I participated in the Seeüberquerung this year.
About 6500 people swam from the Strandbad Mythenquai across the Lake
Zurich to the Strandbad Tiefenbrunnen.
I had to bail after the 800m mark, and even that I swam with about 10
breaks!
Things I learned:
My breaststroke technique sucks. I use too much of my upper body,
whereas most of the propulsion should come from the legs. This caused me
to get tired every 100m or so.
Swimming open waters is very different from swimming in pools: You
have waves, the floor is invisible, there is no option of swimming to
the side and resting, and looking to the other side is much scarier
I’d signed up for the event only after seeing that there
will be resting boats throughout the swim path for people who get tired,
with an option to be carried to the other end in a boat.
Some impressions:
There were resting boats every 50m. I’d signed up for the
event only because I read there will be boats, with an option to be
carried to the other shore any time. But having so many (23) boats over
the 1500m path allowed me to go from boat to boat, hanging out with the
lifeguards along the way.
The warmup session was the best part of the event for me! Whoever
the person leading the warmup session was, he was amazing. I usually
don’t like group aerobics sessions, but this was a different game.
Overall the event was very well organised – from the compost
toilets, to the batching of swimmers over comfortable time periods, to
the aforementioned resting boats with expert lifeguards, it was very
smooth.
I am motivated to improve my technique and participate next year!
