Point to La Pointe Swim

The Point to La Pointe Swim is an open water swimming race across Lake Superior, connecting the mainland harbor town of Bayfield, Wisconsin, to the shores of Madeline Island. It is a 2.1-mile point-to-point journey of 3,379 meters through vast northern waters, organized by the Bayfield Rec Center. The course sets out from the sandy mainland beach at Bayfield and heads straight out over the open expanse of Lake Superior toward the island across the sound. The event originated back in 2006 as a small, informal community swim of just 24 participants looking to cross the channel together. In those early years, the prizes handed out to finishers on the sand were simple and handcrafted, consisting of ceramic bowls heaped with fresh local blueberries.

Crossing an open passage of Lake Superior requires thorough preparation, so all participants must be at least 14 years old on race day. Safety equipment is mandatory for everyone: each swimmer wears a full-coverage wetsuit against the chill and tows an individual safety buoy across the channel. Swimmers must maintain a steady pace across the sound, clearing the midpoint red buoy and reaching the Madeline Island shore before the final cut-off. On calm days, the swim becomes a quiet, meditative journey where you can lift your head to watch passing gulls, red rock shorelines, and drifting clouds reflected on the lake's surface. Yet conditions across the passage can change rapidly, with crosswinds that occasionally build two-foot chop against your stroke.

Lake Superior: cold depths and sweet freshwater channels

Lake Superior is a vast freshwater expanse. Even on bright summer mornings, breezes can stir the surface into rolling chop and unpredictable crosswinds that test your sighting and rhythm. For swimmers accustomed to coastal surf, the lack of stinging brine, drifting seaweed, or ocean creatures makes the stroke feel remarkably clean and direct. Water temperature in this northern inland sea presents a stark contrast between the shoreline and the deep channel. Sheltered bays around Madeline Island can warm up to a comfortable 70 °F under the summer sun. Full-coverage wetsuits are strictly required, allowing swimmers to stay comfortable and focused in the deep freshwater. Looking straight down through your goggles during the crossing, the water reveals an empty, luminous clarity. The rhythmic pull toward the looming island green creates a sensation of swimming through a pristine inland sea.

Chequamegon Bay: historic lighthouses and deep lake shipwrecks

On Long Island, at the mouth of Chequamegon Bay, stands the La Pointe Light, recognized as one of the oldest skeletal structures of its kind across the Great Lakes. Chequamegon Point Light was built in 1897 to safely guide commercial vessels toward Chequamegon Bay. Because the light sits on a shifting sand spit constantly eroded by Lake Superior waves, keepers struggled to reach it until a concrete walkway was laid across the sand in 1909, followed by rock-filled log cribs built in 1911 to hold back the water. The tower's original mechanical fog bell now rests safe in the Madeline Island Museum. These waters hold reminders of the lake's raw power during late-season autumn gales. About seven kilometres from the race course, the three-masted schooner Lucerne foundered off Long Island in a fierce November storm in 1886, its masts left standing above the water where three sailors froze before the wreck was found; it now rests peacefully on the lake bottom, protected on the National Register of Historic Places.

About eleven kilometres away off Red Cliff lies the tugboat Ottawa, once the largest and most powerful tug on the Great Lakes, which caught fire in November 1909 and burned to the waterline, its historic wreck now preserved on the National Register. Further out in deep water about eleven kilometres from the course, the wooden steamship Antelope sank in 1897 while approaching Michigan Island. Discovered in 2016 resting completely upright more than 90 meters down in the cold, preservative freshwater, two of its three masts still stand tall with their wire rigging perfectly intact.

Madeline Island: fur trade posts and Big Bay sea caves

The finish line welcomes swimmers onto Madeline Island, stretching 14 miles long and 3 miles wide. Long before it became a destination for open water swimmers, French fur traders recognized its strategic position and established a trading fort here in 1693. Stepping onto the island today feels like arriving in a secluded sanctuary bordered by ancient forests and red rock shores. Big Bay State Park showcases sandstone cliffs topped with towering pine trees where bald eagles build their nests high above the waves. The park preserves a unique coastal landscape shaped by a large inland lagoon and a fragile bog and dune ecosystem. Along the shoreline, reddish cliffs drop straight into the clear freshwater of the lake.

Over countless centuries, the relentless swells of Lake Superior have carved undercut sea caves and hidden hollows directly into these sandstone bluffs. Paddlers in canoes and sea kayaks frequently explore the intricate cave passages from the water, ducking beneath overhangs where the lake echoes against the stone. Beneath the surface off Big Bay, about eleven kilometres from the race course, lies a sunken late-19th-century merchant vessel known as the Big Bay sloop, discovered in the 1990s. Featuring wire rigging and metal cleats dating between 1880 and 1920, it is the only known shipwreck of its kind in Wisconsin waters, now protected within a National Marine Protected Area.

La Pointe and Barrier Beach: singing sands and dark skies

Recreation on the island centers around Big Bay Town Park and State Park, where a 1.5-mile-long crescent of sand known as Barrier Beach curves along the water. The beach forms a natural barrier separating the open lake from a quiet, crystal-clear lagoon where visitors can rent canoes or kayaks to paddle through serene shallows. It provides an ideal, sheltered spot to unwind and swim in gentler waters after completing the channel crossing. Strolling along Barrier Beach reveals a rare natural quirk: the fine, rounded grains beneath your feet occasionally emit a curious acoustic vibration known locally as singing sand. The sound accompanies footsteps along the shoreline, adding a distinctive charm to an afternoon walk along the water's edge.

For those drawn to life below the surface, scuba diving allows divers to plunge into the cold depths to inspect underwater rock formations, boulders, and submerged historical wreckage. Above the waterline, golfers can play a local course featuring seven holes with wide panoramic views overlooking the expanse of Lake Superior. As twilight settles over Madeline Island, the absence of urban light pollution transforms the night. With minimal artificial lighting, the skies turn pitch-black, creating an expansive natural observatory where thousands of stars shine brilliantly over the quiet, dark waters.