NY to VT 8 mile Open Water Swim!
I had heard about a bunch of crazy people who do a swim across lake Champlain from Willsboro Point, NY to Burlington, VT, a distance of 8 miles. Although 8 miles is a long way to swim and I knew it would be tough, this event had always peaked my interest. However, it is not well publicized and I always heard about it after the fact…not this year. Well, barely, I found out about it around 20hrs before the event! Although it took a little scrambling to raise the funds and find a support crew (thank you everyone, in particular a bunch of friends from the Green Mountain Multisport club YOU GUY RULE!!) some how I managed to pull it off.
I arrived at the boat launch at ~7am, where a few more logistics were ironed out we loaded up the small fleet of boats and took off for the NY shore, with about 34 swimmers each with a support kayaker. The wind and resulting white caps on the lake looked menacing, but I figured it wouldn’t be that bad. About 15mins into our trip we (most of up were on a bigger yacht) got a call from the small pontoon boat, which was loaded with 17 kayaks, that they where having trouble navigating the waves. We swung around, threw them some lines and began towing them. After about 5min of towing a wave hit the pontoon boat just right and one of the pontoons when under and the thing literally began to sink! Fortunately, this caused about half the kayaks to fall off and the pontoon boat began to right itself. However, about 10 kayaks were floating away! Myself about 3 or 4 other guys took the initiative to dive off and went kayak chasing, fun! After about 15min, we loaded several kayaks onto the bigger boat, shortened the lines and again began heading for the NY shore, only this time with a little more caution! We were about 20-30min behind schedule by the time everyone was in the water, with their support kayak, but no worries! Let the swimming being!
The first hour felt pretty good, I wasn’t trying to kill myself, just survive the event. Then the swells and chop got to me and I began feeling very sea sick. I felt pretty bad, but I wanted to at least make it to the 5mi mark at a small island in the middle of the lake. At that point I told myself I would stop, giving myself a slightly easier more immediate goal to work towards. I made it to the island around 2:15 or so but them my stubborn drive got the better of me. I told myself I had made it this far, I could continue on! I made it only a short distance, then the vomiting began… I had made it this far and I knew if I didn’t finish I would, be really mad at myself and have to try again next year (I said I was stubborn) and at that point I never wanted to do this again!! Therefore I told myself I have to finish! However, at about mi 7 I began dry heaving…of course I couldn’t stop I HAD TO FINISH!! The last hour was probably the most miserable experience I have ever had as an athlete. I completed the event in 4:18, not exactly what I had hoped for, but I was happy to be on dry (and stationary) land!
I knew this swim as going to stretch my abilities and put me out of my comfort zone as an athlete, however, I think that is what keeps us improving both as athletes and people. Reflecting on the day I wouldn’t say that I had a good time, but I was glad that I did it! As the day progressed and my goals changed from racing, to participating, to just completing the event, I learned a little bit more about myself and about what drives me. My fiancé had said to me before I left that morning, “you can quit and I won’t tell anyone,” to which I responded, “but I would know!” I think that there is a little bit of pride in all of us that pushes us towards that finish line, however, for me it is more about setting a goal and not letting myself down, after all I am my toughest critic. I think that having a “bad race” or a race that does not exactly go according to plan, although can be very frustrating, ultimately it helps us all to become better athletes both physically and mentally.
After telling this story several times, everyone keeps asking me “Why did you do that to yourself?” to which I respond “because it was there.” I can now check this 8 mi swim off my list and NEVER DO IT AGAIN…well…at least not for awhile!
Thanks!
