We swam the canal

The flyer for swim the canal event stated that same day registration will take at the event, but since I didn’t know where exactly that would be, and I could use a walk anyway, I strolled in the direction of the canal through a street with no sidewalks. There wasn’t much traffic there: only the few cars with visitors to see the historic site of Canada.

There I found a few empty tents and approached a gentleman in a yellow “Swim the canal” T-shirt to ask him what and how. Turned out that Gordon is not only the organizer of the event, he and his wife approached Parks Canada 10 years ago and started it. His wife, a native of the region, used to swim in the canal as a kid, and was unhappy about the fact that this is no longer possible. The parks administration allowed the event to happen. From 70 people in the first edition, it grew to just over 300 with a cap of 400. Everyone gets a number and the volunteers check people off the list at the end. Simple enough, but the registration didn’t start till 13:00, so I went back to the boat to have lunch.

When I left the boat I saw something resembling an inflated plastic bag floating on the water. Turned out it was a huge flake of foam. Definitely man-made. At the little community center up the hill from the marina I found a foam party! Lots of kids running into a huge pillow. Presumably if kids are allowed to run in it, the foam shouldn’t be toxic for the marine environment either. Craziness!

In the meantime I got a message from Mark: a plane landing from Chicago went off the end of the runway at the Halifax airport and all flights were getting cancelled. Given how much effort it cost him to get to the airport in the first place, that was an insult added to injury.

The swim float

Julia, Diego and the kids pulled up to the marina at 2, which gave us just enough time to take some of their things aboard, get us three changed, walk over to have the numbers drawn on the forearms of Julia and Alina, and make it to the start 5 minutes before the horn.

People already started to jump into the water, and the water was indeed warm, so in we went. Once the horn was blown from the boat that was closing the procession, everyone else jumped in.

Most people swam slowly with inflatables, noodles or life vests. There were a few others who, like us, were moving a bit quicker, and a few faster swimmers in swim caps and goggles. Diego, Andres and Anya were walking along the shore with the dog taking pictures. I didn’t fully understand how this whole thing will take place — otherwise I would have taken the inflatable from the boat and get all 3 kids into the water.

We were way ahead of the crowd inside the lock, so there was a lot of wait time. Andres and Anya jumped into the water in whatever clothing they had — the water was too tempting not to do that. By then the 3 of us were in the water for half hour, so being able to climb onto the platform to warm up was great. Especially so when the sun would hide behind a cloud.

The party mood was in full swing. There was a live band, and when they started Sweet Caroline everyone sang along. Bob also played this local favorite during his gig at the sail club on Friday.

The locks closed behind us and the outer door was open together with the valves to drop the water inside. Once the inner door was open to a safe angle and the organisers let the swimmers through, there was a big cheer and we were floated out with the current. Luckily, the water outside was a bit warmer — Julia’s lips were turning blue and Alina started to shiver.

Once we were on the little beach at the end of the canal, the volunteers checking off attendance asked the Andres and Anya what their numbers were. To avoid confusion and extra questions I said that they just greeted us on the beach. We got watermelon and water, and finally warmed up in the blazing sun. Total time in the water: 1 hour.

Gordon told me that they ordered 350 T-Shirts, so there should be enough for everyone, but perhaps not in the right size. We stood around waiting since they wanted to make sure that pre-registered people got T-shirts in the right size and at the end there were plenty left, so Andres and Anya also got the shirts.

Getting to the dinner

We had 15 minutes before the store closed, so Diego and I accelerated and ended up being the last customers of the day. We got just enough for dinner and went back to the boat to get everyone settled in.

Georgi got pretty comfortable on the boat. Since he is small, his size allowed him to figure out how to go up and down the companionway. He hasn’t ventured onto the foredeck yet, and presumes that all beds and cushions are for him to enjoy (not necessarily so!).

Alina and Andres were jumping off the side until dinner. The rain, obviously, didn’t prevent them from enjoying the warm water. While attending the sailing camp, Alina figured out how to jump backwards and was happy to demonstrate that over and over.

The new dynamics is going to be quite different, especially given the fact that at least twice per day the dog will need to go ashore. The last time the family was aboard was 7 years ago, so there will be a learning curve for all, but (re)introduction to cruising on a big lake will be much smoother than had it been in open ocean waters.