April Swimming -- The "New Normal"!

The last several days of consistently warmer weather had a predictably salutary effect on the water temperature in Cold Spring Harbor, as Gae Polisner and Marc Leahy discovered yesterday in their Saturday afternoon swim, and Paul Coster, Sharon Hochberg and I confirmed this afternoon when we eased into the now-nearly-50-degree water.  A brisk wind emanating from the south rather than the usual northwesterly direction, and a vaguely unfamiliar underwater landscape -- a remnant of Hurricane Sandy -- were the only unusual features of today's swim, as compared to the "weird" and "disorienting" swim Gae reported in yesterday's Facebook post. She and Marc had faced what she described as an oddly circular current swirling like an eddy on the surface, capped off by an encounter with an unidentifiable headless creature on the beach when they finally made their way back to shore....(https://www.facebook.com/WestNeckPod#!/WestNeckPod).  Happily, all of the creatures Paul, Sharon and I encountered today on the heavily populated beach had heads, most of which were turned incredulously in our direction as we swam back and forth between the fenceline and the dock....Joining the many sun-seekers on the beach today were Pod cheerleaders Marc Leahy and his five-month-old baby Matthew (whose open-water debut we expect imminently!), Sharon's husband Mark, Gae and Carole (accompanied by our three French bulldogs), who walked the beach as we swam, and Joye Brown, whose puttering in the garden kept her from joining us in the Salt....

 

Paul dithering on the beach

Carole with Frenchies, and Paul, Sharon and I in the Salt
 

At the end of what turned out to be a glorious swim, Paul proclaimed himself ready to shed booties and gloves for our next open-water outing, which, if the weather holds, should be next weekend!  Carole and I will be riding in the 5-Borough Bike Tour next Sunday, so I'll be looking to swim on Saturday -- with booties and gloves -- but I predict that next weekend, too, there'll be swimmers hitting the Salt both days...and I'm sure I'll see you there before long! 

(Many thanks to Gae Polisner, who took all of the photos and video posted here!)

Register Online Now: The 2012 "West Neck Swim"!

The Huntington/Cold Spring Harbor 1- and 2-Mile Swim at West Neck Beach (a/k/a "The West Neck Swim") has now become an annual event at this exceptionally beautiful open-water venue on Long Island's North Shore -- the home beach of the eponymous "West Neck Pod." Last year's inaugural swim was hugely successful, with 189 swimmers competing, and in anticipation of a greatly increased number of applicants for this year's event, to be held at West Neck Beach on Sunday, June 24th, registration is limited to 300 swimmers!

On-line registration is now open for US Masters Swimming ("USMS") and USA Swimming. Follow these links to register now before the June 19th deadline:

USMS Members: https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1356&smid=3956

USMS One-Event Registration: https://www.clubassistant.com/club/mr.cfm?c=1356&smid=3956&ngb=oevt

USA Swimming: https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1743&smid=4065

For more information about the West Neck Swim -- and for pictures of last year's Swim, visit our website at www.WestNeckSwim.com!

 



HO-HO-HOLY CRAP, IT'S COLD SWIMMING ON CHRISTMAS EVE!!

There was a thin layer of ice on the pond we passed as Carole and I made our way down to West Neck Beach for yet another open-water swim in a season whose "imminent" end we have been whining about since August...For the five "Polar Pod" members who took the plunge today -- Carole Wickham, Kathy Wickham, Gae Polisner, Rob Todd and I -- this was our first-ever Winter swim, the Solstice having marked the official beginning of Winter earlier this week. (Rob Martell, of course, is now a veteran winter swimmer, and soloed at WNB yesterday when the rest of us bailed because of high wind and rough water).  This morning, with air temperatures of 32 degrees, it really felt like Winter, especially when the wind suddenly picked up and began throwing icy whitecaps in our faces as we edged our way into the water and started swimming. The cold wind added to the already bitter sting on our exposed skin (which for Rob Todd still includes his bare feet -- I don't know how he does it!), and the initial "three minutes of 'holy-crap' coldness" that Rob Martell describes lengthened to nearly five before we were acclimated enough to once again revel in the experience of the open water and enjoy another exhilarating, invigorating, and truly empowering swim....Now, on December 24th, Christmas Eve, with our first Winter swim behind us, we are truly a Pod for all seasons, and are no longer whining...because we know that our 2011 open-water swimming season will only end when 2011 does -- on December 31st!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!  See you in the Salt!

