Thanksgiving Swim

 Next Swims: Thursday, Turkey day, at Noon

Possible random a.m. swims: M-F 6:30 a.m' ish.

Last Swim: Sunday at Noon

Water Temp: 44.2 per Itch-o-meter

Air Temp: 50 

Clarity: Very nice - 8-9

Waves: Pretty flat

Kru: Itch, Rosie, Diablo, Brick, IceDaug, Library Lady, Showgirl

Shore Support: Squeeze o'Showgirl

I hear that Itch, Diablo, Brick and Rosie continue fairly regular swims so far. The weekend noon times are also still regularly attended. Though Rosie will be leaving us in the near future for stranger waters out East. She will be missed. Perhaps she can start a new franchise with Pannini?

Join us for the traditional turkey swim at noon and work up an appetite. Regale your relatives and company with tales of wild autumn cold water swimming and remind them that they to can jump in the lake. One never knows what one might run into in the lake this time of year. Swimming deer, flocks of wild turkeys keeping their distance from shore, or inquisitive salmon.  

Topics of conversation may include application process and position description for vacancy positions. 

Amazing Conditions*

 Last Swim:  Friday 6:30am

Next Swims: Sat/Sun noon?  Other random swims, usually Friday am

Water temp: High 40's to low 50's

Air temp: 49F, no wind (until after the swim)

Water: Flat. As. Glass.  And clear closer to shore.

Kru: Lydia the Tattoo'd Lady, Mermaid Princess, Holly, Showgirl, Lt. MJ, Fyn-Fin, Linda the Lamprey

Shore Support:   Ala Mode

Photo Credit Fyn-Fin,
who took this pic,
finished putting her gear on,
and zoomed past us.

Well!  If every cold water/cold air swim could be like this, then I do a lot more of them.  

When we arrived at the beach, the sun was rising, the water was perfectly flat, and there was not a breath of wind.

There was still a bit (a lot) of reluctance to exchange our warm layers for the single layer of neoprene, but we did it.

The rewards were great.  

Even as we got ready, the sun was adding warmth.  We got in and headed north.  Some perfect combination of air and sun created amazing clarity, so that all the beach landmarks stood out and seemed oh-so-close.

We had our eyes on the two cute chairs when we turned around.

Back at the beach, a breeze had kicked up, making changing a bit more challenging.  AlaMode acted as my personal wetsuit stripper, for which I will be eternally grateful.

We struggled into our warm clothes, wished we had more of them, and headed up the hill.

Thanks to MJ for the sunrise pics.

*give or take chilly air and water

The Beat Goes On...

Last Swim:  F 7 AM

Next Swims: Sat/Sun noon?

Water temp: 52.5F

Air temp: 45 but brisk breeze made it chillier

Waves: Swells

Kru: Lydia the Tattoo'd Lady, Mermaid Princess, Holly, Ala Mode, Sunny Luna Laguna, Drangonfly

Shore Support:  Lt. MJ

Based on this morning's enthusiastic attendance of 7 Kru members, it would be hard to say the season is dwindling! A 7:27 a.m. sunrise and forbidding waters provided plenty of drama for those of us chalking off at least one November swim.  

People exhibited a variety of coping skills.  TTL donned a full wetsuit and swam to Birches, Holly went sleeveless, and Sunny Luna impressively skinned with her trademark backstroke.  Ala (who recently summited Mt. Kilimanjaro) and and Dragonfly dipped relatively briefly (especially briefly on my part), but I would be remiss to not to shout out a most impressive 15-minute endurance immersion by Mermaid Princess. She calmly reveled in the surge and sunrise view, chatting with each returning swimmer.

Post-swim strategies included winter coats, snow pants, boots, gloves and warm water for washing off the sand.

Photo by Mermaid Princes

MP & Luna chat as TTL grabs the temp

Kru Search & Rescue

Hey, we found what was left of an (alleged) weather research ballon in the Lake this summer, so maybe members of the Kru can get lucky and find this lost research water drone.  

Since the "Little Guy" was last seen off shore in Grafton, my guess is it's on its way to Michigan by now, but you never know.