Memorial Day Weekend 2016

Our official season opener on Saturday morning saw a dozen swimmers hit the still-chilly but deliciously invigorating waters of Cold Spring Harbor, in a somewhat aimless swim southward, the yellow racing buoys we’ve affectionately dubbed the "South Buoy" and "North Buoy" being still conspicuously absent (as detailed in my blogpost from that date at http://thewater-blog.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-2016-ows-season-begins.html)....




Margot Edlin

By Sunday morning, though, the buoys were miraculously restored, and an even larger cadre of swimmers happily plied their way from buoy to buoy in water that to my bare arms may even have been a teensy bit warmer than the day before. Back in the Salt on Sunday for the first time this season were, among others, Margot Edlin, whose Facebook pictures I’ve purloined to post here, having forgotten my otherwise ubiquitous camera – an omission probably habituated by my more recent Polar Pod excursions where cold-numbed, gloved fingers were useless for operating the camera’s tiny buttons.

Joanna Grossman

Also back – for what it turns out may be one of her last swims with the West Neck Pod – was Joanna Grossman, who announced that she and her husband and fellow law professor Grant will shortly be relocating with their family to Dallas, where fabulous new teaching jobs await them, but Salt water will be in short supply. I’m so sad to see Joanna leave – and not only because she’s been an integral and longstanding member of "Team West Neck Pod" for our annual cancer-fighting "Sound-to-Cove" Swim Across America! We’ll miss you, Joanna, and wish you and your family much happiness in the Big D.

Joanna may be leaving, but back in the Salt for the start of her fourth season with the West Neck Pod, and now signed up for her second stint as a member of Swim Across America’s "Team West Neck Pod," was Merry Lewin – who started her training on Sunday for her first 5K swim with the Team!

Welcome back, too, to Polar Podders Annmarie Kearney-Wood (who will soon have her daughter Missy married off and can then return to compulsive open-water swimming if we can overcome her recent Cross-Fit obsession) and Tony Alizzi (whose chiseled Roman good looks seem only to have been enhanced by his recent faceplant on a Manhattan street), as well as to Rob Todd, Marc Leahy, Joan Addabbo, Gary Baker, Denise Tirino and everyone else who was there whose name or face I can’t quite conjure up now. (Oh, and a hearty Pod-welcome to Denise’s gutsy friend "Josee," an open-water newbie whose caring and concern for Denise – who was temporarily hung up and struggling to make headway "out there" against the outgoing tide -- managed to overshadow her own fear and anxiety...That’s what makes us a Pod...Just sayin’...).


Julia, Connor and Gabby

Though I’d optimistically planned to fete the Memorial Day swimmers with bagels and coffee, the weather forecast for Monday turned out to be accurate, and the rain that fell periodically throughout the night was still soaking Huntington by the time I posted on Facebook that the day’s swim was cancelled. Even though I'd officially cancelled the swim because of the then-pelting rain, I couldn't resist heading down to the beach anyway, because even though I wasn't planning to swim, I still like to look and see what I’m missing....I wasn't expecting to find any swimmers there, so I decided to bring bagels and coffee for the lifeguards instead, who have been so patient with us swimmers and so tolerant of our annoying habit of thronging the beach- house and overhang and taking over every inch of bench space every weekend morning...The lifeguards were there (Julia, Connor and Gabby), and, to my great surprise, so were Marc Leahy, Stephen Leung and Pete Ventura, already suited up and ready to get into the water (with Pete’s wife Vicki watching from the bench)! The rain, of course, had stopped completely by then, so Daisy-Mae and I walked the beach as Pete, Marc and Stephen swam first to the North Buoy and then made their way towards the South Buoy. Midway through their swim the sun started to peek through the clouds, and I felt a twinge of regret – I wonder if this is what it’s like to be a meteorologist! Daisy and I left before they returned, but I hope the lifeguards shared some coffee and bagels with them!

Daisy Mae

This week of spiking summer-like temperatures holds the promise of much warmer water this coming weekend, when I hope that I’ll see the rest of you back in the Salt for the first group swims of June!

Scheduled weekday morning group swims will begin next week, most likely on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 6:30 and Friday mornings at 8:00 – but please feel free to share your swim plans with your fellow swimmers by email or on Facebook:   (https://www.facebook.com/WestNeckPod/?fref=nf).

Summer’s coming! See you in the Salt!

The 2016 OWS Season Begins...!

A dozen swimmers showed up at West Neck Beach this first day of the Memorial Day weekend to inaugurate the 2016 OWS season in near-perfect conditions: The sky was blue and clear, the air warm and nearly windless, the water relatively flat and calm, and its temperature comfortably welcoming even for those swimmers who were returning to the open water for the first time since last Fall (who, it must be noted, were all gratefully wearing full wetsuits). Polar Pod regulars Gae Polisner and I (giddily sleeveless) together with Jimmy Kwong were joined by the slightly-less-Polar Merry Lewin, E.J. Voss, Steve Albright and Brett Emsden, and even Scott Kessler forsook Chlorine for Saline today! Also joining us, from NYC, were Chris, Claire and Jean, who last swam with us in September 2015 (and another guy – who was that??). Since the tide was outgoing (though it felt suspiciously incoming), we swam south toward what would have been the South Buoy if it were in place, which it’s not yet – and wound up reconnoitering at the red, green and white buoys of the Lloyd Harbor Beach mooring field. Our round trip left us just short of a mile, and Gae and I (after stripping off our wetsuits) and E.J. tacked on an extra leg to the dock and back to give us a mile+ for the morning’s swim....Everyone agreed that it was a beautiful start to the 2016 open-water-swimming season....

