I originally thought of trying to cross five lakes while here in Kyrgyzstan, but I’m learning that logistics in this country are something else entirely.
My first foray was my (early 2015) attempt to find a boat and/or kayak for a crossing of lake Issyk Kul. It was an up and down affair. One week I had a boat lined up, the next, the boat captain didn’t want to cross the lake with me.
I finally found a boat for a crossing in 2015 at the last minute. And the boat and crew were awesome! Below was my plan to cross Issyk Kul.
That is the crossing I attempted to do in September 2015. It is based on a Kyrgyz myth.
2016’s plan is for the same crossing.
2015 was a DNF. The review of the swim is here and lessons learned here. For posterity, here are the observer logs:
My embassy put a little blurb on my Issyk Kul swim on their FB page. They asked for the five W’s and I submitted. They translated it into Russian and Kyrgyz and put it on there for all to read.
Bad enough the embassy put pictures of me on the front cover of the embassy newsletter two weeks ago without any comment that I didn’t accomplish the swim. The title simply said “Mike Tyson’s Swim Across Issyk Kul.” Many of my local and American colleagues approached me after that asking me how the crossing went. Then I had to relive my failure all over again.
So I insisted this time, while writing my five W’s, that I had not succeeded. They changed my “only made it 4.7KM” to “swam almost 5KM.” You would have thought I’d discovered an ancient civilization in the lake. Everybody and their mother has been asking me about the crossing now. Most of them are shocked that I could have swum that long (2:31) or that far (“almost 5KM”) in the lake in that water temperature. And despite my including the MSF equipment rules in my five W’s, I’m still asked if I wore a wetsuit. All of the questioners were impressed with the distance/time/temperature, but all I could think of was how I still had 8+ kilometers left in the swim.
OK, here’s the lessons learned from my Issyk Kul attempt.
Logistics. Organizing swims here is hard. Not just because of the language. Other issues pop up. For one, whenever I mentioned swimming across the lake to Kyrgyz living on the lake, they all looked at me funny. Most told me only one person has done it, so why would I try? (Most all knew Akhmed, too.)
But language is one issue. Russian quickly loses its prestige the farther outside of Bishkek you go. Thank God for Talas. Without him, I would not have been able to organize the boat. And most probably, it would have been difficult for the crew on the boat to converse with the captain and his crew. Kyrgyz language proficiency was required.
Getting the boat was the most difficult. I’d been dealing, through the wonderful Ais in our Community Liaison Office, with a boat company in Cholpon-Ata. That location was much farther away from the swim start point that the company I’d ended up going with, but at the time I had no choice. Finding a boat company isn’t as easy as searching the internet. I used a group here called Community-Based Tourism (CBT) to get a contact to that boat company. But even before that, in my talks with Akhmed, I’d come up empty. When he crossed in the ’80’s and ’90’s, the Russians provided him two coast guard cutters; He had no idea where to get a boat.
The Cholpon-Ata company went back and forth on renting me the small boat or the big boat. Prices were double, and occupancy more (10-person vs. 25-person). I went back and forth with them on not needing the big boat ($1000+). It was only a couple weeks before my chosen date that they told me I had to rent the bigger boat. They cited safety concerns. I can’t argue that, of course. At first I thought they were just pushing for more money from me, but they gave us a contact for a boat captain in Balykchy. A captain with the same exact small boat, in a location significantly closer to both Bishkek and the swim start/finish. So the Cholpon-Ata folks remains a good choice in my eyes.
After Ais got in contact with Kurbat, the boat captain in Balykchy, everything for the boat started falling into place. Hell, the swim started falling into place. I wish I could have arranged with them a 2- or 3-day period for the swim, but I was trying to keep expenses down and I was asking folks on my crew to take time off of work, so I had that to consider. Reviewing it now, I am sure that some or maybe even all of them would have been okay staying through Sunday instead of just Saturday, and if I’d have postponed the swim on Friday and swum on Saturday instead, I might have made it a bit farther due to no winds or waves. Lesson learned.
Cold water acclimation. CANNOT BE UNDERESTIMATED. I had thought my swimming in a 66F pool in 55F air temp was good enough. Uh, no. Not by a long shot. But the thought of sitting in a cold tub doesn’t excite me either. I just don’t know about this. Granted, I don’t intend on trying this again next year when the water is 13C, so perhaps I’ll be okay? When we were at the lake in July this year, the water was consistently 20-21C and I never concerned myself with the temp while swimming there. So maybe if I try this in July next year, a time when all the locals say the water will be in the low 20’s, I won’t have to worry about acclimation? Now that I know the hotel in Balykchy, I’m thinking next year I might take some short 3-day weekend trips to the lake to get some swims in prior to the “big” swim in July.
