Katie Blair - Lake Erie

Long Point, Ontario to North East Twp, Pennsylvania

38.3 km (23.8 miles)

13 hours, 57 minutes on 3 August 2019

Observed and documented by Rob Cooney

Co-ratified with Lake Erie Open Water Swimming Association (LEOWSA)

Contents

Swimmer

  • Name: Katie Blair
  • Gender: female
  • Age on swim date: 40
  • Nationality: US
  • Resides: Huntington, Indiana

Support Personnel

  • Bobby Blair - feed manager
  • Drew Paris - kayaker
  • Sue Gree - kayaker
  • Rob Cooney - observer, kayaker

Escort Vessel: 25’ motor boat (Northeast Marina, North East Twp)

Swim Parameters

Category: Solo, nonstop, unassisted.

Rules: MSF Rules of Marathon Swimming, without exception or modification.

Route Definition

  • Body of Water: Lake Erie
  • Route Type: one-way
  • Start Location: Tip of Long Point, Ontario, near lighthouse (42.547779, -80.049072)
  • Finish Location: Freeport Beach, North East Twp, Pennsylvania (42.241647, -79.833181)
  • Minimum Route Distance: 38.3 km (23.8 miles)

History

List of Lake Erie swims (LongSwimsDB)

Swim Data

  • Start: 3 August 2019, 07:00:00, Eastern Daylight Time
  • Finish: 3 August 2019, 20:57:30
  • Elapsed: 13 hours, 57 minutes, 30 seconds.

Summary of Conditions

Feature Min Max
Water Temp (F) 72 78
Air Temp (F) 63 82
Wind (mph) 4 7

GPS Track

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

Speed Plot

Nutrition

Rotated between 8oz water + GU energy gel and 8oz water mixed with perpetuem + bananna + 200mg ibuprofen tablet every 30 minutes

Observer Log

Download PDF

Download original handwritten log (PDF)

Feed Log

Narrative Report

by Rob Cooney

Friday, August 2, 2019

5:30p: Support crew meeting and dinner at Freeport Restaurant to review the logistics of the swim and plans for Saturday since Katie traveled into the area for this swim.

7:00p: Kayak’s and other support equipment and gear loaded onto Mike Green’s boat at Northeast Marina (port where we left from on Saturday morning).

Saturday, August 3, 2019

4:00a: Katie and support crew arrive at Northeast Marina.

4:45a: Boat leaves Northeast Marina headed for Long Point, Ontario. ETA is 6:40a, projected swim start of 7:00a. Gentle rolling 2-3’ waves persist for the first half of the drive and then calm down to <1’ as we neared Long Point.

7:00a: Official swim start

7:30a – 12:00p: Swim is progressing well but pace is slightly off where Katie wanted to be. She commented frequently during her 30 minute feed stops about the cold water and resulting stiffness/difficulty finding her rhythm. The crew decided to start trying to warm up her water by leaving out of the cooler. Overall wind, waves (1-2’) and current conditions were ideal and minimal during this stretch.

12:00p – 4:00p: Katie begins to comment about feeling better, attitude is more positive, pace is improving and crew is rallying around her. The water conditions during this stretch were very good with flat water and little to no wind. Everyone was hoping for the wind out of west at the time to increase and switch out of the north as was forecasted to help push Katie in toward the finish.

4:00p – 7:00p: The wind and waves (2-3’ at this point) picked up some directly out of west and never switched to the north as the crew was hoping for. Katie was experiencing some increasing left shoulder pain during this stretch. Primarily a right-side breather from the start of the swim, she begins to breathe more to the left and bilaterally in hopes of reducing her left shoulder pain.

8:57p: Swim finish. Katie is greeted by approximately 100 locals and media as she reaches Freeport Beach.

Download original (PDF)

Photos

Click to enlarge.

Video

Media

Weather Data

NWS Marine Forecast

Windfinder Forecast

Pressure Systems

NOAA Great Lakes Coastal Forecasts