Rob swimming around “the Big Apple”

Good morning Lostians,

This is Madhu – I will be site admin for the next 12 hours – So, I’m thinking of changing the site to LOST Coffee club and all swimming will be banned from now on – But, we can talk about swimming (as people say Talk is cheap – I say, all it takes to talk is a Coffee club called L.O.C.T). Anyways, enough about my silliness. I’m sure Rob is greasing up after his 59th trip to the bathroom. But all part of his racing ritual.

Buddy Rob, Good luck and everybody in Canada are glued to www.lostswimming.com – so I’m nervous(I just got out of my 69th trip to the bathroom) – as I’ll be the Official LOST reporter on this swim.

Lostians and friends, my goal is not to spam with tons of emails – Alex and Pete on Rob’s crew will give me an update every hour – I’ll try to summarize Rob’s swim around “the big apple” in 4 or 5 blogs – so please bear with me today. All you have to do is click on the link in the email. Here is a breif description of the swim course today – Rob might correct this after he’s back (BTW, I picked this description from USMS site)

The Swim course circumnavigates the island of Manhattan. The course is marked
by 4 check points: at Hell Gate, where the East River meets the Harlem; Spuyten
Duyvil, where the Harlem and the Hudson Rivers meet; the 79th Street Boat Basin
on the Hudson River; and Pier 26 in Hudson River Park. Swimmers who fail to
arrive at the checkpoints before the designated cut-off times are at risk of fighting
a changing current, and are pulled from the course.
First Leg – The Battery and the East River: Swimmers enter the water at South
Cove in Battery Park City, and swim around the Battery. [They proceed up the East
River, past South Street Seaport and Lower Manhattan, under the Brooklyn Bridge,
Manhattan Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge. At 23rd Street, on the Manhattan side
of the river, swimmers watch for float planes taking off and landing.

The Swimmers continue up the East River, past the United Nations, through the
West Channel (Manhattan side), past Roosevelt Island. Swimmers are advised to
keep to the Manhattan side of the Channel as they swim up the East River.
Finally, swimmers pass Gracie Mansion, home to – some of – New York’s mayors.

Second Leg: Swimmers then head towards the leftmost stanchion on the footbridge
at the entrance to the Harlem River at Hell Gate. This is their first check point.
Once they have entered the Harlem River, they will stay to their left. The
swimmers take all bridges on their leftmost channel, allowing enough room for the
Circle Line and other boat traffic to pass. On the right side, in the Bronx, they will
pass the House That Ruth Built, home to the New York Yankees for over 75 years.
Swimmers will also swim under High Bridge, part of the Croton Aqueduct system,
which brings the city its drinking water.

Third Leg: At Spuyten Duyvil, where the Harlem River joins the Hudson River, the
swimmers have their second check point. They head down the Hudson River
towards the George Washington Bridge, staying about one-third of the way from
the Manhattan side. After coming under the bridge and past the Little Red
Lighthouse, the swimmers must stay out from shore so that they are not swept into
the sewage treatment plant which protrudes out about a quarter of a mile. This
plant spans 10 blocks, from 145th to 135th Street.

The swimmers continue down the Hudson River on the Manhattan side. Their
third check point is opposite the 79th Street Boat Basin, near the end of Riverside
Park. As they come down the Hudson River, the swimmers must be careful of
boats coming out of the piers, including cruise ships and ocean liners, especially
between 50th and 23rd streets. Swimmers are not allowed to swim closer than 20
yards to any pier. At 44th Street, swimmers will get a unique look at the USS
Intrepid, now a museum, as they swim past.
The skyline of Lower Manhattan once again appears as swimmers approach their
fourth check point, just to the north of the World Financial Center. The swimmers
then swim along the seawall and turn into South Cove. They will sprint by the
cheering crowds to the finish.