When I swim for long distances, my mind constantly wanders on a wide spectrum of thoughts and ideas. I usually quickly forget my train of thought after I finish and get out of the water. But last week, I made a note to jot down these myriad musings while doing some long swims.

In no random order, these are a few thoughts, ideas, and opinions that ran through my mind over the last few days:

Teenage Boys in the Open Water

Parents, teaches, coaches, and adults know that many teenage boys do crazy, unsafe, inexplicable things on dryland. They try difficult or dangerous things both for fun and adventure and are emboldened due to peer pressure or trying to impress someone for something. The young male’s actions are in direct contrast to many young women who are more measured, reasonable, contemplative, and risk averse, either by nature or societal expectations. While there are naturally exceptions to this general rule, I imagine that if boys and young men tend to act impulsively and try risky actions on dryland, it seems reasonable that the boys and young men would similarly attempt the unexpected, the risk seeking, and the challenging in the open water.

So while there are swimmers like Mercedes Gleitze [shown below on right] who was the first person to attempt and complete a swim across the Strait of Gibraltar, Cindy Cleveland who was the first person to complete a circumnavigation swim around Catalina Island, and several women who attempted the first crossing of the Catalina Channel in January 1927 (including Clarabelle Barrett, L.E. Fourrier, Margaret Hauser, Ethel Hertle, Myrtle Huddleston, Pauline Jackson, Lavern Jones, Jean McKensie, Lottie Mayer, Alma Moore, Helen Ray, Charlotte Schoemmell, Vallery Mahr Schramm, Martha Stager, Della Sullivan, Pearl Purdy Irland, Marjory Filliamson, and Loretta Rush), most of the first failures and unprecedented successes in the marathon swimming world were men in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Times are changing, of course.

Women Are Better in the Cold Water

It is commonly said and thought that women are better adapted to swimming in cold water than men because women possess a greater tolerance to heat loss and have better flotation due to more body fat.

I have always wondered about this and thought this is a profound question – that leads me to think of additional questions:  

• What is the meaning of “better”?  
• Does “better” mean faster – in that women are faster than men in cold water?  
• Does “better” mean longer – in that women can swim longer in cold water than men?  
• Because Sarah Thomas can do a 4-way English Channel crossing does that mean that women are capable of this, but not men?  
• Is being “better’ in the cold water also true for slender women?  Is it true for overweight men?
• How do you define “cold” water – is cold water 15°C? 10°? 5°? 0°C?  For everyone, cold is relative.  If I swim throughout the winter, 10°C water becomes doable.  If I do not, 15°C water is miserable.

If I think about the most iconic marathon swim in the world, the records for a one-way crossing, a two-way crossing, a three-way crossing of the English Channel are held by men, but the four-way crossing has only been achieved by a woman.The speed records for 6 of the 7 Oceans Seven channels (with Penny Dean’s record across the Catalina Channel being the exception) are held by men, but the slowest one-way crossings in the English Channel and Tsugaru Channel are held by women (although the slowest two-way crossing is held by Antonio Abertondo [shown below] who completed a 2-way crossing of the English Channel in 43 hours and 10 minutes).

When we compare 25 km or longer races at the world championships or major professional marathon swims, it is the men’s times that are faster (almost without exceptions).

However, if we take the average men’s time and compare it to the average women’s time since 1875 in the English Channel, the women are faster. But the women are also attempting the English Channel at an average younger age. This is an important distinction. Even in warm-water pools, the best times of world-leading female swimmers in their 30’s handily beats men in their mid- to upper-60’s. For example, in the U.S., Dawn Heckman has the 800m freestyle record in 8:46.22 and the 1500m freestyle record in 17:07.53 compared to the 800m freestyle record of 10:01.92 of Dan Stephenson and 19:28.61 by James Ritter. There is usually at least a 20-year difference where the older top men are as fast as the younger top women.

If we look at REALLY cold water swimming (i.e., the Ice Mile or Ice Kilometer) performed in water less than 5°C, it is the men who are faster. If we look at the extreme low end of swims performed under 0°C, the record shows many more men have done these swims compared to women [see the International Ice Swimming Association historical records here, here, and here].

While the data shows more men have done these extremely cold swims than women, this may be simply a factor of opportunity and finances rather than innate ability. On the other hand, when we look at the best cold water swimming men (e.g., Henri Karma and Lewis Pugh, they do not seem to be overweight; rather they tend to be more chiseled with muscle.

I understand that muscle is a better insulator than fat, but I believe success in cold water it is much more due to the degree of acclimatization and training, combined with a mindset, rather than just one’s Body Mass Index. So when I hear statements that women are better suited to swimming in cold water, I tend to nod my head in agreement, but then when I look at the data, I am not 100% convinced that is always necessarily true.

