Looks Like We Made It....Again!

January 31st swim, with Joye Brown, me, Gae Polisner, and
Annmarie Kearney-Wood -- and an anonymous harbor seal

Well, that wasn’t so bad, was it? The Winter, I mean – especially compared to the last several years of bone-chilling cold and seemingly endless snowstorms. This Winter the West Neck Polar Pod managed to eke out at least one swim in every month except February, so we’re pretty well acclimated and ready for the official start of the 2016 open-water-swimming season on Memorial Day weekend! It’s been a cool Spring, though, despite its early start, and the water temperature has been slow in making its way up into the comfort range for most swimmers. But by Memorial Day weekend, I’m anticipating that the water temperature will have nudged its way into the 60s...at least the low 60s...and that it will be tolerable for some if not most, at least in wetsuits (no, not you, "Princess Rabbi"!).

     The water conditions have otherwise been lovely, though, with extremely clean, clear water throughout most of the pre-season. On my last couple of swims with the Polar Pod I kept thinking I was about to scrape the water bottom, which seemed just inches beneath my outstretched hand, but with each panicky stop I found that the water was still well over my head, and Gae Polisner reported on our last swim that she saw a couple of crabs hugging the bottom as she swam above them. You may remember that last summer, Cold Spring Harbor and Long Island Sound were widely reported to have been visited by a number of Beluga and humpback whales, and this winter the West Neck Polar Pod was astonished when it was joined on one of its swims by a lone harbor seal, who perhaps mistook our black-wetsuited selves for its friends and relatives. These recent sightings may be signs of our harbor’s steadily improving health – or of more dire conditions elsewhere – but I am heartened to see these changes, and look forward to welcoming the dolphins when they, too, return to our harbor.  

April Fools -- me with Gae Polisner and Tony Alizzi

     In the meantime, it looks like we’ll be welcoming more newbies to the West Neck Pod, based on the steady stream of emails and Facebook messages that I received as the winter season waned. The West Neck Pod is still the only truly "open" open-water swimming group on Long Island, with no formal membership or dues, and we continue to welcome all swimmers to join us in appreciating and reveling in the many gifts of the open water. Whether you’re a recreational swimmer, a competitive swimmer, an Ironman triathlete or anything in between, you’ll find a home and fellows here at West Neck Beach. If you’re on our email list or want to be (by request only to westneckpod@verizon.net) or have "liked" our West Neck Pod Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WestNeckPod), but you haven’t yet joined us for a swim, then maybe this is your year (at your own risk, of course, for competent swimmers only – and be sure to read the disclaimer on our Facebook page)!

     Though Summer is still nearly a month away, this coming weekend marks the official start of our open-water swimming season, with group swims scheduled for Saturday, Sunday and Monday (Memorial Day) mornings at 8:00! This weekend schedule will continue throughout the season and the post-season, and as the morning air and water temperatures continue to rise, a schedule of weekday morning swims will evolve and be posted by email or on Facebook and/or "The Water-Blog" (http://thewater-blog.blogspot.com/) (and hopefully my personal and time constraints will enable me to return to more regular blogposts, which regretfully have been few and far between of late!).

     As our Pod continues to grow and expand, so do the number of impromptu or ad hoc "Podlet" swims, and now, at virtually any time of the day, you can see swimmers ducking under the swim lines and making their way to the South or North Buoy or The Sailboat or beyond (hopefully sporting the brightly colored "floaty-bags" which have become the ubiquitous symbol of the West Neck Pod’s commitment to safety "out there"). We encourage you to post and share info about these informal swims with your fellow Pod members...(and to buy and use those International Swimming Hall of Fame-developed "SaferSwimmer" flotation devices).

Gae Polisner and Joye Brown

     As you begin to "get in the swim" again this year, here are some important upcoming events to post in your calendar:

     This year, for the fifth time, our home West Neck Beach will be the site of Long Island’s premiere open-water swimming event, the "West Neck Swim," with one-mile, two-mile, and 5K events. This year, the Swim will be held on July 31^st (race organizers changed the original date from June 26^th to avoid conflict with the Huntington Tri and to take advantage of warmer water temperatures and the high-tide schedule). Registration information will be posted on the West Neck Swim website (westneckswim.com) and the West Neck Pod Facebook page.

