Saturday August 20th, 5:00am

 

 Wahoo, we are off in the mini to Lake Willoughby for a 4.75 mile point to point race, Jeff and I zip along the windy Vermont back roads with the Kayak on top, we make excellent time and arrive 20 minutes early at North beach, another fabulous day has been ordered up, it is shaping up to be excellent conditions in the deepest lake in Vermont. I reflect on last years swim, my time was 2 hours, 9 minutes and 50 seconds and I distinctly remember getting cold along with losing power in my stroke, ” time to put my cold water training to the test”, I think.

 We gather at North Beach, Phil the race director gives us the go ahead to drive up to the south end of the beach, ” you will start from the south end, 9am sharp, North Eastern time, that’s maybe 5 minutes before, maybe 5 minutes after”. Jeff and I head up to South Beach in the mini, Jeff unloads the kayak, I get all I want during the swim ready, 2 feeds of Maxim, spare goggles and my teany tiny Mini Mouse. We are all set up on the shore, we wait.

A MERRY SEND OFF

 I am thrilled to have some well wishers to send me off, Ron and Ann arrive from Colchester, it is there 17th wedding anniversary and they have come to Lake Willoughby as part of the day’s celebration, lucky me, Jeff has headed back down to the other end of the lake, he is going to leave the mini there for the finish,  Ron has kindly agreed to drive him back, but will there be time? Again, only time will tell.

WHERE ARE OUR KAYAKERS

 10 minutes before 9:00am, Deb arrives back to the beach, she and ” cat Stanley” are kayaking  for Paula, I am relieved to see her back, I have been worrying about her, PHEW…… but still no Jeff, I start to consider my options should he not make it in time for the start of the race…

1. Talk to the starter, ” excuse me what time is the start,  my kayaker is not here yet”, I say, ” 3 minutes”, she shouts the reply so all can hear, “3 minutes to race start”…. OK delaying the race start not an option, eighty six that idea.

2. Option number 2, I wait at the beach for Jeff and start after the other swimmers when he arrives, “EERRRRR”, the  buzzer sounds in my head, bad idea and a SLOW idea, I am not one to sit on the shore and watch

3. Option number 3, I wade out with the other swimmers without a kayak and start alongside the 16 year old swimmer who was crowned champion at the 10 mile Greater Kingdom Lake swim last month, with a  blistering fast time, she is said to be the fastest of swimmers, I will swim with her at the start and when Jeff arrives I will settle into my pace alongside the kayak, DONE, this is my plan B.

I hand off my towel and flip flops to Ann, wish Noel and Betty farewell, ” tell Jeff to come find me, I’ll be the one in the blue cap”, and with that I wade into the water. The start horn sounds and we are underway.

In the water everything feels great, I swim out strong and enjoy the feeling of racing through the water, there are 2 swimmers off to my right, 16 year old speedster and wetsuit guy, I don’t want to settle into my pace until Jeff arrives so I continue to swim hard and fast, what fun the thrill of opening up all the cylinders, I am enjoying myself. A short time later I see Jeff and his black and white baseball cap to the right of this little lead pod, “wonderful” I think, now I can move on over and rely on Jeff for navigation, easier said than done, this little pod seems to be attached to me like glue and has no interest in breaking up or moving over, my only choice is to power ahead, when I clear them from my side I cut over and pull alongside Jeff, ” hey bud, good to see you”, I send him the message with my best mental telepathy. I start settling into a rhythm and notice 16 year old speedster is still sitting tight behind me,  wetsuit guy has long dropped back and it is me and this talented young swimmer, I reflect over the start, ” worked out great to swim out fast with this  swimmer, it should set me up for a personal best time”.

 

I begin to think about my next feed, ” no 30 minute feed for me Jeff, I’ll take a feed at one hour and one hour and 30 minutes only”, I had told Jeff earlier this morning, I am starting to wish for a 30 minute feed, I feel thirsty, I swim on. My 25 minute pickup comes along and 16 year speedster is still swimming right there with me I can feel her on my toes, I have long settled into my race pace, hard but not unmanageable, my heart rate is under control and my stroke rate 70 to 74 strokes per minute, I move right towards the boat, 16 year old speedster follows.

Feed time arrives, 15 seconds Gulp and Go and we are off again, the carb drink kicks right in, I feel strong, I complete a scan of my body, my face feels hot, my strokes feel long and I notice how much more powerful I feel compared to one year ago, I am pleased. Jeff and I continue on, he brings out Mini Mouse and I laugh, he rocks the kayak from side to side, I look puzzled, he pulls on his race number, it gets stuck on his cap, I laugh, what an entertaining time I am having thanks to Jeff, ” I wonder if he knows he is making me laugh”, I think, I am jolted back by a hand hit, speedster is back, this time alongside close…..

We swim on,  speedster pulls alongside and like a slingshot swims past me and off to my right, I swim on solo looking forward to my 1.5 hour feed, if you could drool in the water that would be me, I am so looking forward to my next feed, finally it arrives and I gulp down my maxim, my eyes are scanning, I can see the houses close to the north end of the beach, WOW could I be near the finish and could I break 2 hours?. No time to ask, Jeff shouts, you’re nearly there SPRINT IT.

