Ok, as promised, here was what I said at the Rotary meeting on Thursday. :)
The Tour du Teche began as a grass roots effort in 2010 to bring attention to an underutilized Bayou Teche. What started as an 128-mile, straight-through-the-night canoe and kayak race, quickly turned into a 135-mile three-day three-stage race that hi lights our local Cajun culture.
Paddlers traverse four parishes, St. Landry, St. Martin, Iberia and St. Mary, and end in the Atchafalaya river, about two miles passed the Berwick Lock at the Red Lighthouse.
This past year, they were subjected to massive, MASSIVE rafts of water hyacinth and 20 mph headwinds. This race is not for sissies.
Tour du Teche always starts the first Friday in October, with boat and equipment check the day before. Registration for TDT III will open on April 16 for paddlers and coureurs des bois who have done the race before. I will email registration forms to those I have on file. A 20% discount on registrations will be applied to those received before general registration open on April 30. Registration will close on September 14 at 5 p.m. A change to this year’s rules requires that those that register between September 1st and September 14th must notify me via fax or email that they are sending in their registration via postal mail. This year, I will also be asking for a photo with the entry form for use in the race program, which was a big hit for both paddlers and spectators alike.
The Friday portion of the race begins in Port Barre and flows until the Evangeline Oak in St. Martinville. Last year’s finish line was at Magnolia Park which only proved to be far away from everything, which was a huge complaint from many paddlers. So, the city will be making improvements to the Evangeline Oak park to accomodate paddlers take out needs and upon finishing the race, paddlers will be right in the middle of the festival in down town St. Martinville. This leg of the race is 49 miles and has two checkpoints, at Myran’s in Arnaudville and at Parc des Ponts in Breaux Bridge.
The Saturday portion of the race begins at the Evangeline Oak in St. Martinville and finishes at Parc sur la Teche in Franklin for a total paddle of 59 miles. It also features two checkpoints, one at New Iberia City Park and one at the Chitimacha Boat Launch on the Chitimacha reservation.
The second day also features paddlers first portage, at Keyston Lock and Dam. Paddlers must take their boat out before the lock and carry it around to the other side and put back in. We currently use a portage left option, but we are working with DNR secretary Scott Angelle to build a permanent portage structure on public property before next year’s race. This portion of the race is more dangerous than the first in that large boats and barges traffic this stretch. Also, paddlers encounter the Charenton Cut, which if a wrong turn is taken, could put them into the Gulf of Mexico.
The Sunday portion of the race is the shortest at 27 miles and begins at Parc sur la Teche in Franklin and ends at the Red Lighthouse on the Atchafalaya river in Berwick. This portion has one checkpoint at Hayes Memorial Boat Launch, which I think we are thinking about changing. It’s kind of hard to find from the road, but offers beautiful scenery once on the water front.
There are also three portages on this last stage of the race. The first is at the West Flood gate of the Wax Lake outlet and the second is at the East Gate. Paddlers are now required to wear their life jackets between these two portages as the current could be dangerous. The last portage is at the Berwick Lock where Bayou Teche meets the Atchafalaya River. The locks are run by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
However, if 135 miles is not for you, we also offer five other short races to participate in. Tour du Teche is the main race, race 1. But race 2, Ecrevisse, is 34 miles and only from Port Barre to Breaux Bridge (the finish line for this race is at Parc des Ponts de Pont Breaux). Race 3, Acadian, is now 49 miles from Port Barre to St. Martinville (the finish line for this race is at the Evangeline Oak). Race 4, Hot Sauce, is 25 miles to New Iberia, it ends at New Iberia City Park. Race 5, Sugar, is 59 miles from St. Martinville to Franklin and ends at Parc sur la Teche. Race 6, Oil and Gas, is 27 miles from Franklin to Berwick and ends at the Red Lighthouse on the Atchafalaya River.
TDT III will feature two different divisions of racers, RACING and VOYAGEUR. The racing division as a chance to win prize money and voyageurs are in it to finish and will receive a trophy.
The racing division has classes for solo double blade paddles, tandem double blade paddles, solo single blade paddles, tandem single blade paddles, USCA’s C2 boats and a catch all group that seats a maximum four paddlers.
The voyageur division has classes for solo double blade paddles tandem double blade paddles, solo single blade paddles, tandem single blade paddles, solo pirogue, tandem pirogue, pedal drive and a catch all group that seats a maximum of four paddlers.
The shorter races are only open to the voyageur divisions and those who finish first through third will receive a trophy or plaque. All finishers of all races receive a cap.
Registration fees for the racing division of Tour du Teche are $125 per paddler, for the voyageur division are $80 per paddler. For races 2-6, fees are $60 per paddler.
Fees cover the cost of t-shirts, caps, and insurance. As well as things that paddlers receive in their check in packets.
This year’s Bourre pot is structured differently as well, last year, the first boat to break the record would have received $1,200, or 6% of the prize money. This year, we’ve created individual bourre pots for each of the racing classes. 16% off the top of the total prize money will be added to the current 3,000 bourre pot, which will be then divided by the six classes (catch all, solo double blade paddle, tandem double blade paddle, solo single blade paddle, tandem single blade paddle, and USCA C2). The boat in each of these categories that beats the TDT record times set last year gets that portion of the bourre pot. For the records that are not broken, that pot will grow next year. (Think of the excitement in the Superdome when Drew Brees beat Dan Marino’s 27 year record this year -- this pot has this potential over the next few years.)
Also, for those boats in the racing division that finish first in class, they will receive 4% of the total prize money, per paddler; if they finish second in class, they will receive 2% per paddler; if they finish third in class, they will receive 1% per paddler. We’ve done away with first female prizes, because we found out that women CAN compete with men, and win.
Paddlers in voyageur divisions in all races that finish first through third will receive a trophy.
All registered paddlers and coureurs des bois receive a 2012 t-shirt at check in. All finishers receive a TDT cap. Each team that wins a class will receive a green windbreaker jacket. I am looking into making patches for those that received a jacket last year to add to it this year, if they should finish first in class again. Each team that finishes first in class for each STAGE, will receive a stage winner shirt, in Red for Gabriel (Friday), in Green for Chitimacha (Saturday), and in Black for Roughneck (Sunday).
Voyageur classes will begin racing at 7 a.m. sharp after a brief pre-race ceremony at 6:30 a.m. Racing classes will begin at 8 a.m. sharp and will have less time to finish their respective legs.
This year, we have the same sponsorships available. Major Sponsors for $10,000, eight race and stage sponsors for $3,000, and Admirals for $1,500, Captains for $1,000, First Mates for $500, and Deckhands for $100. Every little bit helps, you can get in touch with myself or Mr. Ray for a sponsorship packet, which contains a lot of the information you need to know about the race plus a sponsorship form. Packets will be ready by January 13th, forms are ready now. All sponsorships are made to Community Foundation with a memo Tour du Teche and are tax deductible because Community Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization.
In order to operate the Tour du Teche, we must receive help and support from four parish sheriff’s departments, four parish governments, the Coast Guard, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the St. Mary Levee Board, the Office of Coastal Protection and restoration, Wildlife and Fisheries and a couple handfuls of community administrations and dozens of organizations like yours. It hasn’t been easy, but everyone has turned out to be really helpful and supportive. The communities have risen to the occasion and have shown paddlers an awesome time and have been very welcoming, which creates an impression that paddlers aren’t used to getting.
The process generally begins in January when we re sign up for our USCA membership, then after about the second week of Jan, I’ll apply for insurance. We get permits to operate from Wildlife and Fisheries, the Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard, OCPR, and the St. Mary Levee District. We must also have letters of support from each of the parish sheriff’s departments.
This year, we will be receiving support form the Coast Guard auxilliary to secure the waters, for the first time.
The goal of the Tour du Teche is to bring attention to the bayou and help people to realize that it’s a great way to get out and experience nature, but also that it’s important to keep it clean. Cajuns for Bayou Teche has done a great job at cleaning up the bayou. The next project is to clear up water hyacinth, which will not be easy.
Tour du Teche’s most recent endeavor is the addition of another race, the Petite Tour du Teche, a race geared to 5-17 year olds.
The petite will be broken down to several different races for different age groups: Fledgling 1 for ages 5-7 will race 250 yards, Fledgling 2 for ages 8-10 will race 250 yards, Bantam for ages 11-12 will race 500 yards. Juvenile for ages 13-14 will race around a mile, and Junior for ages 15-17 will race around a mile. All age categories are that child’s age as of December 31st of the prior calendar year.
The Petite TDT will always be the second Saturday in September. Ages 5-12 will race on Saturday and ages 13-17 will race on Sunday.
The first Petite will be held in Breaux Bridge at Parc des Ponts de Pont Breaux but will be up for bid from communities along the Teche after. This year’s race will feature, which will probably be a requirement, a 250 yard racing area and a 400 yard viewing area.
The classes of boats allowed in these races include solo double blade paddle, tandem double blade paddle, solo single blade paddle, tandem single blade paddle, and tribe 13.5 kayak solo and tandem (all boats in this class will be this specific boat - same make length and width.
All the petite races will begin with boat and equipment check at 8 a.m. and racing at 9 a.m., awards ceremonies will be a 5 p.m. on their respective days.
There will be seperate sponsorship opportunities for the petite TDT, as well as seperate T-shirts and prizes. It is our goal to grow the racing community in this area by getting more children into it. (It is healthy impact free exercise after all.) With that, we hope that more parents will want to get involved with the “big” TDT.
Thank you for your time, do you have any questions?
