Seth Baetzold (30, MSF bio here), a legend along the Red River of the North and a two-time defending champion of the annual END-WET race, took to the warm desert waters in the State of Nevada.
He recently completed an unprecedented 21.4 km in 6 hours 21 minutes from Warrior Point to Sand Hole Beach in Pyramid Lake, a salt lake fed by the Truckee River which is mostly the outflow from Lake Tahoe. His escort pilot was Tom Linthicum with observer Cathy Harrington and support crew Brandon Carpenter.
Baetzold said, “I chose the swim because no one had done this before. It was a hot swim with air temperature rising to 33°C with the water at 23°C. I was warned of the water babies, which are the Native American legend of buried babies that passed away from the lake conditions.”
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