Crikey Dick, I think, (in Kiwi this means Holy Smoke) and with that I jump into my ” I am swimming to shore pace”, and I swim to shore, and I swim to shore and I swim to shore….still no shore, I continue on but slow my stroke rate slightly and add more power to each pull,” much better and more efficient”, I think, I am pleased with the adjustment and control.

OK, busted, I did peek, I lift up my head, ” still a good 1000 meters to go”, head back down and I continue to swim, such trickery from the Lake it looks so shallow, like I am already there, I can see when I breathe to my right that the beach is atleast a few 100 meters, so I swim on the bottom is so close, it’s teasing me, ” hey look, you can stand if you want to, go on do it, stand , do it, OK if you are not going to stand then take a little looksie, GO ON”, Yip that lake was talking to me all right, trying to wear me down, ” I am not going to listen”, and with that I look up, “DARN tricked by the lake”, I put my head back down and swim onwards, I can see speedsters boat finishing, ” under 2 hours, come on sprint it” and I do, I come out of the water and begin to run, too slow, I drop in and swim a few more stroke, my hands scraping the bottom, then I am up again, striding out of the water and over the finish line, ” 1 hour, 56 minutes and 36 seconds”, my arms go up, I am pleased.

A WONDERFUL WELCOME

" The Girls", what a wonderful welcome from Bridget and Cara, Bridget is holding Baby Aurora, Cara's 3 month old baby girl.

 I am treated to a big hug from Ann, Bridget and Cara, Ron is taking a video and then it is off to thank Jeff for the wonderful support and ask him what does this mean…….. I stand with the paddle demonstrating a jostling of the paddle from side to side, we all laugh.

 Next up I go off in search of 16 year old speedster, to shake her hand, she finished in a time of 1 Hour 53 minutes and 39 seconds, ” congratulations, great swim”, I say with a handshake. Next up time to get some dry clothes and my camera, there are more swimmers finishing and I want to be there when Paula, Ernie and Jody all cross the finishing line.

So was I faster this year, YES, I finished in second place in the non wetsuit division and a whopping 16 minutes and 21 seconds faster than last year….HOORAY

What’s up Next?

 There is word that the flamingo is rallying together with a few swimmer scouts for an International Swim, the length of Lake Memphramagog from the USA to Canada, 26 miles, in search of Mempre.

 Closing Thought:

Determine what you want to accomplish and lock your mind on what it takes to achieve that task or goal. Think about the path to success rather than thinking about the obstacles in your way.

                                          -Coach Terry Horn, Burlingame, CA

 

COULD IT BE TIME TO RACE AGAIN?

 Yes, well nearly, Sunday August 20th I am entered in a 4.75 mile point to point lake race, for some a taper would be in order, for me it is a  week of training.

After the Boston Light swim I enjoy a Sunday rest day, with that done it is back to swimming starting with Monday, 6:o0am swimming in the pool, I feel good, but ( I was told that if you say ” but”  you are discounting the thing you just said), ….so let’s pick up at the BUT again……I feel good swimming, ” but”  when I try to put the “pedal on the medal ” there is little to nothing there, I am tapped out. After the first 200  meters I move to the back of the line of swimmers and after the next few 200’s I move out of my regular lane and into the lane next door which has a slower swim speed. I muddle through the workout, hit the shower and dress ready to teach a 60 minute fitness class of cardio and strength training, then into the fitness room for strengthtraining. The day rolls on and concludes with a 4:30pm Yoga class, that feels great, I feel a little closer to being back to myself.

BACK TO THE LAKE

 Tuesday morning rolls around, I am up at 6:00am, the rain is teaming down, ” might be a good day to bust out the thermos and hot chocolate for after my swim”, I think as I glance out the window at the rain sheeting down in the dark. Into the car and off to the Reservior, I meet Deb, and we head to the waters edge, step by step I edge deeper into the water, withall the rain the temperature has dropped, I slide under the surface and begin my 2 hour swim in the pouring rain, I am miserable. The rain doesn’t let up, we are swimming down to picnic island today and also to Little Italy, ” not too bad, nothing hurts, my stroke feels relaxed, this is going to be OK”, I give myself a little pep talk and with that swim merrilyon, one feed down, around the island, swim, swim, swim, then I see Deb giving me the thumbs up sign, ” not sure what she wants me to do”, I think to myself and swim on, I work hard to ” appear” as if I am giving a little bit more effort, I don’t think it is very convincing. Feed number 2 arrives, normally Deb counts the seconds it takes for me to down my feed, while I am chugging the rain is pelting my face, Deb is drenched, I am watching  as she ditches the counting to tell me something instead, she is  using hand motions along with her flow of words, chatter, chatter, chatter, is all I hear, finally she stops talking, I lower my feed cup and grin mischievously, ” you know I heard none of the that” and with that I swim off laughing, ha, ha, ha , ha , ha, then my head goes down into the murky water and the hahahas turn into bubbles.

