The Water-Blog

Planning for Spring...and beyond...

2012-02-10T11:21:00.000-05:00

The 2012 Spring Equinox is just around the corner, with Spring officially arriving on March 20^th, and while the "Polar Pod" will likely be pushing the Spring envelope early, it won’t be long before we’re all back in the open water! I expect that this year’s open-water season will be better than ever, and that the swimmers of the West Neck Pod will continue to expand our inner and outer boundaries and swim farther, faster, longer and stronger than ever before... As you begin to think about this next open-water season, you might want to mark your calendar for some important upcoming dates:

The Second Annual Huntington/Cold Spring Harbor 1- and 2-Mile Swim will be taking place this year on Sunday, June 24^th at West Neck Beach! Preliminary planning is already underway and we are anticipating that this year’s event will be even larger and more successful than last year’s inaugural event. If you volunteered last year, we can certainly use your help and expertise again this year, and if you didn’t, then think about joining the effort this year! If you’re not able to volunteer, then please support our efforts by registering to swim, or by making a donation! The swim is a fundraiser for the Huntington YMCA’s "Swim for Kids" scholarship program, and offers 1-mile and 2-mile events with both wetsuit and nonwetsuit divisions as well as age-group events. Supporting this event will enhance the sport of open-water swimming on Long Island and raise money to teach at-risk underprivileged kids to swim. For information, contact Race Director Rob Ripp at rob.ripp@verizon.net or me (Carol Moore) at CLMooreEsq@verizon.net.

July 15^th is the tentative date earmarked for a revival of the venerable "5K in the Bay" swim in Huntington Bay. The 5K is planned to be an "open" event, and there will be age-group events as well. Updated information will be available at http://www.huntswim.org.

Also coming up: The August 11, 2012 Swim Across America "Sound-to-Cove" Swim in Glen Cove, New York. This annual event is a fundraiser for local cancer research, and last year local swimmers (including five West Neck Pod members) swimming one-mile, 5K, and 10K events raised $375,000 to fight cancer. Cancer is a devastating scourge that has left virtually no family unscathed, including our own West Neck Pod family. This year, in recognition of the intensely personal nature of the fight against cancer, the West Neck Pod is organizing its own team to swim in the 26^th Annual Swim Across America. We look forward to welcoming you as part of "Team West Neck Pod" and appreciate your donations of any amount! To register and/or donate, follow this link: www.swimacrossamerica.org.

You’ll find numerous other open-water swimming events in the 2012 season listed on the Aquafit Masters website at http://aquafitmasters.com/Events/Events.htm. As you contemplate participating in these and other sanctioned open-water swimming events in the 2012 season, consider registering as a proud member of the Huntington local masters swimming group, "Huntington Masters Swimmers" ("HUMS"). Last year, the membership in this local club of the US Masters Swimmers organization more than doubled, and we’d like to see it double again in this 2012 season and really put Huntington masters swimming on the aquatic map! For more information, visit the HUMS blog site at http://hums.blogspot.com.

When winter eventually succumbs to spring, and the ice has melted and the water temperature has edged up a few notches, the West Neck Pod will be back in the Salt. All are welcome to join us (at your own risk, of course!) for our weekday and weekend swims. Group swim schedules are posted on "The Water-Blog" (http://TheWater-Blog.blogspot.com) or on the West Neck Pod’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Neck-Pod/128827940504281) and via e-mail (e-mail WestNeckPod@verizon.net to add your name to the West Neck Pod contact list).

Last but not least, to help keep you safe in the open water, don’t forget to order your "SafeSwimmer" flotation buoy. These combination dry-bag/flotation buoys are lightweight and virtually drag-free, and help make you visible to boats and other watercraft. Contact Laurie Marchwinski at the International Swimming Hall of Fame (1-954-663-7472) and tell her you swim with the West Neck Pod to receive the Pod’s special free-shipping offer!

See you in the Salt -- eventually!

Winter Swimming Checklist: February?..."Check!"

