Last Saturday was quite nice. Water was 60F/15C and flat as a pancake, the air was hot 29C. What a beautiful morning for a swim! And 76 LOSTies did just that.
A few of us did a nice little swim on Sunday too… and the water was even warmer: 66F/18C! Warm water is here!
The extra fun thing was our game of “what’s in the box”, as I posted a couple days earlier. The answer was, of course, a GIANT GSS Globe! We will be using it as the very last turn in both the LOST Race and the LOST Mile before you head into the finish line! We tested it out and the 8′ Globe is pretty easy to spot! Should be pretty cool!
And we are now about a week out the 12th annual LOST Race! As mentioned above we’ll have the amazingly cool GSS Globe for swimmers to swim around, but we also have another great freebie for ALL swimmers: LOST TOWELS!
So this year all swimmers doing the LOST Race or LOST Mile will get: a LOST silicone cap, the famed LOST medal, and a great LOST Towel!!! Oh, and don’t forget… you also get an incredible experience swimming in the 12th annual LOST Race!
PS. In case you wanted to volunteer and thought you don’t get anything… think again! All volunteers get a $10 Tim Horton’s gift card… and we’ve even shuffled in one random $100 Tim’s card too!!! 
(and the Towels and gift cards are all corporate donations from LOSTie John Stibrany!!!)
LOTW: Loren
If you ever want to hear about some amazing swims – sit down with this guy – Loren King.
And he’s earning a new story right now… as I write this Loren is sitting in Dover, England… waiting for the weather to give him a window to try, for a second year in a row, to swim to France! 34k… in about 60F/15C. And the most famed marathon swim in the world!
He’s the guy that trains in the worst conditions preparing himself mentally/physically but “praying” for the best by the time the actual swim happens. Lake Ontario was just that – pristine conditions. But so well deserved. His training consisted of cold and warm water. Chop, waves, flat, currents and rain. You name it – he did it.
At one time LOST was a club that didn’t have swim buoys that are used now. 2011 was his guess on when he joined. Regardless of the year he joined, he is a fixture here on the LOST beach and at the Bean There Café and a respected one. And just like all the others that are part of the grass roots club he’s there to help and assist in anyway possible.
Questions, suggestions – he is also the man known to be the gatekeeper of odd knowledge. Its probably why I respect him so much. Loren not only is a volunteer at LOST but also has his own grass roots not for profit trust called Great Lakes Trust. A trust that simply began as a group of open water swimmers giving back to the waters they love.
Key things that Loren loves about open water swimming is the freedom, the reverie and the friendships that have been developed over the years. However he does have a few fears .. slipping on those damn rocks, jellyfish and well Rob’s thermometer! .. but who doesn’t have a fear of Rob’s thermometer.
Boston Light Swim 2014, SF Bridge to Bridge 2015, Lake Ontario 2016 and a few El Cruce crossings are just a few of Loren’s swim. Goals for future: Cook Strait and the North Channel. Oh, and the English Channel, as mentioned above.
I am trying to picture Loren as a bitter human but that is how he described himself when I asked him how he got into OWS. His exact words, a bitter injured age-group sprinter who grew to hate swimming with a passion -> lifeguard -> rock climbing -> open water swimming, paddling, surfing. Took a long while to fall back in love with swimming, but open water was how he did it.
We could write the whole story about how one of Loren’s favorite and memorable moments was a bailed cold water swim one early morning with a jog back through Oakville barefoot in a speedo… could it be this where and why run/swims became popular? I can’t do the story or moment justice – but I will leave you with that visual.
The swim tribe is a special one. And this is a guy you want in your tribe. And he comes with beer.
PS. As I write this I got an email from him in Dover. Not about his swim, but about helping organize the LOST Race, which happens the day after he gets back. What a guy. You got this Loren, don’t look up until your hands hit the sand in France! Go get’em Champ!
Cheers,
Rob & Kat