Here’s the story of our Lake Tahoe "True Width" (12 miles) relay crossing.
Relay team: me, my friend Abbey, and my friend Brian.
Time: 6 hours 35 minutes Water temp: 68-70°
The day was clear and sunny. The water was calm and so blue, with 60’ depth of visibility. (We were very lucky that the wind was in our favor on swim day; you’ve probably heard that there are several wildfires burning in that area - by Friday night, the wind had shifted and the smoke was so bad that they cancelled several swims due to air quality).
No sign of Tessie (Tahoe’s version of Champ), or the Kraken. We didn’t see fish swimming by, and it was nice not to have seaweed for the majority of the swim. The water was truly beautiful - it went from dark blue to lighter blue to a tropical turquoise color. We tried to learn why it’s so blue and clear, and had a hard time getting a straight answer. We did learn that there’s a nonprofit that helps with pollution education and keeping the lake clean with strict water run-off rules, and keeping chemicals/large businesses away from the lake to help avoid contaminants.
The swim was piloted/coordinated through Pacific Open Water Swim Co.
For a relay, swimmers take turns swimming 1 hour sessions until you reach the other side of the lake. In order for it to be official, this was done under English Channel rules, which means that the swim must be unassisted, and have a sanctioned Observer as well as a US Coast Guard approved boat pilot. We were each allowed to wear one cap, goggles, and a standard nylon/Lycra bathing suit (no neoprene/no wetsuit). Swimmers cannot touch each other or the boat during their swim. If you need to drink or take in calories during your water time, it’s thrown to you on a rope and the rope has to have slack, otherwise it’s considered as getting assistance moving forward from the boat. So, the idea is to either tread water and drink, or flip on your back and kick while you drink. Since we had 2hrs between swims, we didn’t need to do that. (For a solo crossing, most people drink or eat something every 30 mins in order to keep the energy up and electrolytes balanced.)
The team is allowed to all finish together, as long as the swimmer who was doing that leg cleared the water first.
Abbey started us off in Homewood, CA at 5:15am, and had a red light on her cap and a green light on her tail. This lets the captain and observer see her, and know what direction she’s moving. Glow sticks lined the side of the boat so she could site off the boat, since shore was too far away to see and it’s easy to get off course. It was light enough to see her after about 10 minutes, as the sun started to come up, so we didn’t need lights anymore more. The boat was very stable, and essentially built for this purpose. The only trouble we had was bc the boat was brand new, and the ladders hadn’t arrived with the boat. So, to get back on the boat, someone had to haul you up and over a platform, and onto the boat. We all have some bruises in interesting places from that, haha!
Brian took the second spot and I took the third. We each swam two 1-hour sessions and Abbey swam an additional mini 3rd session to bring us in to the shore at Glenwood, NV. Brian and I jumped in when she had about 500 yds to go, and followed her toes to the shore.
This wasn’t a race, it was a private swim along a specific course, so we didn’t have any race pressure. (There is a Trans-Tahoe Relay Race but that crosses the lake further north and us a different course.) For the first 3-4 hours, we didn’t even see another boat, so it felt like we had the entire lake to ourselves. As we got closer to shore, or other boats were nearby, a blaze-orange flag was put out to let other boats know that someone was in the water.
The whole time, the swimmer stays close to the boat, but not close enough to benefit from any draft.
The boat pilot described it perfectly - it’s like a dance; the boat sets the course and the swimmer sets the pace.
It was so much fun, and the boat ride back was so quick! When we got back to the marina and looked across the lake, we couldn’t even see where we had landed on the opposite shore; it looked further than it felt. Since most people do this route as a solo swim, there just aren’t many relay teams, so we set a course record (kind of by default)!
It was truly an incredible day. Now I just have to figure out what to do next!
