WHAT IT’S LIKE TO SWIM ACROSS LAKE TAHOE
What’s it like to swim across Lake Tahoe? I can tell you.
I thought I’d turn into a Popsicle, but as it turned out, the water temperature hovered at a balmy 65 degrees in July, when I swam across Lake Tahoe as part of a six-person relay team.
That’s well above the 55 degrees we’d braced for, and barely cold enough to raise goose bumps, as long as you keep moving. And thank goodness for that, because wetsuits aren’t allowed in the Trans Tahoe Relay, which starts in Nevada and finishes roughly 10 miles away in California.
Bret Cunningham, who swims on the same U.S. Masters Swim Team that I do, invited me and my husband to join him for the race. Three other swimmers — David Bruns, Kaleigh Mitchell and Lauren Lubus, all from different parts of the country — flew in to round out our group. We’d each swim a 30-minute leg, then alternate 10-minute turns until we reached the finish.
The Olympic Club of San Francisco hosts the event, which starts at Sand Harbor and finishes in Skylandia. Along the way, swimmers cross the deepest section of the lake, which plunges a mile straight down. (Yikes!) This year marked the 42nd running of the relay, and it drew former Olympians, collegiate swimmers and recreational athletes just out for a nice cruise.
Things I noticed as our team made its slow but steady way across the lake? A massive flotilla of boats, bobbing along in support of the swimmers. The way shafts of light flickered
deep into the lake. The cool, full-body hug from Mother Nature. The deep green of the pine trees standing shoulder to shoulder all the way around the basin. The peace and insulated quiet that comes when you’re immersed in water. The splashing and underwater burbling noises. The vague outline of distant mountain peaks, glimpsed with every breath.
And the blue that goes on forever.
I love to swim, and swim four or five days a week here in Austin. Lake Tahoe now ranks in the top five most beautiful places I’ve ever gone swimming. (The bay in Kona, Hawaii, makes that list, as do a few pristine high alpine lakes along the John Muir Trail and High Sierra Trail in California. I also love Walden Pond in Massachusetts, Lake Michigan, the Narrows near Blanco, the ocean around Fiji, Barton Springs, a place called Half Moon Caye off the coast of Belize, a springfed pool on Independence Creek in West Texas, and about a dozen other places, so I guess I actually can’t pick just five.)
In all, more than 1,100 athletes competed in this year’s race, which is staged in four groups, based on cumulative age and spaced 10 minutes apart. Team boats are decked out in an array of inflatable flamingos, pirate flags, helium balloons and at least one giant yellow rubber duck. One boat had its own slide, so swimmers could gracefully glide into the lake to make their relay exchanges.
It took us four hours and 52 minutes to chug our way across the lake. I lucked out and drew the last leg, which meant I got to tag the big buoy marker off the beach and swim in to shore, where lots of families and friends lined the dock to watch.
It costs $750 a team to enter the Lake Tahoe race. That’s a lot, but consider this — it’s divided among six people, and proceeds benefit Keep Tahoe Blue, a nonprofit organization that works to protect water quality of the lake, and the parks departments in the villages where the race starts and finishes. Teams also need a support boat. We rented one from a marina near the race start.
If you’re interested in racing next year, go to transtahoerelay.com for more information.
Lake Tahoe’s too far to go? Consider racing in the Lake Travis Relay, set this year for Oct. 20. This year’s 10- to 12-mile race starts and finishes near Emerald Point on Lake Travis. Entry fee is $360 (plus $15 a person for ASA membership); registration fees increase Sept. 17 and Sept. 30. Go to laketravisrelay.com for more information.
Another chance to run naked
A year and a half ago, I laced up my shoes, shucked off my clothes and ran the Bare Buns 5K race as part of my self-proclaimed Year of Adventure.
Aside from a little awkwardness when I first stripped down, I enjoyed the run. I know it sounds absurd, but once the starting horn sounded, it felt just like any other timed run — only with better airflow. It also marked the first (and only) time I won the overall women’s division of a running race, probably because most of the competition was male.
That Bare Buns race takes place in the spring, when flowers are blooming and butterflies are fluttering. Now Star Ranch Nudist Resort, a private residential community east of Austin in McDade, has added a second naked run to its schedule. This time, leaves will be falling from trees as the runners take off.
The Chilly Cheeks 5K is scheduled for Oct. 13, and pre-registration is open at starranch.net/5k-bare-bunsrun.html.
Although runners can wear whatever clothing they want (sports bras for women, for example), most go nude except for shoes. For the Bare Buns 5K, I wore shoes and a cowboy hat, which blew off my head. That race drew about 120 runners, most of whom didn’t live at the park. The residents were enthusiastic, though, handing out timing chips and directing athletes along the course. Afterward, everyone gathered by the newly renovated swimming pool for a celebration and burger cookoff.
The Chilly Cheeks race starts at 1 p.m. A 1K kids fun run is set for 10 a.m. Entry fee is $30 for adults and $10 for children. Sign up online at starranch.net.
Star Ranch opened in 1957. The resort is member resort of the American Association for Nude Recreation. The Bare Buns 5K and the Chilly Cheeks 5K are part of a series of naked races in the organization’s Southwest region. For more information, contact the Star Ranch office at 512-273-2257, go to starranch.net or email info@starranch.net.