We fundraised, we swam, we conquered!

We did it!  We did it!  We set out to swim across the sound and that's exactly what we did.  Despite some rough weather and a few touch and go moments, we swam our hearts out, we left it all in the water, and stood proud at the end holding our 'Seagurls' sign on the finish dock.

We boarded the ferry from Bridgeport, CT to Port Jefferson, NY at 6am.  When we arrived in Bridgeport, the sun had not even graced us yet.  It was early. The kind of early that seems more like the day before hadn't ended yet.

We were nervous, but we were ready.  And having Lindsay's Mom, Sister, and Aunt, along with Alison's step-mom on the ferry with us helped to ease the nerves and reminded us why we were swimming.  It was good.  I was emotional.

We rode for about 35 minutes to Port Jefferson.  It's amazing to think that big vessel was rapidly making it's way across the very route that would take us 8+ hours to swim back on.  In hindsight, I think maybe going the night before would be better. That way you aren't faced with your fears so close to the time you take the plunge.  (As an aside- my stomach is in knots as I write this, recalling my nerves and fear).  We met Mike, our wonderful boat captain and Amy's husband, at Port Jeff and made our way to 'Take Time' a.k.a. Boat #33.  She was a good boat and she served us well.

Soon after, we were boarded, we hung our hand made signs cheering ourselves on, found our sea legs (whether we were ready or not) and we were off.  Lindsay was first in our rotation followed by Tracie, Alison, me, Amy, and Kirsten.  We were a strong team, and we were ready for this challenge.  We took turns swimming 15 minutes each.  As it turns out, the open water is quite a challenge and it's a bit unnerving to be out there much longer than that.  Crazy thoughts and imaginations run through your mind.  You feel all sorts of unknown things brush up or slither by your body.  You see things that you swear are jellyfish or shark fins, but are actually bubbles your hand makes when stroking, or buoys in the distance.  It's incredible the things your brain can convince you of when your are out of your comfort zone and just a little scared.  Luckily, we took turns cheering each other on from the boat and identifying the foreign objects for each other as the vantage from the boat made recognizing seaweed vs. man-eating-fish much easier. 



Lindsay on the first leg



Lindsay and Tracie at the exchange

Getting ready for my first time in

George- our wonderful navigator and boat owner

I decided to back stroke to get acclimated and calm down

Pat and Mike- our heros, drivers, pep talkers, and support.



Freezing after the first rotation. Brrrr...

 We swam and swam. 15 minutes at a time, we slowly but surely clicked the miles away as we headed toward CT.  We made every time check-point, and we never skipped rotation.  We drank gatorade and coconut water, we ate snacks, we applied and reapplied sun screen, and we played some great music to keep us motivated.
It wasn't an easy challenge and as the day wore on, the weather began to change.  Gone were the calm waters and warmth of the sun and high winds and tall waves entered.  The last two rotations were hard.  I nearly cried.  The waters were fierce and angry and the wind was pushing the boat faster than we could swim beside it.  It's much more challenging to swim in a straight line when the 3-5 foot waves are carrying you up and down with them as if you were on a rollercoaster.  We also drank copious amounts of salt water. Mmmm...

In the end, we were no match for mother nature and as a team, we decided to pull our swimmer in, at the end of the 6th rotation, with 2+ miles to go.  We had come so far, but the waters were scary and it was becoming more difficult to make progress.  Just minutes after we made the call, the race officials got word from the Coast Guard that the weather was too dangerous to continue, and they called off the race.  It was bittersweet.  We wanted to finish, but we wanted to do it as a team and mother nature had other plans.  I am thankful we were safe, and that no one was hurt.

As we motored in to the harbor, we passed other boats also collecting their swimmers and falling in line behind us for the finish line.  We approached the roar of the crowd at Captain's Cove and decided at the last minute to jump off the boat and swim to the finish as we had hoped.  We rushed to the back of the boat, jumped into the dirty water, and sprinted to the finish dock.  The harbor water was a mixture of motor oil, gasoline, and saline- which made it hard to breathe, see, and swim. But alas, we did it.  We stood proud atop that dock and hugged each other. 

We did it.  It may not have been exactly as we planned or envisioned, but we did it.  We were a team, we made decisions as a team, and we finished as a team.  Go Seagurls!!!  Our cheering section of loved ones were screaming our names as we swam in. They made posters and ran down to greet us.  It was so moving. 
And afterward... we ate. Boy did we eat.  And drank, we drank fruity, foofy drinks and treated ourselves.  We were slimy, and salty, and grimy, but we were done. Challenge met.

Yes- I ate this! And it was good.

I'll settle for pretty flowers if I can't get a smile for the camera

our friend Jesse finished in a 2-person team in 7:55hrs.  Awesome.

And so in summary, it was an awesome day.  I learned alot about open water swimming, about training, about myself, and about teamwork.  I will be back next year to face the challenge again with Lindsay and the Seagurls.  And... incase you didn't hear- we raised $12,000 for St. Vincent's Hospital!!!  Our little team brought our A-game and I couldn't be more proud.  We rocked this swim.

Whit and Lindsay

Yours in great pride and humility,

Whitney