Funny and Weird Open Water Swimming Stories: Ask the Community Series
The Odyssey Open Water Swimming blog isn’t just about our company — it’s about, and for, the open water swimming community! We recently started an “Ask the Community” series. Each week, we’ll be asking a new question, and your responses will be published here on the blog.
Swimming in the open water can be safe, but surprises often arise. In the first part of this series, we asked you for funny or weird open water swimming stories. Here is what we received.
Swimmer Stories
“Getting lost in the fog at Stone Lagoon Humboldt County and ending up where we started.” - Miradorglass (Instagram)
“In 2010 I did the Tallchief Open Water Challenge in Oklahoma. I did the the two mile distance, which was two loops of an out and back course.
As I was finishing my first loop I got punched in the eye by a swimmer going the opposite direction. I remember very distinctly that the vision in that eye slowly faded to black like you would see in a cartoon. I took my goggles off thinking they were broken, but they were fine. In fact, everything was fine except I couldn't see out of that eye. I put my goggles on and completed the second loop.
When I finished, I walked up on shore and took my goggles off. There was an audible gasp from all the spectators and race crew on shore. While I was swimming the second loop my eye started to swell, but since I had goggles on all the swelling was trapped in my eyepiece. It looked like I had a big purple lump where I should have had an eye. There was a "doctor in the house" and he took a quick look and said it would be fine. Gradually the swelling went down and it turned into a big, beautiful black eye. This picture was taken about five hours after the race.” - Marshall King (Facebook)
“Looking to my left on a breath and seeing a baby water moccasin. Yikes! I swim in Alabama. Crazy, I know.” - Cold_shank (Instagram)
“I swam across Lake Arrowhead (in Lake Arrowhead, California) for a pre-dawn swim. The water was about 52 degrees. When I turned around to go back where I came from, the sun had risen and was shining directly in my eyes and I could not figure out which direction to go. All I could see was a long row of trees and boat docks. To make matters worse, boat traffic had picked up on the lake, so I was vulnerable.
So I swam across the lake keeping an eye out for boats, and got out and my feet were sticking to the frozen boat docks. It was cold and I was without a wetsuit.
I walked to the road and flagged down a construction worker, while standing on the road in my speedo, shivering on an early cold March morning.
The construction worker drove me back to the lodge and I spent the next few hours very, very cold.
The lessons: always have a solid swim plan and don’t overextend yourself to a place that puts you in a vulnerable situation.” - sonicboom1234 (Instagram)
“I used to swim with a buoy for my stuff. One choppy day it took on water and started dragging me. My stuff and phone was floating around. Amazingly, the phone worked but Face ID and portrait mode were forever disabled. That’s when I bought a Garmin.” - Walzmusic (Instagram)
Thank you to everyone who submitted a funny, weird, or scary story about swimming in the open water. Stay tuned for additional opportunities to participate in the community and to be featured on the Odyssey Open Water Swimming blog!