The 2011 Open-Water Swimming Season Is...OPEN!!



Rob Martell in his 2010 Halloween swim garb

  True to his Canadian roots, Pod member Rob Martell(a/k/a "The Crazy Canadian"), whose last swim of the 2010 open-water season was on December 19th, continues to expand the outer boundaries of the open-water swimming season, taking to the Salt again for the first open-water swim of the 2011 season on Sunday, May 15th!! Rob's two-and-a-half-minute swim in 53-degree water, under grey, cloudy skies, without a wetsuit, marks the earliest documented open-water swim in the recorded history of the West Neck Pod, and throws down the gauntlet for his still-pool-bound swimming fellows in his adopted country to the South.  Rob's exploit was captured on video and posted by fellow Pod member Rob Todd on the West Neck Pod's Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Neck-Pod/128827940504281), where you can almost hear the sound of Rob's teeth chattering above the sprightly music of the soundtrack! (also check out the first of Rob Todd's series of instructional swim videos designed to help the Pod improve its technical proficiency...)


While Rob Martell may now hold the Pod record for the longest open water season (May 29-December 19, 2010), and has evidently entered his bid for 2011, the competition for highest number of open-water swims in a season is still open, and begins when the next Pod member hits the open water!  For me, that will be the Memorial Day weekend (as my broken ribs continue to heal)...See you all in the Salt then!