Going to be in Madison this weekend for a wedding. staying st the sheraton. What are the open water swim options? Can you swim the IM course?
You can swim in front of the convention center. Depending when you planned on swimming there are some groups that swim there regularly. Mostly in the morning.
Just a heads up: the exceptionally warm weather has made the lakes exceptionally disgusting this year. People are still swimming in them, but man they are slimy and stinky (the lakes and the people when they finish their swim).
Kevin
Some other smaller beaches and places to swim as well…disgusting, I don’t know. I grew up swimming in ponds and wading through swamps…takes some pretty nasty stuff to bug me. Anyway, it largely depends on the wind direction. Crap accumulates where the wind blows it, takes a good wind a day or so in the opposite direction to reverse that. In general visibility is pretty low in all the Madison lakes right now between the fourth of July boaters and the phytoplankton.
Picnic point, Warner beach, yahara park, governor Nelson etc. all decent spots to get into the water from as well. There is some muck and seaweed to wade through most days in most places. The Monona Terrace (law park) is nice to swim off of in that there is a pier and usually a group of folks at 6:00 am down there.
If you really want a beautiful swim and have a little time to burn, Devils lake is about 40 minutes from Madison and is clean and clear.
Wherever you go be careful, lots of boats everywhere on the lakes. We start drinking on the lake early here in Wisconsin apparently too. A bright swim cap and a heightened sense of awareness of ones surroundings are the minimums.
The water is NASTY! Really bad this year b/c of the early heat in May and warm nights. The algae is up, a lot, meaning the algae-eating snakes are out in force. They won’t bother you, but, they are pretty disgusting.
anyone know if there are any groups meeting this fri, sat, or sun to swim? If so, where and what time? What days does the 6am group meet?
The snakes are worse than they were in 2010. I heard an 8 footer washed up on shore.
Just saw on the local news last night that Lake Monona’s and Mendota’s blue algae levels are higher than they’ve ever been. Blue algae is semi-toxic to humans, but really toxic to pets; the report said that hundreds of dogs die from blue algae ingestion each year (dozens in WI area). So… if you do swim in our disgusting Madison lakes, be sure to watch the water ingestion and clean thoroughly afterward.
I did 4 different open water swim in Madison when I came from Tucson. The local pool wasn’t open yet and I couldn’t afford day passes anywhere else so I did the following: http://www.thomasgerlach.com/2012/05/ironman-wisconsin-madison-open-water.html
Keep in mind these swims are kind of nuts but the reason I swam across Monona on that particular day was because it was disgusting and I figured the water quality would be better in the middle of the lake. I definitely don’t recommend anyone trying to emulate my swims but if you are nuts, the James Madison to Picnic Point swim is probably going to be your cleanest swim. You can walk out a couple hundred meters before you even have to put your face in the water.
Thanks everyone. Guess I will skip OWS this weekend after reading ask these posts.
anyone know if there are any groups meeting this fri, sat, or sun to swim? If so, where and what time? What days does the 6am group meet? it’s pretty informal. Usually someone there swimming everyday, most are friendly folks who’d be happy to have another.
If you are in town now there is a aquathon tomorrow night at Warner Park. Fun, some relatively fast folks usually swim it and the adrenaline helps you forget the water quality. Nice 5k after the 1k swim.
Myself and a friend did about a mile today in Mendota near where they hold the aquathon. Was quite warm, maybe 76 but not bad at all off the shoreline. More weeds than others may like but I swam a bit further out on the return and had pretty smooth sailing asidforgot seeing a big carp.
If I wasn’t planning a wetsuit race in two weeks I’d put mine away for the season. IMoo might have its first wetsuit illegal swim if this trend keeps up. And putting the thermometer down fifty feet will only serve to have a race with hundreds of heat stressed swimmers 
.
Water temp gauges indicate the water is 86. Ouch
86 is bad. Yuck! 2nd all the above about how gross they are now. Best bet is as Thomas said Picnic Point to James Madison. Public Health tests the waters at Madison beaches periodically, with closures and open beaches listed at the link below. If you do decide to go, I would check this first.
Water temp gauges indicate the water is 86. Ouch
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?05429000 yeah Monona is hot, i havent been in there in a couple weeks but 86 yeah thats soup. I don’t know how it will cool by IM. Mendota is a bit cooler by virtue of being larger and deeper but still pretty warm.
The place in Monona where the gauge is at is a shallow part of Monona Bay, so the water temp there fluctuates a bit more easily and is generally higher this time of year than the bulk water temp.
That being said, it is definitely warm. I swam in Monona over by the IM start last Friday. Water temp in the top few feet was probably 78-82* in most places but there were a few warm patches where it was probably 90*+. Heading east from the Ironman start has been the best water I’ve found in Madison lately- just swim out a bit first to avoid a patch of weeds near the shore.
Of the other places I’ve swam recently, Picnic Point was pretty smelly and Governor Nelson is extraordinarily mucky. I’ll be at Warner tonight, crossing my fingers it won’t be too bad…
The weeds @ Governor Nelson were awful during Capital View a month ago.
I haven’t been in Wingra lately, but earlier this year it was pretty clear I thought. Entering at the boat landing, you had to fight thru weeds for less than 100 yards, then it was fine beyond that. I’m surprised more people don’t mention this lake, given its decent size and minimal boat traffic.
Wingra tends to be hotter and weedier than the other two by midsummer. I only go there early in the season- at this point it’s not really worth it to fight through all the plants. The last time I was there the weeds were pretty bad. It’s a great lake to swim in during May, though!