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

 

 

 

"Crappy" Start to Memorial Day Weekend OWS!

As the 2014 Memorial Day Weekend approached, Newsday reported that 125,000 gallons of partially treated sewage had accidentally been released into Oyster Bay, and that six Nassau County beaches -- some directly across the harbor from West Neck Beach! -- were closed as a "precaution." That information -- combined with Friday evening's torrential rains and the concomitant threat of additional toxic contamination -- was not enough to cause the closure of West Neck and other nearby Suffolk County beaches despite their close proximity to Oyster Bay.  But West Neck Podders, forewarned by the Newsday article as well as by Facebook and email posts (and undoubtedly further deterred by continued unseasonably low water temperatures), stayed away from Saturday morning's official season-opening open-water swim in droves....Even I was sufficiently disconcerted by the prospect of sewage-laden water to decide not to risk a swim, but I headed down to West Neck Beach anyway to see if anyone was crazy enough to venture into the Salt. The early morning clouds were just giving way to brilliant sunshine, which reflected off the surface of the pristine-looking water -- no sewage in sight! Four intrepids were suiting up in the parking lot, nonplussed by the sewage spill, which as they pointed out was "partially treated" and so practically innocuous -- indeed, more so than the water temperature which was somewhere between 56 and 58 degrees. (Lorraine Huether was happy for the coldish water in anticipation of her Alcatraz swim next weekend!) While I watched from the shore (quite happily, I might add), Marc Leahy, Stephen Albright, Anthony Sarchiapone and Lorraine boldly struck off for the north buoy (yes, the buoys are back!) and then continued onward to the yellow sign.  All returned safely and without any apparent ill effects (or significant discoloration), and, with the expectation that conditions would only improve with a few more tidal flushes, I looked forward to my own first open-water swim of the official 2014 season on Sunday.

 

 

 

 

Cheerleader Susan Robinson

By Sunday, not only had there been no reported fatalities as a result of Saturday's swim, but Marc, Lorraine and Stephen all returned for another dose of Salt, joined by me and by Tim Sullivan for his first open-water swim since November 1st! We swam to the north buoy and then on to the yellow sign.  Enjoying the near-perfect conditions (but for a surprising number of lion's mane jellyfish sightings), and forgetting my pre-swim admonition that the tide turns about an hour earlier than the tide tables reflect, we decided to continue on to the White Rock -- just in time to have to slog back against a just-turned tide. After a winter of very little swimming, I was just barely up to the challenge -- as my aching shoulders and wetsuit-bitten neck can attest. 

 



Marc -- sleeveless but not gloveless

The White Rock

Fortunately, there's a whole season of swimming ahead for me to build up my endurance and speed and regain my swimming chops again -- but I'm taking tomorrow off!  Happy Memorial Day, everyone -- See you in the Salt!

 

 

The Pathos of "Eos"

For years, "The Sailboat," whose sleek, towering mast is plainly visible from a distance even in rough seas, has been both a beacon and a favorite destination for the West Neck Pod in its northerly swims along the Causeway.  Its stylized image adorns the bathing caps of Pod members, whose message exhorts them to swim "To the Sailboat and Beyond..."  Indeed, achieving the first "Sailboat swim" marks a badge of honor for "newbies" and a season-opening milestone for returnees.  So when several weeks into the 2013 open-water-swimming season the Sailboat still had not taken its customary place off "the house at the end of the Causeway," and even its mooring ball was missing, the West Neck Pod was left disoriented and discomfited. With no Sailboat to sight on, swimmers zigged and zagged their way north to the "virtual-Sailboat," eventually assembling in a ragged cluster somewhere in front of the house....

That house -- still colloquially known as "the Billy Joel house" -- has always been a mystery to us swimmers, who see only the water and sky reflected in its blank windows...Its current inhabitants were unknown and unseen, and as we rested alongside their magnificent and -- as far as we could tell, little-used boat (since it was always there when we were!), we often wondered if they ever saw us out there and if so, what they thought about the fact that a dozen or more oddly coifed and -suited swimmers would regularly come stroking up the Causeway to loiter in their littoral back yard....

So when Sunday morning's pack of virtual-Sailboat swimmers converged in front of the house, tuckered out from a challenging swim northward against the incoming tide, we were shocked to see a woman's tiny figure waving to us from atop the seawall. Too far away for conversation, Susan Robinson and I quickly swam towards the narrow beach at the base of the wall, while the woman (to our alarm and consternation), commenced climbing down the rocks to meet us. She greeted us warmly and introduced herself, then "Cathy" told us the sad fate of her -- and our -- beloved Sailboat, "Eos II."  With the approach of Hurricane Sandy, the boat had been moved to a sheltered marina deeper in Oyster Bay where they thought it would be safer, but Sandy's high winds and violent seas tore the boat loose from its mooring and smashed it to smithereens....

Carol and Cathy getting acquainted

 

Susan, Karen, Eliana, Ken, Brandon & Margot at the "house at the end of the Causeway"

"Eos II"

 

Farewell, "Eos II"

 

Though the West Neck Pod is deeply saddened by the loss of "Eos II," we were heartened by Cathy's news that the "virtual-Sailboat" will soon be replaced by a real sailboat, as "Eos III" takes its place at the mooring alongside the "house at the end of the Causeway." But now, when we swim north "to the Sailboat," and look up at the windows of "the Billy Joel house," we'll smile and wave to our new friend within -- now an honorary member of the West Neck Pod!

 

See you in the Salt!