Lake Michigan Diary

End of Season

2011-10-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

For various reasons, weather, Lake Conditions, sickness etc. we never got back to the Lake this season. Perhaps this picture provides one excuse. It was apparently taken on the stretch between Ohio St and Oak St after the turn.

Big Shoulders, September 10

2011-09-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

The water is getting colder. We have not had the chance to swim in cold water since July, usually thats a good thing but it would be nice to get a bit acclimated before the race. But this week we had big winds from the North with large waves every single day. At least it kept the water reasonably warm. So this year we really lucked out, the pattern broke Big Shoulders day and the winds died down. The predicted rain went to Wisconsin. So we had a dry windless day with reasonable air temperature in the low 70's and only mild swells and chop. The water was 67 which at first felt cool to me since we have been swimming in 74 degree water but midway through the race the sun came out from behind the low clouds and it was actually delightful! I was actually warm when the race was over.

Even though there was a record turnout of close to 1000 swimmers everything went smoothly. There was a lot of congestion around the second turn of the first lap for some reason, but otherwise only the occasional collision. And we got BBQ beef sandwiches when we finished! So no complaints at all this year. Great race!

Evanston, September 3

2011-09-03T09:33:00.000-07:00

It started out the way things have been going lately, predictions of storms but clear skies over the beach and calm wind. We even found a parking space right by the beach. But Jody found that she had forgotten her cap and goggles and decided to swim anyway. She did a lot of breaststroke but was still faster than me. The water was calm and clear, we could see the bottom most of the way even though the sun was low and partly obscured by clouds over the lake. My official measurement by the far wall was 74 but we did come on a pocket of cold water about 3 feet down. This was a warning that we Big Shoulders swimmers still need to beware of the possibility of a cool off before next Saturday.

The fun began as we approached the near wall at the end of our swim. Jody got their first and challenged me to touch the wall. It was not difficult to her surprise, she had tried and failed due to a rip current. So we stayed around the wall and found that in fact there was an intermittent current at the end of the wall, more of an eddy than a rip current. We enjoyed the ride for a while. While we were doing that we noticed a swimmer who was equally far out in the Lake about 200 yards from us who appeared not to be moving. We decided we should check it out. It was a lady we have seen before here and she was doing aerobic exercises. We got into a discussion and she also reported being caught in an eddy by the wall on some previous date, except she had had trouble exiting it. She also said she has been snorkeling in the area and has seen few fish this summer compared to previous years. This is consistent with an article in the paper this past week which reported that due to some new mussels who ate all the nutrients in the Lake fishing has been way down this year. I suppose the good side of this is that we no longer need to worry about the Asian carp as they will not be able to survive, unless they can eat the mussels in which case they would be a good thing.

Ohio Street, August 28

2011-08-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

When we left our meeting place for the loop this morning there was not a trace of wind, a nearby flag was totally limp. Two younger but very strong swimmers from our morning pool have signed up for big shoulders so they finally decided to accompany us this morning. But they did drive together but separately from us. We were expecting a possible parking hassle with the triathlon this morning but although there were noticeably more cars parked near Columbus drive it was typical Sunday morning by the Lake. We motioned our fellow swimmers into the prime spot by the entrance to the tunnel under LSD and we parked just around the corner on Ontario. We first realized we were in trouble when we had a hard time just opening the car doors because of the wind whipping down Ontario St.

Conditions were not as bad as two weeks ago, according to Leo and Jody who were here then but not at all nice either. A strong northeast wind, and 2-3 foot waves, water about 73 degrees. One of our new swimmers felt seasick by the quarter mile mark and came back and left the water. Leo had a hard time making any progress at all so he and Jody got out of the water and walked to the quarter mile mark and swam back. I did swim to the quarter mile mark and then came back in time to see our friend Sue just starting out. Shortly thereafter Leo and Jody appeared and Sue and Jody took off for the quarter mile mark and back, Leo and I got out and waited. Our other newbie, who is hoping for an "elite" designation at Big Shoulders did swim all the way out to the Oak St. turn, it took him 30 minutes. He came back with the wind in 14 minutes, still slower than his hoped for Big Shoulder pace. If Big Shoulders had been today the only reason it might have been doable is that we would have the wind for 2 out of 3 legs and the third leg, although directly into the wind, was more protected from the waves.

Evanston, August 27

2011-08-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

Forecast: High winds, large waves, rip current warning, small craft warning. No forecast of low flying geese but that seemed to be the major hazard we actually encountered. As I figured at 6:30 this morning the Lake was flat, the sun was shining brightly (in my eyes, unfortunately) and we could see buildings in the Loop. Another Zen experience swimming outbound, no movement at all by the flags on shore. Coming back the chop began to pick up a bit. Jody and I had work related absences from the pool this week and needed more swim yardage so when we got back to the near wall we continued on to, but not in, Chicago. So we got in almost 2 miles. By the time we were done the wind had picked up and there were small waves. The last leg reminded us of what normal Lake swimming is about.

Ohio Street, August 21

2011-08-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

The clouds moved out right on schedule so we had a cool partly cloudy morning with light winds. Parking was a bit more congested this morning perhaps due to the air and water show later this morning but we were able to park across from Starbucks where we planned to have coffee after the swim anyway. We left our land stuff in the Mayor's new lockers by the bike rack. Apparently while I was gone Leo had had this conversation with his honor who had ridden up on his bike and wanted to know where to leave his stuff while he swam. Leo suggested lockers would have been handy and like magic they appeared within the week.

The water was 74 with a little chop and occasional swell from a boat somewhere on the lake, but not visible to us. Leo, Jody and I swam to the far end of Oak St beach and back, about a mile each way. If conditions hold for the next 3 weeks, unlikely, Big Shoulders will be a piece of cake for us.

Evanston, August 20

2011-08-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

I felt better Sunday but decided to stay home anyway. Leo and Jody went and reported surfing quality waves at Ohio Street, something I have never seen. They had fun in the surf but not much swimming.

Today the forecast was for possible storms and a strong north wind with 1-3 foot waves. So we decided tentatively on Ohio St if possible. But the morning dawned partly cloudy with only light variable winds reported and no reported waves anywhere on the Lake. So Jody and I changed our plans to Evanston. We were glad we did. It was a bit cloudy but otherwise conditions were perfect, flat 74 degree water. There was a fair amount of activity on the beach but we had the water to ourselves. It has become more and more clear to me over the years that swimming can be either a high energy adrenaline inducing sport or a serene form of activity akin to meditating. Today was the later. We paused for a while at the turn enjoying being the only two beings in evidence on a calm orderly planet. We had no interest in hurrying back to reality.

Later in the morning, after we were safely home, there was a totally unexpected thunderstorm lasting almost an hour. So much for the serene orderly planet idea.

Evanston, August 13

2011-08-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

I am finally back after a 3000 mile car trek taking me from Kansas City to Quebec City and back. I was looking forward to a nice swim this morning, even though the weather report was questionable. But I woke up feeling poorly and decided not to swim. I thought I had left it that Jody was to call me before coming, but she arrived anyway 15 minutes before the appointed time. I decided "what the hell" I might as well give it a go.

I was feeling not 100% but not terrible on the ride to the Lake and the conditions we found there were very good, low swells by the beach and 75 degrees. But it soon became apparent that I was not able to do the swim. I fell behind Jody quickly and was hoping she would stop or come back to me, but she saw me making some forward progress and figured that I was following her. Actually visibility of each other was not great because of the swells. Finally she decided to turn around since the swells were much bigger near the wall. So I caught up with her and told her I was, for the first time ever, in recorded blog history, quitting in the middle. She didn't want to swim alone so joined me. We exited over the rocks of the little park halfway and took the sidewalk back. It did not take a long time.

I felt worse and worse as the day wore on, I'm not sure what I have, so I will skip what looks like an hard wavy swim at Ohio tomorrow. Maybe next week.

The Pinery, Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada, July 25

2011-07-26T04:28:00.000-07:00

So I didn't get to swim in Chicago last weekend due to the storms but I got a nice dose of the Lake here in southwestern Ontario. There is something about the Lake on a Sunny, moderate day in the late afternoon that makes just being on the beach extremely comfortable. There was a very shallow slowly sloping bottom and 2 ft waves breaking far out and again and again as they came to shore. Not good for parallel swimming but OK for out and back. The water was 79. My 6 year old granddaughter has just learned to swim well enough to be comfortable in the surf and had a ball, as did her older brothers. Dinner in Grand Bend, overlooking the Lake and watching the sun go down. It was hard to see this as a lake, it seemed more like I was at a Mexican beach resort.

It has been pointed out that the connection between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron goes both ways so Lake Huron is actually just a segment of Lake Michigan, so this swim goes in the diary.

No Swim, July 23-24

2011-07-24T12:51:00.000-07:00

Due to the rains we were not able to swim this week, even though the water continues to be warm. Saturday set the all time Chicago record for most rain in a calendar day, 6.86 in. Of course the locks were open so water quality was suspect and officially Chicago beaches were closed Saturday and until 1:45 PM today when most, including Ohio Street, were reopened. In addition a thunderstorm went through about 7 AM Sunday which would have cut our swimming short. Evanston Beaches were officially closed both days.

Ohio Street, July 17

2011-07-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I begged off to get my nose in order, tried out nose clips in a pool. The crew was supposed to Lake swim without me but everyone slept late instead. Joe did eventually go to Evanston and said it was great. Today Leo, Jody and I went to Ohio. The water was warm, 74, and flat, not a breath of wind, clear but slightly hazy sky and underwater visibility was about 4 feet, not great, but not as bad as the last swim. Especially going out when there were few other swimmers, swimming was about as easy as I can ever remember it. A flat Lake without nearby swimmers is much calmer than even a pool and one can just glide forever. Even struggling with the nose clips it felt good. We effortlessly swam all the way to Oak St beach and back. Leo, who knows these things, said we went 2.5 km: small shoulders. It was a bit colder near Oak St, only about 73.

We didn't want to leave but we had to rescue Leo's Caddy before the meters went into effect. And the beach was getting crowded which somewhat ruined the mood. But we just felt blessed to have experienced a swim like this one.

Ohio Street, July 14

2011-07-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

Ken and I happened to be swimming in our "new" 100 ft pool this morning and after discussing our schedule for the day realized we would both be at or near the lake around noon. We decided to meet and do a short swim. Because I was having bike repairs on North Avenue I parked at Diversey harbor which now has the "Mayor Daley" meters. It cost $6 for 3 hours which was not awful for visiting the loop. I rode down on my bike and met Ken at Ohio St at 12:30. We did a short swim (200 yd out and back by my bike GPS) and since we still had time did that again for a total of about half a mile. The water felt cold getting in, perhaps because I had been riding in the sun and perhaps because of our earlier workout in an 81 degree pool. But after a bit it felt fine, in fact it measured out at 75 F where we were near the beach. Ken remarked that he had swum further out earlier in the week and found pockets of cool. In fact we have been very lucky that the warm water has stayed on the Chicago side of the Lake for so long, Michigan City had an official shore water temperature of 49 today!

Otherwise conditions were not great. There was a strong wind from the Lake with chop and small waves. The water was cloudy with underwater visibility about to your fingers. But a noon time Lake swim is always a treat and today was no exception.

The bad news is that 12 hours later I was hit hard with an algae allergy. So I think I will limit my lake swimming a bit until the water cools off.

Ohio Street, July 10

2011-07-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

Strangely it is now easier to park on Sunday morning near the Ohio St. beach than near our Evanston beach. So Leo drove Jody and me down in his new Cadillac. One problem surfaced, what to do with his fancy electronic key. He planned to take the old fashion mechanical backup and leave the fancy key in the trunk, but Cadillac has a great feature- you can't accidentally lock your electronic key in the trunk, when you do that the doors automatically unlock. The problem is that you can't purposely lock your key in the trunk either. Eventually Leo gave up and had to leave his key in his pants by the bike racks. Fortunately lots of people leave lots of worthless stuff there while they swim so it is not an attractive place for thieves. The key was where he left it when we were done.

Not as great as yesterday but still pretty good. A hazy sun, air in 80's which made the 73 degree water feel colder at first. Still light winds but now from the south which will eventually cool down the lake. Water was not as clear, the shallow bottom was barely visible. At 6:30 we had the place pretty much to ourselves so a nice swim out. We were more ambitious and the swimming seemed easy so we went past the 1/2 mile buoy part way around the turn to Oak Street. We found that part of the easiness was that there was a small outbound current, so coming back, especially from the turn to the buoy, was tougher. It also got crowded around 7 and several fast wetsuited tri guys nearly ran us over. When we got out we saw Sue and Erin from last year getting ready to swim.

