Just wanted to publicly acknowledge Mr Jansen's participation (and 2nd place finish) at this years' 8 mile Boston Light Swim. Great job! How did you find this swim compared to others you've done?
I was sad I didn't get to help out. Last year, I was the guide boat for Will Riddell, who won last year's Boston Light Swim. Will didn't do the swim this year (he moved to New Jersey, and hasn't been able to train as much). I moved within the Boston area several days before the race, so I was basically out of touch, and in a pile of boxes, etc., etc. I got an email from Fred Knight, one of the organizers, looking for extra boats, but I didn't get it in time to put two-and-two together and make it happen.
Perhaps next year.
As we discovered last year, a good guide boat makes a huge amount of difference in this race. When I guided Will last year, we plotted a good course with the boat. Will's closest competitor last year (Doug Bosley -- they trained together) had a different guide boat. Doug's boat didn't hold the course as straight as we did, so Doug ended up swimming zig-zag a little more, which I think cost him the race.
For those interested -- last year I setup a real-time webcast of the race, giving 60-second updates to Will's location, along with a webcam off the back of the boat:
www.swimindex.com/meets/2003/bostonlight/
Maybe next year we can get back into the swing. (And we'll have less smelly 4-strokes on the back of the boat, too!)
-Rick
I was sad I didn't get to help out. Last year, I was the guide boat for Will Riddell, who won last year's Boston Light Swim. Will didn't do the swim this year (he moved to New Jersey, and hasn't been able to train as much). I moved within the Boston area several days before the race, so I was basically out of touch, and in a pile of boxes, etc., etc. I got an email from Fred Knight, one of the organizers, looking for extra boats, but I didn't get it in time to put two-and-two together and make it happen.
Perhaps next year.
As we discovered last year, a good guide boat makes a huge amount of difference in this race. When I guided Will last year, we plotted a good course with the boat. Will's closest competitor last year (Doug Bosley -- they trained together) had a different guide boat. Doug's boat didn't hold the course as straight as we did, so Doug ended up swimming zig-zag a little more, which I think cost him the race.
For those interested -- last year I setup a real-time webcast of the race, giving 60-second updates to Will's location, along with a webcam off the back of the boat:
www.swimindex.com/meets/2003/bostonlight/
Maybe next year we can get back into the swing. (And we'll have less smelly 4-strokes on the back of the boat, too!)
-Rick
