Geekfoolery

Update to the Manhattan Island Swim, Saturday, June 16th, 2007:

The short story is we made it. It looked like a great day for the swim when we started off in the morning, but things got a little dicey later on in the day. I will let my special guest blogger/marathon swimmer (veteran of the English Channel, Catalina to Long Beach, the Tampa Bay 24 mile swim, and many others) Forrest Nelson tell the story:

Manhattan @ Sea level

a/k/a “Drama on the Hudson”

Dear Friends –
Thanks for the support, prayers and well-wishes. I got around NYC, with special thanks to Alex Gray (kayaker) for agreeing to travel cross-country for this event. [his blog: GeekFoolery.com] Also, my parents were thrilled to support a 4th long-distance swim.

This time, the annual Manhattan Island Marathon Swim.
28.5 miles counter-clockwise around New York City. Starting at Battery Park, swimming around the southern tip of NYC, racing up the East River, through the Harlem, and then down the Hudson River. My final time: 9 hours & 41 minutes*.

That’s with an *asterisk –

At approximately the 7-hour mark, a thunderstorm rolled in from New Jersey and over the Hudson. EVERY swimmer was pulled from the race. [Moments earlier, I was told to climb into the boat because the cruise-liner “Norwegian Dawn” was leaving dock - We’d been warned about the possibility: A near miss between cruise ship & swimmer can be dangerous - As I swam toward my escort boat, the Coast Guard forced all the swimmers out of the water due to lightning] We sat on the boats for nearly 90-minutes to allow the storm to pass. Once it was safe, we all jumped back in the water at the same moment, and finished the race.

This was my first time sitting on a boat in the middle of a marathon swim. The final time includes this pause. The clock never stopped, even though the swimmers had. Therefore, the *asterisk. You’ll find the complete solo results at the end of this post.

The water was surprisingly fresh. I was expecting a little more salt content, but it was predominantly fresh water. Even at the Battery. The tides pushed us up the East River. I swam backstroke under the bridges, to get a unique glimpse of the architecture. The swim to the UN building was quick — and gorgeous..

Hell Gate gave us interesting currents. Many swimmers who beat me to Hell Gate were slowed by a negative current. My boat pilot recognized the change on the water’s surface and guided me to swifter waters. He saved me valuable time.

Once we reached the Harlem, the water was significantly warmer and murkier. I rarely saw beyond my elbow. Most of the swim, I had difficulty distinguishing my hand out-stretched at full reach above my head. However, never once did I think the waters were tainted. Murky yes, but never an awful taste or smell (and yes, it was recommended we get immunized for hepatitis and tetanus before the event)

Then the mighty Hudson for the second half of the race. She was choppy, as expected. The wind was straight in our face. It was a struggle most of the way home. But eventually the current was pushing us at 2.5 knots (the max tidal current actually occurred while we sat on the boats) I’ll admit, there’s real motivation to get home, especially as the NYC skyline turns more dramatic as you approach the Battery. The upper part of the Hudson seems “boring” in comparison.

And we also shared the river with the annual “cigarette boat” POKER RUN. After the race, I had the pleasure of sharing an outdoor patio table with the “winner” of the Poker Run. I joked with him, that I’d share what the swimmers were saying behind his back (multi-syllabic curse words), if he’d tell me what the boaters were saying about the swimmers.

He told me the cigarette boat owners believe we swimmers are INSANE for swimming in those dirty waters. I reminded him: The Hudson is polluted because of boaters like him. I’m not sure he was amused.

Here’s one reason to swim the MIMS. This was the furthest marathon swim yet — and for me the FASTEST time. Thanks to the river currents.

Take a look at these results: The women dominated. 4 in the top 10. And a tremendous showing from the international field.

Solo
Swimmer, Gender Age, Hometown, Time
1 Palfrey, Penny Female  44  Townsville, Australia  08:36:01:00
2 Opdycke, Rendy Female  23  Mercer Island, Washington  08:46:00:00
3 Serra, Jose Male  33  Guatemala  08:58:59:00
4 Voisard, Andrew Male  47  San Diego, California  09:00:01:00
5 Douglas, Nancy Female  27  Llangollen, Wales  09:03:21:00
6 Portingale, Lee Male  31  Hitchin, United Kingdom  09:09:17:00
7 Wilde, Richard Male  34  Brooklyn, New York  09:10:42:00
8 Blanke, David Male  47  Austin, Texas  09:41:11:00
9 Nelson, Forrest Male  41  Los Angeles, California  09:41:37:00
10 Steadman-martin, Nancy Female  52  Oceanport, New Jersey  09:44:52:00
11 Korey, Bill Male  43  Fort Lauderdale, Florida  09:49:18:00
12 Denison, Ned Male  49  Montpelier, Vermont  09:50:50:00
13 Rutford, Kristian Male  47  Lincoln, Nebraska  09:51:03:00
14 Paul, Jonathon Male  34  San Francisco, California  09:56:33:00
15 Zamora, Anthony Male  46  Los Angeles, California  09:59:39:00
16 Palfrey, Chris Male  49  Townsville, Australia  10:03:19:00
17 Davidson, Michelle Female  37  Neptune City, New Jersey  10:19:35:00
18 Farber, Jonathan Male  40  Brooklyn, New York  10:24:10:00
19 Chiarino, Paolo Male  41  Cremella, Italy  10:32:39:00
20 Urrea, Peter Male  67  San Francisco, California  Did Not Finish
21 Morrison, Alan Male  45  New York, New York  Did Not Finish
22 Colette, Laura Female  43  San Jose, California  Did Not Finish
23 O’Rourke, Matthew Male  31  New York, New York  Did Not Finish
24 Armento, Dave Male  49  Atlanta, Georgia  Did Not Finish
25 Kennedy, Timothy Male  50  St. Petersburg, Florida  Withdrawn

One final note, we made the news. The Internet edition of the New York Daily News ran a piece include an 8-picture gallery. Check out picture 5 of the series of 8. Third boat from the left, white hat–that’s me. Forrest is the guy with the yellow swimming cap…

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