Nanticoke River Swim

May 4

I just love hopping in my car at the crack of dawn and driving across the Bay Bridge as the sun comes up.

Checking out the water below, I picture myself swimming a perfect line between the two spans. From the bridge it's Highway 50 all the way to the turnoff for Nanticoke.

Sun roof open, radio cranked, I'm on another big adventure. My third Nanticoke 3 miler -- a warm up for the Bay Swim and my first open water of the season. How would it all turn out? Could I conquer the current and, for once, finish the full 3 miles? As usual, it was a roll of the dice. Maybe the third try would be the charm.

Here are the pertinent stats:

Water temp: 62 degrees
Air temp:     50's -60's
Wind:          Cranking up to 15 mph
Tide:            Going out
Current:     1 -2 mph

I met up with the only other Zer doing the swim and we scoped out the river to assess the challenge before us. From the shore the water looked fairly docile. We could see all of the buoys and clear across to the other shore. Maybe we won't have a lot of chop? But then there's the wind, which seemed to keep picking up as we got closer to swim time.<Nervous laughter> But still, quite an improvement over last year. I'll take it!

Unlike the Bay Swim, Nanticoke starts at 10am every year, regardless of what the tide is doing. And it requires that you swim in triangular course and make adjustments on each leg to deal with the current. For me, that's the most challenging aspect of it. Especially when the current is strong.

And We're Off!
After swimming out past the jetties we turn right to begin the triangle pattern across the river. The first leg was upstream, right into the current. Wham. But the wind was coming from the same direction we were swimming, so I'm assuming that helped push me along a bit. Still, it took FOREVER to reach the first turn buoy - 37 minutes to go 9/10ths of a mile. Fine. Keep it coming,

Heading to the second buoy I kept reminding myself that the current would be coming from the right, so I would need to angle into it. However, the waves made it hard to see up ahead and figure out whether I was angling enough.

Helpful Kayaker Guy intercepted me as I struggled toward the green buoy marking the midway point of the leg. "M'am, I need you to swim straight for the buoy."
"Um...say again?"
"You need to swim in a straight line for the buoy."
What was he talking about? Couldn't he see me aiming straight for the buoy?
"You'll get there faster if you swim in a straight line instead of zig-zagging." 
Really? Wow, I hadn't thought of that. LOL

So I decided to try breast stroke (my version of it ;) so I could see the buoy better and  maybe swim straighter. I did this for what seemed like forever---and noticed I was barely inching forward. Damn current!

Where The Hell Am I Going?

I finally reached the next turn buoy and made the final turn for the shoreline. At this point I had been swimming about an hour and doubts about making the second loop were creeping in. Confusion was also setting in. Am I swimming for the right green buoy? Am I going out of my way and wasting energy? Is the current pushing me too far south? Where the hell is the marina?!

I noticed another swimmer just ahead of me who appeared to be scanning the water for the right buoy too. "Hey! Are we going the right way?" She wasn't sure either. So off we went, swimming in a vague direction toward the shore and hoping for the best!

I finally spotted the orange buoys leading into the jetties off in the distance. Yikes. I could tell I had been swept too far south by the current. Helpful SUP Guy pulled up next to me and told me I couldn't do a second loop and would have to swim in. No worries!

Keeping it real here, I have to admit I wanted to give up toward the end. I was so close to the jetties--yet so thoroughly exhausted swimming into the current trying to get there.  Helpful SUP Guy was right next to me, so all I would've had to do is wave him over to rescue me and put me out of my misery. Talk about tempting!

Finish Line!

It took forever -- and every bit of energy I could muster--to make it to the jetties.  And then finally-- the final stretch for the finish line!

Hallelujah. I was so exhausted and happy to finish that swim! Another Nanticoke in the books. Two miles of suffering = great training for the Bay.

 

A few days after the swim we got an email from the race director. He wrote: 

"For those of you that completed the 3 mile swim and are doing the bay, the bay will be a “Cakewalk”.

That says something about how hard Nanticoke is!!