The Great Chesapeake Bay Swim
nvr2late
Central VirginiaCharter Member
The Great Chesapeake Bay Swim will be held next Sunday June 10th. This is a 4.4 mile swim between the spans of the Bay Bridge between Annapolis and Stevensville Maryland. I did not get a spot for the long swim in the lottery process, so I will be swimming the One Miler this year. I just wanted to know if any of the other forum members will be participating!
Comments
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=tplm2
It was warm last year but buoy reading just prior to race was 77.8.
I'll be at 4.4. One of my favorite events.
@evmo had a good reccomendation on his packing list he posted on his blog, SolRx 44. I used it on a 10.5 hour swim, and hardly had any sunburn at all.
For those who have done the swim before, would someone mind describing to me how the start works? Does the entirety of each wave just go off in a big 300 person group or is there more to it?
Here is a video of the swim from last year - this may help give you an idea of how it goes - I will do the one miler, and see you and Jim at the finish of your swim!!
As for sunscreen, if you can't get SolRx, there is something in the US grocery stores I've been using - Banana Boat Natural Kids 50+. It's zinc and titanium and lasts pretty long. It's definitely enough for GCBS as long as you put on two coats, letting them dry in between.
Also, note that the buoy temp is taken about 5 feet below the surface and while it showed last year's was between 77 and 79 degrees, the surface water was much warmer. The weather has been MUCH cooler this year, so I don't think it will be nearly as hot. The air temperature during actual race was in the low 90s. There is no separate wetsuit category and most people wear them if they are trying to win their age groups.
The water boats in the middle of the course are very hard to reach and are not stocked with any form of electrolyte and the water on board is almost always very hot. They're hard to navigate to, so many people just stick gels in their caps. I shoved a bottle of water/juice in my suit. While the bay is technically brackish, it's pretty damn fresh in that area, so if you can eat a salty meal the night before, I'd recommend it.
It's a fun event and I'd love to give it a try again, but I was focusing money and effort on a different swim.
Excellence is born of preparation, dedication, focus and tenacity; compromise on any of these and you become average.
Excellence is born of preparation, dedication, focus and tenacity; compromise on any of these and you become average.
When I lived in Ft Lauderdale, I once ended up in the middle of a 1mile race. I had been out on a training swim for a few hours already. I was on my way back and ended up in the middle of the field. I went for it and was first to the turn buoy back to the beach finish (it was a straightaway course with the turn about 50M off-shore.) I over-shot the finish and was greeted by an angry race director who demanded payment.
The finish takes you into a little chute with nowhere else to really go, so difficult there as well.
I kicked a big rock in the water as I stood up to run the chute. I wasn't made for land.
www.potomacriverswim.com
I haven't done these but these do come to mind as being in the DC area.
The Swim For Life in Chestertown, MD is FANTASTIC. They also have the best post-race feed.
Two thumbs up for this one.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
No no no, there are more. National Harbor has a 10K swim. WaveOne OW swimming orgnizes the swims. Because of stupid laws, the 10K course closes kinda early for a slow swimmer like myself, but for most 3:30-ish is plenty of time to finish a 6-lap 10K.
They also organize HarborFest tri-swims, which has events in the typical triathlon distances. However, Denis (organizer) runs a 5K during that event for the few of us that want farther swims.
Check out the DC-area calendar here on MSF.
BTW, I'm out of country for a few years, so if anyone wants to take over updating that calendar, let me and @evmo know.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
If anyone decides to do the Swim for Life and would be coming from outside of the area, please private message me. I have a little place in Betterton – about 20 minutes from the swim.
I'm excited...can't wait to see everyone out there in June!
I made it into the lottery for 2016! I am looking forward to my second crossing of the Great Chesapeake Bay on June 12th.
I'm in this year. It will be my 2nd time. The first time I swam it I bonked big time. I'm hoping to apply what I learned the first time and improve this year.
Good luck this year gtswim - I hope you will have a great swim!
I'm in again this year as well - I'm hoping the weather cooperates a little bit better this time.
I'm in too, first time! Hope to meet you guys.
Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. --Neale Donald Walsch
Thanks. Good luck to you, too and grappledunk and JSwim.
I have to miss my first one in eight years for son's college graduation. Good luck to all.
