Tuttle Creek – Here I Finally Come!

March 26, 2025

Marathon swimming always brings me adventures. I am blessed to have found something I love to do, and swimming has taken me in many different directions outside of the pool. When the open water season comes to an end in the early fall, most swimmers are thinking about what events they are going to do next year.

My youngest daughter, Regan, recently graduated from Kansas State University. Every time I went to visit her, I would swim in Tuttle Creek Lake. This lake was only 15 minutes from her campus (northern edge of Flint Hills) and is recognized as the second largest lake in Kansas. Tuttle Creek is a state park and has many activities to offer (nature trails, biking trails, boating, camping and fishing). There are no homes on the lake, which makes it a quiet and peaceful lake. Over the years I would comment that I wanted to swim across the lake (from the dam to the bridge), which would be close to 14 miles. Jump ahead to this past May when she graduated, and I did not yet
complete this swim.

A marathon in the water is considered any distance of 6.2 miles or more. This is the equivalent of running a marathon. The general rule of thumb is 1-mile of swimming equals 4-miles of running. The farthest non-current assisted swim I completed was a 21-mile swim from St. Lucia to Martinique in 2022 (13 hours and 14 minutes). The farthest current assisted swim was in the Red River in North Dakota in 2016 (36 miles in 12 hours and 27 minutes). A 14-mile unassisted swim is a nice distance that does not require training because I swim almost every day.

Many of the marathon swims involve paying a lot of money to an organization to participate (to pay for insurance, permit fees, crew and boats for safety). For example, in 2021, I swam around Manhattan New York (28-miles) and the cost of my swim at that time was $3300, now the cost is $5500 (2024). This cost does not include flying to the location or lodging.

On the flip side, anyone can make up their own “solo swim” and have it ratified by the Marathon Swimming Federation (MSF). Anyone can say they did an awesome swim, but MSF has strict rules regarding documenting and calling it an “official swim”. Solo swims involve the swimmer doing all the planning, instead of someone else. This involves finding crew, finding a boat to assist on the swim, getting permits (if required) and obtaining advice on the lake. I have done two “solo” swims that were ratified by MSF (Lake Geneva double crossing (15.1 miles) and Green Lake (7.0 miles)). The process of ratifying a swim also takes time because you need to provide lots of documentation for the swim: a tracker (shows your swim course), an observer log, photos with time stamps of longitude and latitude every 30 minutes, photos during the swim and videos of the start/finish.

After Regan’s graduation in May, we went to the Tuttle Creek Marina to ask questions about the lake. They definitely thought I was crazy for wanting to swim across because who would want to do that? I put out a couple requests in the area for anyone interested in assisting with the swim (with pay). I only had a couple nibbles, but the timing did not work. So, I recruited the help of Regan and some of her friends. I had to be firm with these young “unemployed” college graduates that I needed a strong commitment from them to help assist. We had
planned for the swim on June 24 th . We met up the night before to check out the boat and finalize the plans. Regan had assisted me last year with swims in Hawaii, so she knew she was the one in charge. This included the documentation log where she kept meticulous details.

The morning of the swim, we got up at 3:30am to get ready and head to the lake. We found our pontoon boat and drove to the start around 4:45. It was still dark outside, and the “kids” commented on “how cool and beautiful it was outside”. I swim in the lakes in the summer and love the early morning swims in the dark right before it gets light outside. I told them people do not know what they are missing by not getting up early.

The swim started at the dam, and I had to swim to the shore to officially start the swim at 5:20am. The air temperature at that time was 74 degrees and the water was 78 degrees. I can swim in temps in the mid-60s plus, but I prefer the mid-70s. Every half hour my crew would wave to me to let me know it was time for a feeding. They would throw me a bottle of water or other snacks I requested. Since it was going to be a hot day, I made sure to hydrate with each feeding. Around 10:00, I requested a half of cinnamon roll and that was delicious! As the day went on, the air and water temperatures were gradually increasing (see log). The water was brownish and not clear, due to the recent rainfall. An advantage of having a boat guide you on the swim is that you do not need to site where you are going (you swim along the side of the boat). Regan’s friend, Jon, popped in the water to swim with me for a short time, but could not keep up and went back on the boat. The boat driver, Cody, did a great job avoiding driftwood in the form of tree limbs that were in the water.

The bridge (finish) was noticeable a few miles away and the end always looks closer than it is. I had to find a safe place to get out of the water and this was a bit challenging because of the driftwood that gathered towards the bridge. We only saw one other boat on the lake, which is why the swim was planned mid-week instead of on a weekend with heavy boat traffic. Once I was finished, I went on the boat for the 14-mile ride back….it seemed like a long ride back, even on the boat. It really makes you think of all the distance I covered by swimming. Once we got back to the marina and cleaned up the boat, we realized the air temperature was 102 degrees. We all went home and rested before we went out for an early celebratory dinner. It was a long day, and we were all tired!

The swim took exactly 7 hours to complete the 13.9 miles. It was really a fun day with my young crew, and I think they gained an appreciation for their job in helping me accomplish my goal. I enjoyed sharing my journey with them and they had a blast on the boat. It was a perfect day for a swim.