straits of mackinac

A group of five of us just swam this on July 26th. Starting at 7:00am, we went from the NW corner to the SE corner. It is 4 miles and the range was first out in 2 hours to last out at 3 hours 20min (different abilities and strategies). We had a power boat for emergency rescue and each swimmer had a kayaker for support. Their adventure was as large as ours. You will need to alert the coast guard and fill out a permit, rent a marine radio for the boater so that they can communicate to the coast guard to alert boats that there are swimmers in the area and have walkie talkies (with fresh batteries) for each kayaker. The freighters can be predicted to some extent but there are freighters that don't report and might surprise everyone. But they are obvious to see and predictable, speed-wise. Their wakes are large and fast moving. We tried to time our starts so that all swimmers, slow and fast, arrived at the shipping lane (.7 mile long) at about the same time for easier work for the kayakers and general visibility. Next time we will give a courtesy call to the ferry operators beforehand to let them know our plans as there was no altering of their plans (too big and fast) by our boat at the south end. Or we will start early enough to finish before the ferries come through. Or start south and swim north. If they are aware of us, they may slow down a notch when they get to the bridge. Though we had a four day window to swim we picked the first cause we were too anxious to wait and there was a small craft advisory day with 3-5 foot waves by the time we were already swimming. But the water felt to be about 70F so cold was no issue (for us non-wetsuiters) and in the end, the waves and currents were fun. Be prepared to hear endless stories about death and tragedy if you tell anyone in the area you are doing this, but be assured it is a most wonderful swim if you are well trained and well organized. We were blessed with a great team of support and swimmers and whatever other forces kept us out of harm's way.

A group of five of us just swam this on July 26th. Starting at 7:00am, we went from the NW corner to the SE corner. It is 4 miles and the range was first out in 2 hours to last out at 3 hours 20min (different abilities and strategies). We had a power boat for emergency rescue and each swimmer had a kayaker for support. Their adventure was as large as ours. You will need to alert the coast guard and fill out a permit, rent a marine radio for the boater so that they can communicate to the coast guard to alert boats that there are swimmers in the area and have walkie talkies (with fresh batteries) for each kayaker. The freighters can be predicted to some extent but there are freighters that don't report and might surprise everyone. But they are obvious to see and predictable, speed-wise. Their wakes are large and fast moving. We tried to time our starts so that all swimmers, slow and fast, arrived at the shipping lane (.7 mile long) at about the same time for easier work for the kayakers and general visibility. Next time we will give a courtesy call to the ferry operators beforehand to let them know our plans as there was no altering of their plans (too big and fast) by our boat at the south end. Or we will start early enough to finish before the ferries come through. Or start south and swim north. If they are aware of us, they may slow down a notch when they get to the bridge. Though we had a four day window to swim we picked the first cause we were too anxious to wait and there was a small craft advisory day with 3-5 foot waves by the time we were already swimming. But the water felt to be about 70F so cold was no issue (for us non-wetsuiters) and in the end, the waves and currents were fun. Be prepared to hear endless stories about death and tragedy if you tell anyone in the area you are doing this, but be assured it is a most wonderful swim if you are well trained and well organized. We were blessed with a great team of support and swimmers and whatever other forces kept us out of harm's way.