I am hoping to get out at Promontory Point that weekend though since I never did during his four years in Chicago.
I'm in, too. 2nd time around. Won't be making the mistake of wearing a wetsuit again!
I'm in. My first one. Any quick tips will be welcome. This should be fun!
Give me a holler when you're out here!
@JustSwim, I have done the One Miler once (did not get in the lottery for the 4.4 miler that year, 2012), and the 4.4 miler once in 2013 the summer of my English Channel attempt. I am from Virginina and used to spend time with my Dad sailing the Chesapeake Bay so this was a very sentimental swim for me. I found it amazing to cross the bridge by car and realize that I would be swimming that body of water, and during the swim itself was awed by looking up to the bridge and around the water. Not knowing your open water experience, I found that at mile 3 the cross current was very strong and I found myself swimming diagonally for what seemed a long time. ( I am a 30 minute/mile swimmer). Also, I had a severe allergic reaction to the water (violent sneezing for hours post swim - this happens in rivers and lakes for me typically ) so I may take a prophylactic antihistamine before this race. I am a not wetsuit swimmer and the day of our swim was very hot and the water very warm - mid 70's It is a very fun day! Hope you enjoy and have a great experience!
@nvr2late As I understand, the current getting out from under the bridge in in 2013 was quite a challenge.
@JustSwim Here is what I learned from my first swim in 2014. It was a 10:45 start. I normally workout on Sundays at 10:30 and don't generally eat before the workout. I figured I'd be ok not eating something for breakfast because I had some fruit after checking in and waiting for the start. As I mentioned above, I bonked at about the 3.5 mile mark. I really think it was due to not eating.
Follow the instructions on the tide. We were told it would be moving right to left by the time we would me making our way from under the bridge span. I didn't move towards the right soon enough and was too near the left span when it was time to move out of the spans. On top of being tired from bonking, I had to swim against the tide to get out from under the right span.
I was in the middle of the pack on the start. I used entirely too much energy on the start fighting for position with the other 300 simmers. I'm planning on starting either way left or way right of the pack this year. Even though it may add distance to get between the bridge spans, the energy saved at the start may help me later in the swim. In a 5k I did this past summer I was on the fringe to start and didn't need to feel like I had to sprint or exert energy to get away from the pack at the start. I settled into my pace almost right away and I felt strong the whole swim.
No wetsuit for me.
@gtswim - thanks for your thoughts. I did hear several veteran Chesapeake Bay swimmers say that they had never had to fight such a strong current. I hope that I have experienced the worst but you just never know in this wonderful, unpredictable sport that we love! I hope you have a great experience this year!
I swam it only once in 1995. It was by far the strongest cross-current I've ever dealt with. Cow Key Channel (Key West) and Longport Jetty (Atlantic City 37K) have special places in my heart for being the toughest "in your face" currents I've had to race in.
I did hear several veteran Chesapeake Bay swimmers say that they had never had to fight such a strong current.
This will be my 16th in a row, I started doing them before I had grey hair. These days it seems like every year the currents get worse!
For my money, I prefer years where we start on a flood tide. When we start on an ebb tide you have the issue of water hitting the islands that anchor the bridge and you can get caught in the water pushing back toward you to get around the bridge. Then later in the race when it switches back to flood, the ride is pushing back north when you are trying to head south, and by then you're tired.
I am no seaman but if I am right, this year is halfway between the new moon and full moon and that should mean a weaker tide.
I lived in AC for years and I never thought it was possible to swim against the current at the Longport Jetty, that you had to go with it otherwise you were swimming backwards. Super impressive!!
When coming through Longport, we all bunched up around the jetty and pretty much swam on the rocks. The tide was beginning to chill a little. I think I got there in a little over three hours into the swim. The rest of the way was pretty much a slack tide from Dorsett Avenue bridge to the finish.
I've probably done 40 escorted swims; mostly 25K and up. Atlantic City was probably the hardest one I did (while having a good swim and things going your way). I got crushed by a Lion's Mane jelly somewhere by Steel Pier. Right in the face. The tingly numbness kept my mind occupied, so I wasn't really focusing on the race. I came out of Longport in second and didn't look back. It was only my third race 15K or longer, but still one of my best efforts.
This would be a great race to have again, and as always keep it draft legal behind the lifeguard boats.