Oh, and I decided to do it without a wetsuit. The temperature was nice (~72°F), but oof -- the double whammy of no neoprene and fresh water meant my buoyancy went out the window. And, boy, did I pay the price -- I clocked in at an even 2 hours (my official time was something like 2:00:14). The last time I did a straight 3 mile swim in the pool I finished in 1:38 -- still not zippy, but not sluggishly slow.
I never even saw the first set of three buoys I was supposed to swim between. I might have gone between them, but then I should have caught a glimpse of them. Apparently, neither did a few others, nor were people being disqualified for this. (Not that they're overly strict at Fat Salmon.) Trying to sight them was a pain -- buoys aren't the easiest thing to spot when your eyes are at water level, and my lack of buoyancy only made things worse -- so I suspect I lost a lot of time craning my neck up every 12 counts.
But I finished.
The course:
