Shadow Cliffs or Aquatic Park

You have to pay $5 bucks to get in or park down the street and ride in for free. I live about 15 miles away so I would ride there lock my bike to a BBQ, swim, and ride home. The water is clean and you will usually have the swim lane to yourself. They also have an open water swim club. I think it is call sowat. This club is allowed to swim across the lake outside of the swim lane. Are you training for Alcatraz?

Thanks for all of the info! I'm not training for Alcatraz, just looking for some place closer than SF to save some time and money. How many designated swim lanes do they have, how wide are they, and approximately how long is each lap?

I've swam there several times.  If you go in the morning there will be other people there training for open water before the picnickers show up.  The times I have been it is one big lane, but plenty of room, I don't know if they ever change that.  I was told it was 100 yards from end to end but it didn't feel like it.  Water is nice temp wise and no current of any kind.  They have an outside shower and places to change so that is nice.  We saw the people swimming across after we were done and decided we were going to do that next time...did not know you had to have permission, don't know how they control that since there is no life guard early in the morning.  Definitely something to check into. 

Don't know if any of this helps but I think it is worth using for a mellow open water swim...getting off of the blue or black line.  Oh and if you do go and park inside you can bring your bike and after your swim head out, go the the right, take the next major right and ride for miles into the wine areas.  A bit traffic"y" but nothing too gnarly.

I have been looking into swimming here as well for my first open water swim.  Here is the web site I got the info from.
http://shadowcliffsorcas.wordpress.com/

They also have a 3 month triathlon series there in the summer.

This is a great, convenient place in the East Bay to practice OWS.  Its not the most beautiful lake (Del Valle in Livermore is much nicer) and late in the summer the water is kind of icky (think duck pond) but easy to get to and has everything you need.

You can swim in the large swim lane, or you can join one of the two swim groups if you want to swim outside the lane (across and around the lake)  - either Orca's or SOWAT.  You need to take their swim test to join, which is just swimming the lane up and back and pay the fee of about $25 per year and promise to swim with someone else.  Then you can go outside the swim lane and really practice open water swims and sighting, of various differences--I think this is much more valuable than staying in their swim lane only.  There is a map posted and you can find it online also at the Orcas website which shows the distances to various points around the lake.  

I joined Orcas last year and you can get on a e-mailing list and other members post when they want to swim so you can easily meet people there to swim with.    

Here's the Orca's website:
http://shadowcliffsorcas.wordpress.com/
 

Thanks everyone for the input and information! I will most likely check it out sometime this weekend and see how it is.

Kdea, did you go try out Shadow Cliffs?  I was wondering about the water temp.  Would like to get in some ows but not sure if ready to face very cold water right now (under 60 deg).  If you did try it out how was it?

There's also OWS available at Coyote Point in San Mateo.  In terms of convenience, I am tempted to try it since it's 5 minutes from my house.   I accompanied my partner out there last year, and it seemed choppy compared to generally serene Aquatic Park, and since it is shallow, the water seemed muddy.  With that said, we were out there at low tide.   Anyway, it is an option..

Les, Yeah I tried Shadow Cliffs out last Friday, sorry for not posting my experience about it sooner. The water temp was cold(definitely below 60F, wetsuit needed!). But other than the initial shock of cold water, you'll warm up quickly after a few laps. And It's still the one swimming lane as you had mentioned earlier.

+1 for Shadow Cliffs

(yes this is many years after the original post!)

Swim lane is 150 yards.

I go there on the weekend and, though there are BBQs and kids everywhere the swim lane is empty.

Summertime temps are low 70s which is plenty warm to swim.
(yes, I would expect the temps to be in the 60s in Feb, when the orig. question was posted!)

Water is clean. Spring fed? Even in this drought the water quality is really good (mid summer).

The swim lane is perfect for:
* Swimming alone (life guards)
* Getting used to wet suits
* Getting started with OWS and sighting

Compared to Aquatic Park, it'll be warmer and less salty. :-)
You should try both for sure. For me AP is much harder to get to.

Nick