First Ever OWS in Algonquin

Hi evey1984 - its a great idea to do some OWS before your first tri. I've done some practice swims at Algonquin while camping with the family - but at the 'beach' area (we did no portaging with the little kids).  
I've some personal 'common sense rules' when swimming in the 'wilder' Ontario lakes:
1. Never swim alone - at least have someone watch you from shore.
2. If you are in the water without a partner, stay within 50m of shore so your buddy can enter the water to help you (with a safey / flotation device).  
3. Scout the water first by canoeing or swimming slowly. In some places there are lots of jagged logs just under the surface.
4. Don't worry about the fish. Don't pet the turtles. And do check your body for leaches. I had quite a few - I'm always afraid that I'll re-enact that famous leach scene from the 1980's film "Stand By Me".

As for the distances - it depends on how strong of a swimmer you are. I used my first open water swims to build up the psychological resistance to freaking out, and only swim 100m at a time (i.e. 5 reps of 100m with 1 minute between each). I did my longer swims in the pool.

Good luck! (Which TAT are you doing?)

Where are you camping in algonquin?  I think most of the campgrounds have pretty decent beaches at them (except for maybe Pog Lake).  I would go out just past the bouy line and do repeats swimming from one side to the other.

If you are back country camping, I would try to pick a campsite with a nice rocky shore and not a lot of reed.  Leaches tend to like swampier conditions.  I am afraid of leeches too, and I have done TONNES of open water swimming (both in algonquin and in other lakes in cottage country).  I know it is one of those irrational things and that if I got a leech on me, I probably wouldn't be afraid of them. 

I have swum in algonquin a whole lot.  growing up my best friend had a cottage there and I would go up and spend the week with her.  I've also done a bunch of back country camping there.

OWS done and man was it a horrible one! I realized I'm much more phobic of fishies and the like than I previously thought! Ha-ha.

We portaged about 2 hours out to Teepee Lake and the campsite we got was in front of a marshey area. I tried to be super brave and just jump in and go for a swim - bad idea! The seaweed was just barely visable so while swimming past it fast I would SWEAR it was a giant pike coming up to eat me, ha-ha! I ended up getting about 150m out before I had to switch to breast stroke, simply because of how heavy and irregular my breathing was (out of fear!) It probably also didn't help that we had seen many leeches and 2 HUGE snapping turtles the day before going for the swim!

Next time I'm going to be smarter about the OWS and get myself to a clearer and/or deeper area before going goggles first - I'm in the "if I don't see it, it doesn't exist" camp too! I'm also going to try more OWS in more people friendly areas, instead of in the middle of nowhere.

The TAT I'm doing in September is the Wasaga one...I've read that the Wasaga swim is done at the main beach in pretty shallow water, and if my memory serves me correctly, there aren't too many fish/seaweed areas along the main beach in Saga. I also hope that the adreneline of swimming with many swimmers will overtake my desire to look all around me and check out what I can see! Apparently I'm a big chicken when it comes to this stuff!

Any suggestions for "chicken safe" lakes to practice an OWS at in the GTA and west of GTA area (Oakville/Mississauga/Brampton/Caledon type area)?

I remember kelso being an okay place to swim.  The place we swam at Welland was pretty awesome too. 

I wouldn't recommend Guelph Lake if you are still a little squeamish.

Thanks for the advice! I will have to get out to try Kelso lake...now to figure out how to get there!

We just got back from 10 days of back country canoeing/portaging in the North part of Algonquin, and had FANTASTIC swimming.   That is one of my pre-requisites before picking a site.    We like the rocky sites with deep water, no beaver activity and no weeds.    Kioshkowkwi (Kiosk), Cauchon, Little Cauchon and Cedar are all great lakes for swimming.   I have never seen a leech in Algonquin but I do avoid small, non-moving bodies of water.  

A local lake to try out that is REALLY great is Gulliver's Lake on Safari Road.    Not big, but it is spring fed or something, and clear as a bell.   You can see bottom the entire distance - about 400 meters long.  Not sure how wide - 250?  

Swam 2400 meters there today and did a tough bike afterwards.   Some good hills.  

Wasaga will be good swimming as well.   Pretty clear actually.    For the sprint and oly distances they have the back up plan of swimming in the river.   That was different.   Ok though.  

Have a great race.