     Then, in August, the West Neck Pod will once again be participating in the annual "Sound-to-Cove" Swim Across America in Glen Cove. Since we first started participating in 2012, "Team West Neck Pod" has raised nearly $100,000.00 to help support local cancer research, treatment and support services. Like so many Long Island families, our West Neck Pod family has been deeply and personally touched by cancer, and many of our members have lost friends and family members to this disease or are cancer survivors themselves. Each year, the members of Team West Neck Pod pledge our swimming bodies to the fight against cancer – a fight the recent research shows we are winning! To help in the fight against cancer in our community, join Team West Neck Pod – or make a generous donation on behalf of the Team or your favorite swimmer. (http://www.swimacrossamerica.org/site/TR/OpenWater/NassauSuffolk?team_id=18308&pg=team&fr_id=3944).

     See you in the Salt!

  

Paul Coster and Kevin Flannery

 

 

 

The 2010 Open-Water Swimming Season: Looks Like It's Over....

On this chilly Sunday morning, Rob Martell and Rob Todd took their first open-water swim of November 2010, as Carole Wickham and I had done earlier in the week, on Election Day....With the sun just barely risen and the air temperature hovering just a few degrees above freezing, the conditions "The Robs" encountered at 8:00 this morning were considerably harsher than what "The Carol(e)s" experienced on a sunny Tuesday midafternoon.  Although they gamely termed it a "nice short swim" in water that Rob Martell generously estimated as "in the high 40's," the Robs' descriptions of "pins and needles" and numb faces, hands and feet told the true story of this morning's swim -- presaging not only the end of this year's open water swimming season, but the approaching end of autumn and the beginning of winter....    

As a die-hard Salt-water junkie, reluctant to see the season end, I had harbored my own wishes for yet another open-water swim today, and after a half-hearted stint in the Y pool, I made my way to West Neck Beach to check out the conditions.  As I stood there on the beach, as I had dozens of times in the last seven (!) months -- checking the tide, gauging the wind direction and strength, and just taking in the gorgeous vista -- I suddenly knew that my open-water season was over....

The sun was warm and bright and the water was clear and calm, but the air was cold on my face and hands, and the northwest wind (of course!) kept finding its way into and under my jacket...I felt cold, and knew that in the water I'd feel even colder.  More importantly, I didn't want my last open-water swim to be anything less than perfect -- as every swim had been all season long. I wanted my memory of my last swim of the season to be like that of Tuesday's swim, in crisp, invigorating, crystal-clear water, with the sun shining brightly in a brilliant blue sky, reminding me of how lucky I am, to be blessed with this gift of open-water swimming and my "Pod" of fellows who share it with me. I wanted to remember nothing but the sheer joy of the open water...and so I will....until next year, when I see you in the Salt! 

End-of-Summer "Pod-Party"

Sunday afternoon the Pod convened at Carol and Carole's in Huntington for the second annual end-of-season swimmers' gathering. The gathering provided a rare opportunity for Pod members to see one another with clothes on, to meet one anothers' spouses/significant others and children, to talk about something other than swimming (well, we did a little bit!), and to see aspects of one another not usually seen in the pool or in the open water! (also to have one's photo taken in the maw of a lemon-shark...)








Nancy Lipira (whose homemade linzer tarts were a big hit!) summed the afternoon up best: "GREAT WEATHER, GREAT FOOD, GREAT FRIENDS = AWESOME DAY!" Those who couldn't make the party were missed, but there's always next year!

Tonight (11:13 p.m.!) marks the Equinox, the official end of Summer and beginning of Fall, but the open-water season continues...Yesterday's swim was indescribably perfect, and although the southwesterly wind quashed this morning's planned swim, we're hoping for a return to perfection for the First Swim of Autumn 2010 tomorrow at 6:30! See you in the Salt!

It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over!

Labor Day has come and gone, marking the unofficial end of Summer...For Pod members, Labor Day also marked the end of the ferocious westerly wind that for two days had turned the harbor into a tempest and the Causeway swim into a carnival ride. Anticipating yet another day of pitching and yawing, we'd cancelled the planned Labor Day "Big Swim II" and opted for the difficult-but-survivable beach-to-sailboat sortie.

