Waving-In the New Year

Jimmy, Sharon, me, Tony and Stephen

The sun had almost but not quite burned its way through the clouds, so the air was decidedly chilly at 41 degrees. A west-northwesterly wind was roughing up the surface of the water, which looked stern and cold as the West Neck Polar Pod arrived for its annual New Year’s Day swim. Jimmy Kwong, Stephen Leung, Tony Alizzi, Sharon Berg Hochberg and I were there to swim, but bikini-clad Pod-member Nancy Aboff was there, too, hunkered in her SUV, steeling herself for her first-ever polar plunge. Her friend Karen, who was there for moral support, decided to join her at the last minute, and as we wetsuited swimmers huddled at the shoreline adjusting gloves and goggles and nerves, Nancy and Karen, both wearing only bathing suits, ran headlong into the swells, laughing and shrieking like...well, like they were running nearly naked into ice-cold frigid water!

 The rest of us soon followed suit as fellow Pod member Mark Heuwetter, there just to cheerlead, encouraged us from the beach while taking pictures and videos of our progress (including the ones posted here - thanks, Mark!). The wind-driven chop made swimming difficult, and several of us struggled with leaking, fogging goggles that were impossible to adjust with cold, gloved hands. Back at the beach, Jimmy’s friend Bondy waited for our return, intent on taking her own first polar plunge, which Jimmy had promised he’d join her in after our swim. That was all I needed to hear to be inspired myself, and when the Polar Pod’s brief but exhilarating excursion was over, Jimmy and I both stripped off our wetsuits and joined Bondy in a bathing-suit-only bone-chilling New Year’s polar plunge before dashing back to our cars to dry off, warm up and drink hot tea.
Cold-water swimming certainly isn’t for everyone. For the members of the West Neck Polar Pod, our compulsion to push the boundaries of the "open-water swimming season" is motivated less by a fondness for cold water and goosebumps than by a stubborn unwillingness to relinquish the delicious freedom of the open water for the finite container of the pool (though the cold water definitely kicks up our endorphins!). That’s why we were out there today on this first day of 2016...and why we’ll be out there again as often as the weather and our personal constraints allow. So if you weren’t able to join us today (Gae Polisner, Annmarie Kearney-Wood and Joye Brown, you know I’m talking to you!), don’t worry – you’ll have 364 more chances this year!
Happy New Year, everyone! See you in the Salt!

Happy (*eeeeeek!*) New Year!

The annual New Year's Day open-water swim at West Neck Beach has become a hallowed West Neck Pod tradition, and the newly arrived 2015 was no exception.  Despite near-freezing temperatures, white-capped waves and a ferocious wind, three other mermaids answered the siren call of acting mermaid-in-chief Joye Brown on New Year's Day, and took the Pod's first plunge into the 2015 Salt (I was away on vacation and missed the swim, alas!). Gae Polisner, the only one of the four not wearing a wetsuit, stripped off boots and pants and ran in barefooted and waist-high, staying in only long enough to utter the high-pitched, pitiful scream you can hear distantly at the end of this video, taken from the dashboard of Gae's parked car. Sorry for the poor image quality, but it's worth sticking through to the end just for the audio! Gae was followed into the churning waves by Joye and her wetsuited cohorts Kathy and Carole Wickham who went for the full monty (no, not the movie kind!)...The icy rain that's falling now is predicted to last into tomorrow, so prospects for a reprise on this first weekend of January 2015 are dim...but we'll keep you posted!  Happy New Year -- See you in the Salt!

Would you like that OWS straight up? or on the rocks?

Yes, those are frozen smiles on our faces...

