Happy reading, and don't forget to scroll down to the bottom of the page for photos sent in by other swimmers and support crew on how they have managed their own swims. Have suggestions, photos or videos from your own experiences you'd like to share here to help this resource grow and evolve? Let's chat, send me an email! wildbigswim@gmail.com

Working together was a lot of fun, regardless of whether we were splitting tasks down the middle or sharing them! When issues came up we strategized together on solutions, we walked through the swimmer's feeds and medications schedule in between feeds to make sure the swimmer was definitely getting things on time, and we adjusted things that weren't quite working out as we had planned. We were a lot busier in between feeds than we thought we'd be!

Sarah Dobbin and Nadine Bennett, The Search 2025

11.1 Sharing crew responsibilities

During the crew's planning meeting, the crew chief and crew member(s) should discuss how to divide responsibilities once on the water. The crew can take shifts so that 1 person is always “on” and responsible for monitoring the swimmer for a certain number of hours and then they switch up, or they can work together for periods and share the tasks, with each taking breaks as they feel they need to.

Be flexible with each other though, and adjust as needed. On our crossing of Lake Memphremagog, we split tasks down the middle for about 7 hours until nightfall, with one person throwing the feed line and holding up the whiteboard with motivational messages and the other taking stroke rate and filling in the crew log. The first of us to get tired (me!) slept for 3-4 hours while the other did all support tasks, and then we switched it up so she could get some sleep too.

11.2 Eyes on the swimmer at all times

VERY IMPORTANT - a crew member must have eyes on and be actively monitoring the swimmer (and paddler, if using) at all times. If the crew are taking shifts, then this is the responsibility of the crew member that is "on shift" at the time, if you're not taking shifts then just be sure to communicate who is actually responsible for any given period, and if you're both in awe and admiration of your swimmer then you can both sit there and be watching together too!

11.3 Communicating with the swimmer

The crew and swimmer (and paddler, if using) need to come up with easy ways to communicate on the water, here's a few ideas:

Signals for catching the swimmer’s attention, wait for them to remove earplug before talking:
- Daytime = face swimmer and raise right arm straight up in the air palm facing out
- Nighttime = red light pointed directly at the swimmer

use the red-light function on a headlamp, red light lattern or a red adventure light

Signal for emergency exit from water:
- Use the airhorn – swimmer exits water immediately, questions about why can be answered after they exit the water

Crew thumbs up = All good? or All good!, swimmer thumbs up = Yep I'm good!

Use a whiteboard for short instruction or motivational messages
- Use thick dry-erase markers for better visibility
- Use short phrases and easy to understand wording ["Last time you peed?", "You're amazing!"]

The crew and swimmer should discuss how they'll communicate verbally on the water too, and it's not always easy so maybe consider agreeing on a "no hard feelings" approach. The swimmer will be tired during the swim, they shouldn't waste energy on long explanations or carefully worded requests to the crew, instead assure them it's ok to bark out orders or questions if it's easier, no hard feelings. And conversely, it can be difficult for the crew to converse with the swimmer, they might forget to take out an earplug, if it's windy they'll find it noisier closer to the water and hull of the boat and might struggle to hear you. Some of the messages might actually be firm direction or correction from the boat pilot that they are instructing the crew to provide to the swimmer, such as swimming too far away from the boat or drifting back towards the motor. Try to keep your messages positive, but you might have to speak firmly and loudly though at times to be heard or to get a point across, no hard feelings.

11.4 Asking indirect positive leading questions

The crew will likely need to ask the swimmer questions at some point, especially if the swimmer isn't very proactive in letting the crew know how they are doing on feed stops or if the crew notice something is off and want to start exploring what it might be. But it's important to try your best to not to ask questions in a way that actually sends the swimmer down into a negative thought spiral, if possible. If something is urgent, sure you need to be quick and direct about the issue, but otherwise try to ask indirect positive leading questions.

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Eyes on the swimmer is important for a few reasons:

Safety: the crew monitors the swimmer for signs of physical or cognitive decline

Swimmer needs: the swimmer may need something unexpectedly between feed stops
Support: it helps some swimmers feel less lonely, especially in the later hours of the swim

If the crew member "on shift" and responsible for eyes on the swimmer needs to step away for any reason, get the other crew member to take over first.

Crew Kathleene Marcil

Crew Justine Brousseau

11.5 Checking your boat vibe

The swimmer sees a lot from the water, and can sometimes take in the vibe off the boat. If the crew are yawning, the swimmer might start to feel tired too. If the crew are cold and shivering, the swimmer might start to feel cold as well. If there's an issue brewing, the swimmer might start to worry and imagine the worst. You're only human, but try to hide the hard stuff if you can. Smiles and an upbeat vibe can go a long way in keeping the swimmer's mood positive.

How are you?

Are you cold?

Is your shoulder sore?

Are you feeling tired?

How are you?

Are you cold?

Is your shoulder sore?

Are you feeling tired?

Crew Kathleene Marcil

Crew Justine Brousseau

11.1 Eyes on the swimmer at all times

VERY IMPORTANT - a crew member must have eyes on and be actively monitoring the swimmer at all times. If the crew are taking shifts, then this is the responsibility of the crew member that is "on shift" at the time, if you're not taking shifts then just be sure to communicate who is actually responsible for any given period, and if you're both in awe and admiration of your swimmer then you can both sit there and be watching together too!

Eyes on the swimmer is important for a few reasons:

Safety: the crew monitors the swimmer for signs of physical or cognitive decline

Swimmer needs: the swimmer may need something unexpectedly between feed stops
Support: it helps some swimmers feel less lonely, especially in the later hours of the swim

If the crew member "on shift" and responsible for eyes on the swimmer needs to step away for any reason, get the other crew member to take over first.

