The air temp was only 20C, which is chilly compared to what we’ve had lately… but the real story was the water temperature… it was umm… cold… 57F. No getting around that. But being the hearty LOST souls we are, we sucked it up and went for a nice swim.
On the plus side the water was pretty flat, just small waves, but a pretty strong current going with us on the way out… and against us on the way back. The hero’s of the day were Alex and Brett. Alex did his second “naked” swim in a row, last week was 62F, which is chilly… but 57F is, well, getting pretty cold! I think everyone had some doubts getting in, I was surprised to see Alex still out there when I turned around, because the last time I saw him was about 10 meters out when he was say “umm, I think this might be a bit shorter swim than last week!!!” Of course, I think Alex had a bit of an advantage, what with the bean burrito’s from last night!
Brett, the poor bugger, had shorty wetsuit, little kid goggles and hasn’t done much open water swimming at all (might have been his first time?!), and when I passed him going out he was doing breast stroke with his goggles on his forehead… he said they were leaking, so I told him to turn around a bit earlier than the 20 out and 20 back that everyone was doing… but I was one of the last ones out and he wasn’t in yet… so I turned around to see him coming in quite comfortably! Well done.
The skinny chicks did well to, Joanne, Lynne, Cathy and Claudia… (Mel, you don’t count, because you always do well!)… as they aren’t built like open water swimmers 😉 … and although Jo and Lynne are both good swimmers, I know neither of them is terribly fond of cold water (like anyone is!), but are adusting quite well. Cold water swimming is all about getting your head around it!… and Claudia and Cathy really seemed to be getting their open water confidence going, which is everything! Well done too! (don’t worry Claudia, I won’t tell anyone you borrowed Darren’s booties!) 😉
We did have two newbies out… whom I gave all my finer tips for cold open water swimming too… but I think I over-did it, and psyched them out. No big deal… just don’t let it scare you off. Today was a tough day to have as your first big swim in Lake O. Really, don’t look at it as a defeat or anything, just say 57F is too cold for me (at least right now)… because, trust me, it does get warmer! And it makes a world of difference when it is 5, 10 or even 15 degrees warmer! Just don’t give up, come on back and try again! It won’t be any colder, that’s for sure!
The cold was due to the lake rolling over, for a second time so far this year. But it is still just June, we may get one more roll or we may even be done for the year… but soon it will start warming up… and stay warmed up! We’ve already had days that have been 67F, before the roll, so don’t worry, the temp will come back… and I hope everyone does next week too!
It was great to see the old die-hards from last year, Alexei and Ronald, back in action… as well as this year’s new die-hards, Jason, John, Bill, Carl and Darren too!
16 people out on a chilly day like this… I’m going to have to apply for more room once this lake starts warming up! See you all next week!
Cheers,
Rob