Overall a very good swim, not a perfect 10 but maybe a 9.

Perfection: Evanston, July 9

2011-07-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

My 15 years of predicting Lake conditions payed off. Everything seemed to be coming together so I called for a swim in Evanston for today. Joe and Jody answered the call. We got to the lake at 6:30 AM, parking was tight but there were spaces. Weather was full sun, 70 degrees, the Lake had ripples but no chop or waves, light wind from the northeast. Best of all, the water was 72 and clear all the way to the bottom. Went wall to wall. Great swim, conditions simply could not be better than this. A perfect 10, whats left to say?

Promontory Point, July 5

2011-07-05T19:11:00.000-07:00

Today I needed to pick up my wife in the loop during rush hour so I decided to drive down early to beat the traffic and bike. I parked at the 31st st beach ($1 per hour meter) and rode down to Promontory point (20 minutes for me, I'm a slow rider) near 55th st. It was sunny and 90ish inland but quite pleasant riding by the Lake. There is an unmarked area there where people can actually swim continuing a long Hyde Park tradition. Sure enough there were a handful of swimmers, most like me, had bikes parked along the rocks. This time I was equipped so I did a beach change and put on my thermal cap and climbed down the ladder into the water. Boy was I shocked. One lap around the first buoy and back (about 400 yards) and I had to come in and change caps. It was HOT, 75 degrees on my trusty watch thermometer. Another lap, this time 2 buoys, gave me 1200 yards, enough with the biking and an early morning pool swim. Some breaststroke along the rocks for cooldown looking at the many small fish. I hung out on the rocks for another half hour or so enjoying the sun and waves (about 2 feet, not much chop) and the whole scene. This is why I Lake swim, awesome!

One bummer, on the way to pick up my wife I got a ticket for driving in Chicago while talking on a cell phone. Me, who gets about 3 calls a month! So it would have been cheaper for my wife to have taken a cab home. But not so much fun for me.

For my biking see my biking blog

Ohio Street, July 3

2011-07-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today Leo was the only one to respond to my suggestion of a swim since I couldn't guarantee warm water. Leo is famous for his solo swims but I think we will see more of him this summer. Parking was very easy in the loop thanks to the holiday weekend and the new meters which are now in force on Sundays, but there is no charge before 8AM so free for us. We picked a spot midway between the Starbucks and the Lake. At 6:30 when we arrived there was almost no one there. An earlier projection showed the Lake getting much colder as the weekend progressed but with a northeast wind that did not seem reasonable to me. It did feel quite cold to us at first. My thermometer takes about 10 minutes to get a reliable reading but Leo uses the "shrink test": if his balls shrink on contact with the water its too cold. But this water passed the test so we swam.

The water was 64.5F which was only a few tenths cooler than Friday, but it was sunny and the Lake was quite flat. So it was a very good swim. By the time we were done the beach was crowded with wetsuited swimmers. Apparently some sleeping in on Sunday for them.

Ohio Street, July 1, 2011

2011-07-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

Time to start a new season. Actually I came here yesterday while doing some other things in the area. I had hoped to swim a little but packed everything I needed except my suit. Men my age get into big trouble swimming without a suit especially when the beach is quite crowded so I did not swim, but did take the water temperature about 15 yards from shore. It was almost 70!

I was so annoyed at myself that I decided to return this morning early instead of the usual Friday pool swim. As it turned out an early swim was convenient for Ken who was to begin work at 8AM nearby. So Ken and I were there shortly after 6AM. At first the water seemed very cold to us since we have only done pool swimming since last summer. And even the outdoor pools have been warm this season. But the more we got used to it the better it felt. The water was 64.8 F, cooler than yesterday but certainly swimmable. It was quite windy and there was a lot of chop, it was also cloudy with even a few lightning strikes visible across the lake, but we knew this system has been attacking north central Indiana for the last 18 hours and we were safe. Not bad for a season opener.

There were lots of swimmers at this time, most in wetsuits so we were in the minority. We were amazed at a few very young women also swimming without them, but realized by their caps that they were members of a high school swim team. We chatted with their coach, who knew Ken, and it seems they were doing 3 miles, timed with descending times for each. So the water temperature was the least of their problems. Its nice to be swimming for fun, not to satisfy a coach.

Ohio Street, September 18

2010-09-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

A lucky Lake day. I got vibes this week from Jody suggesting that in spite of her difficult time at Big Shoulders she was not ready to give up the Lake for a hot indoor pool. So I promised to keep an eye out for a good weekend day to go to the Lake. I was thinking Sunday, but yesterday it looked like today, Saturday, would be better if the storms held off. So I conditionally suggested a swim today to the group but promising nothing in terms of warm water or conditions. I got no response and wasn't so eager that I would go myself. But not getting a no from Jody seemed unusual so I kept an eye on the street in front of my house to see if she showed up anyway. Sure enough she did. So I threw on a suit and grabbed my warm cap, goggles and a towel and we were on our way.

The Lake was perfectly flat, air cool with some blue sky visible between clouds. Only one wetsuit swimmer in the water. As we got in it felt cold, colder than last week, but not 50's cold. So we pushed on and figured we could at least make a half mile. When we got to Chicago Ave we stopped and I looked at my thermometer watch and it was 65. We were actually feeling good so we swam the whole mile to the end and back. By the time it was done we felt great. The water that felt cold to our hands getting in now felt fine. By then there were many people in the water, in fact there was one poor older guy swimming in boxing trunks with no cap that Jody and I both literally bumped into during our swim. We decided to rate today as "awesome" and were annoyed that we almost missed the swim.

Two and a half hours after we left the Lake there was a large thunder storm. So we hit it just right.

Big Shoulders, Ohio Street, September 11

2010-09-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

My forecasts for Big Shoulders this year were 68 degrees and mostly flat conditions. Boy was I wrong. Instead of getting warmer with the east wind it somehow got colder. When the announcer gave the Chicago Park District temperature reading of 63 before the race I didn't find it creditable, so I waded in and measured the water myself. 63, I guess I better keep my day job and not go into weather forecasting. As expected it was rainy, not so much as we had feared with light drizzle to light rain throughout the morning. Fortunately no threat of thunder. But there was major wind and both waves, up to 2ft, and chop over the course. It was the hardest big shoulders swim ever and my time was about 12 minutes over the usual. Ken and Erin, Sue and Jody all were also disappointed. Stuart completed the 2.5K but with the large crowd I did not see him at the race.

No one liked my suggestion of a Lake swim tomorrow!

There is a page at Southern Lake Michigan Lake Temperatures issued by the Chicago office of the National Weather Service. This page usually gives an reading "Chicago Shore" which is an accurate approximation of what to expect at Ohio St. at 9AM. But today they said 67 while my watch at 9AM, during my swim, said 63.8. Perhaps, being Saturday they just slept in and gave my prediction instead of a real measurement!

Postscript: There is a good writeup on Big Shoulders at the blog robaquatics.com. I can't resist posting this picture of the race from that site:

The caption is "Choppy, windy, rainy and cold...whats not to like?". I also can't resist a brag, your blogger came in first in his age group for the 5K, no wetsuit.

Ohio Street, September 9

2010-09-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

Lake conditions have not been favorable for last minute practices for the upcoming Big Shoulders swim and outdoor pools have all closed for the season. I was even forced to swim in an indoor pool this week, something I should not have to do between June and September. Ken is now working downtown and even has a view of the Ohio St swim area from his building. So we agreed to meet after he got off of work at 2 this afternoon to go for a last practice swim. I parked at the free lot by the bike path at Irving Park and rode down on my bike. The northeast wind was much worse on the Lake than predicted, I practically did not need to pedal. The waves on the north were breaking over the groins just north of the North Ave. beach while the water on the south side of the groins was calm. The sky was overcast with air about 67 degrees. The more protected Ohio St area was just huge chop, a giant washing machine. Swimming from the Ohio St. beach northward was very difficult and slow going, we decided to stop at the poles which are about 100 meters or so north of Chicago Ave. The trip back was fast. By the time we finished I was finally beginning to feel warm in the water. The trip back north on my bike was like riding uphill, it took twice as long to return as coming.

The good news is that the well mixed water was a uniform 65.4 degrees. Several other swimmers, there were only a hardy few at that time of the afternoon, who swim daily reported the water much warmer today than it was yesterday. The posted temperature had been 64 as opposed to 66 today so we wonder what it must have actually been yesterday. With more east winds the next few days perhaps we can expect even warmer water this weekend?

Ohio St, September 5

2010-09-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

The biggest surprise was when we, Jody, Erin, Sue and I, got to Ohio St at 7:00 AM this morning there was no one there. Yes, the triathlon was over but Big Shoulders is next week. So I was the first one in the water. As predicted the water near shore was 64. It felt a lot warmer than the 58 in Evanston yesterday. Otherwise there was a gentle 1 foot swell but little chop, in places the water was like glass. Completely clear sky with a nice warm sun. A couple of degrees warmer water and it would be perfect. Moreover being alone gave us the illusion that the whole city belonged to us. I did think to wear my thermal cap today so I was reasonably comfortable in the water but I sort of lost feeling in my chest and given the way the sun hit the water on our return trip it seemed that I was swimming 1 foot over the water surface. Sue and Erin planned to do a long swim today, but decided after our standard mile to the outer red buoy and back that they were cold enough. The cold did not hit me until we were out of the water, then, even with a heavy hooded sweatshirt I shivered.

Back at the car, which was right at the Ohio St pedestrian underpass, Jody had an encounter with a cop on a Segway over her inadvertent lack of a current sticker and the cop suggested we get out of town quickly before some less nice cop gave her a ticket. I had been the recipient of such a ticket a few years back so I suggested we listen to him. So she sat in the car with motor running outside Starbucks while I got coffee and we took off. A few minutes in her warm car with a cup of hot coffee and I was fine again.

Evanston, September 4

2010-09-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

Today brought clear skies but high winds and low temperatures. Since this had been forecast we did not swim today but I stopped by the Evanston beach at about 9:30 AM just to check out conditions. The air was 57 with 2ft waves breaking on the beach even though the wind was coming from the west. Usually west winds leave the near shore water calm. There were swells farther out, but I did not swim out to measure them. The bad news is that the water is now 58. So much for our warm water! The official morning measurement from Chicago was that the water was 64 both by shore and the crib, so Ohio street is probably still swimmable. We will try to find out tomorrow.

Evanston, August 29

2010-08-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

Today Joe, Ken, Stuart and Sue joined Jody and me for a repeat of yesterday's swim. The pleasant surprise was that the water was warmer, rather than colder, a fairly consistent 72.6 throughout our swim. The national weather service prediction was for around 66. The air temperatures were also much warmer but this was offset by it being partly cloudy. The wind was a bit more noticeable and some of us noticed more currents in the area than usual. Overall, however, it was a very pleasant swim enjoyed by all.

Evanston, August 28

2010-08-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

Jody and I came to Evanston this morning and did the full wall to wall. Parking was tight, we found a place on Sheridan. The air was cool, 61, but the sun was out. The wind was supposed to be from the south at 5 to 10 mph but seemed to be absent at the beach, although maybe 5 further out. The water was fairly flat near the beach, only a few small trochoidal waves (see the bottom of this link). But out farther and near the far wall there were 1 foot swells, but not all that hard to swim. The water was a uniform 70, it felt cool starting but we didn't want to get out at the end. But coffee was calling. One advantage to Evanston is that the sun hits the outside tables at the Main and Chicago Starbucks so it is much warmer after a cool swim.

Chicago far Northside, August 27

2010-08-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

Today I went for a mid day bike ride to check out lake conditions. The upside of last weeks north wind is that now the entire south end of the lake is warm. I was hoping our Evanston beach would be "closed" at least during the week by now, as has happened in past years, but the guards were all set up to take money and make sure we did not get deeper than our nipples. In spite of a strong southwest wind the lake was mostly flat with very small swells and some minor chop. It looked nice. I headed south into Chicago. The Chicago guards were not yet officially out but on their way to their beaches, which means no swimming, even in shallow water. I crashed a private beach where others were wading and playing with dogs, then waded in up to my nipples to get the temperature. No fewer than 3 Chicago police cars drove by and looked at me in the 10 minutes it took to get a good reading, but all stayed in their cars and drove on. There was a guard at a beach near us and he stared at me but did nothing. It was 74.6 degrees and felt nice. But I did not attempt a swim as that would really attract attention. It looks like this weather pattern will be with us through the weekend, so good swimming ahead.