 We wrap up the swim with a sprint to the canoe launch and me sucking down 3 or 4 Jelly Babies, ” you were way off today, your stroke count was as low as 64 strokes per minute”, Deb says, ” I thought that was the case, that’s all I had in today, a recovery swim for sure”, we both laugh and go about dragging all the gear back to the car.

 WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

 Wednesday, same time, up early and off to the lake, what a different day, today it is the most beautiful morning I recall, like a reward for enduring the miserable conditions of yesterday, this is a stunning morning, fog on the water, the water itself is glass like and the sunrise luminates the sky, in a  warm orange water color way, magical. The swim itself is short, one hour and 22 minutes, I am back to my old punchy self in the water, and inhale my jelly babies at the end of the swim.

 FISH AS BIG AS YOU WILL GRAB YOUR ARM AND DRAG YOU UNDER

Thursday, another 2 Hour swim and another outstanding day, Deb is paddling and we make quick work of the course, as usual Deb gives my the “sprint your TAIL OFF” signal a few hundred meters out from the canoe in and I go about thrashing my way into the shore as fast as I can, the faster I swim the better practiced I will be to battle the tides and the sooner I get my Jelly Babies, my end of swim treats. I don’t stop pulling hard until my hand touches the bottom, I always sprint til I bottom out, I want it ingrained in my head, BAM, there is it the rocks, I pull up and then dolphin dive over to Den and the kayak out, she knows and has already got my Jelly Baby cup out and ready, ” what color do you want”,  Deb asks, ” I’ll take him, and his little friend too”, I reply witha sly smile, I inhale them both witha pile of fishing gear, the other is about to push off, they are looking quite wide eyed, I am not sure if they are puzzled by me or Deb and the kayak, for fun Deb surprised me by putting on an aqua blue bobbed wig in the middle of our training, I howled with laughter and at my next feed went about putting the wig on ” cat stanely”, who wore it for the rest of the swim and into the canoe launch, he looked quite embarrassed but still stood proud at the front of the boat.  What a sight we all must look, I lift my eyes only above the water and wave, a funny little side to side wave, half in the water and half out and then I swim towards then and start to walk out……” we left you a couple of fish in there”, I say, ” Awwww, there  fish longer than your body and bigger than your 22 pounds this lake”, he replies to me, ” watch out, they’ll grab your arm, and drag you to the other end of the lake and leave you there”, he says, ” well you guys have a great fishing day and keep out of mischief”, I say witha grin, ” there’s 154 years of trouble right here in this boat”, he says and with that he pushes off the canoe and the two of them are off, all I can hear is a spout of stories following them as they motor away, I do hope I see them again soon, they are a riot.

 TRAINING DONE, NEXT A REST DAY

 A day off from training on Friday, after work I go about packing up for tomorrows race at Lake Willoughby, 9:30pm all packed up and time for some stretching and foam roller massage, 10:15pm off to bed and thoughts of tomorrow’s swim, ” I wonder if I will be faster than last year, I know my feeds are faster and I have many more miles under my belt, time will tell” I ponder the thought as I drift off to a sleep filled with thoughts of the Channel.

 Will I set a personal best crossing Lake Willoughby, I’ll keep you posted

Closing Thought:

 Isn’t it something how a smile can break the ice, when the fishermen and I first locked eyes there was a standoffish feel in the air, one could say we were from different worlds, with a little wave and smile we shared our love of the water and found we were from the same world, the here and now world.

  “Reach out , if you don’t you will never discover the hidden gems “

                                                                                                                  -Charlotte J Brynn

 READY TO PLAY

 That’s what I was thinking as I opened my eyes at 3:45am this morning, I awoke before the alarm, I always do, I have some weird internal time clock that senses it is time for me to kick it into to gear, today as usual I am fully awake and alert well before the ring of my alarm. No time to spare, I leap out of bed and go about mixing my 6 servings of Maxim, then pull the “Potato Bomb” out of  the refrigerator and into my feed tub, from there I choke down a banana sandwich, a Lara Bar and bottle of water, I also toss 2 peanut butter sandwiches into my swim bag, one for Jeff and one for me. By now Jeff has also stirred, he has a ” is it really time for another swim”, look on his face, but as always is a terribly good sport about it, he heads off to find coffee while I suit up, next a generous dosing of sun lotion and warm clothes, there ready.

 4:45am we leave the hotel, I fill my thermos on the way out the door, into the car, 10 minutes later we are at the Boston Harbor Yacht club. As we walk towards the dock it is still dark, other swimmers and crew are milling around, there is a buzz in the air, I feel the energy and anticipation, I am EXCITED.

 Brrring Briing, at 5:15am my phone shouts out, ” Hey Charlotte answer me, come on answer me, I think it’s Frank, you know your boat driver, Brrring, Bring”, ” Hi, this is Charlotte”, I answer, my demanding know it all Blackberry is right, it is Frank, ” Hi it’s Frank, where do you want me to go”,  “where are you?”, I ask, as I am waving my arm, Frank sees me, ” pull into the dock, we will meet you”. Frank pulls up and ties up his fishing boat, he jumps onto the dock and grabs my outstretched hand, ” Hi, I’m Charlotte and this is my husband Jeff, thanks for being here and being up for the adventure today…and I am SO pleased you know the Boston Harbor well”, I say, Frank replies, ”  I don’t know the Harbor that well, I just moved from Alaska”. ” Oh Dear”, I think as I walk up the plank  to check in and get my race number.

