Sunday, July 8. Alexandria to National Harbor. Water ferry to Alexandria start from Natl Harbor. 1.4 mi swim. $75. Organizer, WaveOne.

http://washingtonscrossingswim.com/

Nice showing of clubbers. Believe DC Triers took 2nd & 3rd place women, 1st or 2nd place men.

90-degree water temps, interesting setting near Wilson Bridge, National Harbor, nice boat ride to Old Town start, challenging sighting; needs more buoys, clearer swim exit. Very surprising how shallow the middle of the Potomac is during a dry spell and maybe certain tides.

Impressive that WaveOne got the Coast Guard to shut down the Potomac for us. Maybe the Potomac at Alexandria is cleaner than at Georgetown, maybe not, but a post-race laundry was definitely required. Excellent kayak support from Potomac Paddlers et al. Hopefully the start of an annual tradition.

For a first year event, I thought this was amazingly well-organized (assuming the results are posted sometime soon). I'd rather have seen a shore-to-shore swim with bus transportation to the start (like the Great Chesapeake Bay Bridge swim), but this was cool nevertheless. I guess there's one less jurisdiction involved if you don't set foot in Virginia.

The Gaylord Hotel was a pretty big buoy! You knew the finish was a bit to the left, so I didn't see the need for any mid-race buoys. Would have liked more buoys at the very end, to show which dock (and what side) we were supposed to finish at. Oddly, there were two of those really big buoys laying on their side unused on the dock at the finish.

Thanks for the recap. Great job WaveOne!

Thanks for the recap. Great job WaveOne!

Thanks for the recap. Great job WaveOne!

Agree - it was a very good event, especially for the first time. My only frustration was with the finish. The boat that had taken us across the river came back and blocked the finish line sign! It was really hard to tell which dock/side to swim to, since I was looking for something obvious (like the inflatable bendy man from Smallwood the day before -- now that was a good finish indicator!). But other than that, the atmosphere was really positive and supportive. Thank you, Wave One!