Now that was refreshing! 
Gae Polisner's earlier Facebook plea for company in a mid-afternoon swim "if it gets sunny" (it did!), was met with a flurry of wistfully regretful declines, but Carole Wickham and I were able to answer the call, and a Polar Tri-Pod entered the "Oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-how-cold-this-is" water at about 2:45 this afternoon.... "How cold was it," you ask? According to my trusty laser thermometer -- employed at mid-thigh depth as it is every time -- and which most recently gave a temperature reading in the low (very low!) 40s -- the water temperature this afternoon was an unbelievable 35-36 degrees!  Just to put things in perspective, the coldest water the West Neck Polar Pod has swum in previously was a bone-chilling 37 degrees -- and that was in January! If it were not for the relatively warm (55 degrees) air temperature today, and a relatively sedate 4 mph wind, we probably would have opted to go out for cheeseburgers instead...But we were there, already half-suited up, and it would have been unthinkable to turn around and leave without even getting wet...So we swam -- with flash-frozen faces, hands and feet  -- not far (back and forth between the dock and the jetty), and not long (20+ minutes) -- but  enough to get our endorphins pumping and make the swim and the effort completely and utterly and unforgettably worthwhile....!

Naturally we'll be doing it again tomorrow!  See you in the Salt!

(By the way, salt water doesn't freeze until the temperature reaches 28.4 degrees Fahrenheit -- so we've still got lots of open-water swimming ahead of us!)

Open-water swimming now? Just say “NO”-vember!!

The first open-water swim of November 2013 was as hair-raising and spooky as yesterday’s Halloween swim should have been....Though the fearsome southwesterly wind did not quite reach the nearly 40 mph gusts that were predicted, it was still blowin’ quite a gale when we arrived – just in time for the pelting rain – shortly before our scheduled 10:30 swim. A thin ribbon of fog was forming on the opposite shore and stealthily making its way across the harbor, threatening to obliterate the South Buoy we’d be swimming toward on an outgoing high tide. But the air temperature was nearly in the mid-sixties, the air felt summer-warm, and the water looked so inviting, despite the white-capped waves crashing on the beach, that it would have been torture not to be able to swim (especially for Annmarie Kearney-Wood, who’d driven up from the South Shore so as not to miss this first November swim). Joye Brown, who’d just checked in with the weather-gods, assured us that this was just a passing squall, and that the thunderstorm/lightning warning for the area (who knew!) would be lifted at 10:30, just in time for our swim. As it turned out, Joye and the weather-gods were right, and we only had to wait in our cars for a short while before the rain stopped and the fog lifted and we could finish suiting up and head into the swirling Salt for our first November swim....

Joye Brown

Gae and Annmarie and waves...

Steven

 For Gae Polisner and Annmarie, who haven’t been swimming regularly in this post-season and were not completely acclimatized to the cold water, "The-House-Formerly-Known-as-Blue" was a sufficient target, and they made their way there, hugging the shoreline (which was easy, since that’s where the wind was pushing them!). The rest of us (Carole Wickham, Joye Brown, Steven Leung and I) continued on to the South Buoy – not an easy trek even for Steven, who’d be a West Neck Polar Pod "Big-Dog" if there were any other Big-Dogs out here to swim with him! The way back was a lot easier, though, with the tide and the wind conspiring to whoosh us homeward. Getting out was a breeze, despite the wind, and we were warm enough to enjoy the still-flowing outside showers despite the lack of sun.

South Buoy in November (with Joye, Carole and Steven!)

 

Holdouts Joye and me, both reluctant to get out of the water....

While the others showered and dressed and Joye and I dawdled on the beach, still in our wetsuits, our attention was suddenly caught by a figure at the far end of the parking lot edging across the sand towards the water. She? – we nearsightedly assumed – was clad only in bikini briefs, and though her arms were crossed in front of her chest, she appeared to be topless! We all watched as she stepped tentatively over the rocks and into the water, then kept going.... Momentarily panic-stricken, I thought, "Oh, no, is this a suicide attempt?" and watched in anguish as the woman forged ahead and then suddenly threw herself forward, disappearing beneath an oncoming wave. She popped up again a moment later and, to my great relief, immediately turned towards shore, found her footing, and made her careful way back onto the beach, her arms again folded discreetly across her otherwise bare chest....No, I realized, this was no suicide attempt – this was the opposite of a suicide attempt! This was a woman daring to feel herself alive...throwing herself into the Salt, giving birth to herself, baptizing herself...She was here to live....She was here for the same reason we were...! I raised my arms in salute and whooped with approbation and solidarity, and she smiled and nodded in recognition and acceptance as she made her solitary way back to the parking lot and her car....

