Mermaid Crossing
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The Mermaid Crossing is an informal workout for open water swimmers who would like the challenge of crossing Lake Washington, but do not usually have boat support. Unfortunately, it's illegal to swim more than a few yards from shore in Lake Washington without a boat accompanying you[1]. With kayak support, swimmers can cross the lake safely and legally. And FKKayakers--a small group of paddlers who are supportive of open water swimming--has offered to do so again this year.
The swim is clothing-optional, but open only to experienced open water swimmers who can easily swim 1.5 miles without hanging on to something or seriously needing to rest. If open water swims are part of your regular aquatic or triathlete workout, this fun morning is just for you.
Swimmers have the option of entering the water at O. O. Denny Park in Inglewood-Finn Hill in their suits, taking them off in the water, and handing them to the lead kayak. Swimmers will then follow the lead kayak to Mathews Beach in Seattle 1.3 miles away, where the lead paddler will be ready to hand back the suits. Swimmers can then put their suits back on before stepping out of the water. Thus no one need be seen skinny-dipping. Unless they wish to.
There is no charge, as this is not an organized event as such. If you are a strong swimmer, and want the opportunity to swim across Lake Washington, you are invited to join the small band of Body Freedom Collaborative (BFC) swimmers, and the kayak support team from FKKayakers at O. O. Denny Park.
Why is BFC and FKKayakers doing this? Because they like supporting open water swimming and they love skinny-dipping. The combination can't be beat.
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[edit] Upcoming event
The Third annual Mermaid Crossing will be in 2007. Stay tuned for more details. We'll swim and paddle the same route as last year, from O. O. Denny Park in to Mathews Beach. We'll have the event earlier in the summer than in previous years in order to enjoy the warmer mornings. I'll also be looking for more volunteer kayakers since we have swimmers of varying speed. We need at least one boat per group of swimmers to keep everyone safe." FKKayakers will continue to offer kayak support for the 2007 Mermaid Crossing.
[edit] Contact info
Contact Mark Storey or Kathleen Blanchard, the day's swim workout organizers, at storey98 at aol dot com if you have any questions. Blanchard and Storey will be happy to work with swimmers to arrange for car shuttles from Mathews Beach back to O. O. Denny.
[edit] Past events
The Second annual Mermaid Crossing was on Sunday, Sept 24, 2006, at 8:00 AM. Five swimmers made it easily across the lake along with three kayaks in support. The crossing started and ended at the same places as in 2006, beginning in O. O. Denny Park and ending at Mathews Beach. The weather was much better this second year, as the sun was out and the wind was nearly dead calm. Organizer Mark Storey had this to say: "We've been keeping the swim fairly quiet so far, but hope to invite more serious open-water swimmers to participate in 2007. So far there's been absolutely no problems, and the group of female and male swimmers have enjoyed the morning workout swim.
