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Off label use of everyday items as swim gear
Sara_Wolf
Member
Given that OWS, particularly marathon swimming is still a pretty small community.....
such that there aren't always specific "gear" for our needs, I find it fascinating how creative we all are in figuring out how to make things work for us in ways that they might not have been originally designed to work.
For instance, I read a blog (so sorry, don't recall the name) about one person who uses refillable baby food pouches as the way to deliver semi-solid fuel on long pool swims.
I use a "please don't shoot me lime/yellow-green" rain jacket as a cape for my paddler to wear on their PFD that makes them more visible to me in the water.
And, puppy collars. I put puppy collars around my feed bottles, and attach them to a retractable dog leash. My "issue" is that the sizes available in the pet stores near me are now just enough too big to make the collar too loose on the bottle, and I worry that in a strong enough current, the bottle might become separated.
Then..... I found whelping collars. People who foster/rescue dogs probably already know about them. Basically, it's a set of small collars in a variety of colors so that the humans can keep the newborn puppies straight from one another.
On a per unit basis, getting collars this way is WAY more cost effective than what I've already done. And, you get a nice variety of colors, so you could indicate a color order in feeds if that's what floats your boat. I got this set for $12, and got 16 collars in the pack. versus the $5 for single collars in the pet store.
Now, each of the bottles in my stash can have its own collar that never is removed, and can even handle the dishwasher, since I won't have to trade from bottle to bottle.
(And, my color-oriented OCD is very satisfied!)
Are there other good ideas that people use?
Comments
I've done a couple long, self-supported training swims on hot days when the water is still cold. Just some back-and-forth loops along the beach. The first one I did, my water bottles on shore got really warm and my feeds were pretty gross. So I grabbed a mesh delicates laundry bag, threw my bottles in it, and tethered it so it was in the water instead of on shore. The bottles stayed cool, and I didn't have to get out to get a fresh bottle!
The other one I can think of I think is pretty common- I have a retractable dog leash that I have for my crew to deliver my feeds.
Great idea for a thread
This isn't really a swim item, but my kayaker has a small net with a retractable handle that she uses to fish out junk that we find in the water. It's kind of amazing the trash that just seems to end up in the lake. Especially bad after weekends and holidays. I can usually tell when she finds something really egregious because she will veer off our line on some mission and then return triumphantly with a beer can or something of that sort.
She got a little plastic dinosaur once. It was the figurehead on the kayak for a little while. Then she gave it to a kid playing on the beach. I told her she would probably find it floating in the lake again...
@curly my kayakers fish stuff out of the water too. One time I swam into a marker line for a bass tournament that had been going on the previous day. Looooong piece of string on a weight with a float at the top. Had to google it to find out what it was.
Oh, I forgot to mention that my kayaker also has used her little net to save a drowning bumble bee just because that's the kind of thing she does. Saving the world - one beer can or bumble bee at a time...
I think I managed a more thrifty way of attaching rope to bottles
https://forum.marathonswimmers.org/discussion/comment/14048/#Comment_14048
On some unsupported long lake training swims, we used a floating beer cooler to carry our feeds. An useful and versatile piece of equipment for $15. Towing the cooler provided the added benefit of resistance training.
I’ve used this same float for training and tied it to a buoy where I had to do OW laps. It was in a much used swim area so I added a note written on a scuba dive slate explaining the float was in use so “pls do not remove. “
THose of you who stash floats w/ your feeds..... do you worry about motorized boats? Or, are you in a place where boats aren't, so the biggest issue is getting fed vs. getting run over?
I take feeds in a donut float for 6 hour swims. I always make sure I move into the shallows or stand on a rock shelf to feed. No danger of being run over.
During your feed, good choice!
Do you worry about boats while swimming, though?
My lake has boats and jet skis, and at times it's busy enough that I'm glad my kayaker is there to make me more visible. This time of year, it's not so bad, but I'm also not out in the water that long.
I swim in 2 different spots here. One of them we ALWAYS take floats because it is a boating/crew area. The other, we stay really close to shore and watch for boats but tow floats are not a must (though some of my pod do always take one). I think it just comes down to knowing your area.
Ah, it sounds like you have a friend or more who swim with you. I can't get my friends to swim with me. lol. I can get them to paddle, though. Swimming by myself around boats, even w/ a tow float isn't something I'm personally comfortable with. If I had someone with me in the water, maybe.... as long as we stayed in one particular area, and didn't venture into the "big lake" (so to speak).
My swimbuddy and I tend to take a path along the coast, fairly close to shore or cliffs, with bright hats and floats. There are boats and occasionally jet skis, but we've not had any problems so far.
I will use this post to segue back to the original question. One of the off label items that I use is a bright orange flag. This flag is used by power boats on lakes around here to indicate that there is a swimmer in the water. Typically it's used by wake boarders and water skiers. But all power boats (and jet skis) are aware of this flag and its meaning. I built a little mount on the kayak for the flag, so normally it's stowed, but then it can be quickly put in place and my kayaker can have both hands on the paddle.
It's probably a little unusual for a kayak to suddenly put up the flag, so there is this moment when they don't comprehend, but then you see an oncoming power boat veer off course to give us room. My kayaker only puts up the flag when a boat or jet ski is approaching, that way it's an action and it gets attention. She also has been known to angrily brandish it at boats or jet skiers who approach a little too much inside her demilitarized zone.
The other aspect of this is that in early spring to summer, there are new boaters infesting the waters. Some people know us and we don't need to worry about them. But the new boaters require a little training before they understand what we are doing. By mid summer, we usually can swim unmolested and everyone gives us a wide birth and we barely need to use the flag. Except for that one stupid idiot last summer that insisted on blasting by us way too close on a daily basis. We solved that by very obviously taking a couple pictures of him, his boat and his license number. I also think a couple people had words with him. He backed off after that.
"....her demilitarized zone" <-- love this!
I agree with your observation about boats learning about swimmers. Once I'm back into my normal routine, it's the same fishermen, same boaters in the early mornings who see me. Memorial Day weekend, 4th of July weekend, and game-day weekends in the fall, though...... we tend to be much more cautious. LOTS more traffic on the water, and many of them aren't routinely on the water.
Also, I find that starting super early helps with managing traffic. Fishermen typically aren't moving very fast!
I like the idea of a swim flag, too. I've seen some that are made for kayaks, but it shouldn't be too difficult to rig up a pole/flag that attaches to the stern.
We actually have the holder for the flag just in front of the cockpit of the kayak. That way you can pull it out and fly it when necessary and then stow it when it's not needed. We find that the action of pulling out the flag and flying it adds a little more clout than just having it up all the time.
Sara, thank you for the brilliant idea of whelping collars! I didn't want to use zip ties for my squeeze feed bottles, so I searched the MSF forum for ideas and found your post. Because you had made the brand tag visible in your photo of the whelping collars, I was able to find and order the same set off Amazon. They worked PERFECTLY for my Lake Tahoe swim 3 weeks ago! I'm using them again for my upcoming Catalina Channel swim in September.
Amazon link for anyone else who would like to order the whelping collars: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08DHQ5GK3
I attached Nite Ize stainless steel #2 S-biners to clip onto the collars so that the other S-biner end could easily be clipped onto feed ropes: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Nite-Ize-S-Biner-Stainless-Steel-Dual-Carabiner-2-in-Stainless-Black-3-Pack-SB2-A2-3R3/319836611.
@sarahcassidy.....
Glad my off brand usage solution worked for you too!
I had some that tiny bells on them......the bells had to go!