Ohio Street, August 22

2010-08-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

Today Ohio Street hit us with everything it had, and we survived. When Stuart and Ken arrived at my house, Ken remarked what a beautiful morning it was to go to Evanston, clear skies, 70 degrees and light breeze. I overruled him, pointing out that there was a rip tide alert for the lower 1/4th of the lake and Milwaukee already was reporting 4ft waves, with these expected in the Chicago area a little later this morning accompanied by 15-20mph north winds. Evanston might be unswimmable. We had no trouble getting to Ohio St and parked right by the pedestrian underpass to the beach. Already as we were getting stuff in and out of the car we could feel the strong wind even though we were behind the humongous new building where a vacant lot had been for years. At the beach we could see low breaking waves by the beach, lots of chop and random 2ft waves farther out. The water by the beach seemed to be comfortable enough, we argued 66 or 68? There were fewer swimmers than we would have expected a week before the triathlon but more than expected without wet suits. We waited in the water for Sue, but finally decided to get started without her. Needless to say the swim out was hard, but in addition to the wind and incoming current the farther we went the colder the water became. By the time we turned around at the far red bouy I looked at my watch and it seemed to say 62.4 degrees, but was hard to read bouncing in the surf. That turned out to be consistent with later readings. As we were treading water we could see ourselves floating towards Ohio St beach, if it was 20 degrees warmer we might have tried floating back. Out this far there was not a single other swimmer. On the way back, which was much easier, I looked at my watch temperature several times and it was rising as we swam, with a temperature of 66.7 back at the beach. By then that felt warm and the swim did not seem as bad as it seemed at the other end. By now there were lots of wet suiters in the water near the beach.

As we finished we saw Erin coming in. She told us Sue had sent her regrets by text message. Erin had been a bit late and was finishing a solo half swim. She eagerly joined us for hot coffee. Outside of the freezing cold Starbucks Ken was still shivering so I gave him my jacket that I had brought especially for the trip through Starbucks. He wore it all the way home.

Evanston, August 19

2010-08-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

Today Jody and I went to Evanston, my first visit there this summer. No real changes although at 6:30 parking was still tough. The Lake level seems the same but there is a lot of new sand and water depths seem shallower, for example the marked swim area is now only waist deep everywhere. Conditions were ideal. The water temperature was 68.7 and, unlike last week at Ohio St fairly consistent throughout the swim and also by depth. The water was flat by the beach but 1 foot waves by the far wall. There was no obvious wind but apparently there had been some from the south east recently. It was sunny and the water was clear. We did the wall-to-wall swim and felt great. Once again we were reminded why open water swimming is so much superior to a pool and why Evanston is, when conditions are right, so much superior to Ohio St.

I do have a new temperature watch, a Casio fishing gear, Timex no longer supports the reef gear. It seems that I am getting comparable temperatures on the new watch but I can now report to the tenth of a degree, which probably is not meaningful, except that, for example, today's reading of 68.7 means that we actually saw temperatures of 68 and 69 at various times. An added feature is that the watch beeps when it thinks it is an ideal time to go fishing. I don't fish, but I can daydream about what it would be like fishing on the Lake instead of doing whatever it is that I am doing.

Ohio Street, August 15, 2010

2010-08-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

It is strange that today was my first official Lake swim of the year. We, Ken, Jody and I, left my place at 6 AM on a Sunday morning getting stuck on the Kennedy expressway in construction for about 30 minutes. But even close to 7AM parking was again plentiful on Ohio Street by the underpass, just like many years ago. We thank Mayor Daley and his ill fated parking meter sale for this, as well as completion of the humongous new condo building on the formerly vacant lot at the east end of Ohio St. Possibly in this economy no one lives there. At least no one who would want to park on the street at 7AM on a Sunday at $2 an hour. The beach was crowded with swimmers, most with wetsuits, where did they park? From the look of it many rode bikes.

We met Sue and Erin, our newest member, at the beach. Sue had also been delayed by the construction but Erin was patiently waiting. The water was calm, sky mostly cloudy but air about 80. The water felt cold, I guessed about 70 the others guessed lower. Our perception may have been skewed as we have been swimming in a 85 degree pool this week. Actually it averaged about 68.4, warmer near shore, colder at the curve. This westerly wind thing has lasted for about 6 weeks, giving a permanent inversion, the eastern half of the lake is baking in the upper 70's. We swam to the curve and back. For some reason I had trouble swimming straight on the way out, but with the big black condo building by the beach back was no problem. It was a nice swim. Ken had 6 minutes left on his meter which he thought would get us some coffee at Starbucks, fortunately Jody fed the meter as we dawdled for about half an hour. Except for the traffic a good morning.

Lake Michigan, August 1

2010-08-04T08:02:00.000-07:00

I was swimming in Lake George in upstate New York where it was a pleasant 76 degrees. The word I got from others in our swim group was that it was still around 65 degrees at Ohio Street but in the low 80's near Michigan city. This pattern, driven by west winds, has no sign of changing.

Indiana Dunes, July 26

2010-07-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

Today was a very nice day and some of my grandkids were in town so my daughter and I decided to take them to see dunes, a sight they were unfamiliar with in Kansas. We went to the Indiana Dunes State Park and I took the kids down the Beach House Blowout, one of the larger dunes that is still available to walk down on the sand. They grumped on the hike over, but were very impressed at the blowout. After playing a bit and having lunch on the beach by the blowout we decided to take them to the official swimming beach for a swim.

It is amazing, midway between the swim beach and Beverly Shores we had the beach to ourselves, no one within 1000 feet of us.

Yet in the swim area half a mile away it looked like Oak St beach on a hot weekend.

While the kids were playing in the water and on a smaller dune near the beach I went for a swim. I was OK out of the designated swim area but in the swim area I was informed several times that I could not be in any water deeper than "my nipples". So the question is, were all these people in the swim area to keep their nipples dry? Or did they congregate there because they could be close to their cars in the parking area?

By the way, the water was calm with only 6 inch swells and averaged 73 on my thermometer. But the warm water was only a few centimeters deep on the surface with colder water down below. There were also pockets of warm and cold water all over. But I was in for 40 minutes without even a cap and felt quite comfortable.

Lake Michigan, July 24-25

2010-07-26T18:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend was not promising plus hardly anyone even seemed interested although Sue and her friend planned to go Saturday. It is just as well. Saturday dawned with heavy storms on top of the heavier storms overnight. Roads were flooded and it would have been nearly impossible for me to get to Ohio St. Sunday all the Chicago beaches were closed since lots of raw sewage had been dumped in the lake both at Wilmette and the Chicago loop. Leo was down at Beverly Shores IN and reported waves so large that it was impossible to swim. He did try the water and estimated it in the 70's, however.

Ohio Street, July 17

2010-07-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

I have been away this summer so have had little chance to lead trips to the Lake. This weekend I am home so I attempted to rally the troops. Unfortunately although the Lake was warm early this summer the recent steady west winds and hot air has sent all the warm water to Michigan and brought in cold from deep in the Lake. I decided Ohio St would be the most likely to be warm, with the shallow confined area the water would warm up during the day and there was some hope it would stay that way, especially as the winds were predicted to be light and possibly even from the south east overnight. Even with a warning that the Lake might be cold I got 4 takers, Ken, Jody, and Sue with a friend. Unfortunately I woke up with an intestinal disturbance, not a good thing with the limited facilities near Ohio St. So I bailed out. But the rest persevered. The report I got was that the water was indeed cold. Since I was not present I must rely on the estimates I was given instead of my trusted thermometer, but the guess was 62 degrees. The group swam the entire way but reported various symptoms of mild hypothermia. But none seemed to regret going and I regret not going.

Meanwhile our friend Leo tested the water at Wilmette and also reported an estimated 62. Leo also does not have a thermometer but over the years he has been a very good judge of temperature.

Ohio Street, July 1, 2010

2010-07-01T15:36:00.001-07:00

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.

Chicago Lakefront, May 24

2010-05-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

For at least the early part of this summer I will be doing more biking than swimming. Today was a rare second 90 degree May day so I decided to bike the lakefront trail on the the theory, which proved correct, that it would be cooler than the suburbs. I ended up doing a round trip from Hollywood beach on the far north end of the trail to Ohio St. starting and ending at Irving Park. There were crowds at all the beaches and some people wading but only at Ohio St did I see a few serious wetsuit swimmers. Unfortunately I had not brought my swim gear so was only able to wade knee deep to take a temperature reading but with the hot sun and light east wind keeping the shore water near shore I measured 62 at Ohio Street. I did talk to a wetsuiter exiting the water and she seemed surprised when I told her that I had a reading over 60, so maybe it was colder further out. But other than the cold she seemed happy. I also took a similar reading at Hollywood beach and it was 60, still not bad for May. Few people were even wading there.

This summer there is pay parking (often $1 per hour and managed by the same company that does the new Chicago street meters) at many of the lots. But there is still plenty of free parking on weekdays, especially up in the Wilson beach area. The Irving Park lot is still free Monday -- Thursday before 6PM. I stopped at a "Mexican restaurant" in the bath house at Wilson and ordered a steak taco. It was surprisingly good and the slice of lime that came with it really hit the spot.

Evanston, September 20

2009-09-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

The Lake continues to be warm thanks to prevailing easterly winds. But the winds themselves present a problem. I have been monitoring them carefully and had reason to believe that this morning would not be too bad. Joe and Jody agreed to come and I suggested Evanston as Jody, in particular, enjoys that much more. I was also interested in how warm Evanston would be. I meant to check weather.gov to get an accurate reading of the winds over the Lake before we decided on Evanston vs Ohio street but the wind was completely calm at home that I didn't think this would be necessary.

Parking was a problem due to nearby road construction and while we were looking for a place to park the Lake did not look too fierce. But we did notice in the trees that it was quite windy here in Evanston. The water felt warm, but it was only 66-67 according to my thermometer. The water probably felt warmer because it was about 7 degrees warmer than the air. It was not until we actually got in the water up to our faces that we realized the extent of the wind and the size of the waves at eye level. We decided to try to get to the wall anyway with a reconnoiter midway. A big problem with waves is visibility of nearby objects in the water, eg. each other, is difficult. Thus we were actually about 2/3 of the way to the wall when we all got close enough to communicate. We decided unanimously to turn around. But again we were either bumping into each other or completely unable to locate each other. We had to trust that we would all get back safely. Jody and I, in particular, were comfortable with our own swimming but concerned about the others. Finally near our destination Jody and I found each other, but Joe appeared completely gone. It was not until I got to a shallow sandbar that I could get over the waves enough to see Joe's unique stroke way out in the Lake and seemingly headed way past the beach. But I have become familiar enough with Joe's style to trust that he would turn at the last minute and come home, which he did. So we are all safe to swim another day.

Both Joe and Jody have experience swimming in the San Francisco bay, and I have been in various oceans, but we again agreed that Lake Michigan presents particular difficulties because of the shorter wavelengths and more chop. But, on dry land we agreed that this was more fun than a swim in a pool, or even Ohio Street.

Big Shoulders, Ohio Street, September 12

2009-09-13T10:06:00.001-07:00

With all the cold water a few weeks ago and the overall cool summer people were apprehensive about the 5K Big Shoulders race at Ohio Street. But when I got up on race morning the bigger problem appeared to be fog. At my house one could barely see 50 feet, which would make navigating extremely difficult. But by the time I arrived at the beach the Ohio Street area was clear and sunny, although fog was clearly visible further up the Lake. Because of fears of cold water they had arranged for a vendor to rent wetsuits at the meet and had a table where one could change to the wetsuit division. The announcer tried to drum up business, but there were few takers. In fact this was clearly the nicest day of the summer on the Lake and one of the nicest Big Shoulders ever, at least weatherwise. The Lake was flat at the start and 69 degrees. As mentioned, the sun was out and the air temperature was already in the low 70s at race time. As the race progressed some wind did come up and it began to get hazy and less comfortable for the audience and more bouncy for the swimmers but it was still very nice. If anything, when I got out I was hot rather than cold. Of our group who swam, Ken, Ellen, Sue, Stuart, Leo and me, only Ellen was a bit cold after the race.

Maybe we'll get a 70 degree water day yet this season!

Evanston 9/9/09

2009-09-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

Today was just a quick solo trip to the Lake as a final stretch out before Big Shoulders. The sky was cloudy with a light east wind and air temperatures in the upper 60's. The water remains 66 as there is no warm water available for the east wind to bring in. On the other hand there is no cold water nearby on the surface of the Lake so unless an unforecast westerly flow develops in the next few days we can expect present water temperatures to hold through Big Shoulders this Saturday. Nonetheless, the Lake felt chilly this morning.

