Jessica Kieras - Grand Traverse Bay

Around Mission Peninsula

81.7 km (50.8 miles)

29 hours, 38 minutes on 27-28 July 2024

Observed and documented by Bruce Geffen and Lisa Hollister

First

Contents

Swimmer

  • Name: Jessica Kieras
  • Gender: female
  • Age on swim date: 44
  • Nationality: United States
  • Resides: Redmond, Oregon

Support Personnel

  • Sam Schineman - pilot 1
  • Laura Kieras - feeder
  • Michelle Rogalski - pilot 2

Observers

  • Bruce Geffen. Volunteer at swim around Mackinac Island, volunteer at Mackinac Bridge swim, swam around Mackinac Island, former professional sailor, completed Ironman triathlons.
  • Lisa Hollister. Volunteer at swim around Mackinac Island, crewed for two Catalina Channel attempts.

Escort Vessel

Name Type Port
unnamed pontoon boat TC Watersports, Traverse City

Swim Parameters

  • Category: Solo, nonstop, unassisted.
  • Rules: MSF Rules of Marathon Swimming, without exception or modification.
  • Equipment used: Textile swimsuit (Tyr Durafast Elite, tieback), cap, goggles, earplugs, nose clip, sportslick, Desitin, glow stick, lights.

Route Definition

From the southern end of the west arm of Traverse Bay, around the top of Mission Peninsula (via east of Power Island), to the southern end of the east arm of Traverse Bay. Then northeast to Wilcox-Palmer-Shah Nature Preserve.

  • Body of Water: Grand Traverse Bay
  • Route Type: multi-segment (2)
  • Start Location: Clinch Park, Traverse City, West Bay (44.765628, -85.619400)
  • Segment 1 Finish / Segment 2 Start: MC Beach, across from Hampton Inn, Traverse City, East Bay (44.749239, -85.555713)
  • Finish (Segment 2) Location: Inlet to pond north of Wilcox-Palmer-Shah Nature Preserve. (44.936777, -85.393946)
  • Minimum Route Distance: 57.2 km (segment 1) + 24.5 km (segment 2) = 81.7 km (50.8 miles) (segment 1 map, overall map)

History

No known previous unassisted marathon swims in Traverse Bay.


Swim Data

  • Start: 27 July 2024, 09:40:10 (Eastern Daylight Time, America/Detroit, UTC-4).
  • Segment 1 Finish / Segment 2 Start: 28 July 2024, 06:30:25.
  • Segment 1 Elapsed: 20 hours, 50 minutes, 15 seconds.
  • Segment 2 Finish: 28 July 2024, 15:18:36
  • Segment 2 Elapsed: 8 hours, 48 minutes, 11 seconds.
  • Overall Elapsed: 29 hours, 38 minutes, 26 seconds.

Summary of Conditions

Feature Min Max
Water Temp (F) 71.3 76.4
Air Temp (F) 62.9 87.8
Wind (knots) 0 7.9

GPS Track

Trackpoint frequency: 20 minutes. Download raw data (CSV).

Click to expand map.

Speed Plot

Nutrition: See observer log.


Observer Log

Download PDF


Swimmer Statement

by Jessica Kieras

What inspired you to do this swim?

I was inspired to do the swim after visiting the area with my partner the year prior. I knew the water could be anywhere between mid 60s to low 70s, in July, depending on the weather, so I didn’t know how long of a swim I could manage. I wanted to stay in the beautiful, crystal clear water for as long as I could, so I mapped out a few possible course options so I could be flexible about the duration of the swim, depending on how I was feeling that day. Leading up to the swim, I kept telling people: “I know it’ll be a challenge, I just won’t know what kind until I’m in the swim”.

Describe how you planned for the swim.

I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, about four hours southeast of Traverse City, but I now live in Oregon and don’t know many people in Michigan. I managed to recruit some volunteers to help me with the swim through word of mouth and by asking on facebook groups. Much to my delight, my sister Laura and her partner Sam also offered to help. I ended up with a small and extremely solid crew of five, all of whom were enthusiastic, attentive and focused on my instructions and requests.

How did the swim go, generally? Did you face any unanticipated challenges?

The swim went great overall, but there were a few challenges. When we got to Mission Point (the northern end of Mission Peninsula), we ran into very shallow water. There were large boulders protruding every few hundred meters or so. I swam ahead and alerted the boat to their locations. We had planned a crew change at this point. Laura, Sam and Bruce were getting off the boat and Michelle and Lisa were getting on.

Lisa paddled out from shore in a kayak and we slowly made our way along the very shallow shoreline, while Michelle climbed into the boat and motored it around a sandbar jetty. I swam slowly, treaded water and sculled in order to keep myself in view of the rest of the crew, while Lisa paddled by my side. As soon as Michelle got around the shallow water, the three of us rounded the peninsula and headed back south. The gps trackers were located on the pontoon during this time.

We ran into some troubles with the spot tracker, which stopped sending a signal to track.rs. Luckily, Evan noticed and had Lisa restart the Spot, which made it start sending signals again. We had also started the gps tracking app on my phone, which recorded a complete track of the journey. There were some similar problems with the spot the next day. Always have a backup! Or two!

During the night a headwind picked up, which was fine except I made the mistake of picking up my effort. By the time I climbed out of the water to end segment 1, my teeth were chattering not because the water was cold, but because I wore myself out. I didn’t really warm up even when the sun came up and both the air and water temps were quite warm.

I thought I’d like to get to 50 miles, so Sam looked around for a good location to end the swim that would get us to that distance. He found a nature preserve just north of Elk Rapids and decided we would end the swim there. Initially it looked like the beach had public access, but by the time we got there, we realized that it did not. All beaches can be accessed from the water in Michigan, but then the end location would’ve been someone’s backyard, as the beach was lined with elegant residences.

Lisa had driven ahead to scout it out for us and was in communication with the boat crew. She found a parking lot near a pond that had an inlet into the lake. She parked there and chatted with the homeowner whose property was adjacent to the inlet. He was impressed with our expedition and fully supportive of our finishing the swim at that location.

I still thought I was cold, so I immediately changed into sweats on the shore. But unlike when I am actually cold, within twenty minutes I was overheated. I switched to shorts and a t-shirt, but I was still quickly overheating. I was dizzy, nauseous and starting to feel panicky. I laid down on the floor of the pontoon and put someone’s cold jar of kombucha on my head from the cooler. The irony of getting overheated after being cold for nine hours was not lost on me. Luckily, when the pontoon started moving, the breeze cooled me down enough to be comfortable again.

I also wrote a blog post about the swim, which can be viewed at https://oregonlakebagging.wordpress.com/2024/08/06/fifty-miles-in-traverse-bay/


Photos

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Video