Equipment. I think I had enough equipment and good enough equipment for this swim. A few issues popped up though. I brought along my homebrewing thermometer. It’s floatable, but it’s made of glass. At one point into my swim, the crew broke the thermometer. I have a plastic floating thermometer in my pool, but the temperature is off a bit; it measures about 2C above what the homebrewing thermometer says. I have reason to believe the beer thermometer is measuring correctly, so I took that instead of the pool one to the lake.
Day before the swim we went to the beach I intended on landing at. I put the thermometer in the water and got a reading of 16C. Plenty “warm” enough for me. And it felt fine wading in the water. But I wonder if maybe I didn’t let the thermometer sit in the water long enough? Or maybe that side of the lake is warmer, and it being around 3.00pm when we were there, perhaps the lake had warmed up throughout the day? Next time, I’ll bring the pool thermometer (not like I have another!) and let it sit for a while. Lesson learned.
Now for internet. We discovered that the best you can do in the middle of the lake is 2G. Nothing we can do about that, except that next year I’ll make sure everyone who wants to follow me has access to my FB. Or I’ll change my privacy settings just for the swim so whoever wants to follow me can. My son was able to update my FB on my phone with mobile data set, but not on the computer. That was a waste of equipment. Lesson learned.
GPS, SpotGen and the like. Not sure it’s worth it for me to buy a SpotGen. Besides the initial price, you have to subscribe for something like 50 bucks annually. But when’s the next time I’ll do a swim like this? Maybe I can find someone with one and borrow it? SpotGen would be the easiest way of broadcasting my location to those who want to know.
Nutrition. I think my nutrition plan was fine. For an 8 mile swim I don’t need much. I tried out the UCAN in my pool a few times prior, and my stomach was ok on it. And my energy level was fine. I just couldn’t stomach anything. It must have been the waves that nauseated me. If the waves are unavoidable next year, perhaps I’ll take a motion sickness pill first. If that’s allowed. I’ll have to check the MSF rules.
Related to nutrition is health. Just last night, a Russian couple told me that the lake is not ecologically pristine and thus not healthy (there’s no fish in the lake, apparently). Their suggestion is one I’ve heard from doctors, as well as locals: prior to swimming, drink a shot of vodka. I did get incredibly ill two days after the swim which the embassy doc attributes to the lake water I ingested. Next year I very well may take a shot of vodka prior to the jump.
Logs, crew and observers. Due to a scheduling conflict, Akhmed wasn’t able to make it as observer. Chris took up that mantle. With two others on a crew of four sick, it was a bit much for Chris to both be observer and crew chief and photographer. Lesson learned.
Timing. I know I mentioned it before, but I really think next year I’m going to set aside a three-day window. Kurbat was really positive after my attempt and he and his crew mentioned several times they expect to see me next year. With that in mind, maybe I can arrange the window. My only concern would be his fee. We’ll see.
I know I promised this earlier, but I’ve been sick. I was sick as a dog on Sunday, pain in the stomach and moving to the back. Lay down in bed and whine to the wife kind of sick. My swim was on Friday and this was Sunday, so certainly couldn’t be Issyk Kul’s water, right? Well, doctor I am not. Chris C., my crew chief-cum-observer (more on that later) is also a physician’s assistant. He said it is very possible that my stomach ailment could be linked to the lake water I ingested.
So, why not till Wednesday? Well, Sunday wasn’t the only day. The pain simply lessened as the days have gone by. Today is the first day I’ve felt okay to eat anything and, more importantly, drink a beer. For the past three days I’ve barely eaten anything because the thought of it made me want to vomit. Today, however, I’ve eaten well and felt good about it.
OK, all that as caveat to this blog entry. This is my review of the swim. Tomorrow I’ll (try to) go over lessons learned from the swim. Thank you dear reader(s) for the support you’ve given me on this endeavor. [Anything in brackets is from the observer log.]
The crew. OK, so the observer didn’t pan out. Akhmed Anarbaev had to be in Bishkek on Friday for a memorial to a friend of his. (At some point during the swim, he called the boat captain to wish me luck.) So Chris stepped up to be the observer. Chris is a retired Army special forces medic, too, so that is another reason to have him on the boat. Talas was my interpreter, Kyrgyz-Russian-English. Olesya was another medical professional. Despite no bathroom on the boat, she agreed to help out. She’s a chiropractor-massage therapist-physical therapist. And finally, my son Sam, our social media expert. The boat captain was Kurbat, his son, Bakyt, was first mate and Aman was the boat’s engineer.
Before the swim: The logistics was a nightmare. Suffice it to say, the boat captain I got was not the original one I thought I had for the weeks leading up to the attempt. But I’ll tell you one thing: Kurbat will be my captain (oh, captain) for any attempts I do on the western side of the lake. He’s great! I met with him on the Sunday prior and he showed me the boat and answered all questions. I felt very comfortable, safety-wise, for my crew and myself.
The other logistical detail was a place to stay. Unless you’re hitting the major cities along the lake, you’re stuck with guest houses, usually run by an old babushka, normally seen sitting by the side of the road during the summer with a sign that reads “Rooms for rent” with a note on whether or not a bathroom or shower is included. Balykchy is pretty small, but there is a nice resort-type hotel there, the Aliya hotel. Olya, the very nice owner/manager/housemistress took care of our every need. We also met her on the Sunday prior and she was very excited to hear I’d be bringing about 10 folks to the swim. (Ended up we brought 12 and got 500som, about $8, which translates to 25% off.) So excited that she called Talas twice during last week to make sure we were coming. And she called him the morning of to make sure we left Bishkek!
The swim. The hotel was great and we got all crew details figured out the night before the swim. Due to typical afternoon winds, the captain wanted us to be on the boat and chugging to the south side by 0500. That meant an early wake-up Friday morning. I of course couldn’t sleep past about 0250, and just lay there thinking positively about the swim. Trying to ignore the windy sounds I heard outside. At 0430 I gave up trying to sleep and got up and got ready.
We dragged all our crap down to the pier at 0445. Olya ensured one of her workers was up and ready to unlock the gates of the resort so we could just walk straight onto the boat. “My God, it’s full of stars!” I said of the sky as I was walking to the pier. There is so little background light in Balykchy I saw stars I hadn’t seen in decades, since camping in the Texas hill country in the ’70s. So damn beautiful I cudda watched the sky the entire boat ride! If it weren’t so damn cold!
Yes, it was cold and windy. That worried me. I stayed in the cabin and tried to nap. I went over the social media plan with Sam. The trip to the south side was incredibly rocky. Half my crew went outside for air. My son took a motion sickness pill. I was fine as far as that was concerned. The darkness slowly yielded to dawn and we slowly got to the other side of the lake. I changed into my swim suit and put on my cap and goggles. Next, I slathered Desitin A+D on my underarms, threw my t-shirt back on and sat down. My son updated the blog and FB with our status. I drank my 10oz of chocolate UCAN with a bit of warm water in it (like a warm cup of chocolate!) and ate a banana.
Chris, my crew chief, poked his head in and said it was time to go. I left the cabin and saw the shore about 400m away. “I can’t swim that far!” I said. Everyone looked at me. Uh, aren’t you about to swim 8 miles, was on their faces! I really have no idea. Do other swimmers jump in and go a quarter mile to their start? Is that normal? Thankfully, Chris had blown up the kayak and had it in the water, ready for me to jump in and be paddled to shore.
We realized much later that Chris & Co. forgot to inflate the floor of the kayak. He was kneeling behind me, his knobbly protuberances acting as a keel, turning the kayak to the right no matter which side he was paddling on. We ended up just riding the waves (a bad sign indeed!) to the shore. My one adjustment to the MSF rules was that I could wear scuba shoes from the beach. Those damn pebbles and my sensitive feet.
In the water! The water felt cold, but really not much colder than I’d been in before, to include my pool. Plus I was hyped up, which probably helped. Chris got some pictures. He thought. (Turned out he was taking video.) I told the boat to look for me to raise both arms then sound the horn. I didn’t waste any time. Arms up, horn tooted, in the water I went. [Swim started at 0718.]
It was a long walk. The boat couldn’t get close because of the shallowness, and I must admit I probably walked about 100 meters before I could swim. It was cold, indeed. Skin-feeling-hot kinda cold. I caught up to Chris in the kayak, doffed my shoes, then put my head down and swam to the boat. Once I got there, Bakyt, the captain’s son, started pointing to my left. Whoops! I was swimming east instead of north. I put my head down and got to work.