There were 2 foot swells coming straight in from the East with light chop on top. But it was not hard swimming out against them. Oddly, they were a little more bothersome coming back with them. I was in the water for about 25 minutes of which about 20 was actually swimming. Given the 4 miles or so I logged in the Lake this weekend that is probably enough.

Evanston, September 7 (Labor Day)

2009-09-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

An unscheduled swim. We were promised by Joe that our outdoor pool would be open for one last swim on Labor Day, but Joe, who knew where the Park District brass lived, went biking instead of coming to practice and dragging some suit out of bed to open the pool for us. We waited around for about 40 minutes for someone to show up at the pool. By then Leo had left but Ken and Jody had shown up. So when I suggested that we just go to the Lake they both agreed. So we hopped in my car and drove to Evanston with just our pool gear rather than our Lake gear.

There was a strong northeast wind with low swells and windwaves. But overall it would be hard to argue that the waves were more than a foot or two. The water felt warm to our feet but with the cool damp wind it felt cold overall. Jody had not brought a cap to the Lake and I offered her one of my 3 grubby latex caps in my pool bag and she at first resisted, but on standing on the side of the Lake she reconsidered. I suggested we start out with a straight out 10 minute swim and then reconsider. But Ken and Jody made no move to start swimming so I headed out solo. After the 10 minutes I looked behind and Ken and Jody, who are faster than me, were right behind me. We agreed that conditions weren't so awful so a swim to the wall was agreed upon.

At the wall the water was sheltered by the wall from the wind and was quite calm, just the low swells. I checked my thermometer watch and the water was 65, which has now become the norm for the Lake. We all felt good in spite of the hard swim out against the waves and looked forward to an easy swim back. It wasn't so easy, Ken was watching the time and said we were only a minute faster coming back (20 out, 19 back). But we all felt warm and pumped up with adrenaline. Jody and I agreed that this was far more fun than yesterday's uneventful swim at Ohio Street. If you re-read yesterday's post translate "nice" to "boring".

Unlike our suburb, Evanston had their bathrooms open even when we got there. But instead of lifeguards they had a plain clothes policeman in an unmarked car sitting by the beach entrance. Apparently we were not of interest to him, he was on dog duty. We all craved a cup of coffee so the next stop was Starbucks where, since I was the only one with money, I treated the group to coffee. There were so many people there that there was no convenient parking so I put the car in an alley and left Ken to guard the car while Jody and I got the coffee. Outside Starbucks there was a uniformed cop standing guard. Apparently while we were in the store he walked over and checked out my car, but seeing Ken in the back seat left us alone. Apparently a bunch of middle aged intruders wearing Crocs and little else are no perceived threat to Evanston.

Ohio Street, September 6

2009-09-06T12:14:00.000-07:00

I have been advertising among my group that the water is getting warmer, so a larger group today, Stuart (new to this blog), Jody, Sue, Joe and I showed up.

It was overcast but with warmer air temperature than recently with no wind. The water was fairly flat, just low swells, and 66. We all swam to the turn and back. The swim was uneventful, which is actually the nicest kind of swim.

Beverly Shores, September 4

2009-09-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

Back in the days when I was swimming with Mike we typically took a September outing to the Indiana dunes. We would hike the dunes and then go for a swim from the beach at Beverly Shores. So when Leo suggested we do a swim there I was happy to oblige. Even faithful readers of this blog may not remember Leo since he mostly predated this blog, even in its earliest incantations (1996). But he was one of our original Lake swimmers and instrumental on turning me on to the Lake. Lately Leo has been doing most of his Lake swimming solo, much of it in Beverly Shores where he has family. Locally he has continued to be a regular in our morning pool sessions and has swum just about every Big Shoulders Race. In fact this swim was intended as training for Big Shoulders next week.

We got in the water before 8AM. Our first impression upon tentatively sticking our toes in was that the water was 70, so I used a light cap. But after starting to swim I realized it was cooler, in fact only 65, but with the sun out it felt warmer. There were 1 foot swells, but the swimming was easy, although we noticed a slight current from the east. This long beach without any breakwaters is, of course, subject to currents. But it is quite safe as long as there are no riptides since you can get out anywhere. We estimate we swam 2 miles, but it is harder to judge since there are no fixed markers like in Evanston or Ohio Street.

After Mike and I would swim we would go to Wagner's in Portage for a dinner of ribs. We never could figure out whether the ribs were especially good or it just seemed so after the swim. Today after swimming Leo took me to his favorite spot, Joe's Bar on Route 12 east of Beverly Shores. We had breakfast and it was especially good. So I still don't know if it is Northern Indiana that has good food or whether food just tastes better after swimming in Indiana. In any case it is something to look forward to at least once a year.

Ohio Street, August 29

2009-08-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

I expected a larger crew today but in the end only Joe and I showed up. If one believed the forecasts we would have 67 degree water and fairly wavy conditions in this sheltered area, very wavy conditions elsewhere. Thats why we came here to Ohio Street. Coming early we had free parking and it was plentiful.

Perhaps because we came early it was hardly wavy at all, in fact it was flat, with chop, except for the opening near Oak St. where, as usual, there were 2 foot swells. The water was between 63 and 64, this was confirmed by Bob Z., the only other person I know who also wears a temperature watch to collect Lake temperatures. Bob was there as today's teacher of the open water swim class that has been going on this sumer. Air temperatures were also in the low 60's and it was mostly cloudy, but no rain while we were there.

Joe and I swam to the end of the official swim area and back. We noticed a current, so coming back was faster. It also seemed warmer. It is strange but this will be my only full distance swim in Lake Michigan this August!

Given the weather lately I don't see a 70 degree lake for the rest of the season, rather water in the low to middle 60s for September. So the only way it will get better than today will be if the sun comes out.

Evanston, August 28

2009-08-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

Our outdoor pool was closed again today so once again I decided to try Evanston just to check conditions. There was no wind but there were 3 foot swells. The nice thing about swells rather than wind waves is that the water was locally smooth past the break zone, so swimming was not bad.

The water was a warm, relative to the last two weeks, 62, just as I expected. I swam about 20 minutes using a thermal cap and could have swum longer.

Ohio Street, August 23

2009-08-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we tried to swim in Evanston but it was too cold. Through the grapevine we heard that Ohio street was nice and warm. For that reason and also because we thought it might be too wavy in unprotected Evanston we went to Ohio Street. It appears that the cold water has simply been moving south at a couple of miles a day and finally got to Ohio street. We, Joe and I, were very disappointed but not surprised, however there were a lot of surprised triathaletes getting in some last minute practice. We watched various other non-wetsuited swimmers get in the water, swim 5 to 10 strokes and get out. The water was 57. There were also 1 to 2 foot breaking waves on the beach, but behind them it was just choppy, as would be expected at that location. We decided to not bother. I drove Joe back to our hot indoor pool for his swim and I just went home and had breakfast.

For the record probably the most accurate water temperature measurement, besides my own, is the once a day measurment you can get in text form from the Chicago office of the national weather service. Go directly to
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/?n=marine then scroll down to "Southern Lake Michigan water temperatures".
The announced temperature for "Chicago Shore" at 9AM today was 59 which is not too far off of my reading of 57 at 7:30.

This is the first time I have been to Ohio street this year and I am happy to report, that on Sunday with no events in the Loop, parking was pretty easy thanks to the new meters. And they don't even charge before 8AM.

Still Cold, August 19

2009-08-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

Our local outdoor pool where we work out this part of the summer was closed this morning due to electrical problems so rather than swim indoors I used the time to go to Evanston and check the Lake temperature for myself. The official temperature maps at weather.gov have finally caught up to the fact that the Lake was cold Saturday so I thought that since they were so wrong in one direction, maybe now they are wrong in the other. But no, the Lake is still cold. In fact colder, I measured 56 by shore.

Otherwise it looked nice, and I would have swum a little bit, but I didn't have my warm cap and 56 is just too bloody cold for even me. So no swim.

Evanston, August 15

2009-08-15T08:16:00.000-07:00

No Lake swims for me the last two weeks since I was swimming out of town various places. As far as I can tell no one else on our Lake crew was out either.

I talked Jody and Ellen to join Joe and me at the lake this morning. It was bright, sunny and warm with the water perfectly flat by shore and only light ripples further out. Only one problem, the water was 58 degrees.

Apparently we are having our annual August inversion. Most years at this time we do have a few days like this with 58 not uncommon, even if the Lake had been in the 70's earlier. Usually it is the presence of warm surface water and west winds that causes the surface water to fall and new water from below to come up near shore. Since the Lake has never hit 70, at least not according to my measurement and I am the only reliable source, I was somewhat surprised at having such a strong inversion. Also there were some news items about uncommonly cold Lake water earlier in the week and I figured that whatever inversion we had should have occured. The winds have been from the west, but not strong and we have had warm sunny days this last week, so the Lake SHOULD have warmed up. But I guess I have been swimming the Lake long enough to know that the Lake rarely does what it SHOULD do.

Anyway, Jody and Ellen tested the water and opted to stay and enjoy the beach. For safety reasons I suggested to Joe that we do a half swim and see how we felt. So I did about half a mile and got out, Joe felt fine and did another half mile lap but was starting to feel cold. Joe drove us home without incident so he must have been OK, but his hands were still cold to our touch when we got home.

Evanston, July 26

2009-07-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

Lots of storms predicted the last few days, only a few showed up. With prevailing west winds this side of the Lake was calm except during storms. I gave my group a choice of days this weekend figuring that early in the morning should have less chance of a storm. The only interest was for today and only Joe and Sue actually came.

The weather this morning was beautiful, no clouds, light west wind. But the past days of west winds did keep the water cool, 68. This is the warmest we have had but pretty cool for this time of the summer. The water was exceptionally clear, we could see the bottom the whole way. The swim was otherwise uneventful, and I would classify it as excellent. Sue was glad she finally joined us.

Evanston, July 19

2009-07-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was predicted to be wavy but today was to be flatter so I chose today. Several people who said they would come with us canceled so it was only Ken and me. Wavy usually brings warm so I worried when I passed an old guy leaving the lake who said: "sonny, this will wake you up". It did, the water was only 65. But it seemed the sun was about to come out of the clouds so that would have been fine. Unfortunately the sun didn't stay out so it wasn't very fine. Ken and I had discussed trying a longer route, but decided to do the usual. It was flat with long low swells which should not have affected us, but Ken was a little dizzy when we were done. There was a little current as well, but not really a problem. An OK swim but not great.

Evanston, Monday, July 13

2009-07-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

Ken missed the last two Saturdays and today looked like a really good Lake day, so I suggested we blow off the crowded Monday pool practice and swim in the Lake. He took me up on it. Today when the two of us got to the Lake, about 6:30 AM, there was a brisk north wind. So, unlike the last swim where the waves were stale wind waves these 1 footers were fresh. So a bit harder to swim outbound. I was grateful that I have a human nose, and not say a dog's nose, so when breathing when swimming into a wave the water does not automatically come up the nose. In addition to the design of a human nose the fact that we lead with the top of our head also helps us shield our nostrils from the waves. So perhaps we humans were meant to swim in the waves.

The water was 67 today so I was not that disappointed that I forgot my thermal cap. I did have a silicone cap with me and that was much easier to swim with anyway. So goodbye thermal cap until the August inversion or September. By the time we got to the far wall the wind had died and the sun was out. So swimming back was wonderful. The first great swim of the summer.

Evanston, July 11

2009-07-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

A storm went through here about 4:30 this morning but by the 6AM go or no go decision time it seemed to have passed. But there were still winds left over from the storm and it was quite cloudy. I gave a tentative go and Joe, who was eager not to postpone, seconded the go. By the time Joe and I got to the beach the winds had died down and the sky was clearing. But there were 1 foot waves left over from the storm coming in from the northeast. The swim out was a bit tough with the waves pushing us towards shore where it was very shallow. I just missed some of the pilings from the 1930's pier that are still there. The swim back was faster, besides the waves there was a definite southerly current of about 1 km/hr. Because of the south wall the current was pushing us out as well as south so one had to aim towards shore to end up at the end of the south wall where Joe likes to finish the swim. But the current was slower than our swimming speed so not a hazard.

The water was clear, between 65 and 66 with the warmer water near the beach and colder by the far wall. By the time we were back home the skies had completely cleared and we would have felt very foolish if we had canceled our swim.

Saturday, July 4, 2009 Evanston

2009-07-04T08:10:00.000-07:00

We started the year with our mandatory July 4 swim. Earlier predictions of thunder proved incorrect, instead the forecast was changed to light rain. A few drops on the car windshield is all that we saw. The water was 64 F and glass smooth. It felt cold at first, mostly we have been swimming in a 77 degree pool, but as we swam our bodies adjusted and by the time we were done it didn't feel cold at all even though it was a cool cloudy day. Joe and I did a wall to wall swim, he doesn't like to come all the way out here unless we get some distance and was already looking forward to continuing south to the next turning point. We both had a bit of navigation problems with the low lighting and lack of an obvious horizon. The water was reasonably clear but would have seemed clearer if the sun was out. A good first swim of the season.

After the swim we stopped on the beach to talk to a man with a swimming dog. As we were chatting with him he was busted for the dog on the beach by some plain clothes cops or security, it was not clear which. Even though we were standing with goggles, caps and dripping wet the cops did not seem at all interested in us, which we took as a good sign. It will be interesting to see how tightly Chicago beaches are patrolled this summer as the guards will not be out until 11AM due to budget cuts. I did recently talk to a swimmer who is also a Chicago beach cop who threatened to arrest us if she saw us swimming during closed hours, I guess we won't invite her to join our lake swim group!

Swimming the Rip, St Thomas, January 2009

2009-01-16T10:18:00.000-08:00

At Lake Michigan Diary we do not generally swim when the Lake temperature drops much below 60. But we occasionally take the opportunity to do a bit of open water swimming at warmer locations. This year finds us at Bolongo Bay in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. This is a small protected bay on the Caribbean side with minimal boat traffic. A common local weather pattern sets up a strong narrow rip current which goes sideways in the bay, then curves and weakens as it heads out to sea and encounters larger waves. During the day there are watchful beach attendants with a jet ski willing to rescue guests in trouble. So it was a nice safe chance to practice identifying currents and swimming with, across and against the the rip. One lesson learned: it is much easier to deal with a rip current when you know exactly where it is.

Evanston, October 10

2008-10-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

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.

Evanston, September 26

2008-09-26T08:22:00.001-07:00

Conditions were forecast to be ideal for a late season swim. Water in high 60's and perfectly flat. I did not believe the forecast, for one thing warm and flat rarely occur together except during the height of summer. I was more confident of "flat" than "warm" but the only thing I was correct on was that we would not have both. It was warm, 68 degrees, but not close to flat. There were 2 foot waves which must have been left over from earlier winds because the wind was perfectly calm. But these were not just swells, although they were not mean wind driven waves either.

We, Joe, Ken and I, arrived well before the sun was up. The far wall was outlined by the lights of the Northwestern campus. Being clear I brought my darker sunny weather goggles, this was a little mistake but I could see well enough. The sun finally appeared over the horizon about the time we hit the far wall. Overall this swim would rate as "good" any day of the season, but for this late it was fantastic. The forecast does not look promising for next week, but we are very tempted to try for October.

Evanston, September 20

2008-09-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

Our swim last weekend was postponed due to pacific tropical storm Lowell and hurricane Ike which dumped lots of water on our area. Much of that water found its way into the Lake in the form of sewage. Also many of us, myself in particular, were occupied with storm cleanup.

I probably would have just let the season end but Joe wanted to go again, so, there being no other volunteers, he and I went. We got to the Lake before the sun was actually up, although it was light enough to swim. So we were favored by a nice sunrise. The air was cool but the Lake was still 66 which is warm for this time of year. It was calm near shore with only some 2 inch back waves, i.e. waves opposite the wind direction. Further out were some ripples and by the wall there were some actual 1ft waves, but they were pretty harmless. Overall we couldn't have hoped for better conditions.

Is this the end? Maybe, but stay tuned another week.

Evanston, September 12

2008-09-12T08:17:00.001-07:00

As the season winds down we want to take advantage of any opportunity to swim. Yesterday afternoon when it became apparent that the predicted storms for this morning would be at worst a light rain, I hastily called a swim. Joe and Ken responded favorably. The predictions were right on, a light drizzle with air 70 degrees, which is about 10 degrees warmer than recent early morning temperatures. The water was almost flat with some surface ripples and some lazy long 6inch swells. And it was still 68 degrees, which may not last given the current westerly winds. It was an uneventful swim, but something worth savoring this late in the season.

Big Shoulders, Ohio Street, Sept 6

2008-09-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

This year I was joined at Big Shoulders by lake crew members Heidi, Sue, Ellen and Ken, as well as fellow morning pool swimmers Leo, Paul and Charlie. In addition my daughter Tammy flew in from out of town just to swim. The system that blew in Wednesday brought waves, rain and cool weather to Chicago, it was on its way out today. The entire Lake was completely flat this morning, if one believes the weather.gov site, a very rare occurrence. That was certainly true here. But the computer prediction of water temperature failed for this spot, which being enclosed probably deviates from the model. The model said to expect 73 degrees but when I tested the water before the race my trusty watch thermometer said 68. I had trouble believing that because it did not feel that cool to me. Charlie, who is sensitive to cold estimated 72 while Leo, who loves cold said the water was warm. And there was a little girl lying in shallow water up to her neck saying the water felt good when she got used to it. So I lied and reported 70 to my crew. The air was cool, in the 60s but with a nice sun only occasionally broken by scattered clouds.

After the race most of us guys said the water was fine and the conditions were better than average for the race. The ladies were of a different opinion. Both Heidi, who originally registered as a wetsuit swimmer but changed her mind earlier this week, and Tammy, who did wear a wetsuit came out of the water with hypothermia symptoms. In Tammy's case after some immediate attempts at warming treatment she had a choice of reporting to the hypothermia tent or having a beer with Heidi and Ken. She chose the latter and that seemed effective.

There were two issues. One was floating seaweed, both on the first leg with small annoying but easily disposable strands but also on the final leg along the wall. Here there were huge clumps and if you accidentally swam into one it was hard to extract yourself. The T-shirt was controversial, I thought it was amusing but most of the contestants did not appreciate the joke.

Evanston, September 3

2008-09-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

Joe and I went to Evanston early so I could have one more Lake swim before Big Shoulders. The forecast called for rain, no thunder, and warm flat water deteriorating rapidly as the day went on. But the front expected to pass while we were in the water came through early so it was dry with broken clouds and becoming wavy. It became noticeably wavier as we swam with a northeast breeze, probably comparable to Monday. But opposite Monday's swim it was a hard swim out and easier, swim back. The water was cooler than expected, only about 73 which was also the air temperature, but that felt very good to us. Strangely, both Monday and today, even with the waves the water was very clear.

Evanston, Labor Day

2008-09-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

I took a big crew down for a Labor Day swim / Big Shoulders warmup, Ken, Heidi, Ellen (first time here for her, but she is a Big Shoulders veteran), Jody and your faithful correspondent. The conditions were not the best, a southeast wind pattern has been sitting over the area for a while produced a combination of swells, wind waves, and near the far wall, chop. The waves were only a foot or so and didn't look that bad from the beach, but the view is different when your head is in the water and your eye level is about 2 inches above the surface. Those 1 to 2 foot waves can look pretty big, especially as we have enjoyed mostly flat conditions so far this season. But the sky was sunny, air a bit cool but warming towards a hot day, and the water the warmest we have seen this season, 75 near the wall, 74 by the beach. It was a hard swim back, according to Ken it took us an extra 5 minutes for the round trip but this could be because having 5 people we chatted a bit more than usual by the far wall. Also this swim was not official as the conditions prevented us from actually touching the wall, we stopped about 10 yards out.

Evanston, August 30

2008-08-30T09:35:00.000-07:00

Almost perfect again, air 60, water 72-73, flat and clear. Only a bit of fish smell near the walls kept it from being perfect. Jody, Joe, Sue and I swam. Out and back, two of the four of us are not entered in Big Shoulders so the Cheap Shoulders was scrubbed, at least for today.

Just before we finished two other swimmers appeared out of the lake. One looked ordinary, suit and cap like us, the other guy had a full wet suit with bright pink cap and was trailing a large pink kids inner tube shaped flotation device. They had swum down from Lighthouse beach at the opposite end of Evanston, about three miles. The pink for visibility.

Loyola Beach, August 27

2008-08-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

OK, this time not so great. I just found out this morning that Loyola beach is designated as a "Distance Swimming Beach" by the Chicago Park District. Actually the district says Leone Beach but then identifies the course which is better known as Loyola beach, the quarter mile from Pratt pier north to the first breakwater. Since I am thinking of bring my crew down for what we used to call "cheap shoulders", the warmup for upcoming Big Shoulders, I decided to check this out. The guards were aware of the designation, but they wouldn't let me swim the whole way, just about 250 yards between guard towers. And I had to stay on the shore side of the rowboat with the kids. The water was about waist deep. The was a light east wind and 2ft waves, which broke exactly where I was swimming. On the plus side the water was 74 degrees and the sun was out, air a pleasant 76. On this weekday afternoon there was plenty of parking in the lot off of Lunt and the $.25 per half hour meters were reasonable. And there was a restroom, typical of the Chicago Park district, but no shower. The lot was actually fairly far from the beach. But hey, the swim was free and legal so I guess if one of us northsiders is desperate for a lake swim on a summer weekday afternoon this is better than nothing.

Evanston, Saturday August 23

2008-08-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

Not perfect, but still pretty damn good. Today Ken, I and new recruit Heidi, hit the water about an hour later than usual. A southwest wind left it calm by the beach but 1 foot wind waves further out. A quick trip out, longer back but not too much trouble. We are not used to seeing other swimmers when we swim so imagine my surprise when I literally bumped into a guy in the middle of the swim. He was surprised too. Sort of a hot and muggy day so the water felt cool but was actually 74 degrees. The overdue August inversion was predicted to hit today north of Milwaukee and working south, but it certainly hasn't hit here yet. It may not hit here at all this year as the wind shifts back to the east early next week.

Evanston, August 18

2008-08-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

I have been using all the superlatives I know to describe the Lake this summer, perhaps the only thing left is to say that conditions today were "more perfect"? Joe, Ken, new recruit Jody, and I showed up just as the sun was emerging from the horizon. Water 71 and clear, air high 60's and full sun, light chop away from shore and no breeze. I was the slow man today and as the last to the wall I could hear the others talking but because of the angle of the sun on the water could not find them! They were standing in water up to their necks with only their heads out of the water. I swam along the wall thinking they had gone around to the other side and only after I passed them and looked back at a different angle could I see them. A great swim.

Evanston, August 16

2008-08-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Another great swim, this time just Joe and me. The water was 71 F, there were 1 foot swells left over from yesterdays northeast winds which just made swimming a bit more fun. It was faster coming back than going. Air temp was upper 60's and cloudless sky with the sun rising just over the horizon. It looked like one could swim right to the sun, but we had better sense than to try this.

Swimming the Internet - August 8, 2008

2008-08-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

Busy closing out the swimmng Pool and preparing for Olympic Swimming orgy so no lake swim this week. Perhaps some readers have noticed that lately all days have been great to excellent. Is the Lake getting better or are we getting smarter. I think the later. With all the detailed weather data provided by our goverment I can sit in front of my computer 7 miles from the lake and pick out the great days several days in advance. Here is a primer of how you can do it.

Go to www.weather.gov (thats dot gov, not dot com)
Click on Marine under Forecasts on left side menu
Click on small US map anywhere
Click large US map on Chicago
Click on area of Lake you plan to visit (Direct link to here www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/ ) for forecast.
Back on previous page click the Marine tab. You will get a nice wave height chart for the entire Great Lakes, buttons allow you to scroll forward in time about 30 hours. Direct link here is www.crh.noaa.gov/greatlakes
Place cursor on Lake Michigan on left menu, a submenu will appear, select WindsTemps&Levels you will get several graphics of current conditions. Click on any specific graphic for animated forecasts.
Click on Return to LMOFS for more great charts, or direct http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/ofs /lmofs/lmofs.html

Note that the charts in the LMOFS site are computer generated, not direct observations. But I find they are fairly accurate. The secret to a great swim is to avoid winds from the northeast or east.

Evanston, July 30

2008-07-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

A slight question of storms from leftover hurricane Dolly made us almost opt for Friday, but the storm split going mostly south of us leaving nice weather for today's swim. It was perfect - what more can I say? 70 degree clear water, flat with a light west breeze, mostly sunny.

There was a disturbing article about changes in the Lake ecology in today's paper. Lots more mussels and algae on the Lake bottom. Besides disrupting the food chain it may be producing the e-coli that has the beach directors undies in a knot. A lady we met as we were getting out mentioned that she biked to Ohio street recently only to find the water closed due to e-coli. We suggested she swim with us.

