I participated in the Seeüberquerung this year. About 6500 people swam from the Strandbad Mythenquai across the Lake Zurich to the Strandbad Tiefenbrunnen.
I had to bail after the 800m mark, and even that I swam with about 10 breaks!
Things I learned:
- My breaststroke technique sucks. I use too much of my upper body, whereas most of the propulsion should come from the legs. This caused me to get tired every 100m or so.
- Swimming open waters is very different from swimming in pools: You have waves, the floor is invisible, there is no option of swimming to the side and resting, and looking to the other side is much scarier
I’d signed up for the event only after seeing that there will be resting boats throughout the swim path for people who get tired, with an option to be carried to the other end in a boat.
Some impressions:
- There were resting boats every 50m. I’d signed up for the event only because I read there will be boats, with an option to be carried to the other shore any time. But having so many (23) boats over the 1500m path allowed me to go from boat to boat, hanging out with the lifeguards along the way.
- The warmup session was the best part of the event for me! Whoever the person leading the warmup session was, he was amazing. I usually don’t like group aerobics sessions, but this was a different game.
- Overall the event was very well organised – from the compost toilets, to the batching of swimmers over comfortable time periods, to the aforementioned resting boats with expert lifeguards, it was very smooth.
I am motivated to improve my technique and participate next year!