Confounded yet again by Mother Nature (thanks, Mom!), 16 Pod swimmers converged on Monday morning on a sunlit, windless, waveless beach, which made our swim out to the sailboat mooring a seemingly effortless delight! So delightful was it, in fact, that most of us opted to continue onward past the second sailboat to Fort Hill Beach, where we lingered for a while, enjoying each other's company and the exquisite beauty of the morning, before setting out on the still-incoming tide for the return trip to West Neck Beach.

Late arrivals Gae and Joye were apparently not challenged enough by the 2.25-mile round-trip and continued northward to the farthest dock before finally turning around. The tide having begun to turn in the meantime, the "Moxie-Pod" had the added challenge of swimming against an outgoing tide the whole way back -- which they did in good spirits if not in good time!

There are at least several weeks more of open-water swimming on the horizon (I hope!), but this 2010 open-water season so far has been memorably bracketed by the Memorial Day weekend which inaugurated it and the Labor Day weekend which we commemorated with our second Pod-wide "Big Swim"! When the OWS season finally does end, there will certainly be much to remember and reflect on over the winter months until we are able to hit the Salt again...

But until then, it's back in the Salt tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 6:15!

Hurricane, schmurricane....?

Hurricane Earl came and went seemingly without so much as lifting a ripple on the surface of the water of Cold Spring Harbor...The most threatening thing we'd encountered this week as the Category 4 storm made its way up the coast was a pair of angry swans who, unprovoked, chased us up the beach and around the bathhouse Thursday morning! On Friday morning -- when Long Island was expected to begin to feel the storm's effects -- the water at West Neck was its usual calm, unruffled self, and throughout the day the expected wind and rain never materialized. By Saturday morning, with Hurricane Earl now reduced to a Category 1 storm and already making its way past Massachusetts, there seemed no reason to expect that the conditions at West Neck would be any different.

So the 16 swimmers who arrived at West Neck Beach this morning for an 8:00 swim (including a number of displaced "poolies" from the closed-for-Labor-Day-weekend "Y") were surprised to find the harbor a white-capped, oceanic tempest! A fierce westerly wind was whipping across the harbor and driving huge, rolling waves onto the beach.


Undaunted (well, maybe a little daunted), we set out along the Causeway, heading for the sailboat mooring (the sailboat itself having left for calmer waters). The going was very rough, and we were battered mercilessly by the crashing waves, which repeatedly hurled us to the crest then dropped us down into the trough below. Sighting was all but impossible, and fellow swimmers were visible to one another only in the rare moments when both were atop the crest of a wave. Despite the punishment, it was thrilling and exhilarating -- though not so much that this swimmer felt the need to endure it all the way out to the mooring! Joined by a handful of like-minded Pod-ites, we stopped at the halfway point, where, finding floating in the maelstrom much easier than swimming, we bobbed around like corks, schmoozing with one another and Tommy Capobianco, who stopped his car and hailed us from the Causeway! The hardier (foolhardier?) of the lot continued on to the mooring and back, but even "The Pod-Father" Rob Martell conceded that he is feeling a little sore and beat up by the experience!


Returning to the beach, we found ourselves reluctant to leave the still-roiling water...Like the roller coaster, just because it makes us scream doesn't mean we don't want to ride it again!

Plans are afoot for another "Big Swim," possibly for tomorrow and/or Monday (Labor Day). Details will be posted on the Blog and "The Water-Log" e-mail list....See you in the Salt!

"Big Swim" a Big Success!

Conditions for this morning's one-way, tide-assisted swim could not have been more perfect for the nine swimmers who set out from West Neck Beach, accompanied by Nancy Reycraft in her kayak! Unlike the tempest of the last several days, the water today was flat and calm, and the cloudless sky was clear and beautiful as Rob Martell and Ken Longo (the "Lewis and Clark" of the West Neck Pod who pioneered the route we swam today), Cathy Kabat, Adam Acerra, Gae Polisner, Sue Robinson, Armand D'Amato, Bonnie Millen and I left West Neck Beach on an outgoing low tide shortly after 7:00 a.m. We headed north to “the sailboat at the end of the Causeway” and then, instead of stopping there as we usually do, continued northward, past the “second sailboat,” reconnoitering at Fort Hill Beach – directly opposite that great, hulking concrete channel marker that looms in the middle of the harbor.


