Memorial Swim for July 4th Drowning Victims

All of us felt a deep sense of grief when three young children drowned in Cold Spring Harbor on the night of July 4th -- trapped in the cabin of a boat that capsized and sank in 60 feet of water. Though most of us in the West Neck Pod did not know Victoria Gaines, Harlie Treanor or David Aureliano, this tragedy nonetheless felt deeply personal for having happened in our own home harbor....within sight of our beloved West Neck Beach and our daily swimming routes. On Saturday, August 4th, the West Neck Pod will commemorate the one-month anniversary of this horrific tragedy with a Memorial Swim from Fort Hill Beach westward to the massive channel marker in the center of the Harbor -- near the site where the doomed boat sank. There we will place a memorial wreath in solemn remembrance of the lost children and in loving solidarity with their grieving families and friends.... Those wishing to participate in the Memorial Swim (or to kayak alongside us) should assemble at the West Neck Beach parking lot at 6:30 on Saturday morning, and we will then carpool to Fort Hill Beach for the 7:00 swim out to the channel marker. After the ceremony, we will return to West Neck Beach for our regular 8:00 group swim.... Please email us at westneckpod@verizon.net if you plan to participate in the Memorial Swim (swimming or kayaking). See you in the Salt...

"There's no sun up in the sky....Stormy weather..."

This past week's swims were notable for a couple of reasons: The large number of swimmers showing up for even our weekday early-morning swims (as many as 20 last Tuesday); and Rob Martell's introduction of "Cross-Training On the Beach," with a handful (so far) of game West Neck Pod members grunting and gasping through sets of situps, burpee pushups, jump-over burpees,  sprints, weighted squats, step-ups, and conditioning rope exercises before we stumbled into the water for our morning group swims.  As I write this post I am so sore it hurts to smile (ow...) but the soreness is a good indicator of  how not-in-shape I am, despite almost daily swims of 1 to 2 miles. So I'll keep showing up for the cross-training sessions, which will likely be scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 7:30, before the 8:00 group swims.  Now there's even talk of pre-swim yoga on the beach on weekday mornings....Stay tuned for more news about that!




Saturday morning's post-cross-training swim (ow...) drew a big crowd of 20-plus swimmers, including not only the long-absent Paul Coster, who usually eschews swimming in favor of his first -- I mean, second  -- love, soccer (sorry, Elisa!); and the-never-before-seen-in-the-open-water-when-the-YMCA-is-not-closed-for-a-national-holiday Paul Nugent, a devout "Poolie" whose schedule allowed only a quick West Neck swim as he was enroute to a family function.  (See you on Labor Day, Paul!)  Also joining us -- or re-joining us -- were a number of alumni of our recent West Neck Swim, as well as a number of newbies.  We swam to "New Beach" and back, but this once-novel swim, which by now has become almost de rigueur, gleaned an asterisk as Joye Brown, Annmarie Kearney-Woods, Paul Coster and I left the main pack on the beach while we swam out and around the jetty to survey the route for the Pod's next "Expotition" (thanks, Christopher Robin).  Just 'round the corner is another little beach with a shack-like structure on it ("Shack Beach"?), and beyond that, a long stretch of open water with no apparent places to make landfall -- but not many boats, either! Late arrivals Carole and Kathy Wickham, who came slicing across the waves "like twin goddesses" (as Paul said) on their stand-up paddleboards (now re-christened "Pod-dle boards"), met us as we approached the south buoy on the return trip, and continued the exploration south almost to Cold Spring Harbor Village. We'll plan to retrace that route sometime in the near future -- even as we continue to make plans for the big 5-Mile Swim north around Lloyd's Point towards Caumsett on August 25th! 

Cloudy skies and the threat of thunderstorms did nothing to deter the even bigger throng of 30-odd swimmers who headed into the water Sunday morning, even as a gentle rain began falling. Some of our returning West Neck Swim veterans were joined in Sunday's swim by our Meet Directors, Rob Ripp and Colleen Driscoll (who will both be part of a relay team swimming around Manhattan on Saturday, August 4th!).  "Pod-dle" boarders Cammy DeRosa and Kathy Wickham, armed with whistles to warn us of the onset of thunder or lightning, accompanied the main pack as it raced from the north to the south buoy then on to New Beach, trying to stay ahead of the seemingly imminent cloudburst. The skies darkened, lightened, then darkened again as the sun ducked in and out of the clouds, and a thin fog drifted in from the south and settled over the harbor.  As the swimmers began making their way back to West Neck Beach, the rain again began falling, but by the time everyone was showered and dressed, the sun was out again...But by late afternoon, the threatened thunderstorms arrived with a vengeance. Tommy Capobianco and his wife Laurie were there at West Neck Beach to capture these amazing photos of the gathering thunderclouds and a dramatic lightning strike directly on the water....a sizzling reminder of why we GET OUT OF THE WATER AT THE FIRST SOUND OF THUNDER!!