2012-02-04T23:30:00.000-05:00

This morning, on this fourth day of February, Annmarie Kearney-Wood, Carole Wickham and I waded into the icy water at West Neck Beach and, as soon as we could catch our breath, started swimming. It took several stops and starts -- long moments of floating with our faces out of the water before we could bear to put them back into the frigid water again. But as with our previous winter swims, we found that eventually the cold water no longer felt so cold, and we were able to relax and settle into the familiar and welcome rhythm of the open water. With the water temperature somewhere between 38 and 40 degrees (measured at the shoreline with a laser thermometer), we were only able to stay in for 15 minutes, but it was an exciting and memorable and totally worthwhile 15 minutes! Of course this first February swim is partly about bragging rights, just so that we can say we did it ("We did it!"), but the Polar Pod's incipient quest to expand the open-water season from six months to twelve is turning out to be far more than that, as each time we push the boundaries of "possible" a little further and in the process change and empower ourselves....The quest resumes tomorrow, when Annmarie, Gae Polisner and Joye Brown venture into the February Salt at 1:30...See you in the Salt!

"Last one in is a rotten egg...!"

How other people (Carole's sister and brother-in-law Loretta and Henry Hinz) dress for the beach in February!

"Come on in, the water's f-f-f-f-ine!"

Happy New Year, Happy New OWS Season!

2012-01-28T21:00:00.008-05:00

The "Polarization" of the West Neck Pod continued into the New Year, as eight members of the West Neck "Polar Pod" inaugurated the 2012 open-water swimming season with a New Year's Day "Polar Bear" swim at West Neck Beach. Azure skies, air temperatures approaching 50 degrees, and flat, calm water exerted an irresistible magnetic force, drawing car after car into the West Neck Beach parking lot, which was soon crowded not only with prospective "Polar Bear" swimmers but with a cadre of supporters there to cheer us on. Early-bird Kathy Wickham was just returning from her solo swim to the yellow sign and back as Annmarie Kearney-Wood, Gae Polisner, Joye Brown, Rob Ripp, and Marc Leahy, along with Carole Wickham and I (who had already tasted the New Year Salt in our midnight swim on New Year's Eve!) were pulling on our cold-water gear in the parking lot, while cheerleaders Mike Engel, Bonnie Millen, Joan Addabbo, Ken Longo, Cammy, Judy and "the other Bonnie" basked in the unseasonably warm sun and took pictures while they waited for us to hit the 40-something-degree water...Joye, whose broken ankle had kept her shorebound for most of the 2011 season, has been a frequent spectator at our late-season swims, striding the beach and keeping a watchful eye on us, so it was a delightful surprise to see her begin throwing off her clothes and pulling on her wetsuit and cap, determined to take the Polar Plunge herself!

Off in the distance we could see a crowd of people gathered on the beach in front of the Lloyd Neck Bath Club, clad only in bathing suits and evidently intent on carrying out their own "Polar Bear" ritual to celebrate the New Year. This they did in short order while we Podders were still reconnoitering on the beach and posing for our group shots, and we could hear their screams and squeals as, on a signal, they ran into the freezing water and quickly ran out again. Many of them lingered on the beach as they dried themselves in the warm sunshine afterwards, and I wondered what they thought when, minutes later, a half-dozen-plus wetsuited and brightly-capped swimmers materialized from the south and swam past them, stroking steadily through the icebath and casually waving to them as if it were a mid-summer's day and not the first of January and the middle of winter! On the return trip, though, the Bath Club's beach was empty, and the wind had kicked up a chop, making the cold water feel even colder despite the wamth of the air. My hands were achingly cold even in my insulated gloves, and when I returned to the beach, I knew that I would have no regrets if this New Year's swim turned out to be my last until Spring...! My sentiments were shared by most of my companions, and although Gae and Annmarie returned to the Salt for one more swim the following week, they, too, seem to have conceded the season -- though their January 7, 2012 open-water swim has earned them a new Pod record!