The first feed [at 0758] was practice for the crew. [Distance traveled 1.52km.] They threw out the Nalgene bottle on its 20 feet of rope only to forget to tell the captain to stop moving forward. So by the time I got the bottle, the rope went taut and I had to drop it as I didn’t want to be dragged/helped/DN’d. I caught back up with it and drank as much as I could, threw it back shipward, then put my head down and swam.
[At this point I’m going a solid 58 strokes per minute. Water temperature was 13C and air temp was 10C. Swells were one to two feet.]
Between feed 1 and 2 the water warmed up. [No it didn’t, it was still 13C.] The sun was out and wonderful. The water literally warmed up, feeling a good 2C warmer than the start. It’s at this point that I thought, “Oh, this swim is in the bag! It’ll take me longer than I planned due to the waves, but this water temp is great.”
A very short time later, after staring at the sun while breathing for the umpteenth time, I asked for a goggle change. That took longer than I’d hoped but I got them properly seated and never needed to mess with them again. [Time: 0810. 1.88km traveled. I told Chris I feel like I’m in a washing machine.] The waves started picking up and I knew I would miss my typical 3K per hour pace. The waves were coming at me from the side, but from the left, which is great because I breath right.
There around feed 2 (I was feeding every 30 min) I started to realize I was full. Or, at least, it felt like my stomach was full of liquids. I didn’t want to drink. I also around this time felt the need to pee, but just couldn’t. I’d slow my feet down, only to start to sink completely, so I’d kick again and then have to start my concentration again. I gave up, figuring when I really needed to pee I would. [Crew said wind was 14m/sec.]
Waves were getting really bad over an hour in. Bad enough that on some stroke cycles I’d almost get flipped over onto my right side when the wave and breathing timed perfectly. It was disconcerting. I also started feeling the cold. So much for those 2 degrees. It obviously dropped significantly. Hands began cramping.
I couldn’t really drink anything at feed #3. Water went into my mouth and I just spit it out. I tried to imbibe some, but it really made me nauseous. My mouth was starting to get numb and my knuckles needed cracking, at least that’s what it felt like. I just told myself to swim to the next feed and re-evaluate. [Mike says “I’m cold.” Due to waves hitting port beam of boat, quite a bit of roll to the boat. Table in the cabin flipped over several times. Thermometer broke. Wind steady at 12 knots. Stroke rate down to 52. He still hasn’t peed.]
That’s what I did. I started to worry at this point. I didn’t want to know how far I’d gone, nor look to the destination. I was also starting to worry about my crew; several times I saw the bottom of the boat due to a wave knocking it around. I also saw the boat dip into the water and submerge the deck. That kind of helped in that I didn’t want to be on that boat at that point. But I also saw two of my crew laying down, looking like they were in pain. Still, I didn’t let that decide for me. I knew they were better off than I was. They had two doctors on board, plus they were warm. [Talas and Olesya were sick for hours from the rocking boat.]
Feed 4 was brutal. [Mike told observer “The waves are beating me up” and “I don’t think I can do it.” Observer told Mike “You’ve only been swimming two hours” and asked Mike “What’s your longest swim?” After he answered “4 something” observer told him “You’ve only been swimming half that time.” 4.5km traveled.] I didn’t drink anything, just spit it out.
Feed 5 went nowhere. I don’t even remember if they threw me anything. Might as well have not stopped. I got nothing out of that feed. I wish I could have thrown up. I probably would have felt better and might have lasted longer. At that point I was ready to throw in the towel, but my crew kept me in the water. Not that they forced me. They used all the techniques I asked them to and it worked.
For another minute or so. I couldn’t stop shaking. I hadn’t yet gotten to the point where I didn’t know my name or that I was married to Heidi Klum. But I knew I couldn’t go the distance. I told Chris it was time for me to get out. He made me say my safe word. When I said “armadillo” he helped get me out of the water. Swim done. [4.7km traveled in 2 hours, 31 minutes, 59 seconds. So made it a little over a third of the way.]
Apres-swim. They immediately wrapped me in two wool blankets. Shivering unstoppable. So cold and sick. I didn’t want to move. Chris gave me a Nalgene bottle filled with hot water, which I hugged to my chest. Damn did that ever feel good. Pictures were taken, hugs were given. I stayed wrapped up. Boat started chugging to shore, through very rocky water. About 5 minutes later I threw off my wool blankets and had a wonderful puke session all over the side of the boat. Wow, that felt awesome. Really awesome.
The trip back felt like it took two hours. I stayed wrapped up, and when the doc (chiropractor, physical therapist and massage therapist all rolled into one!) felt better (she was also motion sick), she massaged blood back into my legs and arms. I’m not really much for massage, but that did a number on me. I started to warm up. Shivers stopped. I fell asleep.