When I see Lynne Cox, Lewis Pugh, Ger Kennedy, Jaimie Monahan [shown below on right], Sarah Thomas, or Kate Steels [shown below on left] swim, their success in cold water is almost entirely due to hard, diligent, long-term training and acclimatization, combined with a tough mindset, rather than simply their Body Mass Index.

Pain

If indeed women are better adapted to swimming in cold water conditions, I think those abilities may be related to something else other than a higher cold water tolerance.

As a father of four children, I have seen my wife bear a degree of pain that is profoundly unfathomable, absolutely incomprehensible to me as a male: women can and do experience childbirth.

This innate ability for women to manage the pain of childbirth must be at least one reason why I have witnessed women – more so than men at least from my perspective – better able to handle the pain of the most challenging swims.

The Open Water Potential of Katie Ledecky

I wrote a recent article, Thought Experiment: What Happens If Katie Ledecky Enters the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in LA28? as I surmised about the gold medal potential of Katie Ledecky in the open water.

That opinion about her potential (albeit I realize it is not realistic possibility) was renewed when Ledecky swam a new world record time of 8:04.12 in the 800m freestyle this weekend [long-course]. To give a comparative idea of how fast Ledecky is, the best time in the 800 meters of 202 cm Maarten van der Weijden, the 2008 Olympic 10K Marathon Swim gold medalist was 8:00.11 – done in a short-course 25m pool.

Ocean Vomit

The shorelines of Florida are being covered by a sargassum seaweed, a brown, naturally occurring seaweed that floats in large masses across the ocean.  Sargassum creates an unpleasant smell and potentially poses health risks for some individuals with respiratory conditions. 

Scientists do not know what is the cause, it is seems like the Atlantic Ocean is sick which is not surprising given the recent record-breaking warm water temperatures.

Candy Helps…Sometimes

At the 2022 SCAR Swim Challenge in Arizona, the road between Canyon Lake and Apache Lake was washed out and being repaired. So escort kayaker Chris Morgan and I took a much longer route and ended up eating a dinner of hot dogs, popcorn, and beef jerky at a local gas station. We skipped breakfast on the day of the 22.8 km Apache Lake crossing.

Not a good idea. About 5 hours into the crossing, I completely bonked. I had nothing left. All energy was zapped. I was not about to quit, but I was not about to move forward.

Fortunately, race director Kent Nicholas had given Morgan a pack of Starbursts at the Welcome Dinner. Morgan dug into his bag of tricks and unwrapped 3-4 Starburst candies and handed them to me.

Sometimes, candy works [see here].

Working Out in Numbers

Swimmers do things repetitively. Over and over again, we swim lengths of a pool or a lake. Over and over again, we think about our pace, our distance, and our times. 100 x 100 is a popular swimming set. So it makes sense there are a 123 Workout, a 248 Workout, a 333 Workout, and a 555 Workout.

123 is a pool or open water swimming workout that is 123 minutes in duration – or 2 hours 3 minutes in length. 248 is a 248-minute workout in duration or 4 hours 8 minutes in length. 333 is a 333-minute workout or 4 hours 8 minutes in duration. 444 is a 444-minute workout or 7 hours 24 minutes in duration. 555 is a 555-minute workout or 9 hours 15 minutes in duration.

Mermaids

When I swim long distances and see something moving under me, my mind starts to wander and imagine all sorts of things, some terrible, some funny, some controversial, some creative.

I imagine sailors were the same.

Centuries ago when poorly paid and severely overworked sailors and their ship’s captains – from Christopher Columbus to the pirate Blackbeard – took months to cross the world’s oceans, they told stories of beautiful mermaids on the high seas. Could some of these mermaids have been manatees and giant sunfish that swam in the surface when the sailors were dehydrated, malnourished, and suffering from various diseases like scurvy or dysentery.

·Usefulness of a Coconut

The usefulness of a coconut is unparalleled among fruits and foods when it came to human exploration on the high seas.

Coconuts were used for food (coconut meat), hydration (coconut milk), flotation, rope (coconut husk fiber), fire (coconut husk), bowls (coconut shell), and could be stored for long durations.

AI Is Not Always Correct

Artificial Intelligence has a long way to learn about open water swimming. I find mistakes and misinformation on a daily basis. Today’s wrong information stated that “the slowest two-way crossing of the English Channel was completed by Philip Rush in 1987, in 28 hours and 21 minutes. This includes a swim from England to France and then back to England.” 

Au contraire.

Rush completed the second three-way crossing of the English Channel in history 1987 in 28 hours 21 minutes. Along the way, he established a two-way crossing record in 16 hours 10 minutes. His first leg was 7 hours 55 minutes, his second leg was 8 hours 15 minutes, and his third leg was 12 hours 11 minutes.

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