Tour de Mercer 2010

Happy 38th Anniversary! Read about the first historical tour by current tour swimmer and parent John Vranesh, and past years' tours in 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006.

In 1972, John Vranesh and Mark Ralston swam a two-man relay around the island in a single day, raising money for the American Cancer Society in memory of John's father. John has been back on the current Tour de Mercer every year since its rebirth in 2004.

In 2002, Logan Gee and Keith Jarrett (accompanied by Adam Nystrom, in a rowboat!) swam around Mercer Island in a single day, to honor their friend Brett Storie. In 2004, Sean Sussex duplicated their feat, and raised money along the way for the Brett Storie Fund. The Masters swim group at Mercerwood Shoreclub (many of whom knew Logan, Sean and Brett) thought this sounded like a lot of fun; but as people with jobs (and mostly over 35, and several over 50), a single-day swim was overly ambitious.

Dave Landes came up with the idea of swimming the circuit in stages, ala the Tour de France. Everyone loved the idea, but we quickly realized what was missing: the overall leader of the Tour de France wears a yellow jersey (the maillot jaune) to signify his position. This seemed impractical for the leader of the Tour de Mercer; but Mike Schaeffer, as usual, was quick to offer an alternative. And so it was born, in 2004: The Tour de Mercer: Chasing the Yellow Thong. (Mike's initial suggestion of the yellow thong lives on, not only as the award: Dave Landes can't get off of the catalog mailing list).

The Tour was held in 8 stages in the inaugural year, starting on a Friday in late August, and continuing every other day until the Friday two weeks later. Subsequent Tours have been held in 6 stages, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday during two weeks in summer, and, like the Tour de France, alternating between clockwise and counterclockwise directions from year to year. In 2010, for the first time, the Tour will take place in just 5 stages, with a single rest day between each stage.

Since 2005, swimmers of the Tour have included donations to several charitable organizations; each of these has a special meaning to one or more of our swimmers:

• the Brett Storie Scholarship Fund
• the UW Experimental Education Unit
• the Stanley Stamm Children's Hospital Camp
• the Marsha Rivkin Ovarian Cancer Research Center
• the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
• the Virgina Mason Isolated Limb Infusion Melanoma Team

The 2010 Tour de Mercer begins on July 24, and goes counter-clockwise from Mercerwood Shoreclub, the traditional start and finish point.

Touristas --

After a tie vote on the proposed new and improved schedule, a decision has been made! Tour de Mercer 2010 will be swum in 5 stages, from Saturday, July 24 through Sunday, August 1, with only one day off between each stage. We hope that will allow more swimmers to complete the entire Tour, without the conflict from those pesky summer vacations. And there will be no work obligations interfering with our celebration and awards after stage 5; maybe this year our winners will actually model their prize thongs in public!

Volunteers wanted!

I need help! Please let me know what you'd like to do:

Send me email if you can help!

Tourinos --

Only a week to prepare: I hope everyone has checked out their wetsuit and/or birthday suit, to ensure all is in good working order for the start of the Seventh Tour de Mercer. There are a few pieces of news to report:

• Our collections department has selected a charity for donations: the Virgina Mason Isolated Limb Infusion Melanoma cancer treatment team. Our most experienced Tour member, John Vranesh, is currently undergoing treatment there, so we have a real connection and reason to give.
• After a leisurely swim in the lake today, I can report that the water is fine!

Since, this year, we're starting and ending on the weekend, we can take advantage of a slightly less brutal start time. So logistics for Saturday the 24th are:

• Gather at Luther Burbank park at 6:30a, in the north lot.
• We'll arrange rides back to Mercerwood Shoreclub for the start, and try to be in the water by 7:15a.
• Swim back to Luther Burbank, a short 3000 meter sprint. This is the shortest stage of the Tour — sprinters rule!!

