The pilgrimage out to L1 hit a snag on Saturday morning when I saw standing water at the base of the stairway leading into the pedestrian tunnel. I’m not sure if this was due to heavy rains or a broken pipe (or both), but it was a really killjoy at 7:00am.
After a brief deliberation, I threw caution to the wind and waded through the mess after removing my shoes and rolling up my sweatpants. There was one unsettling moment about three quarters of the way through where the murky water abruptly reached the bottom of my kneecaps. But fortunately this lasted only a few yards.
I came out on the other side a much wiser man and immediately hightailed it to the lake to rinse off the unspeakable biofilm on my lower extremities. At that point, I got another surprise – the lake temp had dropped to 52.4F. So for better or worse, it looks like the Fall Turnover had begun!
We had a great turnout for such an overcast and blustery morning – eight total swimmers braved the elements to feed their open water addiction. We waited around until the official sunrise time of 7:13am and then began to gear up for our entry into the chilly and choppy lake.
I went in with just my jammers again, but I did double up on my noggin with a silicone swim cap and a neoprene cap. This made a huge difference as it retained a lot of heat and made the ½ mile swim a lot more comfortable. I also slathered on some shea butter on my torso and arms, and this really helped out as well.
When I got back to L1, I changed back into my civilian clothes right away as I could already feel the afterdrop closing in. But fortunately, it was much milder than I expected – likely because I had done my cold shower prep a few hours earlier.
Overall, another great morning at the beach – and likely the last OWC swim of 2018 above the 50F line!
An unexpected obstacle
Autumn moon
The late October crew
Lake Monster sighting!
Post-swim
The sun finally makes an appearance!
