Autumn closed its dark gray grip over Indian Summer on Sunday – but not before we got in a swim in all the sunshine!
Four of us met out at L1 just before 7:00am. The lake temp came in at 62.0F (official in-swim reading), and the air temp was a tolerable 60F. But we had a sustained and rather cutting wind from the southeast that made things seem very brisk out at the ole’ swim site. Plus, to keep things lively, Lake Michigan gave us some vigorous chops just to let us know who was boss!
I went with just my swim cap and jammers, and the initial immersion was a bit of a jolt. I tried to assuage this by taking a cold shower about one hour earlier, but my ability to properly thermoregulate has been somewhat compromised by the nightly squalls of Hurricane Joseph. Nevertheless, the chill wore off after about a minute, and I started my swim south.
I did 1/2 mile total in the surprisingly clear lake, and I was even able to find a rhythm in the heavy chops. Overall, it was quite an enjoyable experience with the glorious October sun streaming in from the east.
But the best part was that the clouds didn’t move in until just after we had gotten out of the water. So we were able to escape the clutches of Old Man Autumn one more time (probably our last)!
Dawn colors
Sunrise!
Into the chops!
Views from water level
The geese have discovered our swim spot
mmm… do you like the new two tone paint job on ole Ladder #1 ?. I finely got a good second coat of orange on it and two coats of white on the bottom to make it stand out . I was hoping to add two more coats of white paint on ladder 2 but the waves kept rolling in. I hope this ceramic motor paint will easily last all winter