Please, everybody, if you haven't already done so by email, check in with Howard, and let him know which stages you plan to swim. Check the spreadsheet to make sure your information is correct. Of special note: there will be T-shirts this year, but extras are highly unlikely, so make sure your order is in by the start of the Tour.

Questions? Let me know: send an email to Howard, your friendly Tour director.

Smooth like buttah!

What a beautiful way to start the 7th annual Tour de Mercer! Clear blue skies, warm, flat, flat water, and thanks to the later weekend start, a chance to sleep before the swim.

We counted 27 people who left the dock at Mercerwood Shoreclub, just after 7am, heading north under the bridge towards Luther Burbank. As usual, most wore wetsuits, and thanks to a bit of a jump, Dave T finished in his customary first place, along with Joseph L and John vV, just ahead of last week's Fat Salmon winner Tom G. And thankfully, 27 people, more or less, got out of the water, 45 minutes to an hour or so later!

Thank you to our boat escorts, Q & Paul G, and Matt P, who kept us headed in a straight line, approximately; strangely on such a beautiful morning, there was very little boat traffic and few skiers to contend with.

If you haven't already done so, there are two ways to make your donation:

1. find Scott W at your next swim to deliver a check made out to "VM Foundation", with "Tour de Mercer" in the notes section.
2. to donate online, go to https://www.virginiamason.org/home/body.cfm?id=1222&action=donate; in the section that asks "Please direct my gift toward one of the following areas:", please type Tour de Mercer.

Plan for Stage 2: After Saturday's sprint, Stage 2 is the shortest of the remaining stages, at ~2.4 miles. Be ready to meet up at Calkins Landing, SE 28th St & 60th Ave. SE by 5:30 to arrange carpools back to Luther Burbank, and expect to be in the water by 6:00. Calkins Landing is a small street-end park just a couple of blocks south of the I90 park; there's plenty of parking and a nice, non-rocky beach.

Over the Top

After a quick gathering at Calkins Landing, we carpooled back to Luther Burbank, and jumped off the docks in the early morning sunrise. The milfoil was high, but the water was smooth and warm, making for a spectacular ride over the top of the island.

Under protest from Tom G, Dave T again finished first (Tom's protest doesn't hold water), and is leading the men's chase for the Yellow Thong. The women's division found last year's winner Sarah H finishing first, but the Pink Thong chase has Cory M in the lead.

Again, thank you to Matt P and Debbie ? for safely escorting the swimmers around the docks, barges and ski boats between Luther and Calkins.

Plan for Stage 3, Wednesday, July 28:
Warming up for Friday's ultra!
5:30 meet up at the parking lot above Groveland Park and arrange or beg a ride back to Calkins Landing. We should try to be in the water a little before 6:00.

Because of the length and straight-line course of this stage, we're asking that you swim relatively close to shore, rather than out in the middle of the lake. In addition, for this and the rest of the stages:

1. All swimmers should find or claim a buddy to be responsible for. You don't have to swim together, but you are responsible for ensuring that your buddy is accounted for at the end of the swim, before you leave the beach.
2. At least one buddy pair should remain at the beach until the final swimmer comes in. Just in case a buddy has to return to the water, there should still be someone at the beach.
3. We'll plan to start in two waves: the slower swimmers (self-selected; you're on the honor system) should get about a 5 minute lead on the rest. This should keep us from getting too spread out, and make our boaters' jobs a teeny bit less stressful.

Thanks for understanding. We all know (or should know) that this is a swim-at-your-own-risk endeavor; here's hoping that we can make it just a little safer for all.

Across the mountains

As predicted, the southerly winds we noticed Monday morning were still around to slap us in the arms and face for the full distance of stage 3. Luckily, we had two boats and two kayaks, and cloudy skies to keep the sun from blinding our escorts' eyes, and all made it safely to Groveland.

For a change, age and guile overcame youthful enthusiasm, and Tom G was able to sneak past Dave T for a legitimate stage win. On the other hand, Cory M is unchallenged, apparently, as the leader in the chase for the pink thong … and without a wetsuit!

