I found lots of time to think about the swim with a 5 hour flight delay in Shannon and eventually made it to Mike's (University friend) place north of Manhattan. Woke up in the morning with the first pain in my neck and left shoulder in more than a year and curse the knapsack and the plane delay. Every fear possible surfaced in my head as the pain came and went all day.
We met up with Steve (University roommate), his wife Becky and Krista (Mike's girlfriend) for dinner that night and back to Krista's place for the evening. She lives right on the New Jersey side of the Hudson, maybe two miles up from the start, so I experienced it first hand from the small ferry.
My neck and shoulder still hurt as I dragged my gear into my hotel room near the start in Wall Street. Then I attended the swimmer's briefing - the first of several great social events. My confidence soared when Emilio and I greeted with hug and I met eight swimmers who I previously only knew via email. Three of these: Rendy, Penny and Chris also planned to swim the Santa Barbara Channel. All 25 solos swimmers (two older than me - happy days!) and 15 relay teams introduced themselves and heard a well prepared safety briefing. Two surprises: a firm order to hug the Manhattan side (in previous years expert kayakers took their swimmers to mid river to catch the fastest flow) and the possibility of cigarette boats (the big ones from Miami Vice) racing on the New Jersey side of the Hudson - well away from the swimmers. Terry from Cork paid a visit to drop off some special sunscreen and I joined Emilio and Margarita (his girlfriend also on my Santa Barbara safety boat) later for a drink. Emilio inventoried and repacked my special bag for the boat and I gave him the final crew instructions and my swim plan:
- Start out fast to get thru the incoming time for the first mile or so - and to catch the benefit early of the tide going up the East River
- Revert to cruise speed
- Pick up the pace to get through the expected rough water and conflicting tides at Hell Gate - where the East and Harlem Rivers meet and the unlucky get swept towards Long Island Sound (and out of the race!)
- Revert to cruise speed
- Pick up the pace to get through the expected rough water at Spuyten Duyvil - where the narrow Harlem River meets the mile wide Hudson River. The translation from Dutch is Devil's Spout but I called it the Spitting Devil. None of the descriptive phrases sounded very friendly!
- Revert to cruise speed and if needed simply lie on my back and float to the finish!
Get Set
Back in the hotel I continued to hydrate - drinking probably 6 litres of water before bed time and making several toilet visits in the early hours. I felt relaxed except for the occasional pain in my neck and left shoulder. With the early start I knew that I wouldn't find a bowl of porridge so I wolfed down 2 bagels and 5 bananas on the way to the start. The safety boats started ahead in the East River, the kayakers behind in North Cove and the swimmers in South Cove (in the Hudson a mile of so from the southern tip of Manhattan).
The swimmers helped each other apply sun cream on backs and we applied different combinations of Vaseline, lanolin, rash guard lotions in different quantities to different places. The relayers went light and the soloers went heavy. I covered my arm pits, swim suit edges, shoulder tops, neck and jaw line. Others went for the full body - bar around their eyes and I suspect the bottom of their feet!
A delayed start and I tried to get in the zone. I kept moving my neck and shoulders to stay loose and work that pain out. I did manage to identify my kayaker at a distance - so another uncertainty removed.
About the Author: Ned Denison played water polo goalie in the USA and England for 20 years before taking up open water swimming in 2000. His move to Cork Ireland allows all year sea training (no wet suit) in temps from 7-17C (45-63F). Active in Cork Masters, up to 200 local open water swims annually in Ireland keeps him fit. Ned logged other articles on his English Channel and Santa Barbara Channel Swims.
