Bold, Cold Swimmers Crawl Across the Bay
Water Temperature Lowest in 20 Years for Great Chesapeake Race Participants

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 9, 2003; Page B03

You could read the cold on Bradley Schertle's face. His mouth and chin were purplish, the tone of port wine. His blue eyes had a wild glint. His numb fingers struggled to twist open the cap of a water bottle.

The 19-year-old from Towson, Md., won the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim yesterday, stroking and kicking 4.4 miles from Anne Arundel County across the bay to Kent Island on the Eastern Shore. But his swim -- in 1 hour 27 minutes 36 seconds -- was most notable because of the 63-degree water temperature. It was the lowest in 20 years, according to organizers.

"It's chilly," said Chuck Nabit, the race director who has been tracking the bay's temperature obsessively the past few weeks. "It's really chilly."

The cool, wet spring that has knocked out ballgames, drenched barbecues and made it too frigid for sandals presented a huge challenge to the estimated 500 men and women who plunged into the bay. The muddy water was so cold that standing in it for two seconds sent chills up the spine to the neck. It was a big change from the 78-degree indoor pools in which most of the swimmers had been practicing. It was 35.6 degrees colder than body temperature.

"The water temperature is what it is," said Bruce Mendelsohn, 35, of Rockville, who was bundled in a thick sweat shirt and sweat pants and a red knit ski cap as he drank hot tea from a thermos bottle before the race began at Sandy Point State Park, about five miles northeast of Annapolis. "At this point, mentally you're here, and you're not going to bail."

Nearly all the swimmers sprayed themselves with cooking spray or smeared on Vaseline and then shimmied into full-length wetsuits. The neoprene suits conserve body heat and increase buoyancy, making most swimmers faster in the water.

Bonzai Sports, a Falls Church sporting goods shop and one of the largest dealers of wet suits in the country, rented or sold about 300 suits to swimmers who took the bay plunge yesterday, owner Mark Smith said. That's about twice the business the shop typically does for the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim, he said.

"The bay swim is such an extreme event, such a long swim, and it's been so cool this year that we brought in an extra 100 suits so we wouldn't run out," said Smith, who was one of the swimmers yesterday.

Few competitors were deterred by the temperature, Smith said. "It's the premier open-water swim event in the country," he said. "It's not a family going to the beach. Most of these people know what they're doing."

To enter the race, swimmers must have completed a recent open-water swim or proved they have completed a three-mile pool swim in less than 2:15.

The wet suits didn't protect exposed arms, hands, faces or feet. At least 62 people -- three times the usual number -- had to be pulled from the water, Nabit said.

One was taken to a hospital for observation, and the others were treated by emergency medical technicians onshore. "There were no serious problems whatsoever, which is truly a miracle," Nabit said. In 1993, a man suffered a heart attack and died during the swim.

An army of volunteers was on the lookout for potential hypothermia sufferers. About 100 private boats, most owned by members of the Chesapeake Bay Power Boat Association, joined with the Coast Guard, the Anne Arundel County Fire Department Dive Team, the Maryland State Police boat and several dozen kayakers to escort the swimmers and watch for signs of fatigue or disorientation. The first swimmer pulled from the water ran into trouble 20 minutes after the start and was scooped into a rubber boat by the dive team.

Swim organizers were worried when the annual Chesapeake Bay Bridge walk was canceled last month because of security concerns. But Nabit said the Coast Guard decided to allow the swim because it was limited to 600 participants, and ample security would be in place.

The red- and yellow-capped swimmers did the Australian crawl between the twin spans of the William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge, heading east alongside the suspension bridge's huge concrete girders. The Coast Guard stopped marine traffic for the event, and the water was relatively calm.

"There's something really majestic about swimming between the two spans," said Cheryl Wagner, 50, of the District, who made her 10th bay swim yesterday.

Finishing second behind Schertle was Matthew Wisthoff, 17, of Catonsville, Md. Bruce Brockschmidt, 36, of Mount Laurel, N.J., was third.

The top female swimmer was Elizabeth Williams, 17, of Woodstock, followed by Deborah Reed, 33, of Richmond and Alexandrie St. Clair, 16, of Silver Spring.

James Kegley, a District resident and a seven-time winner of the event, was among the handful of swimmers who didn't wear a wet suit. The only thing between Kegley and the water was his brief bathing suit. He finished far behind the wet-suited competition.

"I could feel it in my arms in the last 11/2 miles," Kegley said, referring to the pain and fatigue caused by cold water. "And I guess I feel it in my face, because I'm having a hard time talking."

The Great Chesapeake Bay Swim has become such a local tradition and international event among open-water swimmers that Nabit said he would never cancel because of water temperature.

"If 20 people wanted to swim in 50-degree water, I'd put on the swim," he said.


© 2003 The Washington Post Company
 


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