Under Siege - day 4

Beach: Klode
Water temp: 52
Crew: The Patriarch, Gumdrop, Capt'n
Next swim: Thursday, 4:30PM Klode

The cold water siege of the Klode shoreline continued this morning. For a lake that seems to pride itself on its unpredictability you have to tip your hat to the Lady of the Lake for her consistency this week.

Despite the toe numbing conditions we remain optimistic that this freak occurrence of consistency will end soon. Today's forecast for westerly winds may not bode well for a warm-up but sunshine and air temps in the 80's give us hope that we'll be whistling Dixie soon.

We plan to give it a go again later this afternoon to get our swim fix in for the day....stay tuned.

Stubbornerness

Beach: Klode

Water temp: 54

Waves: small

Clarity:  Excellent

Crew: Cap'n & Patriarch

Next swim: Thursday 6AM Klode

In this morning's blog Cap'n said we were "stubborner" than the lake.  If that's a word, then so is stubbornerness, which was our attitude this afternoon. We were determined to swim no matter what.  And we did. But it was tough. Especially the first couple minutes. It was difficult to keep our faces in the water.  It is August, isn't it? 

Stubborn

Beach: Klode
Water temp: 51
Crew: The Patriarch, Capt'n
Next swim: Wednesday, 4:30PM Klode


It's now been over 60 hours since we were last able to swim in the lake. The Lady of the Lake is certainly being stubborn. On the plus side though, these conditions are what I would call 'no doubters'....as it is extremely difficult to keep even your feet in the water for more than 10 seconds without your toes becoming painfully numb, there is little doubt in our minds of whether or not we'd be able to log an official swim.


But as stubborn as the lake has been...The Patriarch and I are stubborner! Fueled by our optimism and very favorable weather conditions today (...continued easterly winds, air temps around 80 and sunny skies...) we plan to try again at 4:30pm this afternoon.


Anyone interested?


~Capt'n

Withdrawal

Beach: Klode
Water temp: 53 (...the toe test felt much colder...)
Crew: The Patriarch, Robin, Capt'n
Next swim: Wednesday, 6AM Klode

It's now been over 48 hours since our last swim in the lake....withdrawal has set in....so much so The Patriarch was too depressed to blog about today's (non) adventure. Ohhh, woewies us...

Okay....enough of the belly-aching!! The winds be shiftin' round to the east...and ye know wat that be meanin' right!?!? The warm water be here soon! The signs of warm water are already starting to show...a thin band of floating seaweeds is just offshore....surely a sign from the Lady of the Lake that she be ready for us pillage and plunder the lake waters again!

That said, we be plannin' to walk da' plank at 6am Wednesday. Anyone up fer the adventure?

~Capt'n

Busted!

Beach: Klode

Water temp: 50! Holy Cow!

Crew: Cap'n, Kimberly, Patriarch

Next swim: Tuesday afternoon, 7PM Klode

The lake busted our balls today for sure. Even going in up to the knees was painful, swimming was out of the question, even with a wetsuit.

But apparently the organizers of the Bradford Beach Triathlon didn't think so, and the result was predictable: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/lifestyle/52374682.html

They're lucky it wasn't worse.

And if that's not depressing enough, here's an article from today's Journal about fecal contamination in Milwaukee lakes and rivers: http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/52319607.html

In particular, the author says Big Bay is a place where people should not swim.

I've swum at Big Bay dozens of times, and other Lake Michigan beaches hundreds of times and I've never been sick. And I'm not giving it up now. I have no doubt the article is correct and the threat is real.

But I refuse to give in to the endless stream of bad press about the lake. I accept the risks, let common sense be my guide as to when and where to swim, and if makes me sick or worse, so be it, I'm going to have one hell of a time until it does.

More certified crazy at 54

Beach: Klode
Water temp: 54 (yikes!)
Waves: small swells
Clarity: crystal clear
Crew: The Patriarch, Steve, Nahi, David, Capt'n
Next Swim: Monday 4:30PM Klode

Ok...it was cold. Really cold today. It's August....the skies were sunny, air temp pushing 80, a late afternoon start time...and a water temp of 54? Unreal!

Think that's crazy? Well, believe it or not we still swam...even Nahi! After all, we didn't come down to the beach just to look at it... :)

We didn't stay in long....but we all logged an official swim from Klode's south beach to south-south beach and back. (approx. 400 meters+)

...and as a bonus...we all lived to tell our grand kids about our adventure! :)

We're going to give the Lake a bit to bounce back before we jump in again....next swim adventure is planned for 4:30pm Monday.

Refreshing (i.e. Froze Our Butts Off)

Beach: Klode

Water temp:  58!! (and it felt even colder away from shore)

Waves: small swells

Clarity: crystal clear 

Crew:  Steve, Kimberly, Cap'n, Patriarch

Next Swim: Sunday 5PM Klode

Once again the lake showed how gorgeous, how wild, how unpredictable, and how erratic she can be.  Which is why we find her endlessly fascinating.

Yesterday morning the water temperature was 60, yesterday evening 69, and this morning 58.   I can only hope that last night's warm water blew across the lake to Traverse Bay where James is competing in the 10K open water championship.

We managed what we would consider to be the minimum distance for it to count as an official swim:  to the private beach a couple hundred meters down the shore, and back.  We easily spent more time getting in and our of our wetsuits than we did swimming.  Maybe we'll see warmer water tomorrow, at least I hope so, especially for the sake of the Bradford Beach Tri competitors.  

Good luck James in the 10K!

Good luck Kimberly in the Muddy Buddy!

Good Luck Cap'n and Robin and Sandie in the Ripon tri!!

Two exciting Lake Michigan swim events are coming up, the Pirates Plunge (Aug 23) and Big Shoulders (Sept 12).  We have a number of people that will be doing one or both.  See the web links section on the right hand side of this blog for more info.