Lake Zurich is a relatively warm swim, so what could go wrong?

Photo: A beach that I swam at in Santorini, Greece

Lake Zurich is clean and usually calm. The Lake has been known to freeze over in winter (this last occurred in 1963), however, and the water temperature generally 18°C to 25°C by July. Actually, in 2015 the lake might be quite warm if this measurement is anything to go by. The lake’s water is so clean it is purified and fed into Zurich’s water system.

So what is the challenge? The weather can always turn bad. In some years it does rain (which is worse for those in the boats than for the swimmers). Some races for been paused due to the threat of lightning.

The big challenge is the distance. The swim is 26.4km and the biggest risk is simply that the swimmer will not finish.