The Swim Distances at Georgiaville Pond are as follows:
(all distances are out and back roundtrips)
Beach to Close Buoy Swim: .4 miles
Beach to Short Dock Swim: .75 miles
Beach to Dock Swim: 1.1 miles
Beach to Far Buoy Swim: 1.5 miles
How to Get There:
Best address to use for online maps, or navigation purposes is
22 Stillwater Road
Smithfield, RI 02917
This will get you to the entrance of the parking area.
General Info:
Parking:
There is a parking lot right next to the beach. However during the hours the beach is officially open to the public and staffed by lifeguards they will ticket your car if you park there without a town sticker. However in the early mornings and evenings its fine to park there. (pre 9am, post 6pm generally). At least I haven't had any trouble parking there at those times. If you plan to be there between 9-6 then park on the street outside the parking area in the neighborhood and walk up to the beach. Or if you plan to run or bike after your swim be sure your car isn't in the lot during those hours.
Lifeguards:
There are lifeguards on duty there during the summer typically from 9am-6pm. When the lifeguards are there you are NOT allowed to swim outside the beach area. So be sure and get out of the water before they come on duty, or wait to head out till after they go off duty. Once they are not "on the clock" they don't care what you do. Please do NOT violate this policy or argue with the lifeguards. They are just doing their job and are friendly to us as long as we respect their wishes. Personally I prefer only to swim there in the early morning as there is some boat / jetski / small fishing boat traffic on the water in the evenings. At the very least wear a very bright swim cap if you swim in the evenings.
Georgiaville Pond Groups:
There are often triathletes and swimmers there in the early mornings on most days. However there is also a semi organized group that goes out on tuesday, thursday, and saturday mornings generally however this varies. Typically they go at 6am during the week and 8am on Saturdays with a bike/run brick to follow. Its a very friendly group of people and well worth saying hello to. They will also make sure you come out of the water ok. Generally we all share our planned routes and keep an eye on everyone to make sure everybody gets out of the water. This group can be found on facebook by searching for "Georgiaville". Many Tri-Newengland folks also post their planned swim times on the discussion board as well.
Maps:
Here's what to look for:
Close Buoy: This is the white tall buoy you can see from the beach if you look straight out and slightly to your right.
Short Dock: small dock extending from shore in the cove across from the beach and to the right a little bit.
Dock: Actually a floating 5 foot x 5 foot swim raft that you'll see along the shoreline not long after you start seeing some actual docks with boats on them along the shoreline. If you head to the opposite shore from the beach and follow the coast you can't miss it.
Far Buoy: Looks just like the close one... but its way down the end of the Pond beyond the dock. Very hard to miss!
Click on these images to make them larger.
All "routes" come from wearing a Garmin 310xt GPS watch in my swim cap. Feel free to make fun of my lack of sighting ability in the comments section below!
Short Dock Swim - From Beach to small dock attached to shoreline just beyond the close buoy
Dock Swim - Beach to the floating 5x5 raft just beyond where you see the first boats along the shoreline
Far Buoy Swim: Go beyond the dock to the far buoy at the end of the pond. Looks just like the close buoy
Labelled Map with All Points:
Disclaimer: I'm not associated directly with any of the listed groups, or the town, or the beach. Just someone putting some info online for fellow triathletes and swimmers. If you get a parking ticket, get in trouble with the lifeguards or show up on a tuesday morning and nobody else is there its not my fault! Happy Swimming!
Does this still hold true?
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