Hacker News Reader

> no pedestrians

And swimmers!

My office here in Amsterdam is on a canal. All through the summer there are 20-30 swimmers a day. Including one man who every morning swims head-down freestyle the 1km around Prinseneiland.

View on HN

As someone with chronic sinusitis, which likely came from years of swimming in questionable water, this is utter insanity to me.

Does canal swimming seem a bit nuts to you as well?

We keep our canals reasonably clean; especially if you're close to one of the inlets of clean water the risks are low from what I understand. In the summer you have to watch out for algae etc. But we also keep track of those in official swim water around the canals. And finally I think the risks of swimming in a crowded small official swimming lake can be pretty high as well. But yeah, I'd still think twice before going swimming in a canal and I'd try to keep the water out of my mouth etc.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com