Solstice Swim!

 Last Swim/Dip: Friday 7am

Next Swims: Sat/Sun noon (usually). Most Friday mornings.  Also, there will undoubtedly be a New Year's day plunge....noonish?

Water temp: Nobody took a temp, but likely low 40's

Air temp: Again, 40's, very little wind

Water: Kinds of murky, kind of stinky, with annoying waves

Kru: Showgirl, Lydia the Tattooed Lady, Holly, Marion the Librarian, Dragonfly, Nahid, Rick from Boston, additional Wim Hofer

Shore/Coffee Support:  Suny Luna, Lt. MJ, A La Mode

What better way to welcome the light with a solstice (adjacent) swim?  "When was the solstice?" someone asked as we headed down the hill.

"Yesterday," someone replied.

I, super-nerd, piped in, "9:27 p.m. last night!"

This is relevant because a few minutes later, eager to voice my opinion as to where we should enter the water, I said, "I don't want to go over there (south of the south rocks) because it doesn't get dark fast enough."

Huh? was the general response.

Oh, no, I meant to say, "It doesn't get DEEP fast enough."- Dementia?

"You knew it started with the letter D....your brain just opened the wrong file drawer," supplied Showgirl helpfully.

But I had some sympathy for my brain for suggesting "Dark" as an alternative to deep....the Darkness of the Deep, the cold water immersion experience, the point of no return from which one returns transformed....like we were all now emerging from the Darkness into the Light of the New Year....and you just can't access all that staggering around knee-deep when you have a limited number of seconds to be in the water.

Today's dip, from the classic center of the beach, between the rockpiles, was very satisfying.  As I waded in, the waves began to hit higher and higher - hips, waist, chest - til my feet left the earth and I was magically afloat, aloft - swimming for the first time since I had my screws out!  

Since I knew I'd be in for only a minute or two, it definitely got deep fast enough.

TTL and Holly fully wetsuited up and frolicked and floated beyond the rocks.  Rick from Boston swam boldly out in skin, preparing for a Vermont swim in ice in February.  And Showgirl and Marion joined me in the dip. Nahid also dipped, along with her fellow Wim Hofer.

Welcome to the Light!