When COVID-19 hit, local swim team traded an 80-degree pool for this 56-degree option
The water is cold, dark and often rough. The elements can be harsh and unpredictable, from wind and rain to the blanket of wildfire smoke that enveloped the region in early September.
Then, as Chad Hagedorn recalled this week, there are the surprises — like the sewage spills and giant jellyfish.
Over the last six months, Hagedorn and his team have seen it all, he said.
“There are so many challenges,” Hagedorn explained, stating what was already obvious.
For the last eight years, Hagedorn, 48, has coached the local U.S. Masters Swimming adult program, primarily utilizing the pool at the downtown Tacoma YMCA for practices. But when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down indoor swimming facilities throughout the region, that all changed.
After what he described as a brief period of “denial” and then “depression,” Hagedorn decided to get creative.
His unorthodox solution to training during the coronavirus outbreak?
Leading his squad into the open water that surrounds us.
No, really.
Since April, Hagedorn’s group of swimmers — which range in age from 18 to 75 — have regularly plunged into Puget Sound and local lakes, practicing their crawl strokes and scissor kicks in the kind of frigid conditions that would likely keep most people on dry land.
It’s been an unexpectedly helpful coping mechanism during a trying time, Hagedorn explained, not to mention a chilling challenge his team has rallied around.
It has also frequently earned the swimmers curious looks from the folks on dry land, he said, particularly with the season now turning and temperatures dropping.
Summer is one thing; it’s not uncommon for his team to train in the open water during the warmest months.
Jumping into the sound in early April, or now during mid-October is quite another.
“It feels like the wilderness, for sure,” Hagedorn said of training in open water, which has taken his team to Owen Beach, American Lake, and — like it did Tuesday evening — Jack Hyde Park along the Ruston Way waterfront.
“Normally, we swim in 80-degree water in the pool,” Hagedorn said.
Today, they have wetsuits, swimming buoys for safety and no intention of stopping, according to Katy Smith, an assistant coach with the team.
Even with pools beginning to reopen, it’s difficult to schedule practices, she said.
More importantly, the cold-water swims have brought the team together, she added.
“This is unusual. This is a COVID-related change for us, but I think it’s going to stick,” Smith, 38, said. “I think people are really surprised by how much fun it’s been. I don’t think anyone realized at what temperatures they could do this, and now that they’ve done it, I think it’s going to be something that we do year-round.”
On Tuesday evening, Smith spoke from the shore of Jack Hyde Park while Hagedorn and roughly a dozen swimmers made laps in the water between the park and the Old Town Dock.
The water temperature was a brisk 56 degrees, Smith said.
Some, like 74-year-old Steve Peterson, who typically competes in backstroke and breaststroke events, glided through the water with expertise.
Others, like 52-year-old Patty Smith, a local middle school teacher who only recently learned to swim, made less graceful but still impressive strokes, simply happy to have a community of friends to train (and shiver) alongside.
“It’s not too bad. We swim as long as we can, until you get bone chilled,” Peterson said by way of explanation.
“Then you look for a hot shower.”
The mix of swimmers — varying by age and ability level — is indicative of what U.S. Masters Swimmers strives to be, according to Peterson. It’s a group that’s open to any adult who wants to get in the water, he said, whether it’s former competitive athletes or relative first timers.
A retired software engineer who lives near Silverdale, Peterson has been involved with U.S. Masters Swimmers and its Pacific Northwest governing body — which helps to provide support and plan local events — for three decades.
Peterson described U.S. Master Swimmers as a nonprofit with local teams like the one Hagedorn coaches around the country, and roughly 60,000 members nationwide.
The team Hagedorn and Smith coach — which goes under the playful name the Bernardo All Stars — is one of four or five local outfits, Peterson said.
It’s also one of the most unique, he added.
Named after a fictional bull shark mascot, the team’s official color is hot pink, which can come in particularly helpful these days when trying to spot its members from the shores.
All told, the Bernardo All Stars has roughly 150 registered members of varying skill levels who participate on their own schedules, Hagedorn said. Roughly 60 have been participating in open-water practices, which occur several times a week and typically draw anywhere from six to 13 people.
Nationally, Peterson said, about a quarter of U.S. Masters Swimmers compete.
Smith said the group regularly participating in open-water practices likely has a higher percentage of competing swimmers, but the mix of skill levels is still evident — and part of the appeal.
Not long ago, Smith — the local middle school teacher — said she was striving to do laps in the relative safety of a pool. The thought of wading into salt water terrified her.
Now, Smith said, she regularly swims more than a mile in Puget Sound.
Smith recently purchased a new wetsuit, but she’s saving it for when the water “really gets cold.”
“There’s something about it. It’s amazing,” Smith said of swimming in the open water and the sense of accomplishment it brings.
“That I can actually do this is still crazy to me,” she added.
She’s probably not alone.
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 5:10 AM.