 I go about checking in, there is a line of swimmers, all chatting about the upcoming dip…, ” what is the farthest you have swum?”, ” what temperature do you train in?”, ” what was your last race?”, all sorts of questions are coming my way, I quietly reply as accurately as I can…. my last big swim was last week, it was around 17 miles of swimming, the few swimmers listening look rather wide eyed, then the subject turns to water temperature,” have you been in water this cold?”, “well yes some”, I reply, I talk a little of the Irish waters in the 50s and then decide it might be best to keep quiet, and I do.

 Race numbers go on, mine is number 14, then I get handed a dive flag for the boat and a race number, it is a white flag with the number 14, off down the plank I go to bring the flags to Frank and Jeff.

  We load into the boat and begin to motor away from the South Boston Yacht Club, the other boats follow suit, what a pretty site as the sun is rising, we swimmers are preparing for battle.

 I am pleased about many things this morning but the  things I am most pleased about at the moment are:

1. That as we motor from the finish line to the start I will be able to study the landmarks in the harbor to look for during the swim

2. That during the 45 minute ride I can down some Advil, swallow my 500 mls of warm Maxim and stuff down the best part of my peanut butter sandwich, a busy little boat ride!

3. That I can share with Frank my plan of feeding every 30 minutes and which side I prefer the boat when I swim

 We head out towards the harbor weaving through the Boston Islands, I begin firing out my plan of attack to Frank, ” I like the boat on my right side, I feed every 30 minutes, it is great when the boat is right alongside me, tougher when it is in front, when I sprint I tend to pull left, don’t follow me I will adjust back to you”, as I am rattling away Frank has a ” and what are you going to do if that plan goes up the creek without a paddle”, look on his face, he politely says nothing, I slow my speech and say with a smile… ” of course that is just the plan and things rarely go to plan, as a backup we just roll with it”, his face relaxes, so does mine and I find out he was joking about just moving from Alaska, he knows these waters like the back of his hand, I like Frank and I trust him.

 Not only does Frank know the boat and the harbor well, he is also armed with the best tidbits of history about the area, he knows each and every island, Jeff and I are treated to a tour, that little pile of rocks used to be an island, legend has it that they gibbeted a pirate there and he cursed the island causing it to sink. How strange, pirates? Yes, Pirates, there were numerous pirates in the New England area, in some instances Pirates caught were gibbeted, this means they were hung in chains on an Island in a cage, sending a message to other wood be pirates, ” this is what awaits Pirates in the waters of Boston Harbor, BEWARE PIRATES BEWARE!”

 We motor on, throughout the journey Frank is pointing out the 8 Islands we will pass by on our course, and then we approach the Boston Light on Little Brewster Island, even from a distance the light house commands a presence, breathtaking…

 

 One by one other boats begin to arrive, I glance at my watch 6:25am, time to grease up and apply another layer of sun lotion, I put my cap and goggles on, then sun lotion, finally Jeff smears me with lanolin, ” an extra hit on my neck please”, I request, during the Champlain swim the left side of my neck rubbed raw and I don’t want a repeat performance. All done and still 10 minutes to spare, I decide to down one of my feeds while I wait, I have already had the 500ml pre swim serving but figure I will slide down another 300 mls for good measure.

 So now I wait, the 5 minute warning horn sounds, I complete on last check, ” oops I can’t believe I nearly forgot my earplugs”, I grab them out of my bag and push them into my ears, until last year I didn’t wear ear plugs,but once the cold water swimming started I found them to help reduce the heat loss in my head by keeping the cold water out of my ear canals, even if just by a bit… I found it to make a difference. Ear plugs in CHECK, READY TO JUMP.

 SWIM, SWIM FAST

 All the boats are asked to move back parallel with Boston Light and the red buoy for the start, Frank is already there, a few boats edge back, there is a 50 to 75 yard gap between the first and last boat, we are the last, Greg talked about this during the race meeting,” unrealistic to line up over 20 boats side by side, jump in where you are, 50 yards is nothing over 8 miles”, all the same we are by far the last boat in the pack, Frank turns to me and says ” would you like me to move forward a bit?”, he edges forward a few yards and then the horn blasts and I am gone…OVERBOARD. ” Here goes”, I think as I hit the water, it feels GOOD.

