Braving the Waters

On Sunday, Aug. 22 at 5:22 p.m., Ken Harmon, 50, tried to swim a double length of Lake Tahoe.

That's 44.2 miles and more than 24 hours of swimming.

With a water temperature of about 60 degrees and extremely choppy waves, conditions were tough for the veteran open water swimmer.

Harmon, who lives in Danville with his wife, Marcia, and their 13-year-old son, Ben, would have been the first person to complete the swim.

He didn't make it. He decided he was finished after about 10 miles and five hours of swimming.

"I've never quit a swim before," said Harmon, who has been doing open water swims without a wetsuit since 1987 and completed a one-length swim of Lake Tahoe in 2005 (see the chronology of Ken's swims). "I did not feel good. I expended a lot more energy than I wanted to. It was like saying enough is enough."

The swim was partly in honor of Harmon's 50th birthday, which was May 22, and was also a fund-raiser called "The Ultimate Tahoe Challenge," for the Karen Gaffney Foundation, Best Buddies International and the Down Syndrome Network of Northern Nevada.

The swim was scheduled for Aug. 21, but the poor conditions delayed the swim for 24 hours. There was a small craft warning, choppy waters and high winds, thanks to a low pressure system from Alaska that brought in unsettled weather for the Tahoe basin.

Although conditions were still not ideal the next day, Harmon decided to go ahead with the swim given the investment he had put into it and because of the fund-raising that had been done.

A dozen volunteers drove to Tahoe to accompany Harmon either as pacers  swimming with him, kayakers throwing him supplies like Gatorade and gu energy packets, or as the crew on a boat that provided GPS navigation.

"I've had a group I can rely on and I give them a couple years notice," said Harmon of the volunteers, including Craig Klass, a two-time Olympic water polo athlete, who Harmon swims with every Friday.

The poor conditions made it a difficult 10 miles, even for Harmon, who typically swims 20,000 to 40,000 yards each week—or 11.36 to 22.73 miles.

"My lower body was going this way and my upper body was going that way," said Harmon."It was like I was in a washing machine. It was smart to stop though because I don't know what would have happened."

It was also incredibly dark. The last time Harmon swam in Lake Tahoe in 2005, completing one 22.1-mile length of the lake, it wasn't dark.

"I could barely see anything," said Harmon who, along with his pacers, wore white caps with glow sticks attached to them.

Darkness or not, there is a window between the end of July to mid-September when the Tahoe swim is considered possible. At other times the lake is simply too cold.

With all of the obstacles to overcome, Harmon said he "wanted to see whether it was even possible this time to do the swim." He says he's "still not totally convinced" the swim is possible.

Harmon is still considering trying again, but says "it's going to take a year" before he makes that decision.

And if he does do it again, he will wait until conditions are better.

For now, he says he is focusing on the swimming pursuits of his son Ben, an eighth-grader at Charlotte Wood Middle School.

When Ben was 9 he swam the 1.5 miles from Alcatraz to the shore in 46 minutes. According to Ken, most adults complete that swim in 42 minutes to one hour.

On Sept. 19, Ben and his dad will swim 1.5 miles under the Golden Gate Bridge  in the 5th Annual Bob Roper Invitational Golden Gate Swim.

The swim will be a friendly competition between the senior Harmon, who has done the Golden Gate swim three times, and his son, who wants to beat his dad's time.
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Check back for an update about the Harmon father-son swim under the Golden Gate on Sept. 19.