Next swims: Monday-Friday, 6 am and 5 pm (for real!)
Saturday/Sunday, 7 am, 8 am and Noon
Water temp: 67
Air temp: High 70s/low 80s and muggy on arrival, milder on departure
Swell: very flat at sunrise, escalating to 8-12" within 20 minutes
Clarity: Murky, 5-6/10
Kru: Lt MJ, Mr and Mrs Laguna, Alla, Chris, Mr. Bubble
Late Shift: Handyman Hank
Shore Support: swarms of blood thirsty flies
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| Laguna alongside vagrant Sendik's bag |
Quick confession to make - despite the absence of blog posts about 5 pm weekday swims, they have been occurring regularly. Itch of course has been swimming consistently. Mr A and Moondoggie were there last night, along with some newcomers. There's been a couple of other consistent newcomers, but I haven't gotten their names yet. Haven't seen Brick or his Clowns to the Left, Jokers to the Right pickup for a while. Lauren from Chicago was there the other day and Rosie has come a few times.
Anyway, this morning was perfectly calm and lovely on arrival, except for those f@~#!*g flies. They were on us from the get go - upside was that everyone was motivated to get in the water very quickly.
Clear skies at first, so perfect view of the sun coming up on the horizon. We all headed north. Good incentive for me to do some freestyle with right sided breathing - got to sight the sunrise with each stroke. Still didn't prevent me from going off course though.
Started to notice the wind picking up and water surface going from flat to light ripples to light swells and then full swells maybe up to a foot. Fortunately, the swells were coming from the North, so they helped propel us back. MJ reported that her Barbie was being pushed around, as was mine. I rejoiced at the hope that the stronger wind would roust the flies from the beach. No such luck.
Changing the subject again - I was asking folks last night if they had heard any new details about the Klode Park Beach Restoration and Shoreline Stabilization Project. No one else had heard about it at all. I first heard about it when Northshore Nancy called my attention to this Facebook post back in July:
𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗞𝗹𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 - 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲: In November 2020, the Village Board approved a $180,038.10 grant for the restoration and mitigation of the Klode Park Shoreline. The grant includes a 75% Federal cost share ($135,028.58), a 12.5% State of Wisconsin cost share ($22,504.76), and a 12.5% local Whitefish Bay match ($22,504.76). Village Staff and shoreline restoration consultant SmithGroup worked with FEMA over the winter/spring to design and bid the project.𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗼𝘄 (𝟳/𝟭𝟮/𝟮𝟭): The Village Board approved the project construction contract at the Village Board meeting last night. Construction will take place after Labor Day to avoid the summer beach season. The project consists of sandy gravel/cobblestone for beach replenishment, funds to repair a broken support bracket on the storm sewer outlet pipe, and a revetment of geotextile and rip-rap to armor the shoreline against similar future damage.𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱: As a result of a severe winter wind storm that took place in early January 2020, the Klode Beach shoreline encountered substantial erosion. This storm was so severe that the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management coordinated with local municipalities and was successful in obtaining a FEMA emergency disaster declaration.
There was a comment on this post saying that the "substantial erosion" was on the north side of the beach and that the goal of this project was to make the north side like the south side.
I made a comment on this post asking for more details just before I started typing this blog post, and they've responded already:
We're working on a project notification letter that will go out next Monday in the newsletter and online. Work is anticipated to begin on or after September 13 (weather permitting) and last around 4 weeks. Access to the beach will be closed during construction.
Given all of the above - I propose we do some Special Labor Day Swim. Maybe Big Bay to Klode? Or vice versa? I've got an idea of how I could position my van to shuttle people back to the point of origin from the destination, for those of us who only want to swim one way. Let's discuss in comments.
Last thing - what does this blog's title, You Got It, have to do with anything else in this post? Glad you asked - You Got It is a love song from The White Album, by the Average White Band White, circa 1974. These white guys were a bona fide and outstanding disco band (unlike the Bee Gees, who never released even one disco song before they were in the movie Saturday Night Fever - total cover band). So, I thought this love song was perfectly appropriate for all us who love swimming at Klode. The chorus of this song says it all:
You got it, any way you want it
Any way you want it to be
You can have it, take it from me
'Cause it's waiting for you
Any way you want it to be
You can have it, take it from me
'Cause it's waiting for you
9 comments:
it appears that for approx 4 weeks, we will need to find a new launch beach as there will be no access while WFB renovates the beach. so, anyone have a strong preference for the temporary beach location? There are several nearby--Doctors to the north of Klode. Big Bay, Atwater, and Bradford to the south.
It might be fun invading Bradford for awhile, as there are some cool sites around there for after swim coffee, oysters, or whatever.
Bradford not a bad idea but somewhat limited in distances. But I like the apres-swim idea. Big bay would provide consistent options. Plus we can swim north and check out progress/provide oversight. Note: if swimming south from big bay toward atwater, within 5-6 blocks of atwater there are many sunken piers and only 1-2 ft underwater. If you dont have good clarity to see below, consider swimming further out to avoid any rocky/rebar incidents.
I’d vote for Big Bay, since it’s actually closer to my house than Klode. I also like the fact that it’s secluded whereas Bradford is very much out in the open and highly visible.
FB users, you can read and see WFB's announcement here--the parking lot and beach will be closed: https://www.facebook.com/whitefishbay/photos/a.635795099765125/4548245808520015/
Last night was very active water but blue, MUCH clearer and easily in the mid-70s. On On!
Hi all! I’d love to join and swim with y’all soon! Are any of you wearing wetsuits at this point in the season? If not, at what point in the season do you start wearing wetsuits? Thanks!
What a wonderful question! The wearing of wetsuits is vastly a matter of personal preference depending on many variables beyond the obvious one of water temperature. Air temperature, wind, amount of sunlight, wave height and power, and distance planned all factor in. Then, there are the variety of options from full wetsuit, gloves & booties, dive helmet, sleeveless wetsuit with auxiliary sleeves, sleeveless without auxiliary sleeves, shortie wetsuit, lava pants, swim skins, and any and all possible combinations. One also has to take into consideration the likelihood that a temperature taken on shore or via the buoy will be uniform, or will there likely be colder patches following a west wind, recent storm etc.
For me, the donning of the wetsuit becomes an increasingly viable option in proportion to the decline in water temp combined with the distance I want to swim. So does that answer your question? Smile. Not to be a total jerk: over 70 degrees, I pretty definitely will not wear a wetsuit...under 60 I pretty definitely will. In between, it varies (see above)!
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