The thunderstorms over, and any runoff issues remediated by the several intervening tides, we'll be swimming again this week at 6:30 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, and at 8:00 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings....See you in the Salt!

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A solemn, somber swim...

It was a solemn group that gathered on the beach at West Neck this morning, our 8:00 swim overshadowed by the overwhelming sadness of the news that three young children, ages 12, 11 and 8, had drowned in the dark waters off Lloyd Neck Wednesday night when their overcrowded boat capsized as it was leaving the harbor after the Dolans' annual Fourth of July fireworks display off  Cove Neck. Thankfully, 24 people were saved, plucked from the water by other boaters who rushed to the scene, and by the firefighters, police and divers who responded from all of the local emergency agencies and departments, but their lives will be forever changed by this tragedy...and even to me, that channel marker in the middle of our harbor will now always seem a headstone to the three children trapped in the boat's cabin, whose lives ended there in our beloved harbor, within sight of the route that we traverse routinely in our daily swims.  As we stood this morning on the beach looking northward, we could see the two police boats still anchored over the area where the boat came to rest on the bottom, in 70 feet of water, and before we entered the water for a healing Sailboat swim, we stood together on the sand for a long moment, heads bowed, offering silent thoughts and prayers for the lost children, their friends and families, and the would-be rescuers who were unable to save them....See you in the Salt. Amen.

The "5K in the Bay" is BACK!

After a one-year hiatus, the "5K in the Bay" (Huntington Bay) is back...and on-track to resuming its former status as THE most exciting and challenging 5K open-water-swimming event on Long Island! Long-time race organizer Bea Hartigan, now joined by organizers of the highly successful "West Neck Swim" at West Neck Beach, is pleased to announce that on Sunday, July 15th, long-distance swimmers will once again ply the spectacularly beautiful waters of Huntington Bay -- and face its maddeningly challenging currents -- on a newly reconfigured rectangular course just off "The Head of the Bay Club," which is once again hosting this historic race. Sanctioned by USA Swimming, this year's event will also, as it has in the past, include championship age-group events (1000M for 10 and under; 2000M for ages 11-12; and 3000M for ages 13-14).  This is a non-wetsuit competition, but wetsuit-lovers are welcome to come and test their mettle in a non-scoring capacity.  Registration forms and event information are available on the website at http://www.huntswim.org/, or contact Meet Director Bea Hartigan at bea10k@yahoo.com for further information.  The registration deadline is July 5th -- so don't delay!

Race-day volunteers, lifeguards and kayakers are also needed to help make this event a success -- contact Bea Hartigan at bea10k@yahoo.com or Carol Moore at westneckswim@verizon.net if you're able to help out -- and thanks for supporting open-water swimming on Long Island!

See you in the Bay!

...Go!....(with the Flow!)...: The 2012 "West Neck Swim"!

Despite the careful and meticulous months-long planning by the organizers of the 2012 Huntington/Cold Spring Harbor 1 and 2 Mile Open Water Swim, none of us could have anticipated that our passage to West Neck Beach at 5:30 on the morning of the race would be blocked by a massive tree that had fallen across the road, just outside the beach entrance! Lloyd Harbor police quickly responded and cleared a narrow path just wide enough for organizers' vehicles to squeeze through on the right (thank you, Lloyd Harbor police!), and Officials Coordinator Joye Brown masterfully directed traffic and guided our vehicles through to the other side, where brilliant sunshine, a freshly-striped parking lot, a recently re-sanded beach, and massive amounts of organizing and setting up awaited us!  Town of Huntington road crews arrived in astonishly short order (thank you, Town of Huntington!), and West Neck Road was completely shut down for a time before a huge bulldozer finally nudged the fallen tree to the side of the road and carloads of volunteers were freed to swarm the parking lot and commence converting the beachfront into an athletic arena. 

