Melodee Nugent - Geneva Lake two-way

Lake Geneva Beach - Fontana Beach - Lake Geneva Beach

24.3 km (15.1 miles)

8 hours, 19 minutes on 23 July 2019

Observed and documented by Michael Nugent

First Geneva Lake double-crossing

Contents

Swimmer

  • Name: Melodee Nugent
  • Gender: female
  • Age on swim date: 52
  • Nationality: United States
  • Resides: Mukwonago, Wisconsin
  • Bio

Support Personnel

  • Jim Poliak - pilot
  • Deb Poliak - kayaker
  • Michael Nugent - observer

Escort Vessel: Lund boat

Swim Parameters

  • Category: Solo, nonstop, unassisted.
  • Rules: MSF Rules of Marathon Swimming, without exception or modification.
  • Equipment used: Swimsuit (Speedo Endurance+), latex cap, goggles, safety light

Route Definition

History

Swim 4 Freedom included a one-way (“6 mile”) swim in its annual event, though in recent years it has been abbreviated to a 3-mile course. No known previous two-way crossings.

Swim Data

  • Start: 23 July 2019, 03:47 (America/Chicago, UTC-5).
  • Finish: 23 July 2019, 12:06
  • Elapsed: 8 hours, 19 minutes, 22 seconds.

Summary of Conditions

Feature Min Max
Water Temp (F) 78 78
Air Temp (F) 64 83
Wind (mph) 5 12

GPS Track

Trackpoint frequency: 30 minutes. Download raw data (CSV).

Speed Plot

Nutrition: Liquid feed (Infinit Nutrition) + GU gels, every 30 minutes.

Observer Log

Download PDF

Narrative

I have thought about doing this swim for years because I have participated in a single crossing with the Swim 4 Freedom Event that I have done since the inception in 2009. The past couple years I had 2 hip replacements, so I decided that 2019 was the year I would do the double crossing. Since this was my first solo swim, I had questions to make sure it was documented correctly. The MSF website was great. I also relied on Marcia Cleveland and Doug McConnell for answers too. Marcia borrowed me the tracker. Finding the boat was the hardest task, but after finally convincing my brother, he let me borrow his boat. I think these boats are like a baby to most that they don’t want to give it to just anybody!

The day of the swim, my kayaker and pilot over slept. Luckily, they live only a few minutes from our meeting place, and we got them out the door in 10 minutes. Then when we got to the boat that was already in the water, we noticed a light on the boat that must have been on the entire time, thankfully the boat started. I would have liked the swim to start at 3:00am, but we had a late start of 3:47. Mostly uneventful, expect for when I made it to Fontana beach, my observer said there was a problem with not enough gas to get back across and my kayaker had to take a bathroom break. I told them I was going to keep going and stay close to the shore and they could catch up with me. You can see this on the tracker. I knew it would all get figured out. They did catch up to me and the rest was uneventful, except for more chop on the return.

I was told the distance between Lake Geneva and Fontana was 8.2 miles, but the Water Safety Patrol said 9 miles. Not sure how to get an accurate distance. For purposes of this swim, I used 8.2 and doubled, but would love to get a more accurate distance, if you can provide.

Photos

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Video

Media