Evanston, July 25

2008-07-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

I wanted to come yesterday when the weather seemed more promising but Joe and Ken were busy so we took a chance that the predicted storms would not materialize. At 5AM I checked the radar and no storms within 200 miles so we came just after the sun came up. The water was smooth, not quite glass and 68 F. The sky and the water were cloudy, after the initial red glow of sunrise faded it was not easy to tell where the water ended and the sky began. Air temperature was around 70. Except for somewhat limited visibility, a good swim. These guys are somewhat gluttons for distance so the only complaint was that the swim, about 2km., was too short.

A cold, perfect July 16 in Evanston

2008-07-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

I invited Joe and Ken to swim at Evanston assuring them it would be a perfect day, water temperature included. When we got there the Lake was glass smooth. I realized my credibility was in trouble, smooth often means cold. It was a mere 61 F. But these guys are tough enough so once they stopped complaining and started to swim they agreed it was a perfect day: sunny, air in the mid 70's, no wind, clear water and, of course, no waves, and nothing else (boats or people) in the water.

Ohio Street - July 2, 2008

2008-07-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

The 2008 season began with a slightly early 4th of July swim. After monitoring all the lake temperature sites I decided that only Ohio Street would be reliably warm enough for an outing. So Joe, Ken and I arrive about 6:15 AM. Parking was difficult, but there is one street left between a parking lot and construction with some spots, enough for our two cars. We get to the lake and already people are leaving the water, a good sign or not? Our first impressions not, it felt cold. But after we got started it felt better. In fact Joe and Ken, who are slightly faster than me in distance swimming, took off ahead. I thought we might discuss the water temperature at one of the landmarks, but I did not catch up with them until the end, now marked by a small orange bouy. The question was, is this as far as we go? My answer was yes. I looked at my watch, the water temperature was 63. Actually, I was slightly better prepared with a new thermal cap my older daughter gave me, at 38 she finally has discovered open water swimming. She found the cap at the Barracuda web site. Joe and Ken just had normal swim caps, and, of course, none of us had wetsuits. The swim back was actually nicer with the sun coming up, even though we were facing a stiff breeze. The water was clear, and although they say the Lake is a bit higher this year it still seemed very shallow to me. One could stand up almost the whole way, if one wanted to since much of the bottom seemed not very inviting what with rocks and algae. By the time we finished even more people had showed up, and by the time we were driving home, via Lakeshore Drive since the northbound Kennedy was a mess, the swim area was absolutely crowded, among others, even an age group swim team was there.

Evanston, September 26

2007-09-26T19:16:00.000-07:00

Is this the end? My reading of the forecast is that the rain will end but the east wind will hold off until later in the morning. I got one right, the rain was gone long before Ken and I got to the beach early this morning. But the east wind was already well established. The waves did not look that bad, but the water was cold. It turns out that water temperature was only 61 with a 54 F air temperature. Of course no wetsuits, and Ken only has an ordinary cap. So we did a quick out and back swim, more because of the cold than the waves. We were most aware of the waves coming back as they gave us a real boost. We even got a couple of unintentional rides. Total trip: 10.5 minutes by Ken's watch.

There is nothing in the forecast to make me think it will get any better, so this is probably it for the season. Actually we made it almost all the way through September, so thats not bad.

Evanston, September 21

2007-09-21T12:07:00.000-07:00

Joe, Ken and I arrived early again, hoping to repeat our swim of Wednesday. We were hoping for as nice a swim, but an east wind yesterday left residual small waves (about a foot). On top of that a south wind was developing, leaving chop on top of the waves. Although the sky overhead was clear there were low clouds over the lake keeping the sunrise from being visible. When we got in it was really quite dark. This made for a somewhat difficult swim, in particular it was difficult swimming straight. The water and air temperatures were about the same however, 66 and 69 F respectively.

The three of us often pool swim together outdoors in the morning during the summer. Overall we are fairly compatible, but I have different speeds for different distances, I am fastest at the sprints and slowest at distances, Ken is sort of in the middle whereas Joe has one speed, which leaves him last in sprints but first in distance, which we don't do much of together in the pool. This and the fact that Joe peeled off to swim near the beach last time kept us from realizing that Joe is actually a natural open water swimmer. His somewhat wide stroke which looks awkward in the pool actually helps him in water like today. And we forget that Joe has a fair amount of California ocean swimming experience. So today when he peeled off towards shore midway on our outbound leg we assumed he was heading back. Imagine our suprise when we got to the wall and found him waiting for us. This happened again on the way back. We have renewed respect for his abilities.

Evanston, September 19

2007-09-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

This morning early I am back at the beach with Joe and Ken. Parking is a bit tough that early but we found places for our three cars -- we were going our separate ways after the swim. It was light enough but the sun was not actually up when we got in the water. A predicted light rainshower had gone north leaving only some patchy high clouds in the sky, the wind was still blowing from the south west, but as yesterday the area appeared a bit choppy but waveless. The air was about 71 degrees. Unlike yesterday the water temperature was only 65, a bit nippy to get in, none of us use wetsuits, but quite comfortable once we were on our way. Soon after we got under way Joe, the least experienced of us, became uncomfortable with our route to the far corner of the wall, waved goodby and returned to, presumably, swim by the beach. Ken and I continued on to the wall. As we swam the sun came up out of the water. This is always a moving experience as one realizes that one is the last person for the next 90 million miles to the sun. After touching the wall, to make it official, if not quite legal, we swam back all the way to the near wall. Swimming upwind was rougher, it never ceases to amaze me how different the surface appears to be depending on the direction one is swimming. We figured that by now Joe had gone to work but were surprised to see a swimmer with Joe's unique stroke swimming towards us from the direction of the wall. Joe had attempted to swim out and meet us coming back, but had not found us due to the fact that we were much further out than him. The washrooms are closed now during the week, but the shower is still on so Joe and Ken showered as best they could and then went to work. I went home for breakfast. A great late season swim!

Evanston, September 18

2007-09-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

Official swim season is over and the guards are gone, so the beaches are ours. Just stopped by on the way home from work to check the water temperature, I had heard conflicting reports. I expected serious wave action but with the wind direction from the south west there were no visible significant waves in view. Just by chance my old swim partner, Mike, was just getting in the water. I was upset that I hadn't brought my swim stuff so I couldn't go with him. So I talked to his wife, enjoying the first warm sunny day in a while, and then took a reading near shore -- 69 F! I'll have to bring my current swim partners back tomorrow.

I recently got an email from a swimmer who reads this blog, someone I don't know, who was arrested for swimming off of a Chicago beach when guards were not present. My understanding is that this swimmer went in as it was getting dark in the evening and swam away from the entry beach. Apparently some citizen became concerned, or wanted to make some trouble, and called the police about a swimmer in distress. When the swimmer returned to the beach to find out why police and rescue vehicles were there, the swimmer was apparently arrested for not actually being in distress.

Of course, this is one of the hazards of lake swimming. As we were told in school it is better to not swim alone, i.e. swim where others are swimming, not necessarily with them, so you won't be singled out. Also remain reasonably visible from shore so that casual observers will see that you know what you are doing and won't try to rescue you. My guess is that normally a real swimmer violating the posted "No Swimming" signs will at most get a lecture, but I can see the police being pissed about bringing out the rescue squad.

Ohio Street, September 12

2007-09-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

No big shoulders for me this year due to family business out east. Today is a beautiful fall-like day so a bike ride down the lake front to Ohio Street was in order. A stiff wind from the northwest made the trip down lake like biking downhill - I was in essentially the highest gear. Coming back I was in a gear normally used only when riding uphill. No one was in the water, the few people on any of the beaches were warmly dressed, only one brave woman at Oak Street was sunbathing in a bikini. I did wade in long enough to get a temperature reading, the water was 66 and moderately wavy for Ohio street. It was certainly swimmable and I probably would have gone in had there been other swimmers. But given the 60 air temperature and the hassle of beach change, locking up my stuff and then reversing the process after the swim, I decided getting to my favorite sushi restaurant during lunch hour was higher priority than swimming.

Evanston, August 22

2007-08-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

Into the lake because of a thunderstorm? Ken and I talked about a lake swim this morning after our swim last week, but it was put on hold due to forecasts of storms. We had our storm this morning about 4AM and the winds brought down a fair number of tree branches. The storm had passed by 6AM so several of us showed up at our outdoor pool for our standard morning swim. The pool was closed and we were debating a plan of action when Jerry, our Masters coach, appeared from the other building to tell us that the pool had lost power during the storm and had to be shut by the health regulations. Worse, his indoor pool was closed for annual maintenence. Feeling a strong need to swim there seemed no better choice than to head to the lake. Paul, who is in training for an ironman in 3 weeks, decided to come along. So Paul and Ken headed back to their neighborhood to get Paul's wetsuit and Ken's work attire and we met at the standard beach in Evanston, which also had storm damage. We were just hoping the waves would not be too intense. In fact they were much lower than last Saturday but there was a strong south wind. I warned them of the possibility of a tough return swim but Ken and Paul are very intense swimmers and made a dash for the wall. I can't believe that it is August 22 and this is my first time to the wall this summer! Our almost, we actually avoided the wall because of the wind and ended up parallel to the wall about 50 yards further out. As predicted it was a rough swim back, one of the worst I have experienced. Paul and Ken have more endurance, they have conducted 5000 yard pool practices recently, but I have the lake experience so actually had an advantage. About halfway back the wind mercifully turned northwest so the swimming got easier and we all made it back in one piece. The water was a cool 67, it is not clear whether this is due to all the recent rain or a belated summer inversion.

Evanston, August 18

2007-08-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

Back at my old haunt in Evanston early on a unseasonably cool morning. This time I am with Ken and a new recruit, Sue. We had hoped the wind early last evening had died sufficently so that we could swim to the wall, but it was clearly too wavy. An out-and-back swim seemed prudent. Bit it wasn't until we were in the water that we realized that there were 3 to 4 foot waves. At one point I saw Ken on the face of a wave looking as if he was trying to climb straight up. After about 10 minutes we turned around for the 4 minute swim back. The water was only 71 but seemed warm relative to the 68 degree breeze from the south east. We attempted to body surf for a while but although the waves were large enough they seemed rather thin and not packing much energy. We each got about one decent ride. We called it a day, Sue had a breakfast to go to, Ken and I sat on the beach for a short while. Other than a quick dog walker or too we were completely alone. Several small planes pulling advertisements were making slow progress down the lake positioning themselves for the air show, for now with an audience of just the two of us.

The Pinery, Lake Huron, July 23

2007-07-24T05:48:00.000-07:00

This will probably be a sparse summer for posts, I have developed an allergy to lake water. Although it is controllable by strong medication, I will probably only go to the lake when there is extra motivation. Since my lake swim buddies seem otherwise occupied this summer that motivation may not occur often.

But today I am by Lake Huron in southern Ontario. The Pinery is a provincial park which is very similar to the Indiana Dunes State Park. Only the dunes are not quite as high. But the beach was 6 miles long. On the plus side there is a nice bicycle path. The weather looked like it might cloud over so I had a short swim first, then biked for about an hour. By then it was actually nicer so I had a longer swim. The water was 21 degrees, or 70 in US degrees. The waves were about 1 foot. For the first swim they were very gentle, the second time they had a good breeze behind them and were rather tough swimming, especially as one swam parallel to them.

Generally Mike and I end our day at the dunes having ribs at Wagner's, we have never quite decided whether the ribs and beer were actually better at Wagner's or just that ribs and beer taste awfully good after a day hiking and swimming. So as a test I found a place called Mojo's BQ in Grand Bend, Ontario just up from the Pinery. This looks more like someones deck with a grill, and at 6PM on a Monday I was the only customer [added later - apparently a serial killer was loose in the area]. The deck did have a nice view of Lake Huron, and the ribs and Labatt's Blue did taste good. But the ribs were not as good as Wagner's, so I guess that settles that question.

Loyola Beach, July 4

2007-07-04T18:47:00.000-07:00

Generally 4th of July is the official start to the swim season and an obligatory lake swim, preferably at Ohio street. But possible storms were forcast for this morning. Ken and I had an elaborate plan with options A,B,C depending on the weather, with both having the option to bug out. But this morning dawned beautiful with the last storm moving out of the area about 5AM so I was wanted in. Apparently Ken did not. So I decided rather than the hassle of Ohio Street, I would go to Loyola Beach, otherwise known as Touhy avenue beach or Leone Beach. This is a good beach for solo swimming as you swim parallel to the sandy beach and can get out at any point, also there are always a fair number of people walking dogs etc. if you need to get someone's attention in an emergency, and usually other swimmers. There is also a nice parking lot right by the beach so you can leave your stuff locked up. The problem is that if you come too early, and on Sunday and holidays anytime is too early, the locals use all the parking. By 8:30 the guards are out so you have to leave the water and are only able to wade waist deep directly in front of them. Today I was lucky, there were two spaces available in the lot at 7AM.

