By Alec Woolsey - New Braunfels Monthly
In New Braunfels, there are many traditions that have disappeared in time, only to become embraced once again years later. From Christmas markets to biergartens, the German heritage is strong.
According to Heather Harrison, a friendly canoe race once accompanied the Wurstfest celebration, but it fell out of style after a number of years.
In 2013, two competitive canoers came together and organized a new event, Kanu Rennen, to once again give families and friends an opportunity to dip their feet into the world of paddle sports in a friendly, yet competitive, setting. The name of the event comes from a German translation of “canoe race.”
Kaiser, who became director of the event this year, said the event falls on one of the same weekends as Wurstfest, but that has more to do with canoeing than the festival itself.
“Essentially, how it got started was it was set at the end of the Texas canoe race season and Holly and Heather are both [canoe racing] veterans and wanted to do something at the end of the season that was kind of fun and involved families,” Kaiser said.
Holly Orr and Heather Harrison, both veteran marathon canoe racers, decided to hold the first Kanu Rennen in 2013 as a way to include family and friends.
Canoe racing events in Texas, he said, generally run from January through October, so the beginning of November makes for a convenient time to wrap up the season with a friendly canoe race.
“There used to be a canoe race held in conjunction with Wurstfest a long time ago and that’s what gave me the idea,” Harrison said. “And Holly and I started talking about it, but it’s also a really nice time of the year to have fun on the water. It’s nice and cool.”
Kanu Rennen will be held on November 4 in 2017 at Cypress Bend Park in New Braunfels. It consists of a series of competitions with the requirement that a child be participating in each competing canoe (Kaiser noted it does not necessarily need to be the adult’s own son or daughter).
TAKING TO THE RIVERS
Talk to Heather Harrison long enough and you will figure out where her passion lies.
“To me, being on the river is my respite,” she said. “It’s where I find my peace.”
Growing up on a lake, she said she spent some time on the water, but it wasn’t until her 30s when she really started to find herself in the rivers.
“When I discovered paddling, not until I was 30, did I understand just how great it is to move a vessel on the water myself,” she said.
According to her, it’s almost a reset-switch of sorts for her mind. It’s a peaceful place where she can ignore the problems of the world and focus.
“There’s one book in particular I always reflect on about this, but simply put, it’s said that when you can clear your brain of everything and just do one thing, your brain can actually reset,” she said. “All the different things that we have going on in our brains, when you do one thing and only one thing… that’s why people knit. That’s why people paddle. That’s why people do crossword puzzles.
“You are only thinking about that one thing and it actually helps your brain rest.”
Her way of getting out on the water: ultra-marathon canoe racing. This is a multi-day endurance test that takes canoers hundreds of miles down rivers and through the country.
For David Kaiser, paddling is a new way of seeing the world. Sometimes, even, it’s the only way to see parts of the world.
“You see Texas in a completely different light by paddling across it in a boat,” he said.
To him, canoeing down the Texas rivers means seeing areas and environments that aren’t visible from the highway. Now living in Austin, Kaiser explores the rivers of the Hill Country when he can.
“There’s really no other way to cross the state other than driving,” he said. “You can’t really hike from point to point, but you can paddle the entire state without ever getting out of your boat.”
“It’s one of the few times when you can really get remote in the state.”
Although New Braunfels is known around the state for it’s lazy tubing down the rivers on hot summer days, Harrison said it wasn’t always this way.
“We used to have paddling all the time in New Braunfels, but those have gone by the wayside and now we only have tubes,” she said. “Well, there’s nothing that says we can’t have both.”
KANU RENNEN
Harrison lives in New Braunfels, and she is passionate about getting people out and involved with the rivers.
“I wanted to race in New Braunfels. I have a much larger goal of increasing paddling in the New Braunfels area,” she said. “I used to have a business — New Braunfels Paddle Sports — I love getting people in the water. Stand-up paddle boards, kayaks… things like that.”
Kanu Rennen is a series of events, but they are open to participants of any skill level.
Events include a multi-man race (more than 3 participants in a boat), parent-child, relay, blindfold, backwards paddling and kids only. Each event requires that a child be present in the boat.
Tickets cost $20 per adult and $12 per child, with families capped at $55.
“It doesn’t go towards anything, but we also don’t make any money off of the race,” Kaiser said. “If there is any cash left over, it just funnels into next year’s race. And everyone working it is on a volunteer basis.”
Orr, who stepped away from directing the race to run her business, Paddle with Style, will be bringing equipment for those who need it, but Kaiser asks that participants give him warning before the day of the races so they can prepare.
All of this ties into the mission of Kanu Rennen: to promote river recreation for all ages and experience levels among friends and families by experiencing the freedom of paddling and the thrill of canoe racing.
“It’s a real sport,” Harrison said. “That’s part of why we wanted Kanu Renne to happen. It’s an Olympic sport, canoeing and kayaking both. And there’s several different parts of that, even in the Olympics.”
And that isn’t meant to be intimidating. Harrison just wants to get people out on the water.
“You don’t have to be especially skilled to have fun on the water, and that’s what we enjoy,” she said.