Ohio Street, July 6

Jody was upset that she missed July 4 when I told her about it. Since she is due to leave town for most of the summer I insisted that she come with me today. Fortunately the weather cooperated and we arrived on the beach by 6:30 with two thermal caps. At that time it wasn't so crowded but the lockers were already all taken and most of the bike racks were full. At the end of the summer we have had our share of cold water and are used to it, but after a winter of swimming in 80+ degree water the mid 60's sounds frightening. But armed with thermal caps I got Jody in the water with a first scheduled stop to check in with each other at the 1/4 mile buoy. When we got there Jody decided that this "wasn't so bad", in fact the water was 67.4, almost a degree warmer than the 4th. So we continued on to the half mile buoy and Jody is now saying "this is good". In fact so good we were reluctant to stop and went another 100 yards or so towards Oak Street. Jody, who floats naturally, noted that there was an outbound current so thinking the swim back might be harder we turned around. Back at the quarter mile marker she says "this is really good." And at the beach "this was excellent". And she was right, this was one of the great days of Lake swimming, a perfect 10 with little wind, a sunny sky and a water temperature that was perfect, even this early in the summer. We felt sorry for the legion of wet suit swimmers who would never get to feel just how great this water was.

Jody wasn't impressed with the thermal cap. She wears custom ear plugs and claims that just keeping the water out of your ears is what preserves head warmth. I say a thermal cap does as much as a wet suit. So by the principle of transitivity tiny earplugs will keep you as warm as a big wet suit. And much more convenient, just put them in your pocket when you finish swimming.

After the dry fall and early winter there was some fear about the water level being so low that Ohio street would be unswimmable. But with the wet spring and early summer that hasn't happened. If anything it seems a little deeper this year than last.

Added: Perhaps some of you saw the recent pictures of the algae bloom on Chinese beaches. It seems that like us algae like 68 degrees as the ideal water temperature. But this picture would not be ideal.