Since then the temperatures have continued to drop, and on January 21st we had our first real snowfall of the season, leaving no doubt of winter's determined presence. It seems as if this amazing open-water swimming season has finally ended. But, in taking this season into the frigid waters of January, the end of one season has blended seamlessly into the beginning of the next. With Spring literally just around the corner, and the Polar Pod's new thicker skins and thinner excuses, we'll be hitting the open water again before you know it! I'm at one and counting for 2012 so far...See you in the Salt!

A Stellar New Year's Eve Swim

2012-01-01T08:24:00.000-05:00

An orange crescent moon hung low in the sky as Carole and I made our way down West Neck Road for our planned New Year's Eve swim, but to our great disappointment the gates to West Neck Beach were closed and locked when we arrived. The gates to Lloyd Harbor Beach were open, though, so that's where we headed as the minutes ticked away towards midnight. We pulled the "Pod-mobile" (my Honda CRV, now sporting birthday-present-to-myself "WNECKPOD" license plates) as far down on the beach as we could and left the headlights shining on the dark and distant water as we hurriedly pulled on our double caps, goggles, booties and gloves in preparation for a momentous event: the last open-water swim of 2011, blending seamlessly into the first swim of 2012! Emboldened by our nascent cold-water exploits of this 2011 OWS season, and with the air temperatures still inexplicably hovering in the comfortable mid-40s (in stark contrast to last year's epically cold and snowy December), a New Year's Eve swim actually seemed doable, and the idea of, literally, swimming from one day, one month, one year into the next was irresistible to us. The prospect of swimming in the dark was more than a little scary, though, yet that fear, too, on the cusp of the New Year and its aura of resolve, impelled us forward. Still, we were both nervous as we tentatively waded into the unfamiliar water shortly before midnight, with our green and orange glowsticks faintly illuminating our bodies. The water was surprisingly warm, and we were relieved to find ourselves perfectly comfortable temperature-wise, but the tide was nearly dead-low and we had to breast-stroke, heads up, through seemingly interminable shallow water, beyond the comforting glow of my car's headlights, to deeper water where we took our first few tentative crawlstrokes with our faces in water that was black as, well, night...The water was so dark that it seemed no longer liquid but a black, solid mass, and it was an effort of will to repeatedly turn my face into it....But after my eyes and my nerves had acclimated to the darkness, my fear gradually dissipated, and when I turned my head to the side to breathe and looked up to see the thousands of stars glimmering in the midnight sky and the copper moon setting on the horizon, I had an inkling of what it is that drives marathon swimmers -- or crazy Canadians -- to swim through the night in the darkness....

There is something about diving into your fears, and swimming through them, that is profoundly transformative, and the swimmers who entered the dark, still, silent waters of Cold Spring Harbor on New Year's Eve night in 2011 were not the same as the ones who emerged in 2012... Happy -- and fearless -- New Year, everyone! See you in the Salt!

2011 to 2012: Swimming from One Year Into the Next...

2011-12-31T15:44:00.000-05:00

This morning Annmarie Kearney-Wood and Gae Polisner took their last open-water swim of 2011, plunging into the colder-than-ever but mirror-like waters of Cold Spring Harbor for a nearly half-hour swim on this glorious New Year's Eve Day...Carole Wickham, Kathy Wickham and I would happily have joined them but were tied up this morning taking our written exam for Red Cross Water-Safety Instructor certification after completing a week-long course at C.W. Post (nice pool!). We all passed and, newly certified, arrived at the Beach in time to get the post-swim report from the chilly pair, who said that despite the warmish (50 degrees!) air temperature, they experienced a distinct "brain freeze" for the first minute or two after hitting the shockingly cold water...That eventually dissipated, and they enjoyed a nearly 25-minute swim, with plans to return (if this evening's celebrations permit) for tomorrow's 11:00 a.m. New Year's Day "Polar Bear Swim" at West Neck Beach. In the meantime Carole, flushed with the success of her WSI certification, announced Big Plans for a unique and distinctive New Year's Eve celebration: She intends to swim from 2011 right into 2012, with an open-water swim at West Neck Beach tonight beginning just before midnight and ending....well, sometime in 2012! Of course I'm going with her...and you're all invited to join us for the swim and/or for a champagne (hopefully not too chilled) celebration on the beach afterwards...Happy New Swimming Year!