SWIM SKINNY PENGIUN SWIM

 ” The current will be with you for the first mile or so”, said Greg in the race meeting, ” the water will be coldest at Boston Light and will get warmer when you near the shore”, ” the fastest swimmers will reach the bridge at around 1.5 hours”, ” tell you family and friends to come to the beach to cheer you in, swimmers will finish after 3.5 to 5 hours”. I have all the race information stored in my head, I have the pictures of the islands and the bridge in my head, I armed with all I need for a terrific swim. I pull hard with every stroke, long strong strokes, my body feels toasty warm, including my hands and feet, ” this is very good”, I say to myself, very quickly it becomes clear that I will have to do some weaving in and out of other swimmers and their support boats, we have been told that the swimmers and boats in front have the right of way, so I sight to lay out a clear path, a pick up of speed and I move past the swimmer in front, Frank and Jeff follow me, I am having fun, it is like being at a race track. Soon the pack starts to disperse and with that the boat wakes lessen, Jeff waves my feed bottle at me, it is time to eat, ” wow how can 30 minutes be up already’, I think to myself, I am in such a good rhythm I really don’t want to stop but I know keeping fueled is important, it will help keep my speed up and keep me warm. Down goes the Maxim, a quick gulp’n go, no talking and I am off.

 Off I swim once more, I can feel the speed due to the generous push of the current behind me, ” I have to maximise this as much as I can, as soon as I cross under the bridge there will be a cross current pushing me away off course, time to make hay while the sun shines”, I swim on, feed number 2 down, I am aware of boat wakes around me and a small chop in the water, but for the most part to Harbor is calm, “how lucky am I”, I feel grateful and peppy.

 THE BRIDGE

 1.5 Hours, my feed time once more and before me is the bridge, “this is very good”, I think, we have been warmed that the bridge is very shallow on the sides and the boats will not fit, they will need to leave their swimmers and motor under the third column out, swimmers are best to cut the corner tight and go under the first or second column. On I swim and edge closer to the bridge, Jeff and Frank motor away and I swim on ALONE. There is another swimmer up ahead, I set my sights on him and swim hard to catch him,” I am going to swim by him under the bridge”, I pull up parallel to swimmer and am ready to settle in but notice that he is cutting the island closer than I am comfortable with, I pull ahead and swim a little wider, a good thing too as I slice my fingers on the sharp rocks under the bridge, OUCH!

  Out I swim from under the bridge, I kick it up another notch, this is the cross current stretch and where  the commuter boats buzz to and from, on I swim, pull, pull, pull, breathe, pull, pull, pull, breathe, where are they, where is the boat, I feel vulnerable being unmanned, like a sitting duck, ready to be run down by the next boat. What I don’t see is that Jeff and Frank have me in their sights along with a strong presence of the police and coast guard, any time a boat comes in the direction the siren sounds and the load speaker blares out ” Swimmers in the water, stop your vessel”, I swim on oblivious to all the commotion. The one boat that does not head the caution is the lobster boat, they are pulling up their traps come hell of high water and they do, right by me, tossing the small lobsters back in….” think Charlotte could toss us a few in the boat?”, Frank says to Jeff, we all motor on.

 Feed number 4 is the “Potato Bomb”, true to form this homemade concoction pumps me up, I feel GREAT, I feel STRONG, I am going to make it, I can see myself feeling the sand on the bottom and striding up the beach to the finish line, I know I am going to make it. 2.5 Hours and I am already well past the 2 Islands nearest to the beach, I remember studying the map, 2 miles to shore from these 2 islands, that means I am less than about 1 to 1.5  miles from the finish, there is still plenty of gas in the tank, I imagine I am racing the 1500 meters in the New England Championships, long, steady, strong strokes….it’s all on. As I breathe to the side I see moored boats and yachts, close now, I want to look up in the worst possible way, ‘ head down and swim” I command my mind, ” Jeff’s getting my feed ready, must be close to 3 hours, maybe I’m not near the finish after all, maybe one quick peak, NO, head down and swim” I command myself again. Jeff signals a feed, I sight ” if I can see the orange finish buoys I ditch the feed and sprint HARD”, I raise my head slightly as I stroke, “YES,the finish, 500 meters maybe a 1000, GO, GO, GO, DRIVE, DETERMINATION….NOW!” I swim on, Frank looks excited that we are going for it. Pull, Pull, Pull, Breathe, Pull, Pull, pull, Breathe, past the buoys, turn towards the beach and there it is, that feeling of the sweet sand under my hands, the stand I had been visualizing in my head, YES!

 Not over yet I still have to get out of the water, often after hours in the water when you go to stand up your legs don’t quite want to respond to the instructions from your brain, today I get my feet under me and stand up first try, not bad, I clear the water and relax, everyone on the beach is shouting, Greg the race director shouts ” up here”, oops I don’t have to simply clear the water, this is a race with a finish line, RUN!”  Up the finish shoot I run, ” first women in”, I hear and my time, 3 hours, 6 minutes and 50 seconds, next thing I know there is a medal around my neck and I am being lined up for my finish photo, I smile ” CLICK. Check out the race photos here……. https://picasaweb.google.com/117623331366365790793/BLS2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCKHL7O7pqryA6QE&feat=email#slideshow/5640462403067850514

ON THE BEACH

 On the beach is a wonderful spread of drinks and snacks, I chat to the first finisher Matthew McKay, he swam in in a time of  2 hours, 41 minutes and 17 seconds , outstanding. Then I rinse off under the cold outdoor shower and cheer on the swimmers as they arrive on the beach. One by one the swimmers land, one relay team of 4 swimmers arrive together and put on an impressive show by swimming butterfly in for the last 20 yards, it looks rugged. I get to welcome in Dave, he is the swimmer who connected me with Frank, my boat driver, Frank and Dave’s driver are fishing buddies, I later hear from Jeff that they jockeyed back and forth during the swim…..” Hey where are you guys?’, Frank would ask, ‘ What are you doing back there, we are done”, he would joke, we weren’t done, Frank was just winding him up, ” hey we didn’t come out here for a boat tour you know, we are racing”, Frank would gab them again, the phone rings, it is Frank’s buddy ” what do we have to do to drive Charlotte next year?”, they all laughed.

