Sunday, May 29, 2011

Killepitsch takes the lead

Next Swim: Noon Monday
Today's Water Temp: 49
Weather Conditions: 61 with fog rolling in
Waves: rolling < 1ft
Tide: High
Clarity: from the shore...clearer than yesterday
Crew: The Patriarch, Diablo, Capt'n

The rain had stopped by the time we arrived at the Klode Parking lot. That was the good news. The bad news...a cold fog was rolling in and along with it colder water temps. The Patriarch and Diablo were minus wetsuits today....so when the Captn-o-meter read 49 it didn't take long for the official proclamation to call it a day.

To brighten our spirits though....and to toast an exceptional new swim season...we did pour our first round of Killepitsch upon reaching the Klode bluff. For those keeping track of our records at home, this marks the first time ever that the Killepitsch counter has exceeded our swim count!

Tomorrow's forecast calls for a high of 84 degrees!! Surely tomorrow will be an exceptional day to walk the plank!

Arrg, we be seein' ya at high noon Monday!!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Hearty Soles

Next Swims: 3:30pm Sunday & 12pm Monday
Last Swim: 1pm Saturday, May 28
Water Temp: 50
Water Clarity: Cloudy
Waves: none / current from south
Air Temp: 65 & Cloudy
Crew: Kahuna & Capt'n with guest appearances from The Patriarch, Diablo, Padre & Sir James

What!?!?! Could sanity be prevailing for some members of the the Klode Crew??? Ignoring the calls of the Lady of the Lake, The Patriarch and Padre along with wetsuitless crew members Diablo and Sir James declined to set sail from the Klode shoreline this afternoon. ...although with a water temp of just 50 and nare an adventure to speak of for the past 6 month the shock of embarking on an adventure today would surely be more than most mere mortals can tolerate.

Now I'm not saying that those who did embark on today's swim adventure are more than mortal....I'll just leave that up to you to decide the words that best describe us. :)

There was never any doubt today that Kahuna was enamoured by the call of the Lady. Immediately upon arriving on the beach he climbed into his wetsuit....not even batting an eye when The Patriarch officially proclaimed the water temperature to be 50.4...and seconded by the Captn-o-meter.

Today's journey retraced the strokes of Sunday skin swim adventure. Pretty amazing when you consider that the water temp was nearly 10 degrees cooler and Kahuna was swimming in a sleeveless wetsuit. (Although he did have arm warmers on...) The water was relatively calm although there was a distinct current pushing up from the south.

The plan for Sunday is to return at 3:30pm to test the waters again. If you're reluctant to come out Sunday just to toe test the water....don't worry. We'll have a bottle (...or two...) of Killepitsch along with us to warm you (...or your toe if you don't walk the plank...) back up.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Memorial Weekend Plans

Next Swim: Saturday (5/28) 1pm
Location: Klode
Crew Currently Committed: The Patriach, Diablo, Capt'n

Arrg...Ahoy mates! 1pm has been decreed as the official swim time for Saturday. Let's make it so!!

Times for Sunday & Monday will be finalized at Saturday's swim. If you have a preference and can not make it please comment to this post.

...Hillside Hawk 5K run on Sunday is at 1pm in Brookfield so Sunday's time for me will need to be either at 10am or 3:30pm.

...Guardian Angel 5K is at 8:30am Monday just a few miles from Klode so a high noon start on Monday is a possibility.

It was great seeing crew mates Padre, Sarah, Gwen and Larry (...known in 2008 & 2009 as the "Iceman"...) at Thursday's aquathon out in Lannon. Compared to the air temp (50?) the water was down right toasty. (The Captino-meter registered 60.8 from the shore but the water was probably closer to the 64 temp reported by race officials.) For the record, everyone in the event wore wetsuits (...including me...) although had the Captino-meter not read 60 I was prepared to swim skin.....next time though, I'm in for skin!

Gwen posted the fastest swim and finished 2nd overall all. Larry posted the 2nd fastest swim and finished 4th overall....just 4 days after completing Ironman Texas! Padre claimed the Clydes title while Sarah cruised in and placed 3rd for the women.

Results can be found at:

http://www.onlineraceresults.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=6462

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Killepitsch 2011 Lake Michigan Swim Season Officially Open!

Holy Cow! I would not have thought it possible, but today Cap'n, Diablo, and Gumdrop swam to South-South Beach and back (a quarter mile) without wetsuits. So the first official swim of 2011 sets a new record, one day earlier than last year, and the earliest (by far) skin swim.

Last Swim: Sunday May 22nd, Klode Beach
Water temp: 58! (OK, not great, but excellent for this time of year)
Waves: Heavy Chop, pushing north
Water Clarity: Very stirred up and cloudy
Crew: Diablo, Gumdrop, Cap'n, and Patriarch watching from shore (a wee bit too cold for me)

Next Swim: I'm not sure when our next Lake Michigan swim will occur, stay tuned. However we are planning on doing the aquathon (1K swim 5K run) series at Lannon Quarry that starts this Thursday: http://www.prerace.com/races/event/25032/Fleet-Feet-Aquathon-Series---Milwaukee--Menomonee%20Falls-WI
Our intention is to do these without wetsuits.

It's time to restart all the counters. Here are the stats from 2010:
Total Swims: 167
Swim Days: 160
Wetsuit Swims: 120
Skin Swims: 47
First Swim: May 23, 2010
Last Swim: October 29, 2010
Longest Streak of Consecutive Days: 158 days
Shots of Killepitsch: 126 - this is pitiful! More swims than shots?? I'm ashamed.

Viking Swims: 6 (this category is ill-defined, but generally it means very cold (40s or less) water, no wetsuit distance doesn't matter, but at least 100M)

Here is a list of all the people (maybe) who swam with us last year:
Patriarch, Cap'n, Diablo, Gumdrop, Kahuna, Sonnakuhuna, Blondie, Padre, Slip&Slide, The Sistas (Crash & Lil-Sista), Ellie, San Diego Joe, Diamond Dave, H2, The Israeli, Team Nagle, JJ.

The following people swam, but don't have swim nicknames yet, and I suggest you get one before we give you one: Beth, Lane, daughter of Lane, David, Perry, Brad, Bill, Mike, Eileen, Jeff, Scott, John, Gwen, Sarah, Cathy, Colin, Gabe, Eric, Linda, Phil, Walt, Chris, James, Steph, Matthew, Lindsey, Megan, Gui, Jen, Carrie, Tim, Jon, Christine, Kim

One name is a glaring omission: Jessica. But because she's such and awesome coach, and because I'm SURE she'll show up this year, we won't give her too much s***, for now.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

On Your Mark...........

The Chicago open water group is already in the Lake: http://openwaterchicago.com/

Of course those are brain dead FIBs, so I'm not sure it means anything.

Water temps down there are in the low 50s, still in the 40s here. But it won't be long. I can't wait to try the new wetsuit.