Apparently, at some point, a fierce game of rock-paper-scissors (lizard-spock) ensued, and the poor doc lost. Therefore, I woke to find my feet on her bare stomach. She was worried that my feet (and hands) were not warming up. Unbeknownst to her, my feet and hands are always colder than the rest of me. No problem. Cold hands warm heart, right?!
We got back to the pier and there were my cheerleaders. These guys were great. They came all the way out to the lake simply to stand on the beach near Toru-Aygyr to cheer me into the beach. I couldn’t have asked for more. It was awesome to see them on the pier. I really wish I could have made it to that beach. They had a bonfire planned!
We all made it back to the hotel and had a debrief. Chris went through the pictures and video for the benefit of the cheerleaders (and those on the boat who were sick and missed some of my swim). At 1330 I took a sauna. Olya opened up her sauna to me for no charge, and Talas and I spent about a half hour in the extreme heat. Damn did it feel good, and got the final shivers out of my system.
I had arranged a plov dinner for everyone that night which turned out great. The hotel arranged it for us and we had a huge 100+ person hall all to ourselves. Conciliatory rather than celebratory, but my team made me feel like a winner anyway!
The next morning when we left Balykchy, lake Issyk Kul was laughing at me.
OK, home from Balykchy. Uploaded my GPS data and saved the screen shot so I can do this quick blog entry.
Tomorrow I’ll compose a lessons learned and in-depth swim review. I still love that damn lake so much. But boy oh boy did I learn a little bit about timing, dammit. Look at the picture from 1000 this morning:
1323: Back at the hotel. Swim did not go well. A measly 4.6km over 2:31. 13C water temp and hug swells combined to give me nausea and the unstoppable shivers. A good puking session on the boat ride back took care of one problem, and Dr. Oleysa, chiropractor extraordinaire on my crew, massaged blood back into my extremities. Full write up after my visit to the sauna. (BTW, internet on the boat was crap (2G!), so my son switched to updating FB on his phone.)
25 Sept, 0510: On the boat! We are currently at 42.44979N 076.20469E
23 Sept: Friday will be the day. It starts at 05.00 when we load the boat. That’s 17.00 Thursday for my eastern time zone reader(s); 14.00 Thursday for those in California. That should be when my son starts blogging here. My swim should start around 07.00. My boy will update this post with my location and anything else blog-worthy.
I’ll take this time now to thank all my volunteers. I could not have done this without you. Thank you. Спасибо. Рахмат.
So, Talas and I went to Balykchy today to check out the boat, meet the Captain, and walk through the hotel. All in all a good day. So, starting with the boat:
There she is. The Appak. Not sure what that means (damn, shudda asked). She’s plenty big for my crew.
Below my feet is a cabin fit for 8-10, with a table to eat at. Under the tarp are padded seats for 4 (comfortable) or 8 (squished). Behind those two white benches at the very back is a platform from which I’ll jump into the water.
And speaking of the water, it felt so nice today. I didn’t have time to put a swim in; I had to get back to Bishkek. But I dipped my hands into the water at a few places. Felt warmer than my pool, honestly.
That’s the start location over there, Kara-Talaa. It was pretty cool today, and windy as hell. In fact, I learned that Balykchy is known as the Windy City. I sure see why. So windy today.
Here’s the Captain’s map for my swim.
From the Nile-delta-looking land mass in the south, north to the little red circle in the middle of the map. About 13 and a smidge kilometers. The red circle to the west on the map by the Captain’s thumb is where the Appak is berthed.
Starting at 5am, we’re all getting on the boat and heading over to the southern shore. Captain said it should take 1:40. He wants me done by noon, when the winds show up and make the swim a little tougher. I saw today how the wind really got the lake moving, and it was at around 13.00 that the wind was going crazy.
The Captain’s made it even easier for me and my crew. The hotel we’re staying at is right on the water in Balykchy. There’s a pier at the hotel, and the Captain said he’d be waiting at the pier at 05.00 on Friday morning. That’s bright and early ladies and gentlemen. And we’ll be live-blogging it here!
That’s what the boat company in Cholpon-Ata told us today. They are not “comfortable” taking the small, 10-person boat all the way from Cholpon-Ata down to the southern shore near Kara-Talaa, a trip of 62km and 7 hours according to them. So we have to take their bigger, 25-person boat. Which multiplied the cost of the boat by 2.5. I just can’t afford that.
