We were living in Houston in the early 70's and belonged to the Young Houstonian Club from our bank at the time. They offered many discounts and activities. One of them was signing up to do the Reeking Regatta, a canoe race along the Buffalo Bayou. Buffalo Bayou is a fancy name for a creek (or crik if you are from Philly) running through Houston ending up at the Houston Ship Channel. It's been cleaned up a lot since 1972, and the name has been been changed to Regatta. March 10, 2012 is the 40th annual Regatta.
We participated in the first Reeking Regatta in 1972, and have the beer mugs to prove it! No personal pictures from the event...thank goodness I did not take my camera, it would have been destroyed in the bayou!
Here's our story:
I had no idea what I was getting into. I had never canoed before, but heck, how difficult could it be? My husband used to teach canoe lessons as a summer camp counselor while in college, or so he has always claimed. He thought he knew enough for both of us.
The night before the race, we had to drive to southwest Houston to rent our canoe. We lived just south of Houston Airport off I59 at the time . The big, heavy canoe was tied to the top of my Camaro. Could hardly see to drive.
We were lucky to have some great friends watch our little Bow so we could do this crazy adventure. The car must have been parked near the lauch area- after the race, we must have been shuttled back to the car. So we had to carry that darn canoe from the car to the bayou. I remember this part vividly...We got to the edge of the bayou, and there was this huge hill with slippery black mud leading down to the water. I was not very happy by the time we got the darn thing in the water to start paddling. I seriously did not realize we would be paddling this huge canoe for 15 miles (I'm not sure it was 15 that year...it's 15 now) in calm, hardly flowing dirty water.
This was 1972, not a lot of emphasis on bringing water or anything to drink! So, needless to say, I thought I was going to die of thirst the whole time! Some of the spectators on the banks of he bayou were offering to sell beer and sodas for cash, but of course we left our wallets and money locked in the car. I was not happy!
The Buffalo Bayou at that time was blocked in several places so we had to portage several times along the way, drag that darn canoe over and back into the water. The first time to do this, I was in the front, and my husband in the back. We paddled to the shore and he said "Get out!" so I stood up and stepped out. Ok, this makes me laugh everytime I think of this...I stepped out and looked back...it caused the canoe to flip over and send him upside down in that stinking water. He was not happy. He was wet, stinking and we still had many more miles to paddle. No water to drink.
I'm not sure how long it took, but the Buffalo Bayou pretty much had NO current and required constant paddling to keep the darn canoe moving.
There were no results posted that year that I know of, but my husband said no other gals passed us in canoes, so he's pretty sure I was the first woman to cross the finish line. Actually not many women were stupid enough to do the Reeking Regatta in 1972 totally unprepared.
At the finish line we were hungry and thirsty and were rewarded with mugs filled with beer. It was a crazy experience. I'm glad to have the memories, but for some reason, I have never stepped in a canoe ever again!
Here's some pictures of our mugs!
UPDATE: We visited downtown Houston recently, and here is a recent photo of Buffalo Bayou. This picture was taken a few blocks south of where the canoes are taken out of the water for the regatta. Ummm...Maybe they should keep the name Reeking Regatta! The water looks pretty yucky!
3 comments:
Sounds like a darn good time. I can imagine the scream dad gave as he came up soaking wet out of the water.
It sure is funny thinking about it now, probably not so funny at the time! He was not so happy!
This was pretty funny. I hated canoes as a kid, they always tipped over. Give me a rowboat!
Enjoyed reading 'Reeking Regatta'
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