Three swimmers left the water then and were ferried back to West Neck Beach by Armand. The rest of us continued northward -- where Cold Spring Harbor widens as it approaches Long Island Sound, the open water becomes even more spacious, and the distant horizon seems infinitely far (as far as that channel marker used to!). We swam as far as the last dock just short of the Lloyd Neck Point, then returned to Fort Hill Beach, where three more of us somewhat reluctantly left the water for the drive back to West Neck Beach. Gae and I “high-fived” each other, congratulating ourselves and each other on having finally swum as far as that channel marker – and beyond!


Rob, Cathy and Ken decided to forgo a ride back and swim the rest of the way to West Neck Beach, apparently earning them Neptune and Salacia’s blessing: The tide having turned in the interim, they got the benefit of a tide-assist in both directions – a swimmer’s dream! Adam, Gae and I saw them as we drove back along the Causeway to West Neck Beach – swimming strong, sure and fast, each leaving a long wake behind them like the tail of a comet. Tired as my poor arms and shoulders were, I regretted not following in their wake...Next "Big Swim"....!

Until then, it’s Back in the Salt on Tuesday at 6:15 a.m.....

Welcome to the Laundromat...

Friday was Laundry Day at West Neck Beach, with a medium-sized load of 7 swimmers being tossed and tumbled in the agitator between the still-outgoing tide and a brisk northwesterly wind, making the wash-cycle out to the sailboat one of the roughest of the season! The rinse-cycle back, with the turning of the tide and the wind at our backs, was somewhat calmer (though far from the "delicate" setting). Hopefully tomorrow will be "ironing day" and the water will be smooth and flat like it's been most of this season. Speaking of which...with the air temperature this morning dropping to a cool 58 degrees, and the water temperature down to the low 70's (71 degrees according to Newsday), it already feels like the season is waning...

It's back to the laundromat tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 8:00 (a smaller group is going out at 7:00). See you in the Soap -- I mean the Salt!

"The sun'll come out....tomorrow!"

Persistent heavy rains and generally dreary weather threw a wet blanket over this week's planned open-water swims, sending some of us back to bed and others back to the YMCA pool...a venue that Nancy Lipira and I had not visited since the start of the open-water swimming season on Memorial Day weekend!
It was great to reconnect with our long-lost "Chlorine" buddies, most notably Coach Bob Miller and HUMS blogographer Mike Engel, along with a dozen or so of the "usual suspects," and Nancy and I quickly fell into the routine of repeated sets of 100's on increasing intervals -- but for us "Saltines" the contrast between the pool and the open water was dramatic....Accustomed to swimming in water that is by now in the low- to mid-70's, I found the 84-degree temperature of the pool to be something of a challenge. Even more challenging was the "turn at the wall" after every 17 strokes or so, as compared to the “turn at the sailboat” after three-quarters of a mile....! And with about a dozen Masters swimmers churning up the fast lane, forming a nearly continuous nose-to-toes loop, I found myself yearning for the spaciousness of open-water swimming, where I am comforted in my solitude by the occasional glimpse of another brightly colored cap over the crest of a distant swell....!

The weather report for tomorrow and the upcoming weekend is for clear, sunny skies, so I plan to return to the open water tomorrow for my "morning constitutional" and resume my almost-daily swims at West Neck Beach. (I'm particularly looking forward to this coming Sunday's "one-way swim" -- see the August 19th post.) Still, I feel a chill in the morning air these days, and the water temperature seems to be dropping rapidly, and I sense that the end of the 2010 open-water swimming season is approaching...As I contemplate the inevitable return to the pool, or "closed-water" swimming, I am reminded that it was in that pool, during those long winters, doing those endless interval sets, chasing swimmers who were faster and stronger than me, that I acquired the skills and technique and endurance that make my open-water swims feel so effortless and blissful. So while I'm hoping to continue swimming outdoors well into November(!), the first snowfall won't really break my heart. Besides, there's always cross-country skiing!!

See you in the Salt!

It wasn't us.....!

