10th Annual PSBC Swim for Life

The Puget Sound Blood Center was having a Swim for Life fund raiser. In this event a bunch of people who raised money from sponsors would swim approximately 2.2 miles across Lake Washington, from Medina Beach Park to Madison Beach Park.

Since this is a potentially dangerous thing to do on a large lake with cool water with possibly quite a few large, fast boats passing through, the organizers asked for volunteer human powered boaters to accompany teams of swimmers as they proceeded across the lake.

I volunteered.

It would have been easier and more convenient to have used a Cadence as the nearest boat launch was about 3.5 miles away. On the other hand, the Escapade had seats for three people (including the pedaler) as well as a roof in case it rained. If nothing else, I figured it would be a nice warm-up for this weekend's Shaw Island tour.

It was still dark when I reached the Medina boat ramp. Hurrying, because I was behind schedule, I backed the trailer into the water and pulled the boat off the trailer. The deep keel of the boat and the short length of the boat and trailer makes this a bit more of a chore than for other boats at most boat ramps.

The boat was already loaded with supplies and equipment for the day. All I had to do was park and lock the car, run to the boat, jump in and pedal off.

It wasn't long before I had to stop and take off the outer shirt and long pants, leaving a pair of bike shorts and a long sleeved T-shirt on for clothing.

At the stately pace of 4 mph I cruised north through fairly calm water towards Medina. The only other folks on the water were an early morning ski boat and a water skier.


At 6:50 AM and only slightly later than planned I reached Medina. There was a large construction crane on a barge tied up near the breakwater. A half dozen motorboats were also moored in the vicinity, apparently there in support of the swim.

The water was a bit choppy here, with a west-southwesterly wind. The waves were about a foot or so in height. With the beach swim area roped off there was no place for me or any of the motorboats to land.

I circled around very close to shore and finally decided to try mooring against the cushioned boom that was chained against the outside of the breakwater.


That worked fairly well. The Escapade bobbed up and down against the heavy duty cushion, and neither seemed to be harmed.

The breakwater itself appeared to be under destruction. The concrete that had been poured on top of the rocks had been fractured, destroyed completely or removed. With a bit of care I was able to scramble to shore.


Scott Leopold was the event organizer. After all the swimmers were registered Scott had a meeting describing the event and the safety plan. Swimmers were distributed in teams of 4 among the available boats, which included a canoe, two kayaks, a rowboat, the Escapade, a rowed inflatable boat and two motorboats.

A man who had taken an interest in the Escapade while I was circling near the beach earlier asked to have me assist his team. "Sure!", I said.

I took a couple of bags and towels from them to the boat, along with some bottles of water.

On a second trip to the boat I loaded it with bags of bananas and a case of bottled water that the organizers were unable to distribute to the power boats due to the construction, the swim ropes and the waves.

After jumping into the Escapade I pedaled towards a couple of power boats and managed to unload a couple of bags of bananas. Still, there were at least three banana bags left besides the extra water, the bags for the swimmers in my team, the blanket and towel I brought for emergencies, the camera bag, the extra jackets, waterproof utility box, canoe paddle, anchor, ropes and water shoes I brought along.

Oh, well. This was not going to be a race.


Swimmers were wading into the water and heading out. I found my team and away we went.


For the first half mile the team stayed fairly close together. One swimmer was a bit slower than the others, but the rest of the group would wait until she caught up. Another swimmer joined our group for a short while, but then it was decided that he was a better fit for a slower group that was trailing behind.

Not much later another group of four swimmers joined the team. Now I had to keep an eye on eight swimmers!


It was a good thing that they had to wear fluorescent orange swim caps. It made the task much easier.

From time to time a swimmer would head off in the wrong direction. I pedaled quickly over to that swimmer and herded him or her back towards the group. A few times I had to slow down the lead swimmers as the group stretched across the water. Other times the swimmers policed themselves. All I had to do was take photos and cheer them on.


About 1.4 miles into the course the slowest swimmer in the group decided to join the group following. There was one less to worry about, and one less that the team leader had to cheer onward. Everyone, even the slower swimmers, seemed to be taking it all in stride and were swimming with excellent form.


As we approached Madison Beach Park the team began to stretch out. The faster swimmers did not want to be held back and the slower ones could not keep up. Luckily there were now a few volunteer boats from faster teams making their way back along the course who could watch over the ones I could not be near.


Eventually we reached the dock at the north end of the park. I unloaded all the gear, food and water, which made the boat quite a bit lighter.



Everyone was very appreciative of the volunteers, and amazed at the capabilities and maneuverability of the Escapade. I suspect there will be a few inquiries made of Nauticraft about them!

After the swimmers got their food and gear they boarded the power boats and headed back to Medina Beach.


Jeff, in his pea pod rowboat, and I decided to head over to take a look at Bill Gates' house on the other side of the lake. I was rather surprised to find out that the house I thought was his actually wasn't. Bill's house has been so overgrown by trees and bushes that it was difficult to distinguish from a distance. Oh, well.

The chop had increased to perhaps 1-1/2 feet. It made for a great test for Jeff's pea pod, which handled it with flying colors. The nice breeze was welcome in keeping my temperature down, too.

We soon returned to Medina Beach Park, where Jeff and I parted ways. I continued south, taking a side trip into Meydenbauer Bay near downtown Bellevue. A small fleet of tiny sailboats was circling the far reach of the bay, each piloted by a child of no more than 10 years of age. What fun!


Exiting the bay I continued to the Mercer Island boat launch, passing mega mansion after mansion. One house had a stone tower with parapets; another had a penguin statue beside a waterfall with dolphins. My favorite was the house with the great white shark float.

I reached the boat ramp about 12:30 PM, and was quite ready for lunch!

It was a beautiful day to be on the water.

Photos, etc., can be found here.