Thanks to our kayakers Matt P and Hannah & Patty G, and boaters Dave E and Sarah & John V (welcome back John!).

Today's requests:

1. Please check the spreadsheet at http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tAZ5IG5KCR9V8oHHHKwzKTQ&output=html and let me know:
   1. if you see any incorrect or missing information, and
   2. if you plan to swim or boat the remaining two stages.
   3. if you have any extra! boaters for the remaining two stages.
2. Please make sure you've made your donation (see How to donate)
3. Plan (if possible) to attend the fabulous after-Tour party on Sunday (you should have gotten an evite from Liz R), and let her know, via the evite, what and who or how many people you're bringing. If you know anyone else who has swum or boated, please make sure they know about this.

Plan for Stage 4, Friday July 30 Gather at 5:30 at Clarke Beach and coagulate into carpools back to Groveland Park. Again, we should try to be in the water before 6:00.

As this course rounds the tip of the island, it's especially important to stay close to shore, unless you want a lot of extra miles in your swim. And also because it will be especially difficult for boaters to watch the group as we turn behind points and coves. The buddy system is still in order, as is the two-wave sendoff.

In the soup

Well, that was a quality swim. Smooth to start out from Groveland, then into some mild waves as we headed southeast to the southern cape, and finally smooth again after rounding the point at Beach Club for the final stretch to Clarke. Our leaders heading into Sunday's final stage remain the same: Dave T eked out a finish over Tom G, and Cory M continues to show all the black-suited swimmers how it's really done. Next year's Tour de Mercer will be swum naked.

As ever, thanks to our kayakers: Matt P, Jim S, Jim S, Tom S, Brig S & Tim E; and boaters John, Sarah & Avry V, and Dave E, for keeping us hugging the shore and out of the weeds. We couldn't do this without you.

One more time:

1. Please check the spreadsheet at http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tAZ5IG5KCR9V8oHHHKwzKTQ&output=html and let me know:
   1. if you see any incorrect or missing information
   2. if you plan to swim or boat the final stage
   3. if you have any extra! boaters for the final stage
2. Please make sure you've made your donation (see How to donate)
3. Plan (if possible) to attend the fabulous after-Tour party on Sunday (you should have gotten an evite from Liz R; click the link if you didn't), and let her know, via the evite, what and who or how many people you're bringing. If you know anyone else who has swum or boated, please make sure they know about it; you can forward this evite to them.

Plan for Stage 5, Sunday, August 1 Gather at 6:40 (doesn't that sound nice!) at Mercerwood Shoreclub and pack into carpools down the road to Clarke Beach. If we're in the water by 7:00, we should be able to be out, changed, and ready to start the party by 9-ish.

At this later time, we're more likely to encounter ski traffic, so please try to stay close to shore. As before, the buddy system is still in order, as is the two-wave sendoff.

And back to the beginning

The typically Seattle gray Sunday couldn't dampen everyone's happiness at making the final trek of the week+, only to end up again, just where we started 8 days ago. And though the weather didn't exactly cooperate, the wind helped, driving the waves at our backs for a quick 2.75 mile jaunt.

Coming in to the Tour, Dave T seemed determined to reclaim the prize he surrendered to Tom G last year; and despite stage wins by both Tom G and Roy B, he was successful:

Congratulations to Dave Thomson, 2010 Winner of the Yellow Thong!

This year's Women's division winner staked her claim in Stage 1, and no serious challenger responded. The awards ceremony was more like a reward for us all, as the winner modelled her prize!

Congratulations to Cory Mackie, 2010 Winner of the Pink Thong!

Cory & Dave: Wear them with pride!

Most important, we raised money (as of August 4: over $3200!!; thank you all!) for a cause that's close to one of our own, and had a great swim adventure in the lake along the way.

See you all at Tour de Mercer 2011 (or sooner)!