Tuesday morning's swimmers (Carole, Margot, Joye, Tim, Kim, Magda, Greg and I along with "newbies" Attila and Nancy) found the lifeguard stand in an unusual place...tire tracks in front of the bathhouse told the story of how the local "youts" (we're guessing) got it up there. It did present a good vantage point to see over the brisk chop created by the northerly wind -- but at 6:30 in the morning there was only this lone seagull to take advantage of it. Nancy and Attila got something of a rough introduction to open-water swimming, between the wind and the outgoing tide, but that seems to have been the norm for newbies this season, as Paul (and returnee Jim Imhof) can attest! Still, they made it all the way out to the southern buoy, and then enjoyed a nice body-surfing ride back to the beach! We'll see if they come back for another taste of Salt!

West Neck "Pod" Goes to "School"!

Two waves of Pod regulars went out early this morning, with worm-getters Rob and Ken still making their seemingly endless loops from beach to Causeway to buoy and back by the time Mike Engel (renowned blogographer of the Huntington Masters Swimmers group making his 2010 open-water debut!), Margot, Larry and a bunch of his tri-buddies, and I set out on a surprisingly quick (ya gotta love those slack tides!) run out to the Causeway and an even faster, tide-assisted run back. (Check out Mike's blog at http://www.HUMS.blogspot.com!)



We had just about reached the outer limit of the mooring field north of the beach when we were met by an oncoming horde of 30 or more outbound swimmers surging toward us and churning up the water like a bluefish run! What an incredible vision, seeing that multitude of brightly colored caps and flashing arms just filling the harbor and stretching back as far as one could see! WE OWNED THE WATER TODAY!! Thanks to Bob Miller and his Tri-Masters Swimmers Group for making this morning's swim a truly awesome and unforgettable experience! Let's do it again tomorrow! See you at 8:00!





(Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of the swimmers because I was still in the water and made a second round-trip with them, so all I got was these apres-swim photos...)

"TGIF" Morning Swim....

After yesterday afternoon's threats of thunderstorms, Friday morning dawned clear and beautiful, and ten early-risers (Rob Martell, Ken, Chris, Nancy, Don, Paul, Margot, Joye, Gae and I) took advantage of the perfect conditions for another long swim in balmy water (definitely bathing suit temperature!). The "Gang of Ten" (not counting Magda, who swims solo and was already in the water when we arrived) bore witness to yet another milestone for Pod member Joye who, having conquered the southern buoy on her 55th birthday several weeks ago, completed her maiden Causeway voyage all the way to the sailboat and back (she even touched it!), accompanied by now-veteran Causeway swimmer Gae, who, after her earlier struggles, made it look easy today! Rob Martell, Ken and Chris continued their swim to the southern buoy and back, with Rob setting a breakneck pace that bodes well for his performance in the upcoming 10K in the Bay, and Ken & Chris not far behind. I'm still having palpitations from my too-close-encounter with a powerboat this past weekend, and feel happiest swimming closer to shore, but plan to revisit the buoy as soon as my post-traumatic stress subsides....! Maybe tomorrow, when we're joined by Bob Miller and his Tri-Masters! Rob & his crew are going out early (6-ish), while the distance-seeking second wave will be hitting the water at 7, which will bring us back to the beach to reconnoiter with the rest of the Pod and Bob at 8! See you in the a.m.!

It Isn't Summer Yet...

This morning's swim -- under a cloud-covered sky -- was distinctly chillier than the last several have been (with Newsday pegging the water temperature at a mere 61 degrees. Brrrr. Still, we stalwart eight (Carole, Margot, Ken, Rob, Mike, Chris, Paul and I) plunged in to the glass-like water for what turned out to be a lovely and invigorating "Causeway" swim, with the more fully clad of us (those wearing full wetsuits) continuing on to the southern buoy and back (Margot and I, wearing sleeveless wetsuits, and Rob, wearing hardly anything at all, along with Carole and Paul, opted to retreat to the beach and our sweatshirts. Of course, we're doing it all again tomorrow, with Rob inviting guests to join him for an early ("in the water by 7:00 a.m.") swim, and the rest of us lazies taking the plunge at a more reasonable 8:00 (it is the weekend, after all!). Good news: The gate was open for us at 6:15 this morning; let's see what tomorrow brings! See you on the Beach!