Like the fallen tree, we also did not anticipate that the iron buoy anchors that secured the race buoys last year would not be enough to hold the buoys fast against the surging outgoing current this year, so our sponsor SeaTow, who, with Race Co-Organizer/Meet Director Rob Ripp on board, had towed the buoys from the beach and set them in position shortly after the gates had opened, was forced to chase them down and reposition them while our Logistics Co-Coordinator Marc Leahy attached additional anchors to hold them firmly in place (all but the southern turn buoy, which, despite three anchors, may have shifted slightly north  to shorten the course and quicken everyone's times). 

But "going with the flow" is the essence of the open-water swimmer's experience, and despite these glitches and our late start, by the time the first swimmers began to arrive, the "Start" and "Finish" chutes were in place, the registration tables were set up, the numbered caps were matched with corresponding electronic chips, and refreshments were being served. With a few adjustments, Swim organizers were able to basically hold to the timeline, and the first of five waves of swimmers -- ranging in age from 9 to 84 -- headed for the start buoy at or close to the scheduled start time.
 

By the time the last wave left the start buoy, there were more than 200 swimmers in the water, churning the surface of the half-mile-long course like bluefish on a bunker chase! As the swimmers gradually spread out across the water, a flotilla of volunteer paddleboarders, kayakers, and lifeguards on rescue boards maintained a careful watch, while the Huntington Harbormaster and Oyster Bay Bay Constable kept boat traffic at bay and the Cold Spring Harbor Fire Department and Huntington Community First Aid Squad ambulances and crews manned the beachfront, ready to handle any emergencies that might arise (though none did, thankfully).  By the time the last wave of 1-milers were rounding the first turn, the lead 2-mile swimmers had already caught up with them, and just minutes later 14-year-old Ian Bidwell bested the field by sprinting out of the water in a phenomenal 29:47.4!

Our West Neck Pod made a brilliant showing, too, of course, with Pod members Lou Carminati (who placed 3rd overall), Ken Longo, Liz Perlstein, and Nancy Aboff taking 1st place age-group medals, Tim Sullivan taking a 2nd place medal, and Elena ("E.J.") Voss and Jamie Scholfield taking 3rd place age group medals in the 1-Mile Wetsuit Division; and, in the 2-Mile Non-Wetsuit Division, Andrea ("Ani") O'Brien and Bird Norton taking 1st place age-group medals; while in the 2-Mile Wetsuit Division, Michael Wright (3rd place overall!), Joanna Grossman and Karen Ruth took 1st place age-group medals; Brett Emsden took a 2nd and Bonnie Millen a 3rd place medal! Mindi DeLeary, Tom Sherman, Vinny O'Shaughnessy, and David Marino also did the Pod proud!

Like mother... (Meghan O'Brien, age 10, 400M)...

Like daughter...(Andrea O'Brien, age 42, 2-Mile)

When the last swimmer had passed through the finish gates, to the cheers of everyone on the beach, Joye and I -- no longer "on duty" -- exchanged jubilant high-fives followed by grateful bear-hugs, which we then shared all around with as many equally proud and happy Swim organizers and volunteers as we could get ahold of!  After the last of the awards were handed out and the swimmers had departed, we all set about dismantling and stowing the equipment, clearing the beach of any Race-related debris, then suiting up for our reward -- a relaxing and much-needed swim in the calm, beautiful, and now nearly empty waters of West Neck Beach. 

Barry Goldblatt (Kayak Coordinator) and me (Safety Director)

Sometime in the coming weeks we'll get together for a post-Swim debriefing, to discuss the Swim, review what we did right (great new timing company -- thanks, Nikita Dorcinvil and Just Finish, Inc.!) and analyze what we could or should have done better (definitely "Porta Potties" and extra toilet paper next year -- and a chain saw in the truck!).  We are hopeful that the Second Annual Huntington/Cold Spring Harbor 1 and 2 Mile Open Water Swim will have raised lots of money to support the Huntington YMCA's scholarship program to teach underprivileged children to swim (many, many thanks to our generous sponsors) -- and perhaps in the years to come, some of the graduates from that program will be experiencing their first open water swim event in the annual "West Neck Swim" here in the beautiful, sparkling waters of Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island Sound!

Town of Huntington Lifeguard Julia and YMCA Director Eileen Knauer

See you in 2013...!

(Huntington Masters Swim Team ["HUMS"] Blogographer Mike Engel used my camera to take most of the pictures of the race while I was otherwise engaged; and Carole Wickham took the post-race in-the-water pictures from her kayak! Check out Mike's other fabulous photos on our Facebook page [https://www.Facebook.com/WestNeckPod] and the HUMS Blog! {http://www.HUMS.blogspot.com])