Short Version
This is an annual 10-mile swim in Boston harbor.  This year the water was warm, but the waves were BIG.  I felt just great for the first two hours and had closed in on third place.  After the Long Island bridge, the waves were diagonal to my direction, which was not fun, and I just wanted to finish (4th).  It was a great experience, which I may try again.

Results (times as reported*)
Meryem Tangoren-Masood, New York 3:31:11
Fred Schlicher, Medford 3:31:40
Irena Sumbera, Orleans 3:41:40
Fred Knight, Wayland 3:58:41
Rex Painter, St. Augustine, FL 3:59:59
John Langton, Somerville, 4:33:29
Anne Marie D'Agostino, Boston 4:33:29
Julie Burnett, Stoneham 4:33:29
John Werner, Dorchester 5:44
Robovel ?, Brazil, DNF
George Wallace, DNF
Tom Dugan, DNF
George ?, ? DNF
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* The Globe thought they were mm:ss; they're hh:mm:ss

Race Stats
Race covered approximately 10 miles from Boston Light to M Street bathhouse and started at 8:23 am, about 4 hours after low tide occurred at L Street.  The current assisted us at >1 mph for the first half of course, until Long Island Bridge.  It was very windy, estimates up to 30 mph.  The swim was with the waves until the bridge, then across the waves.  The water was warm, say 65 deg F at the Light rising to 70 deg F at shore.  The course passed south of George's Island, north of Ransford Island, then to west end of Long Island and between Spectacle and Thompson's Islands.  See the Boston Light Swim 2000 site for a map.

Details
The 2000 Boston Light Swim began 23 minutes late with thirteen swimmers. The delay to 8:23 was due to the difficulty of reaching the starting line in the rough seas and the necessity of transferring swimmers from one larger ferry boat to smaller escort boats who met some of the swimmers at the Light. Only one of the eight men, Rex Painter from St. Augustine, FL, greased  large part of his body. I donned my usual suit and goggles, added a cap, greased my pits with a light coating of Vaseline, and hoped my band-aid covering the abrasion on my shoulder, where my chin rubbed it raw at last week's 4-mile test swim, would hold.

The water was bracing, but a few minutes swimming proved it to be in my comfort range, probably near 65 deg F. (Not so for four of the swimmers who, I found at the finish, succumbed to the cold within an hour or so.)  Luckily, the waves, although high, were rolling in the direction of the swim, and the current was helping at over 1 mph.  Ann was riding in the boat with our driver Jeff Donald of Stoughton.  Things were great; I didn't even notice the time until 9:11, 48 minutes after the start. I took a juice drink at 9:23 while nearing Ransford Island---probably half way to the bridge connecting Long Island and Moon Island. Before reaching the bridge at 10:23, I had closed the gap between the third-place finisher, Irena Sumbera, and me to less than a hundred yards.  Things were looking good. I felt strong and had a good pace.

The bridge marked the turning point of my swim---halfway through the race when I thought I was well beyond halfway.  We turned north about 30 deg to head for the left tip of Spectacle Island, hoping to cross the channel between Long and Spectacle Islands over the shortest distance to avoid the cross current.  It was evident during the crossing that the current wasn't a problem but that the waves were obnoxious.  The angle hitting my right side and the wavelength about 6 feet combined to make swimming very tough.  I was hoping for calm water on the lea side of Spectacle Island, but we decided to veer toward Thompson Island to take a more direct route to the finish at M Street, still a couple miles away.  However, we weren't sure of the proper direction, and Jeff and Ann couldn't find good landmarks.  The waves didn't abate, and we slowly arced toward the west, making slow headway.  I just wanted to finish at this point, three hours into the race.  For the next 30 minutes we made ok progress toward the beach area, still not knowing where to land exactly.  An escort boat (Jims' Obsession---yes, two Jim's owned the boat) for a swimmer who quit came out to meet us, just when a rope got tangled in Jeff's motor, so I followed Jims' Obsession toward the boats anchored in front of the Columbia Yacht Club.

I was fading but knew the finish line was close.  When Ann and Jim got back, Ann pointed just behind me to where Rex Painter was closing in on me.  I wasn't about to let him catch me, turned on a roaring pace, and stroked the last ten minutes to the M Street finish line, being greeted at 3:58 by some of the other swimmers and, to my surprise, a rock band.  I couldn't figure out why the band was outside the finish area on the other side of 20'-high pilings.  The reason was that the band was actually for a festival called "Save the Harbor," having activities next door---including a bevy of people doing a mile swim right in front of OUR finish line.  They didn't know what or who we were. I was the fourth finisher, and Rex, who had mistakenly headed for the festival, was fifth (3:59).  On landing he soon realized that his supposed greeting by the band was just a mistake and that he wasn't in the right spot.  I had outswum him anyway, but a minute was subtracted from his time because of the mistake.  No boats could land easily where we finished, so Ann and Jeff went to the Columbia Yacht Club.  Already the first three finishers had left, and, after about fifteen minutes, I walked along the sidewalk toward the Yacht Club and met Ann walking toward me.  We returned to the M Street Bathhouse to see the next three finshers come in together simultaneously at 4:33.  The final swimmer, the organizer John Werner, finished over an hour later at 5:44 with two strokes of butterfly that wowed the crowd of six people.  I received my award, a framed picture of the Boston Light, and we went home happy!