The best of luck to the speedy Mark Faure Walker who will tackle the waters surrounding the rock of Manhattan today, Saturday 1 August.
Mark described his arrival and pre race mood from the rocky home of the island which is Manhattan and not Tiffanys darling.
"I arrived in New York yesterday to heavy rain. I will be setting off to swim round Manhattan island with 19 other swimmers on Saturday at 2pm UK time - a distance of about 30 miles. The swim starts at the south of the island and follows an anti-clockwise loop up the East River and Harlem River then turning left onto the Hudson. The tides are very strong and timing is crucial to ensure that the tides assist the swimmer. The swim is taking place on a spring tide with a predicted swim time of about 7 to 8 hours. There are couple of critical areas on the course that can affect the out come of the swim.
The first is ‘hells gate’ where the East River meets the Harlem River. The tides here are less predictable and more extreme than anywhere else on the swim - the tide here switches from a 1mph assist to a 1mph in the face in less than five minutes. The next challenging section will be the Hudson River. Usually swimmers fly down the Hudson River to the finish in a couple of hours. However the forecast for Saturday is for a significant breeze from the SSW which will be blowing straight up the Hudson into the coming tide. The wind against tide will make conditions lumpy and also reduce the flow in the Hudson River so this part is a big unknown.
Nick Adams has kindly lent me his tracker so you will be able to follow my progress here:
In 2013, Mark successfullly swam solo to France
We all wish him every success. You can read more about the event here.
LHR JFK MFW NYC