 There is one more story that made me laugh, after I jump in at the start of the race, Frank turns to Jeff and says ” now that she’s out of ear shot it’s safe to tell you my buddy pulled an eight foot shark out from here a few days ago”, if that made Jeff nervous, he didn’t show it,  he knows me I would have jumped in anyway, ” the only use I would be to a shark would be as a tooth pick”, I tell Jeff.

 The swimmers are all back except for one, and then we see the last swimmer, he stumbles up the beach like he is drunk, over the finish line and wrapped up in an emergency blanket,” the cold got him”, I think to myself. He is helped into a chair, I can see the involuntary shaking of his body and ashen color of his face, he looks awful, it looks very familiar, me less than one month ago, I know he will be OK, but all the same I feel for him.

 I visit with swimmers here and there and meet a terrific swimmer originally from Ireland, ” what  top rate people and place” I tell Moria, we chat about open water swimming and soon it is time to say farewell, ” I’ll just be a minute”, I say to Jeff and with that I dash off to thank Greg the race director and after that quietly over to the heroic last finisher who is still battling with his  hypothermia, ” Great job today, you were awesome, well done” , and with that we were gone.

Closing Thought:

 One who has heart has hope, one who has hope has everything

– Arabian Proverb

What’s Coming Up: Back to Vermont, recovery and then prepare for…..could it be another race? YES August 20th Lake Willoughby, Vermont 4.75 Miles in a narrow, deep Lake, how will the preparations go? I’ll keep you posted

August 12th, 2011

   Up early today, it is time for another adventure, on the schedule today is packing up for the 2011 Boston Light Swim and driving down to Boston, Massachusetts for the race meeting at 4:00am. I am excited, I have recovered from the outing on Lake Champlain last week, had some great training swims in the Green River Reservior and a luxurious rest day yesterday, I am bright eyed bushy tailed and ready to go.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN….

 I am determined to make the packing ordeal a little smoother this time around, I have a head start from getting much completed yesterday, this morning all I need to do is coordinate FOOD (very important ) and some money to pay Frank our boat driver for piloting the swim. Our scheduled departure time is 10:30am in order to avoid the rush hour traffic in Boston, essentially get through the Boston tunnell BEFORE 3:00pm. All is going very well as I potter around the house taking care of final details….swim gear packed, overnight bag packed, hypothermia bag packed, this is to go on the boat, if I am deemed unfit to continue swimming by the crew, they are to wrap me up with the stuff from this bag, in the bag is a blanket,  towel, woollen socks, hat, sweater and warm pants, finally there is the food…a bag for today, a bag for after the swim tomorrow and a fishing pole to feed me from during the swim. All done with time to spare. Time for 30 minutes of stretching and foam roller to relax and release my muscles and then into the shower to freshen up, dressed and ready…… I still have 30 minutes to spare, BRILLIANT.

 Well, I spoke too soon, the GPS Jeff and I planned to use did not materialize, thoughts of trips to past swims loom back into my head…” time for Map Quest”,I declare, I settle in front of the computer and try to rush to print directions….BAD IDEA, a rushed computer is a defiant computer and today mine slows down to a snails pace, if it could snigger and sneer it would, the faster I try to navigate the screen the more it locks up. Finally I print out directions to the hotel, directions to the race meeting and finally directions from the race meeting to the hotel, yip all the bases covered and still a few minutes to spare. I hit print and close down the screen, the printer kicks in, GREAT…… da da da, dddd, da, da, da, ddd, is the sound as the printer kicks out the paper, it then proudly kicks out a DA DA, after the last page spits out, “TERRIFIC”, I say, I swipe up the papers and put them in my ” Boston Light Swim” folder, it is then I see there is very little on the pages, you guessed it, out of ink, “NOOOOO”, I shout. Nothing to do but pull all the maps back up and email them to my phone, which I do, all the while the  clock is ticking…”tick, tick, tick, enjoy the pending sit in the boston tunnel” says my watch, with an ” I told you so”, look on it’s face. What time did we leave….11:45am.