Joye, who by now had stripped off her wetsuit, tossed me a sidelong look, grunted something unintelligible, then set off resolutely towards the water. I knew, and I knew Joye knew, that there was no way our wetsuited/begloved/bootied swim to the South Buoy and back could match the chest-clutching, bare-breasted heroism of that unknown woman on the beach, and I knew that Joye was on a mission to rectify that. Of course I followed her, stripping off my wetsuit in the Salt, while Joye, shoulder-deep, busied herself beneath the waves. Moments later, she held her bathing suit aloft, and as our now-dressed-and-ready-to-leave woman-hero’s car drove slowly past the beach, I pulled my bathing suit down to my waist and raised my arms in a bare-breasted salute to her, to Joye, to my Polar-Pod fellows cheering us on from the beach, to the Salt, to Life....

Of course Gae took a picture, but I’m not posting that....See you in the Salt tomorrow at 8:00 for the second open-water swim of November 2013!  L’chaim!

A Brisk Start to the 2013 Open-Water Swimming Season...

There was a lot of head-shaking going on in the parking lot of West Neck Beach this afternoon as one Polar Podder after another arrived for what has now become an annual event: The West Neck Pod's New Year's Day "Polar Pod" Swim!  Much to our chagrin, though, the infamous northwesterly wind had also arrived, and we were met with a distressingly choppy, wind-tossed harbor that looked as cold as the icy air that was stinging our hands and cheeks as we shivered in the wind and debated what to do. Even Annmarie Kearney-Wood, usually the gamest of us all, announced that she didn't think she'd be able to go through with the swim, though she'd driven all the way from Babylon for it.  But it was Joye Brown, already clad in her wetsuit and sporting a polar bear hat, who egged us on, ultimately cajoling us off the beach and into the water.  Five of us finally took the plunge -- Polar Pod veterans Annmarie, Joye, Rob Ripp and I, joined by novitiate Sharon Hochberg, while Cammy and Rocket cheered us on from the shore (thanks for the pictures, Cammy!).  As soon as the first icy waves rolled over us, filling our wetsuits with frigid water and scouring our exposed skin, we knew that our first open-water swim of 2013 would be a very brief one, and stayed in only long enough to catch our breath and take a few tentative strokes as icicles formed on our faces!  Then it was back to the beach to gulp down some hot chai tea, exchange New Year's hugs, and head for home to dream of an early Spring -- or the next warmish day!  Happy New Year -- see you in the Salt!

 

 

 

Winter Swimming Checklist: February?..."Check!"

This morning, on this fourth day of February, Annmarie Kearney-Wood, Carole Wickham and I waded into the icy water at West Neck Beach and, as soon as we could catch our breath, started swimming. It took several stops and starts -- long moments of floating with our faces out of the water before we could bear to put them back into the frigid water again.  But as with our previous winter swims, we found that eventually the cold water no longer felt so cold, and we were able to relax and settle into the familiar and welcome rhythm of the open water.  With the water temperature somewhere between 38 and 40 degrees (measured at the shoreline with a laser thermometer), we were only able to stay in for 15 minutes, but it was an exciting and memorable and totally worthwhile 15 minutes!  Of course this first February swim is partly about bragging rights, just so that we can say we did it ("We did it!"), but the Polar Pod's incipient quest to expand the open-water season from six months to twelve is turning out to be far more than that, as each time we push the boundaries of "possible" a little further and in the process change and empower ourselves....The quest resumes tomorrow, when Annmarie, Gae Polisner and Joye Brown venture into the February Salt at 1:30...See you in the Salt!

