SRACAR 2005

 Since the AWAR at the end of October was cancelled, this is going to be our last AR of 2005. The Savannah River/Augusta Canal Adventure Race started and finished in the same place as the Upper Savannah River/Augusta Canal Adventure Race, which we did in March as a two-person team. This time we were a three-person coed team in the advanced division and Jeremy was our third person and no support crew was needed. The weather was warm with overcast skies; a perfect day for racing.

he race started at 8am at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion in Augusta with a two-mile trail and road run, but we were tied together with a 10-foot rope. Halfway through the run we picked-up our maps and passports. The maps were pre-plotted, so we didn’t have to worry about doing that ourselves. The first leg was about a 20-mile bike down the Augusta Canal Tow Path. We had to find four CPs on single track trails off the tow path and return to our starting point at the Pavilion. We decided to take a short cut to CP1. It was a short “cut” alright. We had to go through some briars that tore our shirts and cut up our arms and legs. On our return to the starting point we did a rope climb up a 50-foot cliff then we rappelled down a steeper side of the cliff.

From there we transitioned to the canoe for the 10-mile paddle section which turned out to be longer than we expected. We were only allowed two paddles, so Zach and Jeremy did the paddling. Shortly after we started paddling we had to land the canoe to look for CP6. We made a turn toward the bank and we were hit simultaneously by a very strong current. The canoe stated to flip and Jeremy went into the water. Although we took on some water we were able to keep the canoe from capsizing. After getting the boat to shore and emptying out the water, we started looking for the CP. We went to where we thought it should be and didn’t find it. We then expanded our search area and still didn’t find it. After a half hour of looking we decided it was time to move on. We later learned that the CP was much higher on the hill than it looked like on the map. We then headed for CP 7 which was further down the canal. We had to paddle into an estuary and then hike to the CP. It took us almost an hour to find the CP and return to the canoe. In that hour we had to climb over or under 5 chain link fences topped or bottomed with barbed wire.

CP8 was a short distance down the canal. We had to get out of the canoe and complete a four CP orienteering course. One of the CPs required us to triangulate to find the location. Our triangulation was a little off and the CP was farther west than we expected, so that CP took a little extra time to find. From there we had to paddle to a take out, portage the canoe from the canal over the tow path to the river, and then paddle through four sets of rapids to the South Carolina side of the River. It was several miles down the River to CP9 which was located on a small island in the middle of the River. There were many small islands in the middle of the River so it wasn’t as easy as it might sounds. In an effort to avoid rapids and move faster down the River we paddled to the Georgia side. This turned out to be a mistake. When we arrived at the island there was another team looking for the CP but they didn’t find it. We paddled to the south side looked around and didn’t see anything and assumed that it was the wrong island. Later we learned that we were only 20 feet from the CP but it could only be seen from the South Carolina side from a canoe.

From there we paddled to a take out and then traveled by foot to another rappel and a CP north of the rappel point. We went right past the rappel site to CP11 where we met another team that had already rappelled. They told how to get to the rappel site. Even with their directions it was difficult to find, but we did discover a really nice disc golf course on the way there. We had to travel down the disc course and find a path that took us to the rappel site. It was well worth the search, as it was100-foot rappel with a nice wall to bounce off.

Returning to our canoe we had to paddle back to the Georgia side of the River and paddle up Ray’s Creek to the final paddle take out and zip line site. A flood gate was open between the Canal and the Creek sending a torrent of water toward the River. We had to keep paddling without resting, because if we stopped we’d be pushed back. The water was running so fast we couldn’t make it to the take out but found an alternate place where we could carry the boat up the side of the creek to a trail. We portaged the canoe down the trail to the zip line site. The zip line started above the ranging cauldron created by the open floodgate and ended on the other side of the Creek. It was about 200 feet long but not particularly fast, so we all ended up pulling ourselves hand-over-hand for a short distance to the end.

 

From there it was a six-mile hike/run back to the finish with a few CPs along the way. CP14 was on an island we had to reach via river bouldering. We did a lot of running on the way back because there was a team a short distance behind us that we didn’t want to pass us. We crossed the finish line around 6:50pm, 10 hours and 50 minutes after we started. We ended up 2nd place three-person coed team in the advanced division.