Shipwreck Swim + Men's Club BBQ THIS SATURDAY

Next Swims:  Mon-Fri 6am, Sat/Sun 8am and noon   (all times subject to change)

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ALSO - don't miss the Shipwreck Swim and Men's Club BBQ this Saturday.

    We will meet on the bluff at Atwater Park in Shorewood at 10AM. BBQ starts serving at 11:30. More details below.

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Last Swim:  6:00AM, Monday 06/09, and others   

Water temp: high 50's

Air Temp:  60-ish?

Water Quality:  clear, waves out of the south

Clarity: ?

Kru:  Lt. MJ, Lydia the Tattoo'd Lady

Shore Support:  no

So I didn't actually swim yesterday morning, but I heard it was great.

Waves out of the south persist, so they went that way.

But the REAL purpose of this blog post is to alert you to one of the best swim days of the season-- the combined events of the Appomattox shipwreck swim followed by the Shorewood Men's Club chicken dinner.

Here is a loose itinerary for the day:

10:00AM - Atwater Park, Shorewood - Meet at the overlook. Engage in idle chat.  Keep in mind that parking will likely be a sh*tshow, so plan accordingly.  Maybe ride your bike.  Carpool.  Whatever.

10:04AM - Head down the ramp. 

10:07AM - Set up camp on the beach.  Someone will take a temperature.  Put on your wetsuit (or not!) and other accoutrements.  Continue the idle chit-chat.  Greet old friends.  Go into the water.

Now.... here's a caveat:  we know the shipwreck is out there.  Wikipedia says it's 150 yards out, in 12-15 feet of water.

Will we swim directly to the shipwreck?  No.  

Will we ultimately find it?  Yes.  

There is inevitable bumbling around, looking here, looking there, until some lucky swimmer spots the shipwreck.

What to look for:

NO, NOT THIS:

This is NOT the shipwreck. 
It will not look anything like this. 
Adjust your expectations down.

It's really more like this:

Or.... just a tiny bit like this:

Some additional frolicking, chit-chat, lollygagging may occur.  Maybe even some serious swimming executed by serious swimmers.

All this depends on conditions.  But it will be a delightful swim with friends, regardless.

Ultimately, folks will return to the beach, put on dry clothes, and proceed up the ramp for some amazing food.  We usually grab a couple of picnic tables and eat together.

11:30 - Shorewood Men's Club begins serving an fantastic chicken or rib BBQ meal.  Tickets can be purchased from our very own Kahuna or Moondaug, or from the SMC dudes selling them at the event.  

There is also beer!  And ICE CREAM!!!  Also live music.

It's fun.  You should come.

Amazing Swim!

Last Swim:  6:00AM, Thursday 05/29

Next Swims:  Mon-Fri 6am, Sat/Sun 8am, noon   (all times subject to change)

    

Water temp: 54, but felt cooler further out

Air Temp:  mid 50's and rising

Water Quality:  flat, clear, and beautiful

Clarity: Like glass friends, like glass

Kru:  Lt. MJ, Showgirl

Shore Support:  just the birds

I don't know what everyone else in the world was doing this morning, but you missed a great swim.

It was cloudy with a west breeze.  The bluff sheltered us from the wind, and the water was totally flat.

We swam north to the Two Cute Chairs, and then because that wasn't enough, on the return trip we swam to the (landmark formerly known as the) picnic table.

It was so great.

The New Season

 Last Swim:  Sunday, 5/25, 12 a.m. group swim.  

Next Swims:  Monday, Memorial Day, 5/26, 8am and Noon (for the most part),  Weekdays are still spotty, but you may find people at 6 or 7 a.m. or in the early afternoons Tuesday and Thursdays.

    

Water temp: 57 immediately inshore, 49 further out

Air Temp:  low 60s, clear sky and bright sun

Water Quality:  Chop, chop, choppy chop from the Southeast

Clarity: Strong demarcation between the beige water near shore and blue further out.  Beige and very murky near Klode, but warm(er) and clearer and colder south past Sewer Pipe.

Kru:  Itch, Brick, Mr. Anonymous, Dragonfly, Diablo

Shore Support:  The Captain, with some finely aged Killepitsch, Showgirl, Scott, Nathan

Swims have been happening all weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Showgirl completed a badass solo swim at 7 a.m. Water has been crazy cold, but Klode is as beautiful as ever. My swim Sunday afternoon felt like a battle into the waves going south.  It seemed to take forever to reach Sewer Pipe and of course I had ambitions beyond that.  As I got further south into the blue, I could start to see my watch; however it was much colder! Turning was a relief, and coming back was faster - and warmer - with the chop providing a push and a surprise mouthful of (murky) water.  Good thing there was 'Pitsch back onshore, to kill the germs.

