Last week was a gorgeous mid-August swimming week at West Neck Beach, despite torrential rains that washed out Sunday's swim and raised concerns about contaminated runoff that kept swimmers out of the water on Monday. Ten of us ventured back under still-cloudy skies on Tuesday, for what turned out to be an exquisite swim in crystal clear water, only to find on our return that signs had been posted announcing the Beach was "officially closed." We swimmers survived with no ill effects, and the signs were gone when we returned on Wednesday, but the "moon jellies" apparently took this as an invitation, invading Cold Spring Harbor in unprecedented numbers that made our old jokes about "swimming through tapioca pudding" seem like happy memories...The jellies were so thick in the water that we could have practically walked on their backs to the southern buoy, and Cathy Kabat, who swims without a wetsuit, was scooping them out of her too-loose bathing suit like extra helpings of mashed potatoes....Happily, the evening's outgoing tide swept the moon jellies with it, and the rest of the week was virtually jelly-free! The dire predictions of rain and thunderstorms for the weekend never materialized, and though our numbers were diminished by the Huntington Tri-Masters Swimmers Tobay Triathlon and Tri-Relay practice swim on Saturday, and the John Daly 1-Mile Ocean Swim on Sunday, the remnants of the Pod enjoyed lovely, languid, leisurely weekend swims marred only by the intrusion of a speeding jet ski on Sunday...By Sunday evening the rain had returned, and with it the disturbingly chilly air that seems unusually premature for this date in August. As always when the air temperatures begin to dip, signaling the imminent transition from Summer to Fall, I become a little wistful, because I know that my remaining open-water swimming days are numbered....How ironic, as this season I've actually been counting those days in pursuit of a "100-day open-water swimming season" -- like the "perfect" skiing season I've heard downhill skiiers rave about...Today's swim, on Tuesday, August 23rd, was number 59 -- and with the air temperature at only 60 degrees at 6:30 this morning, I began to wonder if I'll be able to achieve that goal before the deep cold sets in and I'm forced to retreat to the chlorine....That makes me wonder about the 87 names on the West Neck Pod's e-mail list and the 75 "Friends" on the West Neck Pod's Facebook page, many of whom I've not yet seen in the Salt this season....Tuesday, August 23, 2011
August is waning....
Last week was a gorgeous mid-August swimming week at West Neck Beach, despite torrential rains that washed out Sunday's swim and raised concerns about contaminated runoff that kept swimmers out of the water on Monday. Ten of us ventured back under still-cloudy skies on Tuesday, for what turned out to be an exquisite swim in crystal clear water, only to find on our return that signs had been posted announcing the Beach was "officially closed." We swimmers survived with no ill effects, and the signs were gone when we returned on Wednesday, but the "moon jellies" apparently took this as an invitation, invading Cold Spring Harbor in unprecedented numbers that made our old jokes about "swimming through tapioca pudding" seem like happy memories...The jellies were so thick in the water that we could have practically walked on their backs to the southern buoy, and Cathy Kabat, who swims without a wetsuit, was scooping them out of her too-loose bathing suit like extra helpings of mashed potatoes....Happily, the evening's outgoing tide swept the moon jellies with it, and the rest of the week was virtually jelly-free! The dire predictions of rain and thunderstorms for the weekend never materialized, and though our numbers were diminished by the Huntington Tri-Masters Swimmers Tobay Triathlon and Tri-Relay practice swim on Saturday, and the John Daly 1-Mile Ocean Swim on Sunday, the remnants of the Pod enjoyed lovely, languid, leisurely weekend swims marred only by the intrusion of a speeding jet ski on Sunday...By Sunday evening the rain had returned, and with it the disturbingly chilly air that seems unusually premature for this date in August. As always when the air temperatures begin to dip, signaling the imminent transition from Summer to Fall, I become a little wistful, because I know that my remaining open-water swimming days are numbered....How ironic, as this season I've actually been counting those days in pursuit of a "100-day open-water swimming season" -- like the "perfect" skiing season I've heard downhill skiiers rave about...Today's swim, on Tuesday, August 23rd, was number 59 -- and with the air temperature at only 60 degrees at 6:30 this morning, I began to wonder if I'll be able to achieve that goal before the deep cold sets in and I'm forced to retreat to the chlorine....That makes me wonder about the 87 names on the West Neck Pod's e-mail list and the 75 "Friends" on the West Neck Pod's Facebook page, many of whom I've not yet seen in the Salt this season....
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