chesapeake bay swim without a wetsuit?

I swam GCBS in 2004. I was one of the few without a wetsuit. It was plenty warm that year (~70 degrees) & I finished in just over 2 hrs. I would have been way too hot with one & hate swimming in a wetsuit. Besides, here in Oregon if our lakes get to 70 degrees we are lovin' it!

thanks for the advice. the chesapeake is a little colder than i thought - i had just been looking at generic data for annapolis. do you know how tight the barracuda hot head caps should fit? i bought one, and went large - i'm not sure if a latex cap would stay on it. the smaller size gave me a cone head profile. do they stretch with use?

This doesn't answer your question, but the following NOAA site will help you track the water temp near the bridges: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php

That area is getting lots of rain and its been cool. Most body heat leaves thru your head Try a double cap with a bubble cap or Hot head type under the race cap they will give you. Test out and practise what ever you will use first to get used to. Bubble caps are cheap about 10 dollars with shipping lots of places have them on line ebay ect. Hot head caps about 35 with shipping. See Swim caps for open water swims www.geocities.com/.../coldwatercaps.html

I bought a Hot head cap some years back, they come in many sizes but their not what I would call a snug fit as their fabric. Personally I did not like it. They are really designed to be a outer cap for warmth. I have seen lots of people wearing them with race issued caps over them. I tried that myself and it was hard to do but just took time .You can always cut a small hole in the race cap to get it on better as the web page suggests. With a hothead cap you should not need another cap for that water temp. however the race organizers want people to wear their caps for color coding the waves of swimmers so you will need to put it on over the hothead. Then I would put on the goggles so they hold the cap in place so you dont loose it . You will be a DNF in some races if you loose the race cap for safety reasons . ( If you have another cap on I dont see why if its a bright color like the Hothead.) Whatever you come up with as I say get used to it before the swim. You may find ear plugs will help too . The Hothead is not water tight in any way and water will come in which may or not bother you. My favorite combo is a silicon cap pulled low over my ears and a bubble strap cap over that same as the yellow one in the web page. Warm waterproof cheap and stays on even tumbling in the surf getting knocked around like a doll playing with a boogie board as I have found out.

I swam 2.5 miles in the Severn River yesterday which is within sight of the Bay Bridge course. A few things to report: 1) Still cold, 59 degrees near the Rt 50 bridge. 2) 5 straight days of heavy rain/effects of runoff keeping the temps low, water level high and current fast. 3) Not sure what Thomas Point Light temp reading is. Their website is not updating. Hoping to swim again this weekend. Good luck, Tree

Tree, Can we swim off the beach on the Annapolis side--at the start area? If not, where do you swim (exactly) in the Severn?

MAC, Yes, you can swim at Sandy Point. There is a tri team that does some weekend practices there in May but I do not know any details. The negative thing about trying to practice there is that they will charge you to get into the park and you are limited to the swim area. (You could always just blow them off) I swim from a friends dock on the Severn, between the Route 50 and Route 450 bridges. A circuit is 2.5 miles. If you stay about 100 yards off the docks, boats won't be a factor. I just swam this afternoon over near you in Frederick, in Lake Linganore. Not sure how far I went, but swam for 1:25. Still pretty cold. A friend had a parking pass and we left from one of the boat launches. Check out these routes at www.mapmyrun.com/search Look at the Alden Lane and Coach Ron routes. Best of luck to everybody at GCBS. 3 weeks to go.

MAC, Yes, you can swim at Sandy Point. There is a tri team that does some weekend practices there in May but I do not know any details. The negative thing about trying to practice there is that they will charge you to get into the park and you are limited to the swim area. (You could always just blow them off) I swim from a friends dock on the Severn, between the Route 50 and Route 450 bridges. A circuit is 2.5 miles. If you stay about 100 yards off the docks, boats won't be a factor. I just swam this afternoon over near you in Frederick, in Lake Linganore. Not sure how far I went, but swam for 1:25. Still pretty cold. A friend had a parking pass and we left from one of the boat launches. Check out these routes at www.mapmyrun.com/search Look at the Alden Lane and Coach Ron routes. Best of luck to everybody at GCBS. 3 weeks to go. My God. Lake Linganore is pretty stagnant. I'll take the Severn anyday or the Potomac. Now with all of the rain the middle of the Bay will be in the 60s for sure. It is cold out there.

Consider renting it at least once before the race to try it out. Better not to have to sort out new gear on race day. I like the idea of deciding on race day if you have used it before.