Despite the wind, rain, and rigorous swells, we managed to get in a 1/2 mile to the beach – current assisted of course!
Daryl, Obed, and I met out at L1 6:15am and stashed all of our gear at the Chess Pavilion. My shoes and socks were already soaked through thanks to a rogue swell that caught me napping while I was taking the lake temperature. But it did give me an unplanned opportunity to get a feel for the water temperature – and it was surprisingly pretty warm!
The official temperature (in-swim) came in at just over 66F. That was at least 10F higher than the air temperature, so it was actually much more pleasant in the lake. And while the swells were a bit vigorous, it was fairly easy to swim to Oak Street Beach as long as one didn’t get too close to the side wall. Plus we had all the the wave force pushing us south – so we weren’t really expending much energy during the swim.
The real challenge, as expected, was the last 100 meters. We cut in towards the center of the beach in order to avoid “Hell’s Corner,” and that turned out to be a wise choice!
Daryl and I stayed at the beach a bit and did some body surfing on some of the larger waves. After that, I decided to tackle the surf from the other direction and swim north against the current for a while. But I got out after 1/8 mile since it was much more taxing than going south!
We decided to call it a day at that point, and we walked back to L1 – just as the sun was starting to peak out from behind the clouds!
L1 at sunrise
In-swim pics
At Oak Street Beach
The sun finally comes out!
Today’s video clips: