straits of mackinac

Costs: The permit and rental of marine radio was nominal. The big cost will be the power boat and kayaks unless you know people who will do this cause it's someone's birthday or fund raiser. In our case the whole week was a 50th birthday party for one of the swimmers and everyone stayed at the Straits State Park in St. Ignace. Very nice park right on the water. So our costs were same as if we were throwing a party for friends, family, swimmers and boaters. Speed: Everyone locally will tell you it's a five mile swim because of pride of the 5 mile bridge. The land protrudes under the bridge and the swim is 4.1 miles if done in a normal straight line. Then others will tell you it's a 5-7 mile swim because of the currents. The five of us swam in 3-5 foot cross waves and the cross current seemed strong to me but the fastest swimmer, the birthday girl, swam straight and true and was finished in 2 hours 10 minutes. I believe her normal pool mile is 25 minutes. The next two swimmers were out in about 2 hours 30 min and the final ones were out in a little over 3 hours. The last two would probably be doing 32 minute pool miles but did let the currents carry them so they were swimming pretty much against current for at least the last third of the swim. But we weren't racing, and I, for one, was really savoring this swim cause of the warm water and cause of a year of build up and, oh yeah, the leg cramps and nausea made me somewhat rudderless for a while. But it was so thrilling for a first timer like me, there was no pain, short of total shut down, that would could have ruined the fun. If the opportunity came again, we would do it again. But as you can see, it's a big commitment from each kayaker and a boater so I'm not sure how often this opportunity will present. Other swims that only require kayakers are more likely, such as non-ship channel crossings. But the coming together of such support and desire contributes to making this crossing so special.

Costs: The permit and rental of marine radio was nominal. The big cost will be the power boat and kayaks unless you know people who will do this cause it's someone's birthday or fund raiser. In our case the whole week was a 50th birthday party for one of the swimmers and everyone stayed at the Straits State Park in St. Ignace. Very nice park right on the water. So our costs were same as if we were throwing a party for friends, family, swimmers and boaters. Speed: Everyone locally will tell you it's a five mile swim because of pride of the 5 mile bridge. The land protrudes under the bridge and the swim is 4.1 miles if done in a normal straight line. Then others will tell you it's a 5-7 mile swim because of the currents. The five of us swam in 3-5 foot cross waves and the cross current seemed strong to me but the fastest swimmer, the birthday girl, swam straight and true and was finished in 2 hours 10 minutes. I believe her normal pool mile is 25 minutes. The next two swimmers were out in about 2 hours 30 min and the final ones were out in a little over 3 hours. The last two would probably be doing 32 minute pool miles but did let the currents carry them so they were swimming pretty much against current for at least the last third of the swim. But we weren't racing, and I, for one, was really savoring this swim cause of the warm water and cause of a year of build up and, oh yeah, the leg cramps and nausea made me somewhat rudderless for a while. But it was so thrilling for a first timer like me, there was no pain, short of total shut down, that would could have ruined the fun. If the opportunity came again, we would do it again. But as you can see, it's a big commitment from each kayaker and a boater so I'm not sure how often this opportunity will present. Other swims that only require kayakers are more likely, such as non-ship channel crossings. But the coming together of such support and desire contributes to making this crossing so special.