70/70 swim

 Next swims: M-F, 6am and 5pm; Sat & Sun, 7/8am and noon

Last swim: Thursday 6am

Air temp: 70

Water temp: 70

Waves: flat, a calm surface

Clarity: getting good, could see the bottom, 8/10

Kru: Dragonfly RiffRaff, Showgirl, Lydia the Tattooed Lady, Magic Mike. Diablo and Moondaug on the early shift.

The sunrise is happening closer and closer to our arrival time these days. A pale orange, pink sun presented itself as we showed up. Diffuse smoke from the Canadian fires --or general haziness-- muted the effect of the sun early in its ascent. But that's fine. We were talking about bugs. Millipedes, ants, probably spiders but I don't know. I was obsessing about the ants. Read this story,  I haven't read it in over 30 years, but it came to mind as we were talking about ants. Very Eurocentric, natives-are-savages sort of story. But still...those ants.

Anyway, this is a swimming blog, not a literary criticism site. On to the swim. And what a swim! Those flat, calm waters, round about 70 degrees, and we could track our progress against the bottom, because it was visible. All hallmarks of an ideal morning swim. Dragonfly and I swam to 2 cute chairs and Mudslide, respectively. Showgirl and the Tattooed Lady swam further...I suspect to Three Piers. It was definitely a day for a nice long swim. I am banking my energy for the weekend swim in Bayfield, so distance wasn't a thing for me today. 

At one point along the swim, somewhere between Sewer Pipe and Garage, I stopped and looked around me. I saw the other Kru who set out on the swim with me. But then, behind them and swimming straight in from the middle of the lake, I saw another swimmer. I presume it was Moondaug (since we saw Diablo leaving before we got in the water). He was on a deep water swim. He looked like he was coming straight from Michigan. Impressive. I am sure he was looking for these treasures...little did he know they were there on the beach all along!

While I was up at the car, brushing off the sand, a car pulled up, rolled down the window, and presented two former students, Maya and Martha. They were there for a swim. These were young people I worked pretty closely with when they were in high school. They both swam for the high school and at least one, if not both, swam in college, too. It was really nice to see them, and good to know that there is another generation ready to pick up the open water swimming mantle. 

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For consideration by the Kru and other readers... discuss the relative benefits and drawbacks of the following swims: a 50/50 swim, a 60/60 swim, and a 70/70 swim. First number is air temp, second number is water temp.

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