A Baltimore woman plans to attempt to swim from the Chesapeake Bay up the Patapsco River to the Inner Harbor next month.
Artist and ultramarathon swimmer Katie Pumphrey said she didn't think anyone had ever attempted the 24-mile stretch before, which is also a celebration of cleaning up the harbor's waters.
Pumphrey, who works in painting and sculpture, hasn't yet decided when he'll start the swim, which the Coast Guard has set as its start date any time between June 24 and 27, according to a press release.
“The general plan is to leave at 3 a.m. when it's dark and fight the falling tide,” Pumphrey said, “Then in the next few hours the rising tide comes in and we get some momentum, but when we go from the bay to the river it gets really rough.”
Two pontoon boats keep an eye on Pumphrey while she swims, allowing her to stop every 30 minutes to replenish her with water and some food, which is actually “goo.”
“You can't predict the conditions,” Pumphrey says. “In open water, you can swim the same body of water over and over again, but it's never going to be the same conditions. Wind plays a big role.”
Pumphrey declined to estimate how long the swim will take, but said he has previously completed 20-mile swims in 12 hours. Pumphrey has swum the English Channel for more than 20 miles twice, in 2015 and 2022, and plans to swim up to 60,000 yards a week for this attempt. He has also swam Manhattan and California's Catalina Channel.
She started swimming at age 5 and has been doing it ever since.
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Next month's swim will start at Sandy Point State Park next to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the site of her first open water race, a 4.4-mile Chesapeake Bay swim, in 2010, and finish at Harborplace Amphitheater, located between two pavilions.
Her progress can be followed on the live tracker on the event's website.
On June 23, Baltimore's Waterfront Partnership nonprofit will hold a “Harbor Splash” in Fells Point, where pre-registered swimmers will dive into the harbor at Bond Street Pier. Mayor Brandon Scoot has pledged to attend. Pumphrey said he hopes Baltimore will have an open water swim club soon.
“I think this is a big milestone for Baltimore. It's a big step forward to have a swimmable harbor,” Pumphrey said. “It definitely opens up the possibility for more water sports.”
The Baltimore Waterfront Partnership said the harbor's waters are usually safe for swimming, but not always, especially within 48 hours of a heavy rainfall, due to contaminated runoff. The nonprofit has taken samples around the harbor and “results have consistently shown that the harbor meets swimming standards during dry weather,” it said.
