After taking an especially vigorous beating from Old Man Winter these past few months, it was an utter joy to show up at our favorite swim spot knowing that there is now more daylight than darkness and that the lake temperature is within a paltry 0.6F of cracking the 40F ceiling. Plus we couldn’t have asked for a more calm lake!
Three of us made it out to L1 just before the official sunrise time. We didn’t get a full-on show since we had overcast skies to the east. But the sun did poke through enough holes in the clouds to give us a pleasant backdrop.
Emboldened by our luck, we made a respectable dent in our infamous pre-swim procrastination and got in the water fairly quickly. I went with a fullsuit, hood, gloves, and booties again, and I was more than comfortable in the 36.4F lake. I went past the 1/8 mile point until I was almost to Schiller Street before turning back – so roughly 1/4 mile and some change.
I didn’t waste any time after getting out of the lake, but that turned out to be unnecessary as I didn’t experience any afterdrop at all in the downright balmy 42.F air temperature. This, more than anything else, tells me that Spring has officially arrived!
