On Monday I swam across the Columbia River. I’d have this event on my radar for years and this year, doggonit, I finally did it. The swim is not a race, so not timed and no ranking of finishers. (I part love that and hate that.) I timed myself and based on how many people I passed I probably won it. Won the whole damn thing. Here are some pics:
Found this on my way out of the cabin the morning of (at 5 a.m.).
Sporting my Michigan suit given to me by a good friend that was on the diving team, probably 10 years ago!
The Sternwheeler, that we jumped off of on the other side of the river.
That morning I decided to do the swim in my wetsuit. I was sick, a little nervous, hadn’t trained AT ALL – this was my blankie. I’m so glad I wore it but honestly I probably didn’t need it. Hard to say, but man did I float!
Swimmers getting geared up before boarding the boat.
Hey, its 6:30 in the morning, what more do you expect?
On the boat, ready to party!
Pretty views of the morning river (Josh took these while I was on the boat).
Here you can see the Sternwheeler cozied up to a barge. This is where we docked to jump. The tiny boats to the left formed a boat lane that we had to stay inside of.
Sighting was, to my relief, very easy. We went in a diagonal from the boat to the shore and headed toward a very obvious large green highway sign. The current was altered by the Army Corps of Engineers upriver somehow to make it better for the race. I think this means that they held back water so that the current didn’t rip us out of the course, but I’m not sure. I can say that my watched showed my finish time in just under 24:00 for 1.1 miles. That’s smokin’. Which means there was a nice current that helped assist w/the ride.
They had people jump off in waves of 10 and I was in the 33rd wave, so a LOT of people ahead of me. My friend Keith, who signed up the morning of (and also hadn’t trained), was the last person to jump off the boat. We met up at the end, took some pics, then had breakfast and bloodies!
Super gorgeous day, well-run event and really fun. It was much easier than I’d expected so I am glad that I dragged myself out there. I’m not even sore! If you’re looking for a fun swim, try this one next year.
Event website: http://hoodriver.org/events-festivals/chamber-events/cross-channel-swim.
