Hard to believe I'm still blogging about double dipping on October 9th...but the weather conditions on Thursday afternoon were just too nice for The Patriarch and I not to head out for another lake adventure Thursday afternoon.
Thursday evening's conditions: sunny skies, air temp in the upper 60's, a very light southwest wind and a water temp hovering around the plus side of 60....barely. With a slight ripple of waves pushing up from the south we decided to swim from south beach.
This was our first adventure from south beach since the big waves at the beginning of the week reshaped the shoreline. Gone is the beach that connected to the south rock pile. The water now completely surrounds the rock pile. The pitch of the beach into the water is also a bit steeper. With just a few steps you plunge into nearly waist deep water....but perhaps just 15 feet beyond that point a new sandbar has formed that is only knee deep.
Briefly we contemplated swimming without wetsuits but the desire to log a longer swim with wetsuits quickly won out. Our swim took us from south beach down to the sewer pipe and back and like this morning included a venture out further from shore to search for clearer warmer water. Similar to this morning though, the water remained consistently cloudy.
The air temp on Friday morning was a crisp 48 degrees. The skies were clear but at 6:30am the sun had barely started to illuminate horizon. The sand was ice cold and to the toes the water temp didn't offer much of a reprieve. With the forecast calling for plentiful sunshine and temps near 70 The Patriarch and I decided to forgo the morning swim in favor of an afternoon adventure.
As predicted, the conditions were a lot more accommodating when The Patriarch and I arrived at 4pm. Sunshine and 70 on the beach. The toe test also indicated that the water conditions had improved. If I had to guess I'd place the water temp around 60. A light breeze from the southeast resulted in choppy waves pushing up from the south.
Clad in wetsuits we swam north from north beach up to the garage before turning south and heading down to south beach. From the beach the choppy waves didn't appear to be much of a concern but as it would turn out the swim in both directions was very challenging. In the end this swim turned out to be more challenging than swimming through the big waves encountered earlier in the week. Establishing any semblance of a rhythm this afternoon was a virtual impossibility.
Saturday's swim plan is to swim at noon from Klode. With the forecast calling for sunshine and temps in the mid 70's it should be an excellent afternoon for a late season swim.
Hope to see you at Klode!
-Capt'n
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