Courtesy of WUCF TV’s ONE Central Florida, Lucky’s Lake Swim in Lake Cane, Orlando, Florida.

Lucky’s Lake Swim is a 1 km lake swim started by Lucky Meisenheimer in Lake Cane at his home in 1989 in Orlando, Florida.

The free swim has achieved a cult status with open water swimmers and triathletes and was showcased in WUCF TV’s ONE Central Florida program.

Thousands of swimmers from at least 60 countries have completed the swim.

The swim began in 1989 when Lucky Meisenheimer invited friends and masters swimmers he coached at the YMCA Aquatic Center to join him on his morning lake swim. Initially the swim was held on Saturdays, but after the first year it went to 4 days a week. In 1995, it became a daily swim except for Sundays.

Originally, the swim went from April through October, in 2005 the swim went year round. The weekday swims, which are always at 6:30 am, are started in the dark much of the year. On Saturdays and holidays the swims are at 7:45 am. The starts are a mass start and no other start times are available.

As 3-time Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines explains, “The swim itself is legendary. If you are anywhere from these parts, you know Lucky’s Lake Swim. In fact, I’ve been here a million times. But every time, I always forget what exit to take, and so I push Siri* and go, ‘Siri, where’s Lucky’s Lake Swim?’ and she instantly gave me the address. That’s how legendary it is, even Siri knows where it is.”

*Siri (Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface) is a part of Apple’s iPhone, iPad, iPod, Watch and all mobile Apple hardware.

Copyright © 2015 by World Open Water Swimming Association