The West Neck "Polar Pod" Is Seven Strong for Saturday's Swim!

Gae, demonstrating proper pre-swim headgear

It's somewhat paradoxical that the numbers of the West Neck "Polar Pod" should be increasing now that December is here and  overnight temperatures have dropped to near the freezing mark, but that's exactly what's happened, as a total of seven intrepids showed up at West Neck Beach for Saturday morning's 11:00 swim! The air temperature and the water temperature were evenly matched at about 42 degrees, and Annmarie Kearney-Wood, Carole Wickham, Kathy Wickham, Rob Todd, Marc Leahy, Gae Polisner and I huddled in our cars as we suited up out of the wind. Marc, whom we were not expecting to see again until Spring after his post-Thanksgiving November OWS debut, returned for a tilt at December, now properly outfitted with insulated booties and gloves, but Rob Todd was still incomprehensibly barefoot and barehanded, having opted to hold off on shopping for cold-water gear until next season. Annmarie -- who doesn't mind shopping -- has procured fabulous new thermocarbon gloves from the Bunger Surf Shop for the rest of us -- technological marvels that really do keep our hands perfectly warm -- so I loaned Rob my old pair of insulated gloves to give him some extra protection from the cold.  (One unfortunate casualty of the new thick-fingered thermocarbon gloves is picture-taking in the water -- I can't hold the camera properly and it's almost impossible to push the buttons.)  Suiting up for cold-water swimming is a complicated and time-consuming affair, but after tugging on our wetsuits over our layered swim shirts and bathing suits, and pulling on double bathing caps, double booties and insulated gloves, we were ready to swim. The water was calm and glass-like, but with at-the-shoreline temperatures measuring between 40 and 42 degrees, it felt cold -- significantly colder than it was on Thursday when Gae, Annmarie and I took our first December swim.  Getting acclimated to the colder water took a bit longer, too, and I was nearly to the dock before I was able to put my face fully in the water. North of the dock, though, where the water is appreciably warmer, my face stopped hurting and I could settle into my swimming rhythm. With the sun shining brightly over my left shoulder and sparkling on the crystal clear water, I no longer felt the cold, and I was as happy and peaceful -- and almost as warm -- as if I were swimming in the Carribean! Rob Todd evidently wasn't feeling the cold either despite his bare feet, and managed a solo power swim to the end of the Causeway and back! The rest of us were content with a more modest round-trip to the yellow sign...with the anticipation of still more glorious open-water swims to come!  Stay tuned for the further adventures of the West Neck "Polar Pod" (and thanks to our Pod-sister Joye Brown for the appellation!)....We'll see you in the Salt!

After the swim, warming up in our cars...

100 Days of Open-Water Swimming

We of the "West Neck Pod," who swim in the open waters of Long Island's north shore (mostly!), in the northeastern United States, are forever lamenting what is, to us, an unfairly short open-water swimming season. Like all open-water swimmers, we are subject to the whims and vicissitudes of Mother Nature and The Old Man of the Sea, who ultimately determine the "outer boundaries" of each year's open-water season.  We never know when the heavy curtain of winter will finally part, and our open-water season will begin, or when it will descend again, forcing us from the water until the next curtain call....For some of us, it is the "inner boundaries" that determine when we leave the open water and return to our local indoor pools, but I am one of those "outies" whose last day of open-water swimming is usually defined by the weather....When the air temperature is in the low 40s and the water temperature in the low 50s, and the wind that's whipping across the harbor feels icy on my exposed skin, and I know that I will find no pleasure in immersing myself in the icebath and stroking through the face-numbing cold, that is my signal that the season is truly over, and I reluctantly consign myself again to the chlorine...But it is always with regret, and I always wish that I could have had "just one more swim...." 