Much lounging took place after the swim as people caught up after the long winter.  The iron wall provided just the right amount of shelter from the gathering breeze so one could actively bask in the sun.  I layered up, but in cotton layers as opposed to wool, another signal of the new season. The Sauna Tent went up at the back of the beach, but aside from a bit of side-eye, no actual hostilities broke out.

Big Bay update - check it out the sinkhole remediation on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/groups/WFBVillagers/permalink/10163627751247189/?app=fbl

Thanks, Scott, for taking our picture - l-r back row Diablo, Itch. Front row:  Dragonfly, Showgirl, Mr. Anonymous, Captain, Nathan, Brick

New Construction

Last Swim:  Saturday 5/24, 8am, (plus others, undoubtedly)

Next Swims:  Sat/Sun 8am and Noon (for the most part), weekdays are still spotty, likely 8am/noon on Memorial day

    

Water temp: high 40's

Air Temp:  50-ish and rising

Water Quality:  delightfully flat

Clarity: very murky

Kru:  Lt. MJ, Showgirl

Shore Support:  nobody we knew, and a person with a dog getting annoyingly close to our blankets

Okay, so the 2025 swim season is starting to ramp up.  Or at least get close to the ramp.

Lt. MJ and I swam this morning.  It was really pretty amazing-- sunny and flat the whole time.

We swam to the Mudslide/New Mudslide area.  There is some kind of construction happening between these two landmarks.  It looks like a new staircase and a new path down the hill.  With the right combination of careless landscaping and a well-timed rain storm, we could have ourselves a New-New Mudslide!  Stay tuned, friends, or swim there yourselves.

It was a great swim, and the water was just starting to get choppy as we headed up the ramp.

The Atwater Buoy May Not Be Graphing This Summer

Updated, 5/24/25:

According to a relatively recent article in Michigan Live, proposed cuts at NOAA could result in all NOAA buoys in Lake Michigan not being placed or activated this year.  (The web address for the article is at this link: https://www.mlive.com/environment/2025/04/severe-cuts-at-noaa-would-kill-great-lakes-data-buoy-network.html.) More information about these buoys and what they do is available at this link. 

I know, we often in years past have complained about the Atwater Buoy, and how useful (or non-useful) it can be in predicting what nearshore surface water temperatures are going to be for us swimmers when we get to the beach.  But it's always been nice to consult, to get a general idea of what to pack for a trip to the beach.  

The Atwater Buoy is currently out there and active.  If you want to know what surface water temperature it is sensing, text "45013" to 866.218.9973.  But unlike in year's past, the Buoy's data is not being graphed and reported online (so the link on our webpage doesn't get you anyplace useful).

Maybe there is a better, and lower-cost method of collecting and reporting the data that has traditionally been collected by these buoys.  But I've not heard that the federal government is going to replace the current buoy system, with some new-and-improved, and/or lower cost system.  I think that would be a shame if the folks who use this information are no longer going to have access to it (or are going to have to subscribe to some private, for-profit service that will collect/report the information).  

If you like me would like to see this NOAA buoy program continue, you may want to send an email to your federal elected officials (Senator Baldwin, Senator Johnson, and whomever your congress person is). I can't guaranty it is going to do any good, but I don't think it will do any harm.  Maybe it is the case that our elected officials are simply unaware of how many people currently rely on this information, and want to see it continue to be available.  

 Looking forward to seeing folks as the season gets going again.  

Lake Michigan (Huron too) is not stratifying

 

                                                                 (screenshot from this cool drone footage via JSOnline)

I always look out for Caitlyn Looby's reporting. Here is an interesting story in todays Journal Sentinel (Tues, April 8) that says a little bit about what scientists know about the lake not mixing as much. Spoiler: they don't know much. It is still an interesting article.

Winter Swim Musings

a Krew member swims north in late February (video credit: John Wilson)

 

There often comes a time in the middle of the winter when I find myself ardently wishing I could swim with my Klode friends. A morning last week was one of those times. It's because I read the following poem:

Ghazal: Sea 

by Moira Egan

with a final couplet by e. e. cummings

As Karen Blixen said, the cure’s the sea
—or sweat, or tears—but I prefer the sea.

In fact, it’s homeopathy. Why cry
with eyes baptised (if reddened) by the sea?

The metaphors of fabric come to mind:
cool silk or aqua velvet, summer sea

            (or better, come to body: intimate,
            enveloped skin on skin, the lover sea).

The bone-ache deep, the pains gone unexplained:
for now just dive, ameliorator sea.

The “mermaid’s tears,” smoothed glass or plastic: lovely
but hazardous to creatures of the sea.

This evening’s rough: Poseidon snaps my straps.
Pathetic fallacy, bipolar sea.

And in their one-piece suits, the ladies age
and silver, laugh and rage: September sea.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea.

Copyright © 2025 by Moira Egan. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on March 5, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.

