LOST Swimming… and the weather…

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Louis Pugh, one of the cold water greats,  swimming in Antarctica!
Louis Pugh, one of the cold water greats, swimming in Antarctica!

So several people have asked me about the weather tomorrow as it is supposed to be 30C and possible thunderstorms… are we going to cancel?  When would we cancel a swim?

Of course the number one priority is safety, and we will cancel if it is unsafe.

Having said that, in 11 years of Saturday morning swims we’ve never cancelled a swim.

Ok... I'll cancel it if it gets this cold!
Ok… I’ll cancel it if it gets this cold!

I’ve had a few Saturday mornings when I get of bed and look out the window and say “nobody is going to show up, it’s (raining, windy, cold, foggy, etc)… but I should show up just in case… and it ends up with a ton of people and we get a nice swim in anyway!  We’ve swum in the rain a few times… but fortunately we were wet already anyway!  Swimming in the fog is really cool too… I believe only once, in 11 years, did we cut a swim short because of lightning.  Forecasts are a crap shoot, and all we need is an hour or so, and we almost always get it!

To be honest, it is the water temperature and the waves that are bigger factors in how long we swim.  Again, I don’t think we’ve ever not swum because of water temp… just had shorter swims.  Even when the water is “stupid cold” or there are big waves we usually get a bit of a swim in, we just cut it a bit shorter.  We still err on the side of safety… and we’ll show you how to swim safely in these types of conditions.

So the long and short of it is… “this is open water swimming… and you get what you get!”

I’ll see you on the beach tomorrow at 8:00!

PS. we are always happy to have more spotters out in kayaks and on paddleboards!  So bring your spouse and a kayak or paddleboard if you have either! haha.  (I know Mike and Dylan are away tomorrow, so the more the merrier!)

Cheers,

Rob

How cold could it be?  (Lake Ontario, Kent kids, Feb 2007)
How cold could it be? (Lake Ontario, Kent kids, Feb 2007)
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I founded LOST Swimming because I like open water swimming and would like to see it grow and thrive in Lake Ontario. I started as a competitive swimmer as a kid and ended up getting as far as a silver medal at Nationals and going to the Olympic Trials in 1988. But I retired after that, I was sick of swimming. So I got into running marathons and have run over 35 to date, as well as a few ultra marathons, including the Marathon des Sables (7 day, ultra across the Sahara Desert). I also kind of fell into triathlons and have done a handful of Ironman tri's too. This gradually got me back in the water and in 2006 I took the plunge and attempted swimming the English Channel. I didn't quite make it across, but the circle was now complete and after 17 years I was a swimmer again! Although I still do plenty of pool swimming, I now much prefer open water swimming and like to say that open water swimming is to pool swimming, what trail running is to treadmill running! As a result I hope to encourage more people to join me for a dip in Lake Ontario as often as we can!