To all those coming to Milwaukee this week to compete or watch the USAT races: Welcome!
Milwaukee takes pride in "Gemuetlichkeit" (ga-MEET-lick-kite), which is a German word meaning roughly hospitality, good food, good beer, and good times with family and friends (old and new).
We hope everybody has a great time while they are here.
If you have stumbled across this page looking for information about swimming in Lake Michigan in the Milwaukee area, boy, are you ever in luck.
Lake Michigan Swimmers (a/k/a the "Klode Kru") is an eclectic, large but not-particularly-organized group of open water swimmers, who have been swimming together and encouraging others to try open water swimming for some 15 years. We blog our experiences here. Some of our members are highly accomplished open-water swimmers and highly experienced triathletes, and some are just getting into the sport.
If you have any questions about swimming in Lake Michigan or Milwaukee, that we might be able to help with, click on the "comments" word at the end of this post, and post your questions in the comment section, and someone in the group will respond.
A word about Lake Michigan water temperatures. Our group (or at least some of our group) swim in Lake Michigan in a broad range of temperatures (from the rare tropical mid-70's, to the headache inducing 30's). Swimming can be done in cold water, but we caution that if you are not accustomed to it, it can be unpleasant (or, potentially) unwise. We note that in the last 24 hour period (8 a.m. on Monday, to 8 a.m on Tuesday), the buoy we refer to for surface water temperatures recorded a low temp of about 44 degrees, and a high temperature of about 67 degrees. Swimming in 67 degree water is quite different than swimming in 44 degree water.
Conventional wisdom is that near-shore water temperatures in Milwaukee beaches are strongly influenced by wind direction, with a strong west wind in the summer likely to cause low water temperatures. Such fluctuations may not happen as rapidly in the Milwaukee harbor, but there is no guaranty.
Looking at the wind direction forecast over the next several days, you may be in luck, if you are swimming on Friday or Saturday. The wind direction forecast is for winds generally from the East on Thursday and Friday, and then from the South on Saturday. Watch out for Sunday though, as the forecast is for West winds from 10 to 15 mph that day. That could affect near shore temps on Sunday (but again, there is no guaranty, because water temp is affected by speed and direction of wind, and speed and direction of currents in the Lake).
If you are racing on Sunday, and worried about water temps, you may want to (in addition to using a full wetsuit), use or purchase neoprene gloves, neoprene booties and a neoprene swim cap (all can be obtained from Xterra). Many in our group regularly use one or more of the above, when water temperatures go below 60 degrees. Others in our group swim skin in the 50's and 40's, but they are experienced swimmers who are accostumed to such conditions.
You are more than welcome to come swim with us whenever you are in town. No parking fees, admission fees, membership fees, registration forms or reservations required. Here are the details regarding swims this week:
Location: Klode Park Beach in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin (15 minutes North of Downtown Milwaukee).
Times:
-- Mon.-Fri.: 6am and 5pm
-- Sat.-Sun.: 8am and 12noon
Swims: No set workout. Swimmers tend to swim North or South from Klode Beach along the shore, for up to 2 miles a swim (but some members of the group swim shorter distances). Doing that tends to have you traveling over a sand-covered lake bottom, which does not vary dramatically in depth. (If you run into a problem, stop swimming, and walk back to Klode Beach.) If the water is flat, and there are boats around Klode Beach, we recommend you swim with a inflatable swim pull buoy, to make yourself more visible to boaters. Water quality at Klode Beach tends to be excellent (with the exception being shortly after heavy rain falls, which are not forecast this week).
Again, welcome to Milwaukee, good luck this weekend, and if we can be of any help, let us know.
18 comments:
I just want to add that Xterra is known for having Terrible customer service. Please check out the Better Business Bureau page on them.
Personally, I've never had a problem with Xterra. When I've asked them to ship fast, it got here on time. Of course, if you want to "buy local," call Emerys Cycling, Triathlon & Fitness.
54F tonight. Brisk to say the most.
Just when ya think it can't get colder..............47.6°.
Sweet jesus, never got above 51°, most of the swim at 49°.
Seagul gives a surface water temp of 58, The Great Lakes Buoy graph has 65 degrees F up from 51 at 6:30 AM today. Anybody have a noon or evening temp? I have been waiting for today.
USAT nationals is looking for 4-5 more life guards for Sat/Sun. If your interested contact Jamie Cathey . Pass it along.
I stumbled onto this blog today as I was looking for a good place to swim. I think I'll try my 1st lake MI swim tomorrow 8/6 at 8:00.
Hope to see some folks out there. Cheers!
anyone have a recent physical temp since the winds changed direction?
just another swimmer looking for a water temp for anytime today, but five pmish preferred. Is some gaslighting going on...??? The numbers I'm seeing must be for the Baja.
I'm in NY, drinking gin and tonics, but the Friday 6 pm buoy temp off of Atwater Beach says 71. Anybody swim at 5 pm today at klode and have a firsthand report?
64.5F!!!!!
USAT nationals is looking for 4-5 more life guards for Sat/Sun. If your interested contact Jamie Cathey at 8646379616
P.S. They are also looking for more SUP/kayak support. For SUP, you must have your own as they do not have any themselves.
Tonight, at Big Bay: Guestimate is 56-57F. Rapidly descending in warmth as you drop toward the bottom (if you do) so that about 5 feet down it must have been about 53. Crystal clear. A healthy parallel current from south to north. I was in neoprene.
Last night: Bradford: That layer of 71 degrees was thin as a lasagna noodle. Multiple temp layers strangely felt like stripes. Bottomed out at about 60. When my head was down the sound of buzz saws--speed boats, jet skis, sailboats using their motors. It might have been someone grinding coffee beans, but I kept popping my head up for a look-- just in case. A giant red boulder (read buoy) was being moved here and there for an anxious cue of young men. When the oars of the rowboat came close, I asked: Guard Games. Sublime.
I struck out toward the deep and discovered feathers of white fog rising around me, a gauze curtain coming down on the unmistakable architecture of the mid-century modern beach house. Alas! I will not even measure out how much green-going-brown slime I had to conquer to get launched. This swim did tip me off to the colder temps ahead.
I told the guards about the need for guards and the SUP/Kayak support. They seemed to think I was speaking to someone over their shoulders.
Tonight was peaceful. I prefer to swim with waterdogs and currents any day! My feet and hands were the color of beets when I emerged...
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