Ohio Street, July 1, 2010

Generally the season starts July 4th but I will be out of town so I biked down to Ohio St and this time got in the water. I thought I was at Waikiki beach! It was warm, crowded, quite shallow, fishy smelling and I ended up with a lei around my neck (seaweed). The water was 71, warmer than any day I swam in this Lake all last summer, at the formerly known "rusty poles", (now "orange poles") with the air only a few degrees warmer. But it was a beautiful bright sunny day and there was no need for cold water gear such as a warm cap. It was actually quite wavy for that area, but no real problems. I swam during the noon hour so there was lots of company, in fact it was hard to find a place to park the bike as all the racks were full, I had to chain it to the railing. The "lane line" is back in, but even so there were lots of near collisions. The description above doesn't sound too appealing but for a Lake lover just to get in for the first swim of the season in the Lake was wonderful.

I turned around at the orange poles because I had other fish to fry, or more precisely mustard fried catfish to eat at the taste of Chicago. A swim, a lunch at the taste, a ride along the lakefront on a beautiful day, life doesn't get much better.

It was recently pointed out to me that I have some competition in the "lake condition reporting space" with a website www.openwaterchicago.com. This is run by a bunch of swimmers who swim from "ladder 1" near the North Ave chess pavilion. It is not far from Ohio St. I have swum there and its not bad, usually a bit colder and wavier than Ohio St and even harder to get to if you don't live in the neighborhood. This is a more serious and elaborate site than ours and seems to target triathletes which should give you some idea of what to expect. We are more rouge swimmers and don't need wetsuit ads and all that stuff but you might find something interesting at this site.