I had a nice swim, down to Pratt pier and back. The water was flat with a few ripples and a very comfortable 67, even though that was also the air temperature. The water was still cloudy and after some sun, so was the sky. All things considered, not a bad 4th of July swim.

Evanston, June 30

2007-06-30T20:22:00.000-07:00

I have lots of excuses why I have not yet been to the lake this year. Mike is tired of them and you would be too. In fact Mike got so tired of waiting for me so he joined up with some triatheletes who lake swim incidental to bike and run training so I'm on my own for now. Mike has been in a couple of times, he says it has mostly been cold. He even claims to have been in briefly at the end of April at North Avenue in a wet suit. It was unusually warm then so the part of the story I don't believe is the wetsuit.

I have no more excuses so I'm ready to swim, but it has turned cold. Today when the sun came up it was only 55 out so I decided not to even bother. But looking at the lake temperature report apparently the northeast wind that is bringing us cool temperatures brought in some warmer water. The "crib" figure, which tends to be the most accurate was in the 60's so I decided to try to get in the lake before the end of June.

So I quickly got over to Evanston and went to the water. It was cool, but not unbearable. As I swam it actually started to feel nice. The water was 63 which was only a few degrees cooler than the air. I didn't go far but did swim about 15 minutes, just to make it official. Six inch waves were hardly noticable but the water was very cloudy from recent rains.

Playa Bonita, January 7

2007-01-14T18:47:00.000-08:00

I'm here at Playa Bonita, a resort just outside of Panama City, Panama. Great ocean swimming, about a mile of beach, calm water and no boats. They do have a good idea Evanston may want to copy: when the water is closed instead of just posting a sign they gather the water up and take it away!

Indiana Dunes, October 2

2006-10-02T19:24:00.000-07:00

No swimming for several weeks due to crummy weather, wind and other obligations the few swimmable days. Mike had completely disappeared, it turns out he was touring Italy with his wife but had neglected to tell anyone he was going.

Today looked like a rare good day, Mike was back and I was available so an end of season dunes trip was in order. As predicted, the early morning storm passed through early, missing both our homes and the dunes. It was a beautiful sunny, though breezy, day by the time we got there about 11. As usual, we start with a hike in the dunes, the last mile or so along the lake. Often when we get to the lake we jump in. Today it felt cool, we guess 63, but not cold and the air we guess around 80. We decided to postpone the swim until later when we could do it properly, car parked by the lake with our stuff safely in the car, chairs towels and other necessities, such as beer, easily available. This was our big mistake.

By the time we finished the hike a storm was approaching. We did move to car to the lakeside parking and sat by the lake in our chairs watching the approaching storm. Mike counted over 100 lightning flashes during the 20 or so minutes we watched, obviously not conducive to swimming. As the storm got near we retreated to a picnic shelter thinking we could still be dry and yet continue to have a good view. But when the heart of the storm arrived the rain fell horizontally and we were soaked, Mike actually figured out that if we stood on the tables we could get more protection from the roof. I assumed that once the storm passed the sun would come out and we could swim, but when the storm passed we could only see another one close behind. So we gave up and had an early dinner at Wagners. We never did get to swim, a rather unfortunate end to the season.

Evanston, September 15

2006-09-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

The weather has been wet and the Lake wavy this week, and after last Saturday swimming in waves was not my thing. Today was better and Ken was free for a while so we wandered down to the usual Evanston beach mid morning. It was a bright sunny day with no wind to speak of in the morning, but the air was a bit cool. The water was almost flat, just some ripples and small swells. The water was very cloudy, however and we could not see even two feet down. The temperature was a very reasonable 67 for this time of year. We went to the wall, and then all the way back to the near wall keeping a brisk pace. Ken is younger and somewhat more ambitious than Mike. The bikini clad lady at the end on her cell phone did apparently finish her call and finally go in for the winter since I was here last. After the swim Ken had to go directly to his side job for the day so we brought two cars. I stayed for another hour and enjoyed the nice September day, it would have been more pleasant without the noisy workmen reroofing the bathrooms and vacuuming out the sewers nearby. For much of the hour there was only one woman on the beach reading her paper, besides me, but activity was picking up as I left around noon.

Big Shoulders, September 9

2006-09-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

Last Friday (September 1) we couldn't imagine swimming big shoulders in those conditions. Today Ken and I didn't have to imagine, we did it. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, the Lake forecast yesterday evening called for 5.5 foot waves with rain or thunderstorms. The Ohio street area where the race is held is protected, but 5 foot waves outside can still wreck havoc and a storm passing through could be a real mess.

But today was only partly cloudy and the winds were not as strong as expected. Still come race time the lake looked very much like last Friday and it only got worse as the race wore on. One good thing is that the race course is different from the practice course which runs up and down along the west wall, for the race we swim out along the filtration plant, then parallel to the breakwater and back along the wall. We have to do this twice for 5K. The first leg was not bad during the first lap and the long leg along the breakwater was good until near the end where the waves come in. On the homestretch by the wall the waves were bad tossing us around but being following waves they at least gave us a push in the right direction. By the second lap the first leg out was much rougher, going more or less into the wind. The second leg was not bad, wavy but the waves were relatively smooth and the wind was a cross wind. By now the course had cleared out of most swimmers, only some of us slower 5K types were still in the water, but, like a slow spot on a highway, there seemed to be a crowd at the last turn as people struggled to get through the largest waves. Finally the last leg was fast, for me at least, but very very bumpy. I finished feeling like a boxer who just finished a 15 round draw.

Surprisingly, most swimmers finished even though few had experience in this kind of water. I didn't meet anyone who really enjoyed it, though. The water was unofficially 72 degrees, Ken and I were quite comfortable after the race with just T-shirts. Some other swimmers, especially the thinner women, did not share our warmth. This was Ken's first Big Shoulders, in my case I survived my 15th. I was pleased that, given the conditions, my time was comparable to past times.

Leone Beach, September 6

2006-09-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

Cheap Shoulders, Heat 2 Mike hopes to establish an annual event the day after labor day, Cheap Shoulders, a swim from Howard Street Beach (Chicago) to Pratt Pier and back. This year I work Tuesdays and he did not want to break the tradition so he apparently did it alone yesterday. He says it was not too wavy, the water was fine, but the air was very cold on exit. He was not interested in repeating today.

Ken and I did our version of the swim today at 7AM. The conditions were awesome. Bright sun, almost flat water, almost clear (the bottom was visible all the way, but just barely), very light wind and 70 degree water. And we were not cold getting out. We modified the swim somewhat, we started at Leone beach, swam south to Pratt Pier, then north to Howard and finished again at Leone. The whole swim took about 68 minutes. There were a number of other swimmers present, they did not appear to be preparing for a meet. At one point Ken was left of me, shortly afterwards I saw someone on my right, my first reaction was that somehow Ken had swum to my other side. But looking more carefully it was a young woman, much better looking than Ken. She was as surprised to see me as I was her, and quickly swam in a different direction. After several weeks of bad weather it was good to be reminded again how pleasurable lake swimming really is.

Ohio Street, September 1

2006-09-01T14:27:00.000-07:00

The morning pool group, Ken, Joe, Paul and me, decided last week that we would go for a Lake swim. Ken and I are doing Big Shoulders next week, Paul is a veteran, having done it last year, and Joe wanted to come along for the workout. As I have the most Lake experience I was delegated to pick the time and beach. Monday and Wednesday were too rainy/windy for Evanston, which was my preference so I cancelled on both of those. But Ken needed to swim so it was decided that regardless of the weather we would go somewhere. Unfortunately our weather has been held up by the storms coming up the Atlantic coast so we have had this constant north-east wind all week. And today, which I was hoping to be better wasn't, maybe worse. So the trip was to Ohio Street where one can always swim.

So we drove down in two cars, the idea was that Joe would do one lap and leave for work and Ken, Paul and I would do to. We got into the city by 6:30 AM and actually were able to find, at least partly legal, parking places not too far from the Lake. The other guys are Chicago natives and the mindset here it that it is better to get a $50 ticket than pay a $20 parking lot fee, and besides who ever heard of a traffic cop in Chicago working before 8:30 AM? The Lake was almost as rough as I have seen at Ohio St. Some swimmers getting out who had biked down assured us that it was worse up north. They also said it was warm, it didn't feel that way getting in as it was 69, but we worked so hard that we, at least Ken and I, were plently warm by the finish. We lost Joe at the second ladder, we last saw him waving to us from shore to continue without him. We made the outbound with difficulty, I told the guys to round the red bouy at the end, but it wasn't there, either due to wave action or the triatheletes removing it at the end of their season. But the inbound trip was better. We decided not to do the second lap. There were a number of other swimmers present and many of them were doing an out and back to the first boat bouy east of the beach, so we did that, about 200 yards. Paul and I had enough but Ken did one more of these for cooldown. Then coffee at Starbucks and we were on our way home about 8:30 with very little traffic on the outbound Kennedy.

Ohio Street, August 26

2006-08-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

It is somewhat amazing that it is already late August and I have not been to Ohio Street. The reason is probably with Mike's Evanston beach passes, we are too lazy to go anywhere else. This week Mike has been feeling out of sorts and I have started working again, so I have been content to swim in the local outdoor pool. Except for Friday when the water was inexplicably 85. Somehow I got through a mile, but only because this guy Paul badgered us into extending our workout set. Paul and Ken, the lake swimmer who appeared in the diary last summer, actually swam 4000 yards in the heat.

Today, taking advantage of a break in the stormy weather we have been having and being Mikeless I decided I needed to do Ohio Street at least once before big shoulders. I parked near Diversey and rode my bike the short distance to Ohio Street, getting there about 8:00 AM. The lake, bikepath and bike racks were packed with wetsuited triathletes, but I did find a spot for the bike. And the fucking lane lines are back in. On the whole the lake looked calmer than it has been recently, but lots of chop, the Ohio street area was actually rough for that spot, but still much better than we have had in Evanston. At the beach there was hazy sunshine and it was already warm and muggy. But the water was a suprisingly pleasant 73. There seem to be currents and I made a mental note for the race that I need to look where I am going frequently, something that I have gotten lazy about at Evanston. I swam to the new red bouy marking the end of the sanctioned swim area and back. I won't really say it was a pleasant swim, but one I needed.

Evanston, August 16

2006-08-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

Last night was rough on both of us. Mike woke in the middle of the night with pain in the elbow from an old baseball injury. I was up suffering from my allergy to all the algae we have had in the Lake recently. But today looked like the best swimming of the week, plus neither of us will be able to go to the lake until next week.
So here we are, albeit late since Mike slept late after a night at, ironically given his injury, the White Sox.

At first conditions looked like those we expected yesterday -- small swells. And the going was easy enough outbound. But from the wall it was clear that there was a goodly southeast breeze with 2 foot waves associated with it. It looked like a tough swim home. Mike wanted to go slowly with his elbow, I wanted to spend as little time in the lake as possible with my allergy. So we did what swimmers should not do: split up and swam back seperately. I was on the beach a good 15 minutes ahead of Mike who didn't arrive on land until after the guards were actually on duty. Fortunately this group knows us so Mike was only given a half hearted warning whistle for being on the wrong side of the "do not swim north of this" sign.

The water is now 73. While at the wall I went and tried to get the attention of the lady on the cell phone. It seems that she was on the phone so long that the cell phone gods have turned her into a statue. Hopefully we will see more of this penalty on the beach which was full of cell phone talking women. Today, which was another of our recent perfect beach days, was bring your kids to the beach day and there was a mob of under 5's, including 3 who looked like triplets of about 6 months getting their first therapudic taste of the E-coli at the edge of the water.

Evanston, August 15

2006-08-15T13:58:00.000-07:00

After several wavy days we were looking forward to a nice gentle swim. True, forcasts were for 1-2 foot waves but we were expecting gentle swells. The 1-2 feet were accurate enough, although closer to 2, but the "gentle" was not. There were light northwest winds and the waves were coming in from the northeast so we decided to try and make it to the wall. Mike almost went back for his cap after testing the water, but, at the end, was happy to not have it. While it was hard to tell at the beginning, by the time we got out away from the break zone it became clear that we had trochodial waves, but larger than we had ever seen. Usually they are only about 1 foot. As usual swimming out against them was tough. The lake was partly clear so we could just see the bottom in most places. This magnified the impression that we were rising an falling, which often is not so apparent swimming in waves. At the wall the woman of the house is still on her cell phone call of last week, will she ever finish? Also as expected coming back was much easier, but we still got tossed around a bit. The water was 71 so at least it was delightful. Another perfect beach day, full sun, light breeze and moderate temperatures. Not many beachgoers to enjoy it and we also had to leave early, unfortunately.

