I’ve done the New York City Triathlon for a few years now and I can attest that the swim is FAST. They time it so the tide is going out so the current is very strong. Last year I did it in 16.03.
So I’m getting ready for the race this weekend and I checked the tides to see how fast the current would be. But everywhere I look says that LOW tide is set for 4:33 AM and HIGH tide at 10:27 AM meaning that the tide will be coming in NOT going out. This means that we’ll be fighting the current not swimming with it. Plus tide height is 4.3 feet which is quite high for this area.
I looked up last year and high tide was at 2:28 AM and low tide was at 8:49. Tide height was 2.8 feet. Am I missing something? Swimming into the current is going to be very difficult for the strong swimmers and near impossible for weak swimmers.
I could be completely off base here… but it’s a river… Will tide really make the river flow upstream? Where will it go? The tide definitely effects the flow direction of the East “river”. river in quotes because I dont think it really is a river, it’s a tidal strait. I think we’re safe.
Maybe we’ll all just swim in the other direction… 70th up to 90th and they’ll make the run back down part of transition.
Ya, they should have moved the moon to line up with the race start. Or they could start in the race 6 hours later to make sure that you get that fastest split of the year ribbon…(-;
I think that RD’s have a certain date they can put on their race, and obviously it has to start in the morning, and it just didn’t work out this year to swim with the current, unless as someone else stated, they reverse the course… WHen I was competiting as a lifeguard, the tides could make or break your race, depending on your strenghts, kind of like weather. Too high, and the soft sand runners were in control, negative tide, and the hard pack guys that had great run outs were setting the pace. But we never planned a race according to what the tides would be, they just are…
The Hudson is tidal all the way to Albany meaning that the river rises and falls. When the river is rising, water is flowing up river (or more appropriately, the river’s current is flowing into the rising tide which acts like a dam, raising the flowing water). So close to the ocean, New York bay is quite tidal. I’ve been kayaking and swimming in the Hudson many times and going against the tide is not fun. Just as swimming with the current is a huge advantage, swimming into it is near impossible.
Also, they definitely didn’t switch the swim start/finish. They couldn’t start at 79th street and finish downtown because south of the 79th street boat basin are the piers of the Upper West Side. There are small inlets, remnants of old piers, etc. You couldn’t swim through there. They technically could start the swim at 79th street and end at 100th, but then you’d need to run 1.5KM back to the transition area (which are just south of the 79th street boat basin). There is a gap in the Hudson Greenway Path between the start and the finish so they couldn’t do that even if they wanted to.
There must be more to this. Hopefully I’m missing something on those tide charts. The RD would not miss something like this. And they wouldnt be advertising the fast swim- tides can be predicted months/years in advance.
OK, I have no idea how to read a tidal chart, but from what I gather it says the low tide starts at 5:27a and high tide is at 11:34a? So, that means when the race starts it will be a low tide. Is it better to swim in the Hudson during a low tide or a high tide? Which produces the faster current - low or high?
And does “moonset” at 7:53a mean?
I checked my wave start and it’s 6:32a. Hopefully that’s a good ‘tidal’ time.
Basically the current is faster as we go from high to low tides. Thinking simplistically, for the tide to go down the water needs to go out to sea. This means the tide and the current are flowing together = fast swim.
We’re all going to be dealing with a slower current - and probably a slowing current. Early is better this year.
Thanks for the explanation. The OP made it sound like we could be against the current. I could care less if it is a slower current that last year, as long as it is with me
My wave is 6:32a so hopefully that will work out fine.
From another site:
2008-07-20 01:45 AM EDT -0.00 knots Slack, Ebb Begins
2008-07-20 05:18 AM EDT -2.30 knots Max Ebb
2008-07-20 05:41 AM EDT Sunrise
2008-07-20 07:53 AM EDT Moonset
2008-07-20 08:54 AM EDT 0.00 knots Slack, Flood Begins
2008-07-20 11:01 AM EDT 1.47 knots Max Flood
2008-07-20 02:01 PM EDT -0.00 knots Slack, Ebb Begins
2008-07-20 05:28 PM EDT -2.02 knots Max Ebb
Basically this means the current is strongest at 5:18am and is gradually slowing until 8:54am, at which time it’s still water, and then it starts going against us.
Last wave goes off at 7:54. They still get the benefit of some current in their favor the whole swim. I trust you won’t still be swimming at 8:55.
Thanks for the explanation. The OP made it sound like we could be against the current. I could care less if it is a slower current that last year, as long as it is with me
I read that whole thread and thought we were swimming against the current until I read that post by Wingnut.
I’ve done NYC Triathlon for five or maybe even six years. Honestly don’t remember (and don’t care either) but my point is the notion that the tide will always be on your side is wrong. Everytime the RD mentions this during the orientation and everybody claps I actually wince. He should mention that in 2002 - the second year it was held, the tide was definitely going against the swimmer and that many did not finish the swim. In 2003 they cancelled the swim altogether. The claim that it is the fastest Oly swim in triathlon has some truth to it as I’ve also swam 16s and 18s during the race but it is not completely true as mentioned above.
I don’t study tide forecasts and any of that stuff but a good personal indication as to the tide is the 1.5K Tune-up-Swim that is organized by the Manhattan Island Foundation and held in the same river (although about a mile lower) at around the same time of the day a week before. I’ve done that Tune-up swim as well and on years that the Tune-up swim was anti-tide (swimming against the tide), then the NYC Tri would be the same. Last year in the Tune-up swim we were swimming with the tide and a week later we swam with the tide in the NYC Tri. This year we swam against the tide in the Tune-up swim. At around 7 AM, the tide going north was so strong that the swim was delayed and almost cancelled. We eventually did the swim but only after 8:20 when the tide slowed a bit. We still swam against the tide though. Based on my personal experience I am anticipating the worse case scenario for NYC Tri this year - meaning swimming against the tide. Mind you, the Hudson tide can be strong enough that MIF cancelled two swim races in the hudson just a few weeks ago because of the tide. We were let go but after 20 minutes of swimming the Coast Guard plucked us out of the water because we were heading nowhere. This was a swim only race with hardore swimmers - the type that swam around manhattan. You get the drift.
It is what it is and the RD can do nothing about it. By any stretch of the imagination can I see him reversing the swim course… Tides, hills, weather, unforseen events are all what make this sport interested.
If the swim is indeed against the current this year, I am utterly and completely screwed. My swimming sucks to begin with, and I dialed my swim training back even more than usual this year because I kept hearing about this race’s fast swim (and the only other tri I am doing this year is a sprint). Shame on me for that line of thinking, but as of right now, I’m hoping either the tides change or they change this race to a duathlon (which would be better for me anyway as running is my strongest discipline)…
