Alastair and I traveled to northern Utah for the Bear Lake Monster Swim, which took place on Saturday, July 13. The event is a 10K (6.2 mile) point-to-point race across the width of Bear Lake, starting at the Bear Lake Marina and finishing on the other side of the lake at Cisco Beach.
Bear Lake is a natural freshwater lake on the Utah-Idaho border in the Western United States. About 109 square miles in size, its Utah portion comprises the second-largest natural freshwater lake in the state. The surface elevation is 5,924′, and the maximum depth is about 200 ft.
We visited the lake the day before the race to check out the start area and so that I could do a brief swim. The weather on Friday was beautiful and warm, with a water temperature of 64F, colder than average for this time of year due to heavy snowfall over the winter. It was forecasted to be a little cooler and cloudy the day of the race, but no one anticipated the weather would change as much as it did!
The 10k event started at 9am – air temperature was in the low 60s, it was overcast but not too windy at that point. Alastair went out about 50 yards with the other paddlers, where they waited to team up with their swimmers. We were given a landmark in the mountains on the opposite to site, but until we were at least halfway across we wouldn’t be able to see the inflated red arch at the finish area. Alastair also had the Strava course loaded on my phone, which he had in a drybag on the kayak. I made slow, but steady progress for the first hour, but then winds started picking up from the SE and the going got tougher for both of us. Up to 3 foot waves were hit us broadside, swamping the kayak and making it difficult for me to get a consistent rhythm with my breathing and strokes. Alastair could see the finish arch once we were a third of the way across, but then it disappeared (we learned later that the wind make it impossible for them to keep it up). The conditions were too rough for Alastair to use my phone to check if we were on course, so he did his best to site. We ended up heading too far north, which added almost another mile to my swim. Even with a wetsuit, there were times when I questioned if I would be able to complete the swim – it was that tough for me.
We did finish, although my time of 4:40:14 placed me the last of the 15 people in the “assisted” division. However, given the conditions, which the race director said were the toughest in the event’s 8 year history, I’m just glad to have finished – not all did.
