OPEN WATER SWIMS / JOHN FORASTE & FRIENDS


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20 July 2008: Wickford to Jamestown
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2005.



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Date: 20 July 2008.
Distance and route: 3.3 miles from Wickford to Jamestown across Narragansett Bay.
Water Temperature: 66.5º F, comfortable without a wetsuit.
Air Temperature: 65º F.
Time: 1:49:30.
Swimmer: John Forasté.
Kayaker: Rich Burrows.

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Rich suggested we repeat our adventure of September 2005 where we would cross Narragansett Bay from Wickford to Jamestown, one of us swimming and the other kayaking, and then reverse roles on the return. Since he had swum the first leg in 2005, I asked if he would mind my going first this time. He agreed adding that it was more important for me to swim the 3.3 miles since I would be making the 1.7 mile Save The Bay swim the following weekend and could use the workout.

When we left Wickford a little after 8:00 am, the water was delightfully calm with just a bit of an invigorating chill - quite comfortable without a wetsuit. I started off feeling pretty good and at some point - for no particular reason - decided to try to make the whole swim without any stops. And so it went until 1:13 when Rich, unaware of my game plan, signaled me to stop (very briefly) to look back at Wickford. Oh well. The only other (brief) interruption came close to Jamestown when we had to make a litte zag to pass behind a large sailing boat. The initial calm turned to a bit of a chop about half way across when the wind picked up. Otherwise, the swim went uneventfully well under a pale blue sky.

On the other side, Rich told me that he had decided not to swim back due to the roughness. As a safety measure, he had towed my kayak behind his. So, we both kayaked back as the weekend boat traffic started to pick up. It took us 1:10. We celebrated with a nice breakfast at Jigger's in East Greenwich.

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Map data ©2005 NAVTEQ from maps.google.com


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LINK TO JOHN FORASTE PHOTOGRAPHY