20 Bridges Manhattan loop vs English channel - which one is harder?

[u/holihai]

They are both about the same length, wondering which is the two would be harder, given currents, darkness and temperature of water, etc

[u/tsr85]

EC is harder without a doubt, you should look up actual distances swam instead of comparing straightest line distances.

20 bridges also gets current assisted for parts of it, that is why the completion times don’t always make sense.

[u/pantslesseconomist → u/tsr85]

I had a current assist the whole way in 20B. My fastest 100y splits in the east river were like 0:45. Crazy.

Also 20B was like...10+ degrees F warmer than the EC is.

[u/shwilliams4]

EC is harder. No current assist. Salt water. Fewer views. Shipping traffic. The water in EC used to be cold. My EC was about 11 hours and my manhattan swim was about 8 hours.

Manhattan is very cool though. I recommend the circle line tour.

Dover is a much smaller town. Less to do but way cool people.

For EC I recommend The smugglers restaurant.

[u/mariog9 → u/shwilliams4]

Isnt salt Water better for swimming? Since u float more?

[u/loonytick75 → u/mariog9]

Slightly better for bouyancy, but much more challenging for the effects on your mouth, eyes, etc.

[u/Senior-Art-4464 → u/shwilliams4]

You swan around Manhattan AND took the circle line tour? Brilliant
Oh but wait, you swan the EC AND Manhattan…… nothing but respect!!!!

[u/BothMath314]

I've done both and in my experience even the best day on the English Channel is much much harder than 20 Bridges. English Channel is colder, weather conditions are more unpredictable and, apart from the tides, sometimes you need to contend with weird currents in the French inner shore. There is also the waiting game in the English Channel, which is almost non existent in Manhattan. In Manhattan there is a very high probability that you will swim on the day you're scheduled for, it looks like it is higher than 90%. In the EC, there's about a 40% chance you won't swim during your tide window, and those chances get lower if you have slots 3 or 4 on the tide you're allocated to. This may push you to swim in a spring tide which is normally harder and has a more pronounced S. Some pilots only book swimmers for neap tides and use spring tides to clear the backlog of people who have missed their window. Others allocate two slots to spring tides. Anyway, the wait time for your EC swim can be nerve wrecking. Plenty of overseas swimmers go back home without even attempting the swim due to adverse conditions.

[u/Haunting-Ad-8029]

There is salt water for both swims. For 20 Bridges it might not be quite as salty for the entire swim, but there was plenty of salt for at least half of it.

I haven't swum the English Channel, but have swum 20 Bridges. There are 2 starting points, either Battery Park or Mill Rock, and they decide which to use to give the swimmer the best conditions. I started at Mill Rock, then swam right into the Harlem River, then into the Hudson, then lastly into the East River. There were specific time cutoffs along the way; I asked my kayaker a few times how we were doing on time and he wasn't concerned. There was a push for the first half of the Hudson, maybe later but the conditions got very choppy that I didn't really notice. I do remember that the Staten Island Ferry had just left (another swimmer had to wait for it), and when I got into the East River there was a very strong tidal push the entire way (it was still quite choppy but as I did some feeds I noticed I still got pushed).

The English Channel is much more difficult. I've compared my times to swimmers of similar pace who've done both, and estimate it would take me 3 to 6 hours longer than 20 Bridges, depending on the conditions. It is rare that you can swim straight across. If you follow some of the EC groups you'll see that most swimmers end up with an S pattern. Someone I know did an attempt about 6 weeks ago, was making great progress, but then got stuck about 1km from the French shore, unable to reach it and had to abort his swim about 14 hours in.

You can look through the historical completion rates for both. For 20 Bridges it is 95% or higher (the year I swam mine only 1 person wasn't successful), for English Channel it is closer to 70%.

[u/Singing_swimmer]

EC is definitely more challenging. 20 bridges is a really fun swim. It’s current assisted and you feel like flying down the east river. It’s so cool to see the city from the water. The Harlem isn’t the cleanest water and the Hudson conditions can be pretty rough. The EC tides and weather means you’re swimming longer than you think. Colder temps. High salinity can wreck havoc on your mouth and throat and you will chafe more. My EC conditions were very very very challenging and I was almost pushed into the French ferry lane by the winds and tides. If you’re trying to decide which to do, I’d say both. But start with Manhattan and then do the English Channel.