Look who's here! Remember Ken Longo??

HO-HO-HOLY CRAP, IT'S COLD SWIMMING ON CHRISTMAS EVE!!

2011-12-24T23:45:00.006-05:00

There was a thin layer of ice on the pond we passed as Carole and I made our way down to West Neck Beach for yet another open-water swim in a season whose "imminent" end we have been whining about since August...For the five "Polar Pod" members who took the plunge today -- Carole Wickham, Kathy Wickham, Gae Polisner, Rob Todd and I -- this was our first-ever Winter swim, the Solstice having marked the official beginning of Winter earlier this week. (Rob Martell, of course, is now a veteran winter swimmer, and soloed at WNB yesterday when the rest of us bailed because of high wind and rough water). This morning, with air temperatures of 32 degrees, it really felt like Winter, especially when the wind suddenly picked up and began throwing icy whitecaps in our faces as we edged our way into the water and started swimming. The cold wind added to the already bitter sting on our exposed skin (which for Rob Todd still includes his bare feet -- I don't know how he does it!), and the initial "three minutes of 'holy-crap' coldness" that Rob Martell describes lengthened to nearly five before we were acclimated enough to once again revel in the experience of the open water and enjoy another exhilarating, invigorating, and truly empowering swim....Now, on December 24th, Christmas Eve, with our first Winter swim behind us, we are truly a Pod for all seasons, and are no longer whining...because we know that our 2011 open-water swimming season will only end when 2011 does -- on December 31st! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone! See you in the Salt!

West Neck Beach -- Photos from December 4, 2011

2011-12-05T22:49:00.000-05:00

The West Neck "Polar Pod" Is Seven Strong for Saturday's Swim!

2011-12-04T18:13:00.000-05:00

Gae, demonstrating proper pre-swim headgear

It's somewhat paradoxical that the numbers of the West Neck "Polar Pod" should be increasing now that December is here and overnight temperatures have dropped to near the freezing mark, but that's exactly what's happened, as a total of seven intrepids showed up at West Neck Beach for Saturday morning's 11:00 swim! The air temperature and the water temperature were evenly matched at about 42 degrees, and Annmarie Kearney-Wood, Carole Wickham, Kathy Wickham, Rob Todd, Marc Leahy, Gae Polisner and I huddled in our cars as we suited up out of the wind. Marc, whom we were not expecting to see again until Spring after his post-Thanksgiving November OWS debut, returned for a tilt at December, now properly outfitted with insulated booties and gloves, but Rob Todd was still incomprehensibly barefoot and barehanded, having opted to hold off on shopping for cold-water gear until next season. Annmarie -- who doesn't mind shopping -- has procured fabulous new thermocarbon gloves from the Bunger Surf Shop for the rest of us -- technological marvels that really do keep our hands perfectly warm -- so I loaned Rob my old pair of insulated gloves to give him some extra protection from the cold. (One unfortunate casualty of the new thick-fingered thermocarbon gloves is picture-taking in the water -- I can't hold the camera properly and it's almost impossible to push the buttons.) Suiting up for cold-water swimming is a complicated and time-consuming affair, but after tugging on our wetsuits over our layered swim shirts and bathing suits, and pulling on double bathing caps, double booties and insulated gloves, we were ready to swim. The water was calm and glass-like, but with at-the-shoreline temperatures measuring between 40 and 42 degrees, it felt cold -- significantly colder than it was on Thursday when Gae, Annmarie and I took our first December swim. Getting acclimated to the colder water took a bit longer, too, and I was nearly to the dock before I was able to put my face fully in the water. North of the dock, though, where the water is appreciably warmer, my face stopped hurting and I could settle into my swimming rhythm. With the sun shining brightly over my left shoulder and sparkling on the crystal clear water, I no longer felt the cold, and I was as happy and peaceful -- and almost as warm -- as if I were swimming in the Carribean! Rob Todd evidently wasn't feeling the cold either despite his bare feet, and managed a solo power swim to the end of the Causeway and back! The rest of us were content with a more modest round-trip to the yellow sign...with the anticipation of still more glorious open-water swims to come! Stay tuned for the further adventures of the West Neck "Polar Pod" (and thanks to our Pod-sister Joye Brown for the appellation!)....We'll see you in the Salt!

