ICONIC BAY SWIM

Chesapeake Bay 4.4 mile (7k) swim, what a wild adventure you were!  

From the strong headwinds to the crazy washing machine chop, to the grandiose view of the Bay Bridge, you were everything and more than I had imagined.

The Great Chesapeake Bay 4.4 Mile Swim (GCBS) was my C race of 2025 coming off an intense IRONMAN build.  Only 6 weeks ago I crossed the finish line of IRONMAN Texas, my A race of 2025. 

Coming off from IRONMAN Texas, I gave myself 2 full weeks to recover before starting a 4 week swim build for GCBS.  Even if GCBS was my fun C race, I still wanted to perform well.

My main goal was to finish between 2hrs and 2:10hrs.  Due to the relentless chop we all encountered around mile 3, I struggled to find a rhythm between my breath and stroke rate and finished the swim in 2:15hrs. 

I came 1st out of 11 females in my age group in the wetsuit category.  I was 24th out of 115 females and 82nd overall out of 351 wetsuit swimmers. 

I am extremely proud of my performance.

This was my 1st Chesapeake Bay swim crossing and actually, my 1st stand-alone swim race in the USA!  I understand now why this swim is such a beloved race among our local swim community, no matter if your goal is to simply finish under the 4hr cut off time or if you want to race across to the Eastern Shore.  

This swim is definitely a bucket list race!   

RACE RECAP

This race is a point to point swim.  It starts at Sandy Point State Park and finishes in Kent Island, next to Libbye’s Coastal Kitchen.  The swim is known to be challenging as it is affected by tidal current and wind.

There is a bit of race strategy knowing when to hug which bridge, when to swim in center, and how to modify your swim stroke based on conditions. 

For me, it truly felt like I was swimming in one massive beast of a pool with the two bridges marking my “pool lane divider”.  In that regard, sighting and navigation was easy for this open water swim.  Also, the 2 spans of the Bay Bridge have distinctive structures allowing you to know where you are at any given point in the swim and what challenges to expect in that area. 

Main rule for this swim is stay between the 2 bridges at all times.  If you breathe and see two bridges or are under a bridge, it means the current took you off course and a free boat ride and DNF awaits you.  It is also prohibited to touch the bridge or climb on the small island located mid span on the East bound bridge.

For this year, the swim started at 1:30PM in order to time it when the tide would be at a slack current mid race for the slowest swimmer.  It still meant we would encounter South current at the beginning and North current towards end.

On race day, a total of 529 swimmers started of which 48 DNF (33 wetsuit swimmers and 15 non wetsuit swimmers) either due to not meeting mile marker cutoffs times or fatigue. 

The Start

Water and air temperature at the start of the race were both 71F (21C).  It was drizzling with winds coming from the East, which meant a head wind swim. 

There are two start lines for this race.  One for swimmers wearing a wetsuit and one for swimmers opting to swim without a wetsuit.  Each start line with their own arches and timing mats. Swimmers line up under their respective arches and according to swim pace.  Every 10 seconds 6 wetsuit swimmers and 6 non-wetsuit swimmers run into the Bay and start their swim.

There were a total of 351 wetsuit swimmers and 178 non-wetsuit swimmers. I opted to wear my Sailfish sleeveless wetsuit due to water temperature.

The first section of the race, you are swimming in a diagonal from the beach towards the West bound bridge.  It is roughly about 580 yards.  It’s choppy and hard to sight for 2 yellow triangle buoys 500 yards away that indicate where you need to swim under the bridge. 

Once you go under the bridge, you turn left and things get a bit easier for sighting purposes.   

The CURVE

The two bridges curve left for a long while until they finally straighten out.  In this section, “the curve”, it was easier to hug the West bound bridge as the current pulled you south.  This section felt straight forward, fun, and exciting to finally see the two bridges from the perspective of a swimmer.  They are massive!!!!  The curve section is about 1300 yards from when you swim under the West bound bridge until the bridges straighten out.

The Straight

Once the bridges straightened out, I got myself towards the middle of the two bridges.  I felt playful as I approached the first shipping channel.  This section brought me beautiful memories of my years I worked at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center as a Marine Biologist.  One of the projects I worked on, I had to ride big container ships sampling their ballast water from the port of Baltimore out to sea and to their next port of call. I’ve traveled this same shipping channel on container ships and now, I got to feel and experience it from the perspective of a swimmer.

Let me tell you, swimming in the channel was fucking awesome! 

It is also the deepest section of the swim; 50 feet and you feel a temperature drop. I was beyond comfortable with my sleeveless wetsuit and glad I had opted for it.

Mile 3

I am officially calling this section the Boom Boom mother fucker section.

This was by far the toughest section of the swim.  The head wind was strong and it created a relentless chop.  The frequency of each wave was fast making it hard to adapt a stroke rate and breathing rhythm.  The waves were not big.  Just harsh and relentless.  Hence the boom boom mother fucker section name. 

In this section you also felt like you were stuck in a washing machine cycle pulled in all directions. 

I had stored a gel inside my wetsuit for emergency purposes.  I felt this moment called for that gel and a tiny break.  I am glad I decided for the break in order to refuel and reset.   

Finish Line

Once you hit 4 miles, you know you are close to the finish line!  This is the section where you start hugging the Eastbound bridge sighting for buoy markers that indicate when to swim under the bridge. 

I was so happy to see the buoys and swim under the Eastbound bridge.

Once you clear the bridge, you start sighting for the next bright orange buoy that indicates the last turn and you swim to shore!  This section is roughly 700 yards as you swim parallel to the tall retaining concrete wall holding route 50/301 highway.  The water was super calm.  It was blissful to have this moment at the finish line.

The funniest part was my finish line moment!  

I swam until my hands hit the ground and then I jumped up and started running for the swim exit.  I passed the swim exit arch aka finish line but I kept running, unzipping my wetsuit thinking I was in transition, ready to hit the bike leg.  I stopped when I heard the announcer comment on why I was still running!     

A triathlete is always a triathlete.