"Last one in is a rotten egg...!"

How other people (Carole's sister and brother-in-law Loretta and Henry Hinz) dress for the beach in February!





"Come on in, the water's f-f-f-f-ine!"

Happy New Year, Happy New OWS Season!

The "Polarization" of the West Neck Pod continued into the New Year, as eight members of the West Neck "Polar Pod" inaugurated the 2012 open-water swimming season with a New Year's Day "Polar Bear" swim at West Neck Beach.  Azure skies, air temperatures approaching 50 degrees, and flat, calm water exerted an irresistible magnetic force, drawing car after car into the West Neck Beach parking lot, which was soon crowded not only with prospective "Polar Bear" swimmers but with a cadre of supporters there to cheer us on. Early-bird Kathy Wickham was just returning from her solo swim to the yellow sign and back as Annmarie Kearney-Wood, Gae Polisner, Joye Brown, Rob Ripp, and Marc Leahy, along with Carole Wickham and I (who had already tasted the New Year Salt in our midnight swim on New Year's Eve!) were pulling on our cold-water gear in the parking lot, while cheerleaders Mike Engel, Bonnie Millen, Joan Addabbo, Ken Longo, Cammy, Judy and "the other Bonnie" basked in the unseasonably warm sun and took pictures while they waited for us to hit the 40-something-degree water...Joye, whose broken ankle had kept her shorebound for most of the 2011 season, has been a frequent spectator at our late-season swims, striding the beach and keeping a watchful eye on us, so it was a delightful surprise to see her begin throwing off her clothes and pulling on her wetsuit and cap, determined to take the Polar Plunge herself! 

Off in the distance we could see a crowd of people gathered on the beach in front of the Lloyd Neck Bath Club, clad only in bathing suits and evidently intent on carrying out their own "Polar Bear" ritual to celebrate the New Year. This they did in short order while we Podders were still reconnoitering on the beach and posing for our group shots, and we could hear their screams and squeals as, on a signal, they ran into the freezing water and quickly ran out again.  Many of them lingered on the beach as they dried themselves in the warm sunshine afterwards, and I wondered what they thought when, minutes later, a half-dozen-plus wetsuited and brightly-capped swimmers materialized from the south and swam past them, stroking steadily through the icebath and casually waving to them as if it were a mid-summer's day and not the first of January and the middle of winter!  On the return trip, though, the Bath Club's beach was empty, and the wind had kicked up a chop, making the cold water feel even colder despite the wamth of the air. My hands were achingly cold even in my insulated gloves, and when I returned to the beach, I knew that I would have no regrets if this New Year's swim turned out to be my last until Spring...!  My sentiments were shared by most of my companions, and although Gae and Annmarie returned to the Salt for one more swim the following week, they, too, seem to have conceded the season -- though their January 7, 2012 open-water swim has earned them a new Pod record!

Since then the temperatures have continued to drop, and on January 21st we had our first real snowfall of the season, leaving no doubt of winter's determined presence. It seems as if this amazing open-water swimming season has finally ended. But, in taking this season into the frigid waters of January, the end of one season has blended seamlessly into the beginning of the next. With Spring literally just around the corner, and the Polar Pod's new thicker skins and thinner excuses, we'll be hitting the open water again before you know it!  I'm at one and counting for 2012 so far...See you in the Salt!