And here is the ee cummings poem from which she stole the final two lines. It is also redolent of our shared swimming joy, just in a different way.

maggie and milly and molly and may

by ee cummings

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

Copyright © 1956, 1984, 1991 by the Trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust from The Complete Poems: 1904–1962 by E. E. Cummings, Edited by George J. Firmage. Reprinted by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.

Farewell Mitch Lewis, aka Mr. Bubble

I am sorry to report that Mitch Lewis, aka Mr. Bubble passed away unexpectedly on March 1, 2025.

He swam with the Kru for years.  One day he arrived wearing a Mr. Bubble t-shirt, and thus, his nickname was born.  He was a master breaststroke-er, and was always friendly and welcoming to new swimmers.

His memorial service is this Saturday, March 8th from 4-6 pm at Spaces, 1433 N. Water St. Milwaukee, WI 53202.

Here is the the message posted today on his Facebook page:

Mitchell Scott Lewis (07/15/1956-03/01/2025), beloved husband, parent, grandparent, uncle, cousin, and friend to so many, has passed away. He left us suddenly, after completing his last race: a 5k in Madison, WI, raising funds for refugees, with his friend, DeWitt Clinton. He passed quickly and unexpectedly, and he was not believed to have suffered pain. Mitch was born in Milwaukee, WI, raised in Long Island, NY, and Milwaukee, WI, went to Northwestern University for Biology and Rush University for Health Systems Management. He also lived in Atlanta, GA, with his family before moving back to Milwaukee, WI, in 1996.

He lived a life doing exactly what he loved: being with his family, helping others, and being physically active. When possible, doing both simultaneously. He played a huge rule in both working and volunteering for local health and hospital systems, including Aurora Health Systems. Even in his retirement, Mitch stayed active, volunteering for a local health clinic, being a board member and volunteer at his daughter’s nonprofit, Community Center for Immigrants, and helping raise his granddaughter, Lhamo. Mitch cared deeply about his children, Debra and Caitlyn, as well as his precious grandchildren, Lhamo and Leonardo. He was proud of his daughter, Debra, for her achieving her doctorate, opening her own practice as a Psychologist, and competing in endurance events just like him. He was proud of his daughter, Caitlyn, for opening and running her own nonprofit helping immigrants become citizens and learn English.

Mitch would do anything for his grandkids, and they knew they had him wrapped around their finger. Mitch and his wife, Bonnie, were meant for each other. Together 41 years, their marriage was a strong constant in his life and they still went on dates. The type of connection where they are entirely reliant in each other but in a beautiful, meant-to-be-together, type of way. Although his loss is devastating, we find peace that he passed quickly, did not appear to be in pain, and that he was with his dear friend, DeWitt. He died doing what he loved: being physically active outdoors.

He now joins his mother, Connie Litton, father, Julian Lewis, his grandfathers, grandmothers, and other passed relatives. He is survived by his siblings, Elizabeth O’Brien, Valerie Wisniewski, and Greg Lewis, as well as family members: Bob Wisniewski, Brooks Wisniewski, Andie Wisniewski, Lilly O’Brien, Jimmy O’Brien, Jess Lewis, and Joseph Lewis. He was an active member of the following communities throughout his life, including: Aurora Medical Center, Aurora Walker’s Point Clinic, Team Phoenix, Klode Krew, and Wheel and Sprocket.

Please help us remember Mitch’s life. His service will be Saturday, March 8th from 4-6 pm at:

Spaces

1433 N. Water St.

Milwaukee, WI 53202

Also please donate to his memorial fund for Community Center for Immigrants at:

https://communitycenterforimmigrants.networkforgood.com/projects/226100-support-our-work

Here is a link to his Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/mitch.lewis.313

and additional information:

https://memorials.hartsonfuneralhome.com/mitchell-lewis/5561091/index.php

Swim on, Mr. Bubble, we will miss you.

2025 New Year swim/plunge

Last Swim: New Year day

Next Swims: some swimming a few days a week. Post if inquiring 

Water Temp: 44 F. Per Garmin smart watch and Surf Report site. This may be our warmest recorded New Year plunge.

Air Temp: 29

Krew: Sorry, forgot my note pad. From recollection-Library Lady, Fin- Fin, Show Girl, Diablo, Itch, MJ, Dragonfly, Rick from Boston, Forger, Icedaug, Brick, the Lagunas, Hollywood, Tom...and more.

Shore Support: many.

I guestimate about 20-30 Klode Krew people showed up for our annual New Year plunge. And many other people/groups as well. Some in skin, some suited up. Some viking plunge dippers, some suited long range swimmers, and some impressive skin swimmers. 

Diablo swam an impressive South South beach to Picnik table and back- skin. Brick suited up for an almost to 3-Piers swim (with Itch in putsuit). Wetaco did her first viking plunge! And many others enjoyed their various vigorous swims and plunges. 

Enjoying the snacks, hot beverages, and elixirs, New Years resolutions forged. Forward! What's yours?

P.S. Anyone take some action shots of me with my Mr. Belvedere speedo swim suit on?