After the swim, warming up in our cars...

"Yes, Virginia, There Is Still Open-Water Swimming in December!"

2011-12-01T18:16:00.000-05:00

The sun was already low in the sky, though it was still shining brightly, when Annmarie Kearney-Wood, Gae Polisner and I stepped into the West Neck Salt at 3:07 this afternoon for our first-ever December open-water swim! The water felt cold but not unbearably so -- no doubt as a result of the 60+-degree weather of the last several days -- and with our new "Psycho gloves" or their equivalent (Gae was right -- they are a game-changer!), we felt like we could swim forever, despite the whitecaps and the crazy chop kicked up by a steady northwesterly wind. Thirty-five minutes later, with our toes numbing up from the cold, we weren't so sure, but when we emerged from the water, giddy and giggling on this December afternoon, we were making plans for our next December swim, on Saturday morning at 11:00! See you in the December Salt -- bring your "Psycho" gloves! Oh, and Christine and Rob, YOU OWE US A DRINK!!

Last Swim of November??

2011-11-27T14:44:00.022-05:00

The still-swimmin'-wimmin of the West Neck Pod -- Carole Wickham, Annmarie Kearney-Wood, Gae Polisner and I -- were joined for this morning's swim by Rob -- no, not Rob Todd, and not Rob Martell, but the other, other, long-absent-from-the-open-water-Rob, Rob Ripp! Also joining us for the first time this November was Marc Leahy, accompanied by his land-hugging wife Kathleen (who took most of these pictures) and two dogs, who also wisely waited on the beach. The water temperature was right around 49 degrees, which felt very tolerable to us well-acclimated women but was quite shocking to the men, especially since neither was wearing the insulated booties and gloves that make the cold water bearable to the rest of us. They credited themselves nicely, though, once their hands and feet got numb and they adjusted to the biting cold on their faces and leveled out their breathing...eventually they were grinning as widely as the women as we all swam to the yellow sign where we exchanged high-fives before heading back against a strong outgoing tide. Marc, having earned his November OWS chops, says he'll see us in the early Spring, but it looks like Rob Ripp has finally remembered who he is and (at least once he buys his booties and gloves) will be joining us for our first December swim....! See you in the Salt!

"Indian Summer" Comes to West Neck Beach

2011-11-26T23:14:00.000-05:00

The recent summer-like conditions continued for yet another day, and "Pod-Father" Rob Martell was one of the first to savor the gorgeous conditions at West Neck Beach this morning. He was just finishing up his swim as I arrived for the 11:00 shift, and, with the air temperature already close to 60 degrees, confirmed that we (Annmarie Kearney-Wood, Carole Wickham and I) could expect a delightful high-tide swim in flat, calm water. He recommended that we start our swim at the north end of the parking lot and swim northward along the Causeway, where, he assured us, the water was at least five degrees warmer. He was right, and we enjoyed a delightful and decidedly warmer swim, encountering a pair of friendly kayakers and this very large work-boat along the way. By the time we returned to the beach, the sun was high in the sky, and we stripped off our wetsuits and stood drying in the warm sun, where we were ogled by scores of beach-goers who were astonished to see people swimming on November 26th! "Rich," a Water-Blog reader who normally swims alone at Callahan's Beach on Long Island Sound, was suiting up in the parking lot as we were leaving, and we shared some advice