Spring Marches In....

The official arrival of Spring on Tuesday, March 20th, was somewhat anticlimactic this year, as the last several months' unseasonably warm weather made it seem as though Winter had never fully arrived.  I returned to Long Island on March 24th from a week's vacation in the Caribbean -- where the air temperature was barely warmer than that of New York! -- and was astonished to find my forsythia and rhododendron in full bloom, with my lilacs already in leaf and budding, and my hostas, irises and day lilies pushing their way up through the never-frozen ground.  The West Neck "Polar Pod" took full advantage of the warm weather, as Gae Polisner and Annmarie Kearney-Wood added March notches to their Winter swimming belts, already decorated with the scalps of December, January, and February, with open-water swims at West Neck Beach on March 12, and again on March 22nd for the first OWS of the 2012 Spring season. For the latter, Gae reported that "the water, though a bit rough, and cold getting in, easily felt 6-7 degrees warmer. Our fingers and toes didn't numb one bit after 25 minutes in." She went on to speculate that "If it stays like this, which it seems it is, our regular daily season could start easily by mid-April. Imagine that?!"  Yes, I can -- See you in the April Salt!

Planning for Spring...and beyond...

The 2012 Spring Equinox is just around the corner, with Spring officially arriving on March 20^th, and while the "Polar Pod" will likely be pushing the Spring envelope early, it won’t be long before we’re all back in the open water! I expect that this year’s open-water season will be better than ever, and that the swimmers of the West Neck Pod will continue to expand our inner and outer boundaries and swim farther, faster, longer and stronger than ever before... As you begin to think about this next open-water season, you might want to mark your calendar for some important upcoming dates:

The Second Annual Huntington/Cold Spring Harbor 1- and 2-Mile Swim will be taking place this year on Sunday, June 24^th at West Neck Beach! Preliminary planning is already underway and we are anticipating that this year’s event will be even larger and more successful than last year’s inaugural event. If you volunteered last year, we can certainly use your help and expertise again this year, and if you didn’t, then think about joining the effort this year! If you’re not able to volunteer, then please support our efforts by registering to swim, or by making a donation! The swim is a fundraiser for the Huntington YMCA’s "Swim for Kids" scholarship program, and offers 1-mile and 2-mile events with both wetsuit and nonwetsuit divisions as well as age-group events. Supporting this event will enhance the sport of open-water swimming on Long Island and raise money to teach at-risk underprivileged kids to swim. For information, contact Race Director Rob Ripp at rob.ripp@verizon.net or me (Carol Moore) at CLMooreEsq@verizon.net.

July 15^th is the tentative date earmarked for a revival of the venerable "5K in the Bay" swim in Huntington Bay. The 5K is planned to be an "open" event, and there will be age-group events as well. Updated information will be available at http://www.huntswim.org.

Also coming up: The August 11, 2012 Swim Across America "Sound-to-Cove" Swim in Glen Cove, New York. This annual event is a fundraiser for local cancer research, and last year local swimmers (including five West Neck Pod members) swimming one-mile, 5K, and 10K events raised $375,000 to fight cancer. Cancer is a devastating scourge that has left virtually no family unscathed, including our own West Neck Pod family. This year, in recognition of the intensely personal nature of the fight against cancer, the West Neck Pod is organizing its own team to swim in the 26^th Annual Swim Across America. We look forward to welcoming you as part of "Team West Neck Pod" and appreciate your donations of any amount! To register and/or donate, follow this link: www.swimacrossamerica.org.

You’ll find numerous other open-water swimming events in the 2012 season listed on the Aquafit Masters website at http://aquafitmasters.com/Events/Events.htm. As you contemplate participating in these and other sanctioned open-water swimming events in the 2012 season, consider registering as a proud member of the Huntington local masters swimming group, "Huntington Masters Swimmers" ("HUMS"). Last year, the membership in this local club of the US Masters Swimmers organization more than doubled, and we’d like to see it double again in this 2012 season and really put Huntington masters swimming on the aquatic map! For more information, visit the HUMS blog site at http://hums.blogspot.com.

When winter eventually succumbs to spring, and the ice has melted and the water temperature has edged up a few notches, the West Neck Pod will be back in the Salt. All are welcome to join us (at your own risk, of course!) for our weekday and weekend swims. Group swim schedules are posted on "The Water-Blog" (http://TheWater-Blog.blogspot.com) or on the West Neck Pod’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Neck-Pod/128827940504281) and via e-mail (e-mail WestNeckPod@verizon.net to add your name to the West Neck Pod contact list).

Last but not least, to help keep you safe in the open water, don’t forget to order your "SafeSwimmer" flotation buoy. These combination dry-bag/flotation buoys are lightweight and virtually drag-free, and help make you visible to boats and other watercraft. Contact Laurie Marchwinski at the International Swimming Hall of Fame (1-954-663-7472) and tell her you swim with the West Neck Pod to receive the Pod’s special free-shipping offer!

See you in the Salt -- eventually!

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!