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Pacific Northwest Virtual Columbia River Edition

Tue June 21 - Thu September 15

Virtual race Website

Additional virtual race information can be found at https://sodisp.com/events/pacific-northwest-virtual-swim-2022/.

Description

Event Description:   This is a virtual event accumulating swimming distances for individual swims for a trip on and around bodies of water in the Pacific Northwest. Do it alone or do it as a team.  See just how far you can go and learn about our giant swimming pool. e.g. Survive the Sound (q13fox.com) and Fishes | Encyclopedia of Puget Sound (eopugetsound.org)

Columbia River Edition 2022

A follow-up to our Pacific Northwest Virtual swim in 2021, this year’s swim will virtually take you down the mighty Columbia from the Canadian Border to the lighthouse at Cape Disappointment – a 700-mile swim.  Nearly twice as long as last year, we encourage you to sign up with some friends/family to do it as a team – we even make it $10 cheaper to do so.  Some will do it as a race, others just to claim an impressive accomplishment.  Signing up as a team will still show you how you are doing individually, as well as how the team you are on is doing.

You can do your swims wherever you want to – Puget Sound, lakes, pools, rivers – just make sure to adhere to the Safety precautions below.  Upload your distances either manually or if you have a watch or phone with mapping software, you can automatically have it uploaded when you save your swim.  Devices such as Apple and Garmin watches and software such as Gaia, Strava, Connect, etc will interface automatically once you set them up.

Use the chart below to figure out how many people you might want on your team – more than 10 are discouraged, but not prohibited.  With 12.5 weeks to complete your swims, figure you will get in 25 swims if you do 2 per week, 50 if you do 4 per week and 75 swims if you do 6 per week.  The chart shows 2 sample destinations as targets and how far each team member would have to go per swim based upon 2, 4, or 6 swims each per week to reach the target.

Target: Canadian Border to Waypoint #10, Wenatchee, WA – 450,560 yards

 Avg Yards Per Team Member per Workout
# of Team Members2 Swims / Week4 Swims / Week6 Swims / Week
29,0114,5063,004
44,5062,2531,502
72,5751,287858
101,802901601

Target: Canadian Border to Waypoint #15, Kennewick, WA – 689,920 yards

 Avg Yards Per Team Member per Workout
# of Team Members2 Swims / Week4 Swims / Week6 Swims / Week
213,7986,8994,599
46,8993,4502,300
73,9421,9711,314
102,7601,380920

 

Columbia River Virtual Swim Waypoints
  Distance Between PointsCumulative Distance
1Northpoint, WA1010
2Barney's Junction, WA3040
3Inchelium, WA2363
4Lincoln, WA40103
5Coulee Dam, WA31134
6Bridgeport, WA49183
7Brewster, WA11194
8Pateros, WA6200
9Entiat, WA39239
10Wenatchee, WA17256
11Rock Island, WA10266
12Vantage, WA34300
13Desert Aire, WA20320
14Richland, WA60380
15Kennewick, WA12392
16Wallula, WA11403
17Umatilla, OR23426
18Boardman, OR20446
19Roosevelt, WA27473
20Maryhill, WA31504
21The Dalles, OR18522
22Hood River, OR21543
23Cascade Locks, OR19562
24Washougal, WA24586
25Vancouver, WA17603
26St Helens, OR20623
27Kalama, WA9632
28Longview, WA9641
29Cathlamet, WA23664
30Astoria, OR21685
31Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, WA15700

 

The formula to calculate each swimmer’s yardage required per workout (as above) is:

Waypoint miles x 1760 yds / (12.5 weeks x avg weekly workouts x # of swimmers)

In the examples above, Wenatchee is roughly 1/3, and Kennewick is roughly 1/2 the way down the Columbia River. So, if you want to know the distances for 2/3 of the way or all the way, just multiple the distances by 2, respectively.

Can’t emphasize the next part strongly enough - SAFETY:

Each participant’s FIRST PRIORITY must be their own safety during this event.  Swimmers will choose their swimming location(s), e.g., pool, lake, sound, river etc. – and need to consider the hazards each presents and their own abilities to address those hazards.  Your safety is YOUR responsibility.  We obviously will not know when or where you will choose to complete your swims, so there is nothing we can do to save you if you run into trouble.  As a non-profit organization we provide this event for your enjoyment, but we can’t take responsibility for your safety.

We will make you sign a waiver, releasing us of liability for your participation, when you register.  But our goal is not to avoid responsibility, it is to convince you to avoid safety issues in the first place.  So please take your safety very seriously.  Don’t swim more than you can swim, don’t swim in conditions that are unsafe for your ability, swim with a buddy or have boat support, watch out for boats/docks/other swimmers on open water, and stop if you need to – make sure there is a tomorrow (that just might be your day).  

Getting Started: 

June 17th we will upload all of the registrations to SoDisp.com. You will receive an invite email from SoDisp.com to create a new account or login to your existing account, along with instructions to hook up your smart device. Once your smart device is connected to SoDisp.com your yardage will show BUT it will not start counting towards this race until the 22nd of June. Yardage / Mileage will continue to accumulate through the end date of the event.  

Couple quick FAQs - 

  • You need 2 people to register for the initial team. You may add more people later by having them select your team when they register.
  • If you want to join a team or get off of a team you can email us at registrar@bluewave-aquatics.com.
  • If you didn't receive the email on June 17th or 28th check your spam folder.
  • If you do not have a smart phone or watch you may manually enter your time and distance. 

 

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