Evanston, August 12

2006-08-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

What is so rare as a day in June? A perfect June day in August. Full sun, air temperature in mid 70's and a mild wind keeping the bugs away. Perfect for beach goers. It was not quite so perfect for swimmers, the reported 1 foot waves were more like 3 feet and again from the southeast. Today we are at Lighthouse beach, which is a bit smaller than our usual beach. An out and back situation but with the wall at the south end of the beach this presented a bit of a complication. So we go out, then upwind until we are even with the wall. This was hard as we were not making much forward progress against the wind. Now we have maximum flexibility to follow the waves in and not hit either the wall or the poles at the north side of the beach. Not much of a fun swim. Water is about 70. We tried riding the waves but they were of low quality, quite disorganized, so only a couple of good rides.

We sat on the beach with our friend Rich and his friend from Evanston enjoying the great beach day. At some point Rich decides to go in the water. He is a big older guy. Because of the waves and uneven bottom Rich falls. It soon becomes apparent that, although he is not in danger, he is not going to be able to get up by himself. The small lifeguard is watching him, but she makes no attempt to help. So Mike and I have to dash to the water to help him up and guide him out of the lake. After the guard finishes her half hour on duty she comes over to check on Rich and assure him that she would have taken action if he were actually drowning. Exactly what action wasn't clear.

Evanston, August 9

2006-08-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

Normally wave refraction will force waves to always come perpendicular to the shoreline, but here we can have wave directions from northeast to southeast. Today they were from the southeast. The plan was to do about half of our normal swim, then swim directly into the waves back in line with the near wall and then follow the waves in. Early in the second leg Mike gave up, after our longish bike ride yesterday he said he just wasn't in the mood to battle waves, and we swam directly in, mostly breaststroke, across the waves. The water was about 72 and cloudy, the air was 74 and partly cloudy. It seemed to be dog day at the beach, lots of dogs. A friendly husky seemed unattached and appeared to want to follow us home, and although Mike needs a new dog, this one was shedding so badly that after petting this dog you have a handfull of wet sandy hair. He eventually spied his master and trotted off.

Evanston, August 7

2006-08-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

The weather report called for west winds this morning with the wind shifting during the day until there is a full fledged northeaster this evening. We feel safe getting to the beach at 9AM, but the wind is already blowing strongly from the north. The waves are just wind waves so we guess that the swim out might be hard but it should be OK coming back. What we didn't expect was the water temperature: 67. Usually north and northeast winds bring in warmer water so it is not clear whether this cold water was due to the previous west winds or the fact that this rule of thumb does not necessarily hold during this part of the season; we have noticed that before. I brought a light cap and Mike had none but we decided it was not worth it to return to the car for our heavy caps, even though we were able to park at the closest possible parking spot today. Mike was not sure he was up for a full swim anyway. At the halfway point I suggested bagging it and returning but Mike was in one of his stubborn moods so did not answer me, he just put his bare head back in the water and resumed swimming towards the wall. Conditions actually got better from there and when we got in the wave shadow of the wall it became calmer and warmer. Perhaps this is evidence that the wind brought in the cold water. There was lots of garbage caught by the wall. And the woman with the bikini was still standing in exactly the same position as we left her on Saturday with her cell phone, probably the same call. As expected the swim back was quick and easy. We were late back but the guards on duty recognized us and merely inquired as to our opinion of the water temperature. By the end of the swim the water actually felt good so we didn't miss the warm caps at all. This was the clearest water we have seen in quite a while, even with hazy conditions we could see the bottom the whole swim.

Evanston, August 4

2006-08-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

While I was away I swam in Lake George NY with my daughter, who is now far enough past her competitive days to be about my speed. We figured out a route about three fourths of a mile round trip. The 80 degree water, vegetation on the shallow bottom, and constant harassment from boats and water skiers made me appreciate our Lake Michigan even more.

In my last post I suggested that this past week was a good time for the August inversion which brings cold water to the surface just as the lake is getting warm. It turns out that, even though I was not here to experience it, I was right on. Mike reports that on Wednesday and Thursday the water temperature dropped to something like 58. Mike does not carry a thermometer, but he is very experienced in telling the temperature by feel, and when the water hurts he figures it is below 60.

Today he was not sure that the water had warmed up so, at his suggestion, we both wore our warm caps. This was not necessary as it is back to 74. But there was a strong south wind with 1 to 2 foot waves. It was only slightly difficult to swim out to the wall but, as we feared, it was a hard swim back. Probably the toughest swim of the summer. A relatively uneventful hour or so on the beach was our reward. Perhaps of interest were improvements in the private properties near the wall, someone has erected a landscaped garden by the lake that will last until the next northeaster and on a neighboring property there is a good looking bikini clad woman talking on a cell phone. She seems so still we might have confused her with a statue.

Evanston, July 28

2006-07-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

For various reasons neither Mike nor I were particularly eager to swim this morning, but the early NOAA forcast was too good for either of us to pass up. Conditions out were about as perfect as a casual lake swimmer could possibly want, flat clear water, mostly sunny with calm winds and 72 degree water. (We would prefer 68 degrees to declare perfection.) On the way back some wind and small (3 inches) waves were apparent but it was still very nice. We were glad we made room in our schedules to come. After the main swim we took advantage of the clear water to do a bit of fish observing and saw some bass and a large carp, not too many small fish.

I will be gone for a week so probably no posts for a while. Lake swimmers should be aware that, with the forcast heat, conditions are ideal for the midsummer inversion which drops lake temperatures temporarily 10 or more degrees. Could happen next week so bring a cap.

Evanston, July 25

2006-07-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

For once listening to the weatherman was a good idea. In spite of overcast and even some light drizzle I decided that the actual forcast this morning, predicting that the expected rain would not come until afternoon merited a trip to the lake, rather than the pool. Mike was not so sure when I called, but decided a quick trip to the lake couldn't hurt, even if it was raining. But the rain not only held off during the morning, but the rest of the day turned out to be sunny and hot. Our swim to the wall and back was flat and mostly windless. The water quality was a little better than yesterday, but now 74. Another good swim, except for some goggle problems.

The plan was to return right after the swim, but it was so nice that it was hard to extract Mike from the beach. Even the flies, which were quite bad in the absence of wind, could not dislodge him. Finally, because he had intrusted me with his car key during the swim, I threatened to take his car and return alone, he agreed to leave the beach.

Evanston, July 24

2006-07-24T19:54:00.000-07:00

Finally the wind has shifed, coming from the southwest. The beach was very hot, on arrival, and conversely the water felt cold even though at 73 it was the warmest we have seen yet. The lake appeared flat with wind ripples. It was an easy swim to the wall, although as we approached it was clear that there were 6 inch waves under the ripples. Coming back was harder, but not too hard. So a good swim. The water is still cloudy and tasted a little garbagy, so not a great swim.

Some clouds came in while we were swimming so it was more comfortable on the beach after the swim. Mike prepared tea, rather than coffee, for a change. I kidded him that with his skills at preparing beverages I really didn't need a beach mistress. He didn't find that amusing. Several other men older than us did come with their beach mistresses which made us both jealous.

Evanston, July 22

2006-07-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned yesterday, my original strategy was to skip yesterday and swim today with smaller waves. Fortunately I ditched the strategy because the waves were bigger today, the 3 to 5 foot variety. They were slightly more organized, but still basically wind waves. Today we swam at Lighthouse beach which is better known as a body surfing beach. Again, out and back, but this time back had some punch. We actually found some waves to ride. Water was 71. It turned out to be a nice beach day, although somewhat windy. When we left the water our friend Rich, who hangs out on weekends at this beach, was there so we sat with him for a while. Again the lifeguards did "open the water" but only after first testing it to see if the waves were rideable.

Evanston, July 21

2006-07-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

I have been gone for a week and was impatient about getting back in the lake. But yesterday it thundered all morning. In the afternoon I checked the NOAA web site and it predicted big north-northeast winds this morning focusing all the waves in the lake on our little beach, 4 to 6 feet. So reluctantly I called Mike and suggested we wait until Saturday which looked better, but still not good.

So I went to the pool for the 6AM swim. There was little wind and partly sunny skies, it looked like a beach day. So I only swam a warmup, came home and called Mike and said we gotta get to the beach. He agreed. And I was right, the waves were only of the 1 to 2 foot variety. They were disorganized wind waves, not nice swimming waves, and Mike thinks today was harder than July 4, but I didn't think they were so bad. We didn't even get much of a push on the way back. Water is now 72.

We planned to have a quick cup of coffee and head back but the sun came out, sort of. So we went on the beach and it was fairly pleasant. We noticed someone swimming by the bouys doing a side stroke, it looked like one of the regulars but when we looked again a short time later he had disappeared. He certainly had not gotten out of the water. I decided we better investigate and so I first went to check out the most benign possibility, that he swam around the wall. That turned out to be correct, he was part swimming, part walking towards Chicago. But he had a long way to go for someone of his swimming ability so I watched from the wall and Mike came and joined me. About 200 yards down he headed towards the rocks and small illegal beach and got out of the water. Mike noticed he did not seem to have a suit on, on further inspection I agreed he was completely nude. After walking down the beach a bit he found his clothes in the rocks so we went back to our chairs, excitement over.

We waited until the guards came out to see if they would "open the water". They did so we went in and tried to ride some waves, but they were too small both vertically and horizontally so it was hopeless.

Evanston, July 13

2006-07-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

Today the northeast pattern is about over. Just some mild swells with a little wind chop on top. Mostly clear skies, warm. Mike felt a cold breeze from the lake when we arrived and decided that the water must be cold. So he wore his heavy cap. I disagreed and wore a light one. The water was actually 70, so he was the unhappy one. Other than that a nice, fast swim to the wall and back. Unfortunately I had to catch a plane so we couldn't stay at the beach. I'll be gone for a week so probably no posts for now unless I unexpectedly find some open water.

Evanston, July 12

2006-07-13T04:21:00.000-07:00

A period of bad weather, lots of east, northeast winds, has kept us from the lake. It is not quite over this morning. More northeast winds and, since I have already done a half mile warmup in the pool, we do an "out and back". The waves look very tame from the shore but, as always, they look a lot larger from the water level swimmers view. But in fact, for once, the shore view is more accurate. These waves are fairly tame and we both miss the expected boost on the way back. Water is still about 69 F.

We are not in a hurry so we linger on the beach with Mike's coffee. There is a cool wind in our face and we are wearing windbreakers over our suits. We are alone on the beach. At 10:30 a lifeguard comes and stands silent guard over us protecting us from the lake creatures or whatever that might attack us on the sand. It is rather weird. But not as weird as the lady we meet on the street with a shih-tzu being towed behind her in a bike trailor.

Evanston, July 8

2006-07-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

Today we are late. We don't get in the water until just before 10, time for a quick halfway swim before the guards are out, and if they are early we might get yelled at. They are not today, so we can do a little extra around the sanctioned swim area. The water is flat and warm, 69-70 with about 8 feet underwater visibility. I switched to a latex cap and Mike was capless so it was just about perfect. We were not in a great hurry so we enjoyed one of the great beach days of the summer. Before we left we went into the "open" water under the watchful eyes of the lifeguards. I found some sort of frisbee under the water and we tossed that around for about half an hour.

Added later: Apparently while we were having fun playing in the water only a short distance to the south the Chicago beaches were all closed due to E-Coli. We haven't had so many closures this summer, largely due to the fact that the amount of permissible E-Coli was increased by a factor of 4. But it seems that there was still too much. One action Chicago has taken is to hire dogs to chase away birds and water fowl who foul the water. Somehow this outbreak did not affect Evanston, at least not today.

Evanston, July 7

2006-07-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

An earlier swim today. The water was almost flat, some very small swells but no wind ripples at all. The water was 69 and felt very nice, except Mike complained that it was too warm for our thermal caps, and I agreed. A pleasant swim to the wall and back. Even though we swam through the 9:00 hour no sighting of "das Boot", unlike two days ago when we had to delay our start until the lifeguard boat left the area. It was a nice day be we had stuff to do so we had to leave the beach shortly after our swim.