People organize open water swims with a variety of goals: to raise money for a charitable cause, to give swimmers experience in distance swimming, and so on. While every swim is different, two goals common to every swim are to (1) not lose any swimmers, and (2) not chew anyone up with the propellers of a motor boat. That's where kayakers come in. It's great to have power boats accompany packs of swimmers out on the water, but a power boat can safely get only so close to a swimmer before violating goal (2), while if the boaters stay at a safe distance they might wind up to far away to notice or help a swimmer in distress, tragically violating goal (1). Kayakers, on the other hand, can mix with the swimmers with little risk of injury. So, swim organizers always try to recruit "safety boat" kayakers to shepherd the swimmers along the route. Those of us in Chesapeake Paddlers Association used to participate in a lot of swims (and I have a pile of event t-shirts to prove i...
One man's journey into the great outdoors of Washington, DC and its environs.