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.