Fourth of July

 Captain's Log Supplemental (Kahuna Recording)

Last Swim:  July 3rd, noon

July 4th Swim:  ATWATER BEACH, at 10:00 a.m.  

Upcoming Swims:  The Typical/Regular Schedule (all at Klode Beach):  M-F 6 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.;  Sat. & Sun.  8 a.m. and noon.  (Check blog comments, for additional "impromtu" group swims.)     
Water temp: Cold.  Estimated temperature very low 50's, maybe even high 40's.  Some fingers of warmer, and some fingers of cold.  Do not trust the buoy.         

Air temp: High 70's headed into the 90's today.  Sunny with some whispy clouds.     

Water Quality/Clarity:  Clearish. 

Waves:  Flat mostly, with a current from the South.  

Kru:  Kahuna and Sonakahuna

Klode Beach is closed on the 4th.  Atwater Beach will be open in the morning.  If interested, come to Atwater Beach at 10:00 a.m., and we'll have a nice swim out to the shipwreck.  I'm predicting clear water, and cold water.    

It was That Beautiful!

 Last Swim:  Monday, June 24, 6 a.m.

Upcoming Swims:  M-F 6 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.;  Sat. & Sun.  8 a.m. and noon.  (Check blog comments, for additional impromptu group swims, or post if you'd like to suggest a swim time.)     
Water temp: 63. Some folks were comfortable going full skin.   

Air temp: High 60s, Abundant, benevolent sun    

Water Quality/Clarity:  Pretty clear

Waves:  Gentle swell from the NE, flat on surface.

Kru:  Cindy, Lt. MJ, Fyn-Fin, Lydia the Tattooed Lady, Holly, Showgirl, Dragonfly, Mr. Anonymous and Moondaug

After yesterday's cold and chop, drizzle and wind, today was a glorious dream.  People sported various combinations of skin and neoprene with the water temp hovering in the borderline low 60s.  I wanted to swim fairly long, so I wore sleeveless wetsuit/sleeves, only one layer of booties and, for the first time this year, no gloves!  All was just right for a pretty delightful 52-minute swim just beyond the cute chairs and to the white something (kayak? canoe? I was pretty far out) and somewhere near the vicinity of The Pod, a new feature described by Fyn-Fin last week.  

Thanks for the photo, Lt. MJ.  Yes, it was.  THAT. Beautiful!!!

50F, but there's a Sub-ma-tree!

Last Swim:  6 a.m. Wednesday

Next Swims:  In general, M-F 6AM and 5?/5:30?/6? PM.  

                            Sat/Sun 8AM and noon

If you want to swim at a different time, post a comment, and maybe someone will respond.

Water temp: a disappointing and shocking 50.something, per TTL

Air temp: 80-ish

Kru: Lydia the Tattooed Lady, , Showgirl, Dragonfly, Diablo on the early shift

Waves:  the slowest of slow rollers out of the south, with little ruffles from the wind on the return trip

Water:  clear!

Beach Air: the gobie smell is beginning to dissipate

Well here you have it.

Diablo was just leaving as we arrived at the beach, and he gave a THUMBS DOWN!  It has to be bad for that to happen.

TTL took the temp and it was barely above 50F.  This is disappointing to say the least. 

All other conditions were lovely, so we suited up, barely able to pull the neoprene over our sweaty bodies, and got in.  And then we walked the half a block to get outside the rock piles.

It was bracing to put our faces in the water, to say the least.  But you could also feel the warm air with every stroke.

Anyway, given our initial reluctance, it was an accomplishment to swim past the garage to the clearing of trees.    I looked at TTL, and her face was as pink as her cap.

On the return trip, we swam over a cool new sub-ma-tree (submerged tree) just north of the garage.

After the swim we agreed that the cold water became oddly exhilarating, and that our chilled skin felt amazing after the last few days of heat.

Captain Missed It

Captain's Log Supplemental (Kahuna Recording)

Last Swim:  Tuesday, June 18th.

Upcoming Swims:  The Typical/Regular Schedule (all at Klode Beach):  M-F 6 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.;  Sat. & Sun.  8 a.m. and noon.  (Check blog comments, for additional "impromtu" group swims.)     
Water temp: Cold.  Estimated temperature very low 50's, maybe even high 40's.  Numb teeth water temp.  That, despite the bouy saying 61 last night, and 59 this morning.        

Air temp: High 70's headed into the 90's today.  Sunny with some whispy clouds.     

Water Quality/Clarity:  Clear.  Some green stuff accumulating on the north end of south beach.

Waves:  Flat mostly, with a prounounced current from the South.  

Kru:  Kahuna.  Early shift, Aquaman.  A pair of wimhoffers.  An "underwater construction" crew.  A photographer.  A professional swimsuit model.  

Strong southwest wind?  Check.  Day temp scheduled to be in the 90's? Check.  Clear water?  Check.  Bone chilling water near to shore?  Check, check, check.  I was very disappointed, but I shouldn't have been surprised that the water I was swimming in this morning was as cold as it was.  

But I'm burying the lead.  

Yes, there was a professional swimsuit model and photographer on the beach this morning.  (Well I guess there was enough fabric there to techinically call it a swimsuit.)  And no, they didn't ask me if I could help out, applying oil or sunscreen, so as to enhance the photos or protect all of that young lady's exposed skin.  I'm always available to help out, when needed.  

Poor Captain missed it.  

 

Ya snooze, ya loose.  