Tomorrow’s supposed to be sunny and warm...I’m expecting an ever bigger turnout, and looking forward to seeing everyone again after this long winter hiatus....

There’ll be bagels and coffee on the beach on Memorial Day, compliments of the Fairy Pod-Mother...See you in the Salt!

E.J. Voss, Merry Lewin, Gae Poliser and Jimmy Kwong
in the foreground (and thanks to Bondy for taking this
and other pictures posted here!)

Gae Polisner and Carol Moore

E.J. Voss

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

 

 

 

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!

Goodbye, June-uary...Hello, Summer!

"Welcome to ‘June-uary,’" my cousin posted in response to my recent Facebook lament that I was still wearing flannel pajamas to bed (thanks for the coinage, John Austin Totter!). It’s been that kind of a schizophrenic month weather-wise, as air temperatures repeatedly ping-ponged from the 50s into the 90s and then back down to the 40s. The water temperature never had a chance, and it held a narrow range between the low 50s and low 60s while Spring-minded Podders and triathletes with looming upcoming events blinked and shrugged as weekend after weekend they tiptoed into water that still felt like the ice floes that had thronged the harbor throughout the seemingly endless winter. One of the earliest events of the season, the Huntington Sprint Triathlon, held on May 31st, saw numerous swimmers pulled from the 52-degree water at Crab Meadow Beach, several of whom were taken to the hospital to be treated for hypothermia. Reportedly most of those were not wearing wetsuits, and I’m guessing this might have been their first venture into the open water since last season. (The best defense against hypothermia? Acclimate, acclimate, acclimate! – but not on the day of the event!)  

Happily, all swimmers recovered, and so did the temperatures, with this weekend of more "seasonal" weather and water temperatures in the mid-60s finally giving swimmers a taste of the Summer to come and, for those who are so inclined, an invitation to shed bulky full wetsuits for long-johns/janes or just bathing suits. Tony Alizzi kindly volunteered (i.e., was drafted!) to step in as "Podmaster" this weekend while I was away, and in addition to offering guidance on the tide and the suggested route, helped to orient a fresh batch of "newbies" and provide loaner "floaty-bags" for the unprepared.

More good news: Weekday swimming has resumed at 6:00 ("in the water") on Wednesday and Friday mornings and, for us lazybones, at 8:00 on Friday mornings. And of course our regular weekend schedule of 8:00 a.m. swims continues until...well, until ice floes return to the harbor!

Next weekend Summer officially begins, with the Solstice this year taking place on Sunday, June 21^st! As the water temperature continues to rise (look for temperature postings on the West Neck Pod Facebook page), we’ll look forward to seeing more and more of our "poolie" brethren joining us in the Salt, along with the "newbies" who continue to seek out the West Neck Pod for their first open-water experiences.

The following weekend, the Fourth Annual West Neck Swim will take place at West Neck Beach on Sunday, June 28^th. This highly acclaimed event offers 1-mile, 2-mile, and 5K events with both wetsuit and non-wetsuit divisions. If you’re registered for the Swim, you still have time to check out the venue and "test the waters" with the seasoned swimmers of the West Neck Pod.  If you’re not registered, what are you waiting for? Visit the West Neck Swim website at westneckswim.com for details and registration link.

Next Sunday, June 21^st, is also Father’s Day. Not to be a downer, but on Father’s Day 2010 I was nearly chummed by a speeding motorboat as I swam towards the south buoy with a bunch of fellow swimmers (see my blogpost at http://thewater-blog.blogspot.com/2010/06/happy-fathers-day.html?m=0). That close call (I mean, close: I could read the serial number on the boat’s Evinrude motor as the boat driver swerved to avoid me at the last possible second!) ultimately led me to discover and purchase the "SaferSwimmer" flotation buoy from the International Swimming Hall of Fame, which they developed to help protect open-water swimmers from boats and other hazards in the open water. Now, five years later, nearly 100 West Neck Pod swimmers have purchased "floaty-bags," which you can see dotting the surface of the water virtually any day at any time! That’s my long-winded and roundabout way of wishing everyone a Happy Father’s Day, and of doing my part to help ensure that those among us who are fathers, or who have or had fathers, always come home....
Speaking of families, all of us in the West Neck Pod family have friends, family members, colleagues or co-workers who have been affected by cancer in some way, or are themselves cancer survivors. That’s why for the fourth year in a row, the West Neck Pod is participating in the annual "Sound-to-Cove" Swim Across America to raise funds for local cancer research. Last year "Team West Neck Pod" raised more than $38,000.00 to fund the cancer research and treatment and family-support efforts of institutions and agencies right here in our own backyard, including Cold Spring Harbor Research Laboratory right across the harbor. This year, Tony Alizzi will be our Team Captain, and I urge you to join our team and help your fellow swimmers raise money to fight cancer, stroke by stroke by stroke. For more information about the Sound to Cove Swim (at Morgan Park in Glen Cove on Saturday, August 8^th, follow this link: http://www.swimacrossamerica.org/site/TR/OpenWater/NassauSuffolk?pg=entry&fr_id=3383

To register as a member of Team West Neck Pod, follow this link: http://www.swimacrossamerica.org/site/TR/OpenWater/NassauSuffolk?pg=entry&fr_id=3383

For more information, contact Tony Alizzi at anthonyalizzi@gmail.com.

See you in the Summer Salt!