If a tourist, strolling the Inner Harbor last Thursday, happened to look in the water, they might have seen something strange: a woman doing open-water swimming right past the Baltimore Waterfront Promenade. If the tourist, curious, shouted over to ask why the woman was swimming in the harbor, she would stop and tread water while happily answering the pedestrian’s questions.
The open-water swimmer was Katie Pumphrey, a Baltimore artist and ultra-distance swimmer who made headlines last June with her record-setting swim from Sandy Point State Park to the Inner Harbor. She’s back this season for more impressive feats, planning a second “Bay to Baltimore” 24-mile swim, and also training to cross the English Channel for the third time in her athletic career.
On this particular Thursday, Pumphrey was undertaking a six-hour qualifying swim required as a prerequisite to attempting the English Channel. It had to be six hours, and she had to complete it while the temperature was 60 degrees or less, to prove she could safely take on the Channel. She could have done the qualifying swim in a more controlled body of water, like Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland or Lake Linganore in Frederick County, as she did leading up to her previous English Channel swims.
This time, however, Pumphrey chose to swim for six hours in a long series of zigzags around both sides of the Inner Harbor, out to Fort McHenry, and back. She did it not just to advance her cause of bringing awareness to the improving water quality in the Baltimore harbor. She was also really excited to have plenty to see along the way, and that part worked according to plan.
She began these laps around 7:15 a.m., launching from a support boat courtesy of Freedom Boat Club. Early on, a City Connector water taxi passed her. “I got to wave to some very confused commuters,” she laughs. “Being able to swim up and answer questions to people walking by was really special.” The water was glassy and beautiful in the early part of her swim, with the water temperature around 57-59 degrees Farenheit.
Pumphrey tends to minimize the extreme effort it takes to swim (or remain afloat without holding onto anything during refueling or hydrating breaks), while most people who have swum a mile or two couldn’t imagine moving through the water for six hours. Instead of the difficulty of the swim, Pumphrey focuses on the joy of “sightseeing” during her training. “It was all my favorite locations: Fells Point, the National Aquarium, out to Fort McHenry…” she says. “And i got to see all my favorite vessels! Living Classrooms was out with Lady Maryland, the Pride of Baltimore II, the water taxi, a McAllister Towing tugboat. That is how awesome the Inner Harbor is!” Pumphrey exclaims. “Seeing Baltimore from that vantage point is so cool.
One highlight was swimming around the National Aquarium’s Harbor Wetland living exhibit, which has been flourishing since it opened last August. Aquarium staff say a river otter has been visiting the wetland daily, feeding on blue catfish around the harbor.
Pumphrey ended her swim around 1:15 p.m. with about 13.6 miles under her belt, one step closer to her English Channel swim and feeling confident for her Bay to Baltimore swim.
Pumphrey has even bigger goals for herself and the city. She’s planning a nonprofit Baltimore Open Water Swimmers group (“BOWS” for short), which she hopes to launch in the fall or next year. “It’s a growing sport,” she says. In the future, she would like to expand the Bay to Baltimore swim to include more swimmers and more distance options, like a one-mile and two-mile route.
In case you were wondering whether Pumphrey’s six-hour training swim was legal, it was. It’s only illegal to swim from the city promenade. She started and ended from a boat, swimming in the public waterway. It should be noted, however, that she had the Freedom Boat Club chase boat with her throughout the swim, and she adheres to the same water quality precautions anyone swimming on a Maryland beach should follow. It had been dry for several days leading up to Pumphrey’s swim, making it an opportune time for better water quality.
“The harbor is swimmable and there’s progress there,” Pumphrey says.
Her second Bay to Baltimore attempt will take place on a day within the time window of May 18-23, depending on ideal conditions. She will start at Sandy Point at midnight, and estimates the swim will take her 12-14 hours depending on wind, tides, and other conditions. She is optimistic that the temperature will be more conducive to a strenuous swim. Her first Bay to Baltimore swim was delayed because of the Key Bridge collapse. By the time she completed the swim in late June, the water was 82-83 degrees and the air was in the 90s.
To stay updated about Pumphrey’s Bay swim and to follow along via swim tracker, visit her website.