Since no other Kru members were there, I had a hell of time getting my wetsuit zipped up by myself.  Maybe time to get a bigger wetsuit, or start skipping chest and shoulders day at the gym?  

Manly Swim

Captain's Log Supplemental (Kahuna Recording)

Last Swim:  Noon Sun. June 16.

Upcoming Swims:  The Typical/Regular Schedule (all at Klode Beach):  M-F 6 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.;  Sat. & Sun.  8 a.m. and noon.  (See blog comments, to see if any Kru members are trying to set up an "unscheduled" swim.)     
Water temp: 61 ashore, but King Triton's traveling thermometer was recording a lot of 57 and 56 out there.      

Air temp: 75, bright sun, followed by some clouds by the end.   

Water Quality/Clarity:  Not clear.  Loose waterborne vegitation is making the water near share non-clear, but there is not so much that it is accumulating on the beach yet.  

Waves:  Getting near to "big water," but not there yet.  You could definitely feel the waves' power as you wade in.  

Kru: King Triton, Diablo, Brick, Kahuna (with shore support from SheWhoMustNotBeNamed).  A post-swim appearance by Bakhtiari (yes, I did have to look that up to spell it), who was headed in for his second dip of the season.  

Eco Report:  No stench on the beach, primarily because there was quite a fresh breeze blowing in from off the Lake. 

Fly Report:  The flies were around.  Not crazy numbers, but not pleasant.  Over the next few weeks, Kru members may want to consider bring a pair of sweat pants or light yoga pants, if you want to keep those little bastards from biting your feet, ankles and lower legs post swim.  

Manly swim today, as the assembled Kru was something of a sausagefest.  A nice swim south, with a helpful push on the way back from the waves.  But that was balanced for me by the big mouthful of wave I took on board on my return, about 100 yards from the beach.  King-for-a-Day-and-His-Most-Serene-Higness Diablo arrived at the beach being borne on a Palanquin by his many sons, with his many daughters dancing and tossing rose pedals all around Him, their Most Magnificient Father.  Swim followed by a toast to all those who are dads, and/or who have dads.   

Oh, Now Where Did They Put That AED Unit?

 Capt'n Log Supplemental (Kahuna Reporting):

Last Swim:  Noon Sat., June 15.

Upcoming Swims:  The Typical/Regular Schedule, at Klode Beach:  M-F 6 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.;  Sat. & Sun.  8 a.m. and noon.  (See blog comments, to see posts by Kru members who may be trying to set up an "unscheduled" time for an extra swim.)    
Water temp: 63!  At least in close.  Away from shore, seemed a little cooler, but there were some warm pockets.    

Air temp: 75, bright sun, with a ith clouds, and a bit of rain.  

Water:  Not clear.  Some chop and push coming from the south, but not so bad that Moondaug could use his standup paddle board.

Kru: King Triton, Sandy (beachname, "Sandy"); Diablo; Megan; Brick, Kahuna with board support from Moondaug.

Eco Report:  There is some stench on the beach, caused I think by the die off of the gobies.  Not as bad as last year.  Again, the part of the beach from which we swim could be cleaned up in 10 minutes, if we had garden rakes, but the smell scope is more pervasive than that.  Water is overall good, but don't be surprised if as you swim along you bump into a dead gobie or two.

Sandy (beachname "Sandy") spread the joyous news that the temp was a very, very nice 63 degrees.  A nice swim south to Love Shack or Flat Rock.  

Oh, what about the AED?  If I (or anybody else of the Kru) ever has a heart attack, remember:

• First, CALL 991. 
• Second, somebody START CPR.
• Third, somebody (hopefully someone fast), run across the beach, up the stairs, across the park, to the restrooms by the tennis courts, grab the AED unit, and then run back to the hopefully still alive heart attackee. 

Or, somebody could convince WFB to install an AED down by the beach (at least from May thru October).     

     

Inaugural Flat Rock Swim

Last Swim:  6 a.m. Wednesday

Next Swims:  In general, M-F 6AM and 5?/5:30?/6? PM.  Sat/Sun 8AM and noon

If you want to swim at a different time, post a comment, and maybe someone will respond.

Water temp: 56F  per Lydia the Tattooed Lady 

Air temp: 70?  by the time we suited up, I was breaking a sweat

Kru: Lydia the Tattooed Lady, , Showgirl, Lt. MJ, Hurricane-FON, Fin-Fyn (swimming SKIN!) 

Waves:  Rollers out of the south

Water:  100% cloudy

Beach Air: a bad combo of seagull poop and dead gobies

The view north, which is not where we swam.  
(photo credit TTL)

The beach air was smelly and warm-ish, and the waves were gently out of the south.

There was hemming and hawing about a north vs. south.  South, we decided. South.  Then a last minute discussion ensued regarding the vast amounts of e-coli that are being released into the lake due to the Great WFB Sinkhole Debacle of 2024.  Still we went south.

We gathered up at the sewer pipe.  After brief chit-chat we decided to  swim a bit farther and go to flat rock.  (a bit farther meaning about 500+ yards.)

After a cozy stand-up on a rock that was definitely NOT flat, we spotted the genuine Flat Rock, and finally arrived on it.  

My watch had 1288 yards if you want to find this amazing landmark (watermark?) yourself.  

Flat Rock is currently covered in slippery green stuff, so only Fin-Fyn was brave enough to stand up.

And speaking of Fin-Fyn.... she swam skin, which is pretty badass. Everyone else was in varying degrees of neoprene.

After a bit of lollygagging, we got back in the water and swam back to the smelly beach.