2003Globearticle

Don't let the name fool you. There is nothing leisurely about the "Boston Light
Swim." Since 1908, swimmers have stroked the 10 choppy, chilly miles
between the L Street Bathhouse and Brewster Island to best the harbor.
Yesterday morning 10 intrepid swimmers boarded
boats for the 30-minute ride to the Harbor Lighthouse.
As the city's skyline receded, the country's oldest
lighthouse came into focus.

Once there, after filling an idle 15 minutes with
stretching, deck pacing, and, for some, the application
of Vaseline, seven solo swimmers and a three-person
relay team took the plunge into 60-degree water.
With two blasts of a boat's horn, eight men and two
women, ranging from their mid-20s to mid-50s, began
the swim that would take them between three and
seven hours to complete.

This year's race held particular significance for Susan
Yeomans, 55, of Manhattan. First, there was the trial of
making it to Boston by bus from her black-out hobbled
city, an obstacle that kept home eight swimmers from
New York and Connecticut.
But she was determined to make the race and
complete the swim without the wet suit she's used in
the past.

"The first year I had no idea what I was getting into,"
Yeomans said. "Halfway through the race, I had to get
out. Last year, I did a little better, but still wore the wet
suit. This year, I'll certainly be last, but I'm here to finish
it. I'm here to conquer it."

Doug Bosley of Wisconsin had no doubt that he would
complete the course that takes swimmers past Georges
Island and Rainsford Island, under the Long Island
bridge, and around Thompson Island.
The 41-year-old accountant from Somerville swam the
English Channel in 1987, a course twice the length of the Boston Light Swim.
His reservations yesterday were about the cleanliness and temperature of the
harbor.

"The water looks good," said Bosley, who took a trial run via boat with his
friend and swimming foe (and eventual 2003 winner), Will Riddell, the night
before the race. "And the temperature shouldn't be that bad. It's about the
same as Lake Michigan."

John Werner, an event participant and organizer, welcomes the chance to
undo misconceptions about the harbor. He said he wants to return these
waters to the recreational splendor of their pre-Central Artery heyday.
"I still get a number of calls from interested swimmers who want to know if they
need immunization shots to safely swim the harbor," he said, shortly after the
race's opening salvo. "That might have been the case in the '70s, but today's
a different story."

Werner, 33, of Dorchester, helped launch a website that he hopes will bring
the near-century old Boston tradition the respect and attention he believes it
deserves.

With relish he tells the story of Grace Currier, a young woman from
Charlestown who completed the swim in nothing but a red cap in 1928, or the
more recent tale of a local man who swam the 10 miles despite having had
one leg amputated.

"This is one of Boston's greatest traditions," said Werner, who recently
became a father. "I can't wait for my son to swim it."