Portage to Gold Beach Community Clubhouse: A 7-mile winter swim!

In mid-December I had one of those days. We all have ‘em.

Initially I held big goals for a big swim, which is kind of counterintuitive for winter time. There are winds that hit from either the north or south, you have to time your route with the currents (unless you just love extra punishment), and you need to feel rested and nourished. The goal of the day was a 10k, but I ended my journey at 6k yards after numerous gear failures and missteps; it was actually kind of funny—I had unwittingly popped my swim buoy by sliding in a thermos of hot cider, my nourishment for the feed breaks. It deflated early on and for more than three miles I’d been dragging this dead weight in a deflated sac, twisting and bobbing behind me. I also had a neoprene glove that was not on properly so it filled with water and performed like a lead weight with each stroke.

In some ways, for THAT swim, I did pretty damn good. Joe Yarkin and Mary Singer, my island swim buddies and new members of the BlueSeventy Racing team for 2021, continued on that day and completed the course, BUT then Mary realized they swam just a hair short of an official marathon swim distance (seriously, maybe 200 yards short).  Do over!

So on Dec. 29, just a week ago, I set out to do the full route, one that Mary plotted that was for sure above and beyond 10k to make it official. We had a pretty big group for a weekday many swimmers whom swam a chunk of the route with us. Joe, Mary and I were ready this time. It was 39f outside, and the water was 48f. Not warm, very grey, too. Mild to moderate south winds and chop awaited us on the other side of Point Robinson. We started from Portage, which is basically the “top” of Maury Island and made our way to the Gold Beach Clubhouse.  At the point, somewhere around 6100 yards and 1hr 55m in, Joe got very cold and called it a day. That segment was actually the “easy” part, too. His daughter brought Capri Suns to the water’s edge, so Mary and I slurped them down as quickly as we could and got right back to swimming.

The second half of the swim challenged us much more. We faced head-on resistance and light chop all the way to the finish. Mary started getting her pace mojo while I started slowing down, the opposite of how the swim started. At one point while she waited for me to get back alongside her (at least three times she started to really advance! Go, Mary!)—at about the 8500 yard mark, I caught a glimpse of her face and it was cast with blue. She was as cold as I was and here we were in full neoprene! She later said at that point my lips were blue, too. Neither of us said anything to each other about our icicle state in the moment; we just smiled and put our heads down again, hell bent on finishing this thing. There was no option. If we bailed out, it would mean climbing bluffs to a stranger’s home to call our beloveds for rides. It wasn’t even a consideration; we just needed to get it done and we had each other for motivation. I wonder if water view homeowners saw us out their windows that day, just two bodies plodding along in the deep grey horizon--only our neon buoys and caps to spot on.  

Because this is a route we’ve done several times before in segments, we felt a little torture in passing our usual exit spot at Gold Beach. We swam through the pier pilings and watching us without flinching was a bald eagle not even 10 feet above us, perched serenely. By now, at more than 10,000 yards, my hips were aching—just another mile to go to the end. Not sure if I just need to kick more (I lack a kick!) or if that’s my aging earth suit responding to the frigid water—the hip thing. My arms started to feel heavy and sore, but I wasn’t fully outta gas. Our training and consistency in swimming have definitely built us up, and that was really satisfying. When we saw the clubhouse, I think we started to move faster at the promise of a dry car and heated seats! Four hours and 13 minutes and 11,700 yards later (that's 7 x 1650-yard miles), we did it! We high fived neoprene gloves once ashore and bee lined for shelter and towels. Mary had few words at the end. Initially, she had a few groans of relief! I told her “you’re articulating what I’m feeling about now!” She laughed.

The next day, we were workout sore, but really not too bad. What WAS bad for me was chafe in the armpit—yikes (that gory photo was actually taken five days into healing). Neck, too—I looked strangled. I used Body Glide, but over 4 hours everything seems to rub off. That took a lot of time to heal—the rash guard seem had taken layers of skin away.  

Next time we do this will likely be spring when it’s warmer outside. And hopefully we’ll have feeds figured out and maybe a kayaker to help us and escort us along the way.