DISCLAIMER: Open-water swimming is inherently dangerous. Open-water swimmers risk drowning, hypothermia, hyperthermia, heart attacks, panic attacks, cramping, jelly fish stings, fish bites, boat or jet-ski collisions, collisions with floating or submerged objects (including other swimmers), and other calamities that can be injurious, disabling or fatal! The "West Neck Pod" is an informal association of open-water swimmers who swim "outside the lines" with no lifeguard protection, it has no formal membership, organizational structure or legal identity, and its participants, including the author of this blog, make no representations and assume no liability with respect to its group open-water swims. All swimmers who participate in West Neck Pod group open-water swims do so at their own risk. Be careful out there!

Monday, April 4, 2011

SPRING IS...HERE...??

A brilliant "perigee moon" -- the largest in almost 20 years -- spotlighted the long-awaited arrival of Spring on March 20th (here shown shining over the waters of Dolphin Beach in Quogue).  The first full day of Spring dawned clear but cold, but the already blooming crocuses and daffodils were undaunted, with warmer weather no longer a hope but a promise.... For us open-water swimmers, though, the promise seems still distant, with the past two weeks marked by still-freezing temperatures and punctuated by intermittent snow flurries and even a surprise overnight snowfall that dusted  the Island in fluffy white.  Spring may be officially here, but Winter has apparently been slow in getting the message!  Still, the Pod Sandal Station maintains its vigil just offshore, the water temperature is creeping upward, and it's just a matter of time before the Pod is tasting Salt again....!  Keep thinking those warm thoughts, and I'll see you soon, in the Salt!