The annual Motor City Mile open water swim will be held on July 3 off of Belle Isle. 3 races: 1/2 mile; 1 mile and 5K. More information and registration at www.different-strokes.com
This is a great opportunity to get some open water swim practice in if you can handle getting whipped by 14 year olds ;-). This event is very popular with the local age group swim crowd and at least a few nationally ranked swimmers show up too but the number of masters entrants is growing (there were almost 100 last year) and everyone is welcome.
I did the race 3 years ago and I’ve watched my daughters the last few years.
The current is not bad as the main channel is on the other side of the island. There is just enough of a current to get some practice dealing with one but not enough to make it a hard course. The course is a triangle that heads east (up river) for about a 1/4 mile then west (down stream) for about half a mile) then cuts back at an angle for about 1/4 mile back to the start. The last leg is the only one where I felt the effect of the current. You do have to compensate a little for drift on this leg and you do feel like you are not going quite as fast as you should be but again, it is good practice but not enough to take the fun out of it.
As for wetsuits, they are allowed. About half the masters enterants are triathletes and they wear wetsuits so you won’t look out of place wearing one.The last few years the water has been in the low to mid 70’s so it is very doable without one though. None of the kids wear them and I never heard anyone complaining about being cold (On the other hand, one of my daughters is still complaining about the piece of seaweed that touched one of her legs last year so if it was cold I surely would have heard about it).