Raising Awareness of the Bay Through Open Water Swimming
As Marylanders, we all appreciate and value the great resource that is the Chesapeake Bay. I spend a lot of time focusing on the building industry's impact on the Bay (and the Bay's impact on the industry!) on this blog, but every once in a while, it's nice to be reminded that the Bay is many things to many people. Today's post is guest authored by Bill Shipp, a partner with O'Malley, Miles, Nylen & Gilmore, P.A.
Raising Awareness of the Bay Through Open Water Swimming
On June 13, 2010, approximately 600 swimmers of all ages will once again attempt to swim
across the Chesapeake Bay. The annual event is one of the premier open water events in the United States covering a 4.4 mile course swum mostly between the two spans of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The swimmers leave the beach at Sandy Point State Park in two waves with hopes of finishing on the eastern shore near Hemingway’s Restaurant. The swim has become a right of passage for competitive swimmers, triathletes, fitness swimmers and open water swimming enthusiasts. Some will finish in less than 2 hours but most will take between two and three hours to complete the rigorous swim. The length of time required to complete the swim is effected by wave height, strength of the currents and other race conditions.
The race is scored by time with participants ranked by their finish overall and within their own age group and gender. Some enter the race to compete for the best time and to achieve top placement, however, many enter the swim for the sense of accomplishment achieved by swimming singlehandedly across the Bay. The challenging nature of the swim and the majesty of viewing the bay and the two spans of the bridges from water level make this one of the most popular open water swims in the nation.
In addition to providing a venue for a top open water event, the Bay Swim also provides a platform to raise awareness of the Chesapeake Bay and to promote efforts to aide in its restoration. Through entry fees and charitable donations, the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim has raised over $1 million dollars for charities. In addition to the March of Dimes, money has been donated to a variety of Bay-related organizations including, The Chesapeake Bay Trust; The National Aquarium, Bay Restoration Project; The Chesapeake Bay Foundation; The Chesapeake Bay Power Boat Association; and CRAB- Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating.
The Chesapeake Bay Trust is representative of the sponsored non-profits with a stated mission to increase stewardship through grant programs, special initiatives, and partnerships that support environmental education, on-the-ground restoration, and community engagement activities.
Funding provided by the Trust sparks on-the-ground change in communities throughout Maryland and works to cultivate a new generation of Bay stewards. Thus, participants in the swim are not only enjoying an open water swim, they are helping to promote organizations actively involved in promoting stewardship of the Bay.
This kind of active outreach and cross promotion of recreation and environmental awareness is a key to long term efforts to educate future generations on the efforts to restore the Bay.
For many, the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to test themselves and to swim across Maryland’s most magnificent body of water. For others, it is an annual test of endurance and a great source of camaraderie with fellow open water swimmers. Some will swim the Bay once while others have made over 20 crossings - but for everyone, the experience is never forgotten and never gets old.
Bill Shipp is an attorney at OMNG and is a LEED AP. This will be his fourth Bay crossing.
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