 Out of town we drive and I am not too happy about the late start, poor Jeff can sense the tension in the air, a few miles pass by and I decide to evaulate the current situation, what’s the worst that can happen….  I may miss the race meeting, the meeting is mandatory, if I miss it I may not be allowed to swim, OK, if that is the worst I can handle that, if I am not permitted to swim I can still go to the race start and finish and cheer on the other swimmers, while they are out in the harbor I can swim close to shore and at get a cold water training swim in. I give it another meander over in my mind….” you know what would be worse than not being able to race tomorrow? That would be not letting this stress that I have created go, how miserable to be in a bad mood and not enjoy this time with Jeff and this next swimming adventure on the horizon, only I have the power to release myself from this twister of negative emotion that I have allowed myself to get engulfed in over the last hour”, and with that I make a mental choice, ” Enough is enough”, I think to myself, ” MOVE ON”, and I do.

 So on we motor, there is a new calmness in the car, the traffic begins to thicken up as we approach the outskirts of Boston at 2:30pm, ” looks like we are going to squeak through Boston just before rush hour”, I say to Jeff, as soon as I utter the words a  line of traffic appears out of nowhere and it is long, strings of cars for as far as the eyes can see, we are in a traffic jam. 2:45pm comes and goes as does 3:00pm, we make it into the Boston tunnell and 30 minutes later edge out the other side, fortunatly our exit is one of the first, exit 15, we make it and are round the turnabout and driving up to the community centre along the beach front by 3:40pm.

 Jeff parks and we unwind our pretzel shaped bodies out of the car, ” I want to put my feet in”, I say to Jeff, I gather up the race notes and a bottle of water and we head over the road to the beach, ” I wonder what this will feel like, it’s been a month since I was in the cool waters of Ireland”, I say to myself, ” will my body remember?”, it does, in go my feet, ankle, knees, as much as I can without soaking my shorts, it feels great, ” welcome home”, my body says to my brain, when my senses feel the cool water, it feels NICE!

 Off the beach and in to the meeting, an empty room except for 2 or 3 others ( looks like we made it in time after all), 1 by 1 swimmers and race volunteers arrive, I check in and pick up my race bag, then over for a before photo, next up the race meeting held by director Greg O’Conner, he starts off a welcome and a congratulations…” Welcome and congratulations, it is an accomplishment just being accepted to the Boston Light swim, there are only 20 of you selected, well done! “What a lovely way to put all of us at ease”, I think.  Next Greg gives us some history of the Boston Light Swim, ” this is the granddaddy of Open Water swims, it is the oldest open water event in America, the first swim was held in 1907″, I listen intently honored to be a part of this historical swim, ” just think, where I swim tomorrow people have been swimming annually for the last one hundred and four years, AMAZING”

THE BOSTON LIGHT SWIM

The first documented swim took place in 1907. Over the history of the event the race course has changed, but Boston Light has always played a part. The modern swim starts in the water at the foot of Boston Light on Little Brewster Island, swimmers snake their way past the Harbor Islands and 8 miles later finish at the L Street Bathhouse in South Boston.

In 1907 during the Old Home Week celebration three men attempted the swim from the Charlestown Bridge to Boston Light. The event was a ten mile race from Charlestown Bridge, east of Governor’s Island, west of Long Island, west of George’s Island, and finishing at Little Brewster Island where the nation’s first lighthouse was built in 1716. Samuel Richards and Commodore Alfred Brown dropped out while Louis Jacot went on to win the race.

On 30 July 1908 on Boston’s Revere Beach, Annette Kellerman plunged into the ocean determined to swim to and from the Boston Light. She gave up just yards short of the thirteen-mile finish, prompting a Boston Post reporter to proclaim: ‘Annette’s wonderful swim was far from being a disgrace’. It was one year earlier that Kellerman was arrested on a Boston beach for wearing a men’s one-piece swimsuit: the publicity helped to relax laws relating to women’s swimwear.

In 1909, Austrian Alois Anderle completed the Boston Lighthouse Marathon Swim. He started out with eight others following the same rout as the 1907 event. Anderle completed the last half mile in a severe thunderstorm with a time of 5:38. He was later disqualified for walking across an exposed sandbar at Nix’s Crag. The next year, 15 year old Rose Pitonof won the race with a time of 6 hours and 50 minutes. She was the first woman to compete the event. Her record stood for several years.

What a history, I am in awe of  the courage and strength of these pioneer swimmers, imagine going against the current of what is “proper” and taking the plunge into the ocean water.

Source: The Boston Light Swim Website www.bostonswim.org

BOSTON LIGHT

 Not only is the swim old, Greg tells us, but so is the light house, it is the oldest light house in Amercia first built in 1716 , it’s is also the last actively manned light house, ” what a fascinating place”, I think, I want to know more about this historical Brewster Ilsland and the light house that occuppies it, so I go on the hunt to find out more, here is what I uncover….

 Boston Light is located on Littlle Brewster Island, located in Boston Harbor, the first lighthouse to be built on the site dates back to 1716, the current lighthouse dates from 1783, and is the second oldest working lighthouse in the US

The first keeper, George Worthlake was paid  £50 a year, in 1718 he and his wife and daughter, with two men, were drowned when the lighthouse boat capsized as they were returning to the island from Boston. Young Benjamin Franklin, then a printer in Boston, wrote a ballad about the incident entitled “Lighthouse Tragedy”.

