I mean without a boat to assist them, just by themselves and on a regular basis as like in practice. I consulted several books on the subject but they were unclear as to whether such swimmers did the practice at all let alone how it was done, which was what I was really after. Does anyone know?
There is that problem, yes. but sharks eat people right up to the shoreline, and people still go in the water. I'm going to try writing a story where one salient point is where a long distance swimmer finds herself swept out to sea out of sight of land and she is most distressed; but would this happen, or is it a common occurrence for long distance swimmers to find themselves out of sight of land, and what do they do when that happens?
It is not possible to be swept out to sea out of sight of land. That would require more than 50 miles. The sharks would eat you long before then.
I don't know but I would say a big NO. Without a compass and a mark (land) a swimmer would be in big trouble if they didn't know which way to swim when they decided to go home.
I wouldn't think they would unnecessarily endanger themselves while training. What would be the point of that?
I've been in swimming clubs and no one swims on their own out to sea! We do swim lakes on our own though and when you're a mile from the edge it can be a sobering experience. It's why we do it though the added danger makes you feel alive no self respecting lake swimmer would be happy unless they are out of their depth and in at least a little danger. I am the only smoker I ever met at a swimming club lol.
Most of the books I read gave the impression that was most common way, but what about Channel swimmers, don't they practice at the beach
Thank you, that's helpful to know. Where I live there is a nearby resort that has Lifeguards and one of the tests for them is to swim parallel to the beach for quite a distance. Would long distance swimmers do that as practice? Also, do distance swimmers "zone out" like runners and just sort of swim along and forget they're swimming?
Is it Nessie lol? Sod that jump in the local reservoir/lake and swim it until you feel like you're going to drown!* Don't swim too close to the pumping station when it's on I found that out the other night lol. Long term goal have a spliff in the middle of a lake. *Don't actually do that it's not fun
I normally just say over and over again I need to quit smoking ha ha ha. This is literally what I do! I find you end up thinking mundane things a lot like driving and you forget your swimming lol. Seagulls do harass you in the UK which is interesting and you know exactly where you are then lol. NEVER swim outside your comfort zone I have twice and it's not good when you think you're going to drown I don't recommend it. I used to be able to swim ~7 miles at the moment it's around 2.5 miles need to get back in shape. Just gone wrong side of 40!
Even in a canoe I've paddled the long route close to shore rather than take a straight shot across a large lake. Because if a big squall springs up quickly I want to be on shore, not struggling in the middle hoping to soon shake and bail the boat and recover my gear. The larger the body of water the more wind fetch and the larger the waves.
You have to do a 6 hour qualifying swim which I was going to do but then didn't lol. I would die if I tried to do it now
there was a crew member who fell off a cruise ship this summer, spent over a day in the water before another ship spotted him/her...yeah I know that's not a deliberate long distance swimmer but I thought that pretty amazing, the tenacity not to give up or panic was an incredible feat...
when you're swimming in the sea you only need to be a few of miles out not to see land the low viewpoint can make it difficult. I've been swimming in the English channel only 6 miles from shore and we could see nothing of the land when in the water. (We were swimming off a boat) On the boat we could see it fine.
well your eyes would be only a couple inches above water, add some wave action and yeah I don't imagine you need to go far before you get lost...
I have a sister who had a freaky ability to swim long distances when she was young...swim across a lake and back, no hesitation...she could float/tread really high out of the water too, I suppose being extra buoyant helped... my oldest brother swam rivers which in itself is a different ability than lakes or open ocean, with very strong currents, he said the secret was not to fight the current(don't panic) and let it take you the direction it's going...as a young teen he'd swim cross the Rhine river with his buddies...
In the Mississippi you have to realize that a towboat pilot probably won't see you, and even if he does he's got no brakes and about 68,000 tons of inertia if he's pushing 5 x 9 wired tow all loaded, especially going downstream. If you go through the wheels it'll cut your head off just like cutting the spoon off a 150 lb. paddlefish.
Even a barge at rest tied up to shore does strange things to current and if you get too close will try to suck you under the barge. A lot of kids on boogie boards get killed that way.
as my brother told me people panic when they swim rivers because they have a landing point in mind directly across from where they enter maybe only a 100-200 meters but the reality is your landing spot is going depend on the current, it could be a 1 or more kms downstream...and that's when panic sets in for the inexperienced, even strong swimmers can panic...
Never fight the current but in reality if you can't swim for at least 3 hours without touching the bottom you have no business in a river. Sounds like your brother is a smart man, I'd love to go swimming with him.