Where do you swim?
andiss
Senior Member
Just a curiosity thread - where does people swim when you swim ow? -and please provide some pics to create a bit of jealousy!
My local spot
https://www.google.ie/maps/@51.5923558,-8.8582599,1334m/data=!3m1!1e3
+
Clean water
Varied conditions from glass to swell
"Nice" Wildlife
Very likely to bumpy into other swimmers for a pick up swim
Post swim food and drink
-
Weekend Crowds if sunny
Massive tidal currents at side of beach
Algae
Comments
Currently swimming in the pool on weekdays, and Atlantic Ocean on weekends... But, at the end of July, I'm going back to my hometown, Ohrid, Macedonia and will be swimming here: (can't wait!)
https://google.ie/maps/place/Ohrid,+Macedonia+(FYROM)/@41.0771975,20.8852015,29927m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x1350db6587ea6657:0xc46cfc65390bc9d3!6m1!1e1
Quartermaster Harbor, Vashon Island, WA.
Friendly seals, varied conditions and temps, depending on tides & weather.
It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.
Dilworth Point, East side of Vashon Island, WA.
Always cold water on the outer shores of Vashon, whitecaps on occasion, water is usually pretty clear to view the sea stars and other good stuff on the bottom. Sea lions, seals and otters regularly visit and this is a prime orca viewing spot. Bonus: five minutes from home!
It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.
Live right in the middle of the state so it's some pool for me, Ocean when I can and some Lucky's Lake
Lee District Rec Center, Alexandria, VA. The turd in the open water punch-bowl. The only sea life available are hair-balls and the always elusive used Band Aid bottom roller
In a past life it was Lake Grapevine to the northwest of Dallas. A great venue to train.
Loch Ness all year round.
The Cantabrian sea, specifically the Asturian coast (max temp 22C, minimum 10C) any time the waves are less than 3m- https://goo.gl/maps/CNdx1
My usual open water swim site is not as remote as those pictured above, but is an easy commute from Phila.--in our beloved Schuylkill (photo)--and swimming there around sunset is lovely... sometimes I smell mint or see a hawk above or a Great Blue Heron!
Lately, with all the rain and thunderstorms we've been having, this isn't always available to my group and me. So group workouts take place in an outdoor 50m pool in the summer and a middle school (indoor) pool in winter. When I swim on my own, I use either my local Y pool (but water is TOO warm!) or a nearby high school pool, which they keep in better condition than my Y--and the water isn't bathwater warm. The key thing is... I get to swim!
I think USA 25K Nats were there in the early 1990s. Is that right? Are there ever any races there?
@swimmer25k Yes, they were... 1992, if I remember right. It was my first ever 25k, and from what I heard, they mis-measured the course by a kilometer or two.
No kidding! I came to open water swimming in 2005 (aside from one foray into it in 2002)--in 1992, I was a runner primarily, with swimming tucked away to use for when I got running injuries--so I didn't follow swimming to any great extent at that time.
Where on the Schuylkill was the race held? As a runner, I did a lot of runs and races along the river drives, but I would think that section of the river wouldn't lend itself too much to a marathon swim--tri swims, yes, since they're at most 1500m... But there's a dam near Norristown and a very shallow section coming right after it. So swimming upriver would have to start above the dam.
PS--Curiosity piqued, I did a search and found this:
http://articles.philly.com/1991-06-29/sports/25788086_1_swimmers-penny-dean-chad-hundeby
So it was closer to the city--extended lap swimming (around an island)!
Currently, there's a series of open water half mile races (https://www.athletepath.com/upper-merion-open-water-swim-series/2015-05-19), and this year a new event: the Valley Forge Marathon Swim--but it's not going to be where the 25k was.
https://www.athletepath.com/valley-forge-marathon-open-water-swim/2015-09-04 (shameless plug b/c I'm doing some volunteer stuff for this swim).
Cool article, @dpm50 ! I just had some serious flashbacks. Yes, it was in the city, and yes, I remember getting shots beforehand. Sort of makes me wonder if I need to start doing that again...
Been swimming in the Schuylkill last summer and this summer. Still alive. No dangerous bugs. Not glowing in the dark.... Upstream from the city, though.... Swam in the Hudson for the first time late May. Harder than my 5 mile swim, and it was only 2.5k! I didn't get a shot for that--but I wanted a shot and a beer afterward!
So, @grappledunk , you swam that 25k! That's too cool! How did you like it? Was it as dirty as was described in the article? They've cleaned it up a lot--the Philly Tri and a women's tri later use the Schuylkill for the swim--although they won't if there's any question about water quality or if there's lightning. No swim for Philly Tri this year, for instance--heavy rain made for compromised water quality, so they only held the bike and run for both sprint and Oly. distance. But overall, the river quality has improved since then.
@dpm50, I don't remember it being horribly dirty, but I do remember running into a shopping cart that was jammed up against something under a bridge. And I recall finding some interesting things in my suit afterwards, but that's just about any open water swim.
In the interest of not totally hijacking the thread, I don't get out in open water nearly often enough, but most of my open water swims happen in the Chesapeake, unless it's a race. There's a sad lack of freshwater swimming opportunities around here.
Just spent two weeks swimming on the Turkish coast. It was completely and insanely beautiful and somehow, the forum is not allowing me to post a photo. What am I doing wrong?
are you trying to upload a huge image? if so, try re-sizing to smaller dimensions (< 1000 px) before uploading.
Sadly for now, here:
But this weekend right here!
And then starting on the 18th, here for three weeks!
But then on 9 August, back to picture one.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
Here for most open water stuff. It's pretty.
Given the shark situation in the Outer Banks, I'm biting my nails for any decent VA Beach swimming this year.
For my part, I'd love to have salt water swimming opportunities closer to me--true, I can travel to the NJ beaches, but timewise, that's not always practical. Still, I feel fortunate to have this great resource so near! And for salt water swimming, there are always races!
Okay, I still can't post a photo, because I'm a dunce, but here's a blog post about my most recent open water---in Turkey.
Sigh. Turkey.
Gorgeousness abounds.
http://swimcrest.com/2015/07/08/oh-turkey-how-i-long-for-your-clear-waters/
Jealous!
I also swim here ! This is my secret spot!