11.2 What am I looking out for?

Next to feeding and medicating the swimmer, monitoring their physical and mental state over the course of the swim is arguably the crew's most important responsibility, it's key to keeping them moving forward safely. The challenge with monitoring on a marathon swim is that the water is like a sandbox, not a laboratory - when there's an issue, you can't tell exactly what's happening in the swimmer's body and you certainly can't physically touch them or test them to be sure of anything. And the interplay between different kinds of issues means there's probably no one answer to any given situation - there can be many answers and things the crew will try to fix the situation, and hopefully land on the right one that helps the swimmer be well. The other thing that can be challenging for the crew is that swimmers may respond to situations quite differently from one another. This can be for all kinds of reasons: age, existing medical conditions, training approach, experience in marathon swimming, experience handling issues on a big swim. Swimmers are complicated!

If things do start to go sideways, here are things you might observe about the swimmer:

The swimmer loses motivation, might be grumpy or low spirits and energy
The swimmer's pace and/or stroke rate slow down, this may be a gradual or sudden decline
The swimmer's stroke rate stays the same but they are losing power to their stroke and their pace declines
The swimmer stops swimming intermittently in between feed stops, seemingly without a specific need or reason
The swimmer's speech is confused, they may not be able to think or express themselves clearly anymore
The swimmer experiences fatigue, cramps, dizziness, vomiting, changes to urine output, irritability

The crew's goal should be to troubleshoot from an as informed position as possible, so do your best to understand what sorts of issues can come up and what you can do to try and resolve them. Your swimmer's responsibility in their training is to prepare themselves to avoid these things, but know that even if they have, stuff can still go sideways on the water. Talk to your swimmer about their training, what problems they've encountered, how they've handled them or what they think would work best for them in different situations. If you're new to crewing, talk to other more experienced crew persons and swimmers before the swim too who can provide you their perspective. It can also help to have trusted and experienced crew, swimmers or the swimmer's coach available by text messaging during the swim, so you can get feedback or other ideas if a tough situation comes up.

See the Questions to the Swimmer, Boat Pilot, Swim Organization document for ideas on what to ask before the swim.

See Section 12 - Monitoring the Swimmer's Mindset for ideas to help keep the swimmer motivated and moving forward.

See Section 13 - Monitoring the Swimmer's Body for information of issues that could affect the swimmer and ways to address them.

See Section 14 - Monitoring the Waterway and Progress for water safety and assessing the swimmer's forward progress.

11.3 Communicating with the swimmer

The crew and swimmer (and paddler, if using) need to come up with easy ways to communicate on the water, here's a few ideas:

Signals for catching the swimmer’s attention, wait for them to remove earplug before talking:
- Daytime = face swimmer and raise right arm straight up in the air palm facing out
- Nighttime = red light pointed directly at the swimmer

use the red-light function on a headlamp, red light lattern or a red adventure light

Signal for emergency exit from water:
- Use the airhorn – swimmer exits water immediately, questions about why can be answered after they exit the water

Crew thumbs up = All good? or All good!, swimmer thumbs up = Yep I'm good!

Use a whiteboard for short instruction or motivational messages
- Use thick dry-erase markers for better visibility
- Use short phrases and easy to understand wording ["Check-in!","Pee?", "You're amazing!", "1/2 way!"]

The crew and swimmer should discuss how they'll communicate verbally on the water too, and it's not always easy so maybe consider agreeing on a "no hard feelings" approach. The swimmer will be tired during the swim, they shouldn't waste energy on long explanations or carefully worded requests to the crew, instead assure them it's ok to bark out orders or questions if it's easier, no hard feelings. And conversely, it can be difficult for the crew to talk with the swimmer, they might forget to take out an earplug, if it's windy they'll find it noisier closer to the water and hull of the boat and might struggle to hear you. Some of the messages might actually be firm direction or correction from the boat pilot that they are instructing the crew to provide to the swimmer, such as swimming too far away from the boat or drifting back towards the motor. Try to keep your messages positive, but you might have to speak firmly and loudly though at times to be heard or to get a point across, no hard feelings.

Is your swimmer deaf or have hearing impairment? If so, it's really important to keep in mind that the whiteboard is their only channel of communication with the crew or anyone else on the boat once the swim starts, so be sure to use it at every opportunity!

11.4 Asking positive leading questions

The crew will likely need to ask the swimmer questions at some point, especially if the swimmer isn't very proactive in letting the crew know how they're doing on feed stops or if the crew notice something is off and want to start exploring what it might be. But it's important to try your best to not to ask questions in a way that actually sends the swimmer down into a negative thought spiral. If something is urgent, sure you need to be quick and direct when questioning the issue, but otherwise try to pose things as positive leading questions or statements, it will get the swimmer talking and you can probe for the information you need...

How are you?

Are you cold?

Is your shoulder sore?

Are you feeling tired?

Are you sick of your feeds?

You're looking great, tell us how you're feeling!

Your stroke is slowing a little, tell us what's happening in your body!

It's been awhile since your last pain meds, would you like some now?

You're working so hard, how about a little caffeine on the next feed?

How about a tasty treat on your next feed?

11.5 Checking your boat vibe

The swimmer sees a lot from the water, and can sometimes take in the vibe off the boat. If the crew are yawning, the swimmer might start to feel tired too. If the crew are cold and shivering, the swimmer might start to feel cold as well. If there's an issue brewing, the swimmer might start to worry and imagine the worst. You're only human, but try to hide the hard stuff from the swimmer if you can.Smiles and an upbeat vibe can go a long way in keeping the swimmer's mood positive.

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Add your own ideas, photos and videos! Send me an email at wildbigswim@gmail.com