A Stellar New Year's Eve Swim

An orange crescent moon hung low in the sky as Carole and I made our way down West Neck Road for our planned New Year's Eve swim, but to our great disappointment the gates to West Neck Beach were closed and locked when we arrived. The gates to Lloyd Harbor Beach were open, though, so that's where we headed as the minutes ticked away towards midnight. We pulled the "Pod-mobile" (my Honda CRV, now sporting birthday-present-to-myself "WNECKPOD" license plates) as far down on the beach as we could and left the headlights shining on the dark and distant water as we hurriedly pulled on our double caps, goggles, booties and gloves in preparation for a momentous event: the last open-water swim of 2011, blending seamlessly into the first swim of 2012! Emboldened by our nascent cold-water exploits of this 2011 OWS season, and with the air temperatures still inexplicably hovering in the comfortable mid-40s (in stark contrast to last year's epically cold and snowy December), a New Year's Eve swim actually seemed doable, and the idea of, literally, swimming from one day, one month, one year into the next was irresistible to us. The prospect of swimming in the dark was more than a little scary, though, yet that fear, too, on the cusp of the New Year and its aura of resolve, impelled us forward. Still, we were both nervous as we tentatively waded into the unfamiliar water shortly before midnight, with our green and orange glowsticks faintly illuminating our bodies. The water was surprisingly warm, and we were relieved to find ourselves perfectly comfortable temperature-wise, but the tide was nearly dead-low and we had to breast-stroke, heads up, through seemingly interminable shallow water, beyond the comforting glow of my car's headlights, to deeper water where we took our first few tentative crawlstrokes with our faces in water that was black as, well, night...The water was so dark that it seemed no longer liquid but a black, solid mass, and it was an effort of will to repeatedly turn my face into it....But after my eyes and my nerves had acclimated to the darkness, my fear gradually dissipated, and when I turned my head to the side to breathe and looked up to see the thousands of stars glimmering in the midnight sky and the copper moon setting on the horizon, I had an inkling of what it is that drives marathon swimmers -- or crazy Canadians -- to swim through the night in the darkness....

There is something about diving into your fears, and swimming through them, that is profoundly transformative, and the swimmers who entered the dark, still, silent waters of Cold Spring Harbor on New Year's Eve night in 2011 were not the same as the ones who emerged in 2012... Happy -- and fearless -- New Year, everyone!  See you in the Salt!

"Polar Bear Swim" -- Caribbean Style!

The annual "Polar Bear" plunge into icy waters is a New Year's Day tradition that is practiced in various wintry venues throughout the world, including Canada, the northeastern United States, Holland -- and, yes, the Caribbean island of St. Maarten! In a gesture of solidarity with their frigid compatriots in the Old Country, and perhaps nostalgic for the colder climes of their homeland, the Dutch residents of St. Maarten, aided and abetted by the sponsoring Dutch soup manufacturer, Unox Soup Factory, also have a tradition of an annual New Year's plunge into the sea -- albeit the far more temperate Caribbean Sea! Wearing bright orange woolen caps emblazoned with the Unox logo, and warmed by the prospect of a hot, steaming bowl of soup when they emerge, hundreds of game Dutch folk and friends line up on the sun-drenched "Karakter's" beach and then, at the signal, plunge into the surf to celebrate the beginning of the New Year!

While I had the pleasure of joining this deeply quirky frolic on my last trip to St. Maarten two years ago (as these photos and videos show), this year's scheduled Polar Bear plunge conflicted with my flight home and I was unable to join the silliness.

 Still, mindful of my brethren back in the snow-blanketed North, and fraught with the significance of the first open-water swim of the New Year, I was determined to undertake my own solitary "Polar Bear" plunge....As I entered the water at Simpson Bay and took my first strokes, a rainbow hung in the early morning sky, signaling an auspicious beginning to this new swimming year! In the warm Caribbean water I swam easily and effortlessly (buoyed, no doubt, by the higher salt levels, which seemed to help compensate for my week of pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris!).

 

Though my proximity to the equator made my Polar Bear swim less onerous than that of my northern fellows’, it felt no less momentous...In that purposeful “plunge” I had a distinct sense of “washing off” the old year (an exceptionally difficult one for me, as those who know me are aware) – and of immersing myself in the unlimited hope and possibilities of the impending new year. When I finally left the water it was with some regret, as I knew this would likely be my last open-water swim until Spring, but I was also looking forward to returning home -- to my friends and family, to my Pod, to my own West Neck Beach....where I’ll see you all soon, in the Salt! Happy New Year!