This season, it occurred to me to count how many "just one more" open-water swims my season actually encompassed.  Inspired by downhill skiiers' concept of a "perfect" skiing season of 100 days, I decided to make that my goal for 2011, and started counting with my first swim on May 27th. Today, October 22nd, was Swim #100 -- marking the completion of my "Perfect 100-Day Open-Water Swimming Season"!  Bonnie, Gae, Karen, Rob Ripp, Rob Todd, and Tim Sullivan joined me in the water, while Ken and Joye tracked us from the beach as we made our way from South Buoy to North.  Our tentative plans for a "Big Swim Across the Harbor" were quashed by the persistent westerly wind and whitecapped waves, but the chilly, 58-degree water temperature and 46 degree air temperature were otherwise no deterrent to this determined pod-let of other "outies," who were equally determined to see me achieve my 100th swim.  With the unusual and even dramatic weather of this season -- from Hurricane Irene to the rain-drenched August to the precipitous cold of early September, followed by October's relentless westerly wind, that swim was never a certainty, and I think we all were a little relieved that I made it!  Of course, now that I have, that doesn't mean my open-water swimming season is over! Tomorrow will be a day off for me (as I embark on my first-ever "Ziplining Adventure"), but I'll be back in the Salt next week -- weather permitting! ...By the way, although I seem to have been the only Pod member consciously counting swimming days, rumored sightings suggest that the evanescent "Pod-Father" Rob Martell has substantially exceeded the 100 number -- and he will certainly take the prize for longest open-water season, as his first swim was posted on May 15th and, as history suggests, he will continue to swim into December....! 

Next season....counting mileage??  See you in the Salt!

 

* Thanks to Newsday, whose October 16th "Long Island Section" cover inspired the adaptation above, and to Kathy Wickham, who "Photoshopped" it into existence!

"The Mists of Huntington..."

The first day of Fall slipped in silently under a dense layer of fog, which hovered over the landscape at West Neck Beach, covering everything like a ghostly blanket. Only faintly visible from the shore, the few remaining boats floated like shadows at their moorings, seemingly suspended in a great, soft cloud. The water lay eerily flat and calm, its mirror-like surface dully reflecting the soft grey blanket tamping it down. A vast stillness swallowed all sound, and the voices of the gulls that swooped over the still water were muffled as if from far away. The overall effect was magical and mystical and ultimately irresistible, and the water called to us like a Siren. We swam, Carole and I, north along the Causeway, past the anchored ghost ships and the fuzzy outlines of the floating dock, into an unrecognizable world...Swimming into nothingness, the boundary between water and sky obliterated, we felt weightless and disembodied, with only the faintly visible misty shoreline to our right to guide us and keep us from being swallowed by the fog. We made our way as far as the yellow sign, then reluctantly turned back toward home in the deepening fog....A strange pair of flip-flops had joined ours at the Pod-Sandal-Station, Nancy Aboff having followed in our wake (though we neither saw nor heard her until her return), and Bonnie Millen soon joined us on the Beach, ready to undertake her own solitary sojourn into the void. As we stood, contemplating the deep, silent peace that enveloped us, a pair of Great Blue Herons flew over our heads, beating their wings soundlessly over the surface of the water, then disappearing into the fog like Great Blue Ghosts....This first swim of Fall felt like a blessing, holding the promise of many more glorious swims to come....

"Thirty Days [of open-water swimming] hath September...."

In the wake of Hurricane Irene, the usually traumatic transition from August to September went relatively unnoticed by the swimmers of the West Neck Pod. Only a small group (Ken, Tim, Carole, Kathy and I) ventured into the Salt on Thursday for a short, "First of September" swim that was characterized by a shockingly littered seascape -- with the water chock-full of logs, branches, twigs, leaves and other storm washups that, as Ken described, had us constantly "picking our heads up like prairie dogs" as we swam through the debris. 

By Friday the water had cleared again, with only a few remnants of the storm still littering the harbor. Carole, Kathy, Rob Ripp, Rabbi Steve and I enjoyed a wonderfully energizing swim to the Southern Buoy, where we lingered and chatted as I snapped the inevitable photos and videos to memorialize the day. Steve (still a relative newcomer to the Pod and open-water swimming), casually commented, "You know, no offense, but the pictures on Facebook and the Blog all look pretty much the same...." His comment might have stung a little bit but for its undeniable truth. The fact is that the West Neck Pod (or some portion of it) swims the same routes, nearly every day, from the same beach, and in the same harbor, so the scenery, background and subjects tend to be much the same from day to day and week to week, and maybe even year to year. Those of us who have been swimming here year after year appreciate and rely on the constantly changing water and wind and waves and weather to keep it interesting and fresh...but sometimes a little outside perspective is a good thing....
Robb Ripp, recognizing an opportunity to "change it up" for the Pod with a new "photo-op," wasted no time in coaching Carole, Kathy and the surprisingly willing Steve in a carefully choreographed circle-dance in front of the buoy, and my video camera, which even Rabbi Steve must concede produced images never before seen out there by the Southern Buoy!