The pay of Keeper John Hayes was raised to £70 in 1718, in 1719 he asked “That a great Gun may be placed on Said Island to answer Ships in a Fogg” and one was supplied, these days the fog signal is 1 horn blast every 30 seconds.

In 1774 the British took over the island and in 1775 the harbor was blocked and the lighthouse became useless.  When the British left Boston, March 17, 1776, a number of their ships remained  in the harbor. Before sailing away, the British sent a boat ashore at Boston Light and left a time charge which blew up the lighthouse.

In 1783 a new lighthouse was built at a cost of  £1,450, this is the lighthouse that still stands today, when it was built it was 75 feet high( in 1856 the height of the tower was raised to 98 feet) and the octagonal lantern was 15 feet high and 8 feet wide. 

While Captain Tobias Cook of Cohasset was keeper in 1844 a “Spanish” cigar factory was set up on the island, with young girls brought from Boston to work in it, in an effort to deceive Boston smokers that the cigars manufactured there were imported. This business was soon broken up, however, as a fraud.

 Then there were the ship wrecks, the Maritana in 1861, after 38 days sailing from Liverpool the Captain rain into heavy seas, he approached Boston in a blinding snow storm, sighted Boston Light, headed for it but crashed on shag rocks soon after, the ship slit in two crushing the captain, fragments of wreckage came ashore both sides of Little Brewster Island. In 1882 Fanny Pike went ashore on Shag Rocks also the light keeper Thomas Bates rowed out and rescued the crew.

 What a history and this is a mere snippet, I am more excited than ever to swim from this light house that has seen so much history unfold, I suspect there is more history to uncover.

THE MEETING WRAPS UP

 The meeting moves on, “time to talk about safety”, says Greg, he continues to talk, “now don’t let the light house harbor buoy reading fool you, it may say 66 degrees now, over night it could shift to 58 degrees, it will be cold, you will get hypothermia and some of you will not finish the swim”,  “OK, no sugar coating there”, I think, I decide that tomorrow I will use speed and a good effort combined, “the faster I swim, the less time I will be in the water and the harder I work the warmer I will be able to keep my body”, done I decide, that is my race strategy, I am no longer racing others tomorrow, I am racing the elements. Greg concludes with the logistics of the course and the meeting times for the morning. With  the meeting is over, Jeff and I check out the dock where we will meet Frank our pilot at 5:15am tomorrow , we then head to the car, we are both hungry and ready to relax at the Hotel, the directions say 2.2 miles distance, ” that won’t take long, will it”, I say to Jeff, and that is the second time I have made a grossly inaccurate statement today!

 We get in the car at 5:00pm, there is traffic everywhere, the directions seems to say something like…” well continue on the road you are on, swerve left, then go slightly left, turn right at the street with no street name, be carefull it doesn’t really look like a street, drive straight for a bit, and you’ll see the hotel, CAN’T MISS IT” Well we did miss it and earned ourselves the prize of another trip through the dreaded Boston Tunnel, 1 hour and 45 minutes goes by, ” I need gas and to get out of this car”, announces Jeff, as I turn to look at his face I see a big pulsing vein in the side of his neck, ” Yes, what a good idea, why don’t you hop out of the car for a bit”, I reply, with that Jeff gets gas, he gets back in the car and we look at each other with a grin, ” let’s buy a GPS right now”, I say, “there’s a best buy right over there”, “right”, he says and guns it for the Best Buy, frightened shoppers scattering out of his way, ” I’ll wait in the car”, I say. A few minutes later he returns and thrusts the GPS in my lap, ” need directions?”, he asks, ” nope, I”m going to learn by doing”, I reply. I get the City, State , Street name and address in but the wretched thing will  not accept the zip code, I stubbornly persist and after the 4th attempt it takes….”Calculating Route”, our new GPS friend says,” continue to frontage road”, she says, “where is frontage road”, Jeff and I say together, we drive through the parking lot, turn right, round a corner…still no frontage road, we have been driving atleast 30 seconds come on lady, show us some love, then BING, you’ve reached your final destination, I slump forward in my seat and HOWL with laughter, so hard that my tummy muscles ache from the constant muscular contraction, after the laughing eases off I look to my right, there is the hotel, like a lake in a dessert, while I was programming the GPS, the hotel was right there, just behind the fence all along  next door to the Best Buy, all we had to do was LOOK UP.

 We get check in, unpack and grab a steak dinner, my pre swim favourite, all through dinner we laugh at the comedy of our trip down to Boston, what a laugh it was indeed. Back in the room I go about the final details of my gear and at 9pm roll out my Yoga mat for 30 minutes of Yoga to untwist my pretzel body from all those hours folded up in the car, then into bed, I read for a bit, then set my alarm for 3:45am, lights out at 10:00pm, I am excited at the thought starting my swim at the foot of the Boston Light house and weaving in and out of the Boston Harbor Islands as I make my way to the South Boston Beach.

Will I fear better than those poor crew wrecked at sea in the 1800s, I’ll keep you posted.

Closing Thought:

The real way to enjoy life is as a participant