I came in 4th out of 7. Putting the 3 groups of swimmers together this year, I was 42nd out of 47. Not bad for the 3rd oldest swimmer.
The word I am using to describe the swim is epic. It was so grand swimming down the Hudson at 5 knots past the skyscrapers and the new single World Trade Center tower.
Of course, I first had to earn the trip down the Hudson.
We had to swim very strongly for the first half mile against the tide to get into the East River. Then we blasted along with the current at 2-4 knots down the East River for an hour and a half. Then it was into Hell's Gate and hugging the riverbank to avoid being swept out to sea.
Then the 1 1/2 hour sprint started as we entered the Harlem river against the current, one foot along the seawall at a time. On 3 occasions, there were obstructions that forced us directly into the main current flowing against us. Those were all out sprints to gain one inch at a time.
Finally the tide changed in the Harlem River and it slowly picked up speed to 2 knots. But the Harlem River got warm and tasted gross. When it got warm, all my muscles and joints started hurting. That 2 1/2 hours was tough because I knew I had to get to the Hudson before the tide changed. The water was flat so I really focused on upping my stroke rate to go faster than I normally would. I reviewed in my mind all the good wishes and cheers you all sent me. Evidently it was a nail biter for the crew.
The Spuyten Duyvil Railroad Bridge was a welcome sight. When you swim under it, you enter the Hudson. The correct pronunciation is SPY-ten DYE-vil. It is from the Dutch, and legend has it that it means either "devil's whirlpool" or "spite the devil". I found an interesting swimming story in my research. Evidently, in 1642, a guy named Anthony Van Corlear died while attempting to swim across the Hudson from Spuyten Duyvil. A witness says that "the devil", in the shape of a giant fish seized Anthony by the leg and dragged him beneath the waves. The first shark attack in North America?
When I entered the Hudson, I knew that my chances of finishing the swim were very good. It was one of those moments of relief and wonder like sunrise on the Catalina channel. The Hudson was choppy, as predicted, but quite swimmable until the George Washington bridge. Then I was bit by a loose stinger of a jelly fish on the leg, and worried about the toxicity of the bite until it stopped hurting after 20 minutes. After the GW bridge, the waves got bigger, peaking at 2 metres in the last 2 hours. Those really hurt the shoulder they were slamming into.
At 22 minutes to 3, I was told to sprint because the cruise ship was about to depart its dock at 3 and I would be held up (while the clock runs) to wait for it. I sprinted all out after 8 1/2 hours of swimming and I am pleased to report that I did not get run over by the Norwegian Gem.
The rest of the swim was "down hill", except that it was up and down in the huge waves. There were some huge piers to be avoided and some buoys that we had to approach sideways in the current to get around or else incur a time penalty. All of my early days of training in the Niagara River with its 5 knot current really paid off.
I'm feeling not too bad, considering. I'll be back swimming in 3 or 4 days.
A big thank you to my crew, Debbie Bang (who fed me well) and my husband (the blogger), my paddlers Roman and Mark (who helped me swim the shortest and fastest route), the observer Courtney (who had swum the route, helped the crew and paddlers, and provided the tracker) and the best captain of the 3 triple crown swims, Bobby Rojack. A special thank you to Morty the magician who picked the starting point and start time to optimize the chances of us slow folk "getting around the island".
A big thank you to everyone who cheered for me.
Don't forget to donate if you haven't already:
Good Shepherd
or the New York Swim charity, Swim Free, which provides swimming lessons for underprivileged children. http://www.swimfree.org/donate/
