[contingencies]

That's a shame. I recall last summer seeing some dedicated and well-wetsuited people swimming much closer to town, along the concrete shoreline to the north of Ohio Street Beach.

[Kon-Peki]

That's the difference between the city and the suburbs. Swimming in the city is fine if a lifeguard is on duty.

https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/beaches

Swimming in the Great Lakes is very dangerous, especially if you are not familiar with the behavior of the lakes.

https://glsrp.org/statistics/

[torstenvl]

Swimming in the Great Lakes is not dangerous at all. They account for 14 drowning deaths per year out of 4500 across the country. That's a quarter of the annual U.S. drownings in the Atlantic despite having more U.S. coastline.