Inspired, no doubt, by the grace and beauty of Friday's performance, the 20-plus swimmers who turned out for Saturday morning's group swim were easily inveigled by Rob and his cohorts to perform a celebratory end-of-summer circle-dance around the Southern Buoy -- again captured by my video camera as evidence of the not-always-the-same exploits of the West Neck Pod!
By Sunday, when more than 30 swimmers showed up for the 8:00 swim, circle-dances by the buoy were beginning to seem old...so the Pod "changed it up" again with a first-time swim beyond the Southern buoy to the "beach before the jetty," for a two-mile round trip that exhilarated and inspired all those who participated (including Cammi and Ursula, who accompanied us on their stand-up paddleboards and helped keep us safe and on-course -- thanks, you two!).  Everyone lined up on the beach for a water-start return, which was absolutely phenomenal viewed from the water....

Monday's Labor Day swim, though well-attended, seemed almost anticlimactic, with one group opting for the usual "Buoy-to-Buoy-and-back swim" and the rest of us opting for the shorter "Buoy-lite" swim, but here the weather and wind intervened to take this swim out of the ordinary, as all were made to battle a brisk outgoing tide and howling southerly wind that stirred up a sizeable wave-chop.  Also memorable were the coffee, bagels, donuts and muffins we enjoyed on the beach afterwards, as well as the company of our Pod-sister Joye, still striving to heal her badly broken ankle so she can rejoin us in the Salt before this 2011 season closes....

Today's Labor Day swim also marks the completion of my 69th open-water swim of the season -- bringing me that much closer to my season's goal of 100 days of open-water swimming.  As the September air grows disturbingly crisper, I am less certain of reaching that goal -- but I celebrate and am grateful for the memory of each of those 69 days, and the subtle nuances that make each of them unique and different -- even if those endless photographs and videos don't show it...

See you in the Salt!

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....

As this month of August draws to a close and September looms, and with it the summer's end, I invite those holdouts to reconsider their other "pressing business" and remind them of the drawing power of Salt...

Sunday, July 10th Open-Water Swim at West Neck Beach

Here are photos and videos from Sunday's swim:



More pictures (by Mike Engel) are posted on the Huntington Masters Swimmers ("HUMS") blog at http://hums.blogspot.com/2011/07/some-pictures-from-sunday-july-10-2011.html! (Don't forget to join HUMS and "Swim for the Home Team"!)

Safety First: "No-see-'ems" in the Water?

Despite the overnight rain showers and some naysayers' dire warnings of possible coliform-laden runoff, a baker's dozen of hard-core (and hopefully iron-stomached!) swimmers took to the West Neck Salt this morning in conditions that were macroscopically, even if not microscopically, perfect! A swift outgoing tide nosed up against a steady northerly wind to stir up just enough wave-chop and underwater movement to make the swim interesting and exciting, and the water, under a brilliant sun in a cloudless sky, was remarkably clean and clear, for all the fretting of the nautical nabobs of negativism...!

All of the fuss and flurry about the runoff issue reminded me that I used to be one of those cautious swimmers who would wait for two tidal "flushes" after a heavy rain, but after years of swimming in this harbor without any intestinal ill-effects, I've become satisfied that the close proximity of West Neck Beach to the wide-open mouth of Long Island Sound keeps this harbor cleaner than most on Long Island -- and unlike other local beaches, West Neck Beach has almost never been closed due to a high coliform count...So I've become willing to take my chances on the "no-see-'ems" in the water and not pass up an otherwise perfectly good swim...!