When my volunteer, Ais, told me that this morning, I was so upset. The last week or so, while I’m freezing in my 18C-pool, swimming on the tethers, I kept myself warm inside by imagining how good it’ll feel to do the swim successfully. Those hours in the pool were healthy for me, sure, but there are other ways to keep in shape. Warmer ways. Ways in which my fingers aren’t freezing while I’m typing (like now). Dammit. I really wanted to do this swim.
Then Ais told me the good news: the boat company gave her a name and number for another boat captain, this time in Balykchi, a village with the benefit of being closer to both Bishkek and the start/finish of my swim! Bonus: not only does this guy have the same size small boat (10-person) for the same price, but his boat has an electrical outlet! So my son can keep the laptop plugged in for the updates for my dear reader(s).
Talas, my translator, will accompany me this weekend to Balykchi to visit the boat captain and check out a hotel for me and the crew. Hopefully, everything will turn out ok and the swim will proceed as planned on 25 September.
So, I got my volunteers for the crossing. Chris C. is ready as crew chief and doc. He’s a PA so I feel confident that if I show any signs of hypothermia or other problems, he’ll pull me. He’s in charge on the boat.
Talas I. will be the English/Russian/Kyrgyz translator. He’s been a big supporter of mine since I mentioned wanting to cross the lake. I will rely on him to ensure the boat captain knows what I need.
Sam is my son, and he’s agreed to be my social media expert. He’ll be on the boat and will update my FB and blog, as I don’t have one of those SpotGen thingies. I’ll have a GPS on the boat, and Sam’s job will be to update periodically the lat/long of where the boat, and presumably I, will be. He’ll also add some things that the observer tells him, like my stroke rate or what I’m eating.
As for the observer, I’ve asked 1968 Olympian and 1970 World Champion swimmer, Akhmed Anarbaev, to be my observer. He’s the first, and as far as we can tell, only person to swim across Issyk Kul unassisted. He swam across on the eastern end, a distance of approximately 17 miles. He’s in his late 60’s and an amazing swimmer.
You’ll notice all the crew are males. Unfortunately, the boat I got has no bathroom. None of the women who volunteered thought 10-13 hours on a boat without a bathroom was a good idea. But, in a strange twist, a bunch of folks who aren’t going to be on the boat, want to come out just to cheer me on. I told them I couldn’t afford to cover their lodging, and they didn’t seem to care. They said they’d warm up the restaurant for me for after the crossing, with margaritas. While I’ll probably skip the tequila after the swim, I do appreciate the warm feelings of my friends.
And, not to mention that there is more pressure now to complete this thing.
Everything seems to be falling into place for my crossing. I’ve got a Russian-speaking volunteer finding lodging for me and my crew in Cholpon-Ata. My crew chief is busy arranging the volunteers, determining how many I really need. And me? I’m swimming.
I swam 4 total hours this weekend, and while that’s not a lot for the real marathon swimmers, that’s good for me. Especially good with the boredom that is swimming tethered to the skimmer basket hole on the side of your 12m long pool. The water has been refreshingly cold in the pool, as I haven’t let my kids or the gardener (don’t judge me! he comes with the house) turn the heater on. The water is 66F/19C, or 68F/20C, depending upon which thermometer I look at. (My money’s on the brewing thermometer, which I’ve recently calibrated to boiling water. Thus, I’ve been swimming in 19C water.)
The water temperature is my one concern for this crossing. I’m not afraid of the distance, or time. The water temperature, if it gets too far in the low 60’s, may be my demon. I think back to the Ocean City 9-mile attempt, and it was cold and salt water that knocked me out of that. And that water was frigid.
Second concern is the elevation. Issyk Kul is at 5253 feet; Bishkek is at 2600. That is certainly close, but that extra 2600+ feet sure was noticeable when I swam there a couple weeks ago. So, I’ve been training as if I were going for a 10 mile swim, instead of 8. I’m prepared for 6 hours of swimming. I did an even 2500m in an hour there recently, and that was with stopping quite often to look at the mountains. If I can maintain that pace in the crossing, 6 hours will be plenty. I can say honestly that swimming in the 18-20C water a couple weeks ago felt great, and I did feel like I could go longer (distance and time).
So we’ll see. I’m now generating a list of questions for the boat company, for my Russian speaking volunteer to have ready when she calls them. Important things like, is there a bathroom on the boat? Is there power for a laptop? Is there sun protection? I don’t want my crew to suffer while I’m enjoying myself in the lake, right?!