Comments on: Comments on 17747

Post number 17747

kokogiak — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 13:02:56 -0800

Swimming the Columbia River - lengthwise. What have you been up to for the past week? How about the next 6 months? If you're Christopher Swain, the answer is "swimming - and lots of it". Swain plans swim the 1,243 miles of the Columbia River from headwaters to the Pacific over about 180 days. The further downriver he goes, the riskier it gets - aside from the rapids and ocean freighters that await him, he'll be in waters contaminated by atomic waste, PCBs and other toxins - which is the point of the swim, to raise awareness and support for river protection. "I learned that tasting every mile of a river is a great way to build the credibility to speak on its behalf"

By: rushmc

rushmc — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 14:19:44 -0800

"For my next trick, to protest SUVs, I will allow one to run over me, lengthwise. After that, I'm seriously considering swallowing some cesium to protest nuclear proliferation."

By: diddlegnome

diddlegnome — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 14:41:31 -0800

Should be interesting to see how he gets around all the dams. Of course, he'll wind up in beautiful Astoria, so he has that to look forward to.

By: NortonDC

NortonDC — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 14:53:40 -0800

Wha? Swimming downstream? Pansy.

By: vbfg

vbfg — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 15:15:25 -0800

Silly, silly man.

By: kokogiak

kokogiak — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 15:19:59 -0800

Tying these comments together - he'll walk, not drive around the 14 dams along the way. And those same dams create over 900 miles of slack water, so it's only ~300 miles of downstream paddlin'. As far as 'silly'... well, at least he's doing it to raise river issue awareness this time around, as opposed to his 1996 swim - "...he swam the lower 210 miles of the Connecticut River in support of universal human rights".

By: diddlegnome

diddlegnome — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 16:27:04 -0800

those same dams create over 900 miles of slack water Hm. I lived near the Columbia for almost 20 years, and I didn't know that.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 16:54:59 -0800

he swam the lower 210 miles of the Connecticut River Has he swam across the Atlantic unsported? ie. pulling a boat with supplies while wearing 50 pounds of chain? We had it tough.

By: clevershark

clevershark — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 17:12:22 -0800

Quite the challenge... my best so far is 3 miles, which in a 25-yard pool equals 210 lengths (105 laps).

By: billder

billder — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 17:52:31 -0800

This makes me wistful for watching Jack La Lanne towing boats to Catalina and what not.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 18:14:29 -0800

wow. jack la lanne. That's a bit of nostalgia. i wonder if the youngsters here (I'm 34) have even heard of him.

By: jaden

jaden — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 21:23:51 -0800

Mmm, atomic waste.

By: darukaru

darukaru — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 21:49:51 -0800

Cleaning up the water, an environmental issue we can all sink our teeth into (metaphorically speaking). Who doesn't drink water? (cue 'I only drink [insert liquor here]') Hope he makes it.

By: JDC8

JDC8 — Wed, 12 Jun 2002 03:47:37 -0800

he'll be in waters contaminated by atomic waste, PCBs and other toxins Ten bucks says he ends up with superpowers at the end of his swim.

By: tolkhan

tolkhan — Wed, 12 Jun 2002 07:27:09 -0800

yeah, but it'd be something lame like Aquaman's talk-to-the-fish thing.

By: e^2

e^2 — Wed, 12 Jun 2002 19:14:08 -0800

vacapinta: Yesh. (20 meself) But then I read many... odd... things.