Evanston, October 10
Official last swim of the season. Joe has been bugging me to take him to the Lake so he can join the select October Club. Finally, after a week of waves and/or cold morning air temps, I decided conditions might be OK for a swim. My reading of the weather reports suggested 60 degree air and water with relatively flat conditions. The car thermometer said air temp was 44 when I left the house. It went up to 47 by the time we got to the beach but refused to go higher.
We were a bit later than usual and the sun was already at the horizon as we started. It was a bit wavier than expected but I took that as a good sign as wavy water tends to be a bit warmer, but it was also moderately windy from the north, which is perhaps why the air was cooler than expected. I loaned Joe the new Barracuda thermal cap that my daughter Tammy got me, it is a bit large for me but fit him well. I wore my old Body Glove cap. The water felt cold, but not painful. I suggested we stay near the beach so we could get out if we got cold. At that time Joe was not even sure he wanted to swim so agreed. It was hard starting but once we were swimming we felt the warmth of the blood rushing to our skin. I stayed near the beach, visiting the near wall instead of the far wall and lasted about 15 minutes, long enough to get and accurate water temp reading of 59. Joe decided it wasn't so cold and headed out to the far wall. He got about 2/3 of the way, turning around because of the waves, not cold, which were a bit mean because of the wind. He swam for about 30 minutes, enough for me to declare him a member in good swimming of the October Club.
It was actually colder out of the water than in, I was happy I had brought a hooded sweatshirt to the beach as I waited for Joe to return. Joe was happy with his swim, but would have liked somewhat smoother conditions. My car thermometer said 60 when we left, perhaps because it was parked in the sun, in any case we were warm enough by the time we had on dry clothes. But 59 is below my limit, especially with colder air, so this is it for me this season.
We were a bit later than usual and the sun was already at the horizon as we started. It was a bit wavier than expected but I took that as a good sign as wavy water tends to be a bit warmer, but it was also moderately windy from the north, which is perhaps why the air was cooler than expected. I loaned Joe the new Barracuda thermal cap that my daughter Tammy got me, it is a bit large for me but fit him well. I wore my old Body Glove cap. The water felt cold, but not painful. I suggested we stay near the beach so we could get out if we got cold. At that time Joe was not even sure he wanted to swim so agreed. It was hard starting but once we were swimming we felt the warmth of the blood rushing to our skin. I stayed near the beach, visiting the near wall instead of the far wall and lasted about 15 minutes, long enough to get and accurate water temp reading of 59. Joe decided it wasn't so cold and headed out to the far wall. He got about 2/3 of the way, turning around because of the waves, not cold, which were a bit mean because of the wind. He swam for about 30 minutes, enough for me to declare him a member in good swimming of the October Club.
It was actually colder out of the water than in, I was happy I had brought a hooded sweatshirt to the beach as I waited for Joe to return. Joe was happy with his swim, but would have liked somewhat smoother conditions. My car thermometer said 60 when we left, perhaps because it was parked in the sun, in any case we were warm enough by the time we had on dry clothes. But 59 is below my limit, especially with colder air, so this is it for me this season.
posted by Barry at 10:25 AM
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