There's a difference, though, between risking those "no-see-'ems" in the water, and being one of those "no-see-'ems" in the water -- hence those brightly colored orange buoys you see floating along behind several of the swimmers in these pictures!  Having come "this close" to being hit by a speeding powerboat last Father's Day while swimming (see my blogpost at http://thewater-blog.blogspot.com/2010/06/happy-fathers-day.html), I'm acutely sensitive to how relatively invisible, and how vulnerable, we open-water swimmers are to the many boats that traverse this busy harbor -- a problem that's not adequately solved by our brightly-colored caps on our tiny little bobbing heads, which can barely be seen by other swimmers at the water's level, let alone by speeding boats in a heavy chop when their drivers are not expecting us to be there!  So when I first learned about the new swimmer safety device being promoted by the International Swimming Hall of Fame, I ordered one online and tried it out, then ordered a dozen more more for the Pod!  These inflatable floating dry bags enable swimmers to carry personal items with them (including medical supplies like asthma inhalers or Epi-pens, or the camera I took these pictures with!), provide flotation assistance if needed, create virtually no drag, and are highly visible to boaters and other watercraft. (They're apparently even visible to people on the shore -- Carole and Kathy said they saw our buoys way out in the harbor today as they were walking our dogs on the beach!)

These swimmer safety devices are a relatively easy and inexpensive way to enhance our safety and the safety of our fellow Pod members, as well as the peace of mind of our friends and family who love us, as we pursue our passion for this wonderful but dangerous sport of open-water swimming. I urge every Pod member, and every open-water swimmer, to get one -- and look forward to seeing a flotilla of bobbing orange buoys every time we hit the Salt this season! (For more information about the device, go to http://www.ishof.org/safety/faq.htm.)

As for the other "no-see-'ems" in the water today, dysentery may yet set in, but if it doesn't, most of this morning's crew will be doing it again tomorrow morning at 8:00 -- See you (safely) in the Salt!

A Not-So-Memorable Memorial Day

 Violent early morning thunderstorms dashed the Pod’s plans for a Memorial Day swim – for everyone, that is, except Tony Santomauro, Mike Paradise, Greg and Magda...Undeterred by the raging tempest, they headed for the beach, waited the requisite time until the last of the thunder and lightning had died away, then entered the water, despite the glowering skies and the steady rain that continued to fall. Also undeterred by the rain, as reported by Tony, were the jellyfish, whose early arrival had been noted by the weekend’s swimmers, and additional throngs of which had apparently been driven into the harbor by the storm and the incoming tide. As with the weekend’s group, today’s swimmers passed harmlessly through the gelatinous invaders, whose tentacles appear to have been rendered innocuous, perhaps by the water that’s still chilly by jellyfish standards. Whatever the reason, Pod swimmers are grateful to be spared close jellyfish encounters of the painful kind. As every open-water swimmer knows (and will soon undoubtedly be humming as they swim), when it comes to jellyfish, "It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that sting [doo-wa, doo-wa, doo-wa, doo-wa, doo-wa...]"!!

Weekday swim schedules this week – the first week of June! – will be posted on Facebook and/or e-mails; weekend swims will be at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. See you in the Salt!

Day Two of the 2011 Open Water Swimming Season

Well, the thermometer still read 66 degrees, but the squeals of the swimmers as they entered the water this morning said otherwise....With the sky still overcast and the sun having not yet burned its way through the clouds, the water felt significantly colder to this morning's flock of 16 or so swimmers, especially those like Peter and Rob Ripp who swam sans wetsuits! The southwest wind had kicked up overnight, too, to throw a pesky chop in the faces of the returning swimmers, but neither that, nor the jellies that dotted the water (still no stings reported!) dampened the spirits of the swimmers in this second official swim of the 2011 season.

Returnees from yesterday Gae, Annmarie, Carole, Margot, Brett, Steve, Joye and I were joined today by Coriander, Rob Ripp, Pete, Rob Todd, Nancy, and Joan (Rob Martell and Christine having taken an earlier dunk before their run -- beware, parking outside the still-locked gate got them both tickets!), and the sun was shining brightly by the time the last swimmers returned to the Beach.  Hopefully it will be again tomorrow,  when the West Neck Pod reconvenes on the Beach at 8:00 a.m. for a Memorial Day Swim!  See you in the Salt!