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Texas Wildlife Expo 2001

by Steven W. Thompson
photos by Mary Thompson

The Expo began in 1992 as a tribute to hunting, fishing and the Great Outdoors, the Texas wildlife Expo celebrated its' Tenth Anniversary on 6-7 October 2001. The annual event is held at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Headquarters in Austin, Texas. The headquarters is transformed each year into a huge outdoor fair like site with hundreds of tents and booths. This is the largest event of its kind in the nation and it draws visitors from all over the state of Texas and beyond. Last year over 46,000 visitors enjoyed the Expo and while the official count is yet to be announced for this year, first estimates put it at over 50,000.

What is the Texas Wildlife Expo? It's an outdoor experience where visitors fish, shoot, kayak, rock climb, mountain bike, see and touch wildlife, learn about recreation in the Great Outdoors and see the latest in outdoor gear and services and this year for the first time, learn about model sailing.

The Austin Model Sailing Club (AMSC) ran a mini sailing school using Victorias and over 900 kids (of all ages) took a turn at the controls. The Texas Park and Wildlife set up an 18-inch deep, 40 by 40 foot tank.

The tank was divided into four sections using floating pool line to lessen the damage to the Vic's. Sailors were given a brief lesson on how to work the transmitter and then given some time on the water. Each section had an instructor to guide the new skipper safely down and back several times on a beam reach. Each transmitter was equipped with safety straps to prevent the ever-present "drop" by small hands. The Victorias sailed for 8 hours straight each day only stopping for battery changes or repairs. The first day started off as a cold gray day with a 15-20 mph brisk wind. The sun came out after lunch but the winds stayed high. The day was full of fast moving boats and thrills for all. The next day was a clear warm bright day with almost no wind. The "art" of light air sailing made for a long day. The Club had 560 sailors on the first day and an additional 351 on the second day. After completing the sail, each sailor got a sailboat stamped on the back of their hand to show that they "did the sailboats".

On static displayed were a Star-45, V-32 and a Fairwind 900. The Fairwind, or the Stuart Little boat as some of the little ones called it, also got some time in the tank. Also displayed were photos of area regattas and fun sailing and copies of American Model Yachting Association's (AMYA) magazine Model Yachting for browsing. Many visitors from the Austin area picked up flyers on the Club. Other visitors from Houston, Dallas and San Antonio were given information on AMYA clubs in their area. Information on how a sailboat works was available in picture form for inquisitive young minds.

Thanks to Don Keeney and Rob Gonzalez, the AMSC Event Coordinators, for doing a great job of setting this up, and to ten plus other members and spouses that provided the coaching, boat recovery, gate duty, manned the booth, did the food runs and all. A big thinks also to AMYA Vice-President Dick Rutledge and his wife Nancy for driving up from Houston to help out. It was hard work but the kids loved it.

At closing both days we were forced to turn people away. We are all looking forward to next year...well maybe after some time to heal the mind and repair the boats. :-)