Trans Tahoe Relay Swim

The Trans Tahoe Relay starts at Sand Harbor and ends 11.5 miles later at Skylandia, near Tahoe City. In between is a whole lot of very cold, very deep, very blue water, and on this particular day, six of my friends took turns swimming through it while I captained the boat alongside them.

No wetsuits allowed. The format: each swimmer does a 30 minute swim followed by 10-minute legs, tagging in and out until the team reaches the finish. We had a cowbell on board to ring at each swimmer's halfway point, a little signal that they were closer to the boat ladder than they thought.

My husband Kyle and I split boat duty, trading off so one of us always had a hand on the wheel while the other rang the cowbell, handed out towels, or helped with sunscreen. I spent a good chunk of the day shooting photos between steering the boat, trying to catch each swimmer mid-stroke before the next handoff.

What struck me most was the rhythm and how each swimmer would work up to their flow state after the initial shock of jumping in and working past the adrenaline. Someone would finish their leg looking completely spent, haul themselves up the ladder shivering, and within a minute be leaning over the side yelling encouragement to whoever had just jumped in. The tiredness didn't cancel the cheering. If anything it fueled it.

By the time Carrie took the last leg, everyone on the boat knew it was close. As she neared the giant orange buoys signaling the finish line was near, the rest of the team didn't wait to watch from the boat. They jumped back in, all of them, and swam the last stretch together, finishing side by side after a day spent taking turns suffering alone in the cold water.

I didn't swim a stroke of that relay, but I don't think I've ever been more invested in a finish line. Watching people commit to something this hard, and then jump back in for someone else's last hundred yards, is the kind of thing that's hard to explain unless you've seen it up close. Cheering on my friends behind the wheel and the lens was the best seat on the lake.