The buoys and the temperature.
I know, the temperature issue has been known to happen somewhat frequently… but this one wasn’t my fault! ;-P
One of the other guys measured the temp… and I just witnessed it… it said 62F/17C. Unusually warm and pancake flat.
But… it wasn’t 62F. Or at least when you get out beyond 4″ deep. Asking those that have been LOSTies long enough to know the temp by feel, to within 1-2 degrees, it was agreed that it was more like 55-56F. Still not too shabby for this time of year.
More importantly it didn’t keep any of the 62 LOSTies out! Of course, everyone still went in. And most went in for quite a while… from 15 minutes to 1 hour.
It just goes to show you 2 things… 1) how you can get used to cold water. Where 56F isn’t that cold. It isn’t that cold for LOSTies, but it is for regular swimming muggles. And keep in mind, nobody “likes” cold water, just that you actually get better at being more comfortable in it.
And, number 2… the power of peer pressure. When you see literally dozens and dozens of other people, of all kinds of abilities, swimming and having fun in water that cold, you start to think that it is possible. And, then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The second misleading issue was the distance. The LOST Brain-trust, the same crowd that guessed the correct water temp, also guessed the distance at about 300 meters per loop. Turns out that experience was pretty much bang on… well until the last lap!
Darren, paddled over to bring in the buoys at the end of the swim, but had a bit farther to go than usual! The buoy had lost it’s weight and was on it’s way to Mississauga! So for those of you that thought you must be getting really tired because the last lap was taking forever… fear not… Kathy Eaton proved it wasn’t you… it was the travelling buoy! haha.
Looks awesome for tomorrow! Don’t take great days for granted (in LOST Swimming, or in life)… get out there and take advantage of it!
See you tomorrow morning!
Cheers,
Rob