30. When the gate was opened, those paddlers scrambled down the bank to get their boats in the water so that they would be ready for their respective start times of 9:00, 9:10, and 9:20.
The 15-mile Regatta Course by Buffalo Bayou Partnership
Scramble for the Open Gate at 8:30 by Tom Douglas
Through the Forest, Headed for Downtown by Tom Douglas
Along the way, high water markers reminded us that conditions on the bayou are not always as placid as they were on race day.
A Reminder of Past Floods on the Bayou by Tom Douglas
Finally, the boats crossed the finish line just upstream from Allen’s Landing.
Crossing the Finish Line by Tom Douglas
Before exiting our boats at the low, floating dock that had been put in place just for the Regatta, some of us took the opportunity to paddle over for a look at the Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s Bayou-Vac 2 boat that is used for removing trash from the bayou on a daily basis.
The Bayou-Vac 2 Cleanup Boat by Tom Douglas
Arriving at the Custom-Made Take-Out Dock by Tom Douglas
Members of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership staff helped paddlers to get safely out of their boats and carry them up onto the large grassy slope. Then, it was up the stairs to visit informational booths from local organizations, eat a provided lunch, and take in the awards ceremony.
The Grassy “Parking Lot” for Boats and the Stairs up to the Areas for Lunch, Information Booths, and the Awards Ceremony by Buffalo Bayou Partnership
An aspect of the Regatta that ran in the background was the arrangements for safety, which were coordinated by Texas Search and Rescue from their command post near the Regatta’s finish line. The TEXSAR staff were in communication with several power boats as well as six kayakers in safety/sweep boats, and they could know the location of each of these units via a cell phone locator app. An example of how this worked is the response to a capsized tandem canoe that happened fairly early along the course. Having ascertained that the paddlers were safely on the shore, three of the safety kayakers maneuvered the swamped boat into the mouth of a small tributary so that it was out of the downstream current, emptied out most of the water, and towed the canoe back up to the paddlers. One of them paddled downstream to retrieve a lost canoe paddle, with help from people on one of the power boats. Fatigued by the experience, the canoe paddlers decided to take out early at the pre-arranged Woodway Drive access point, where TEXSAR staff were waiting to help.
All in all, it was an enjoyable and safe day on the water.