[KevinB]

After they had had enough the waterski team hoisted the guy into one of their boats and took him over to the East St. Louis side where they stripped him to his underwear, took away his shoes, and left him to find his way through E St. Louis to a bridge and then back over the river on foot.

A swimmer wearing underwear and shoes?

[piasa]

Yeah... Mississipi River, not professional swimmers. People got hot and just waded out into the river in tennis shoes. Then they saw the ramp and wanted to use it as an island so they swam out there.

Lots of stuff can cut bare feet in murky water.

Even in clear Ozark water people usually wear tennis shoes to swim because of sharp mussel shells and broken gravel.

[piasa]

I don’t think you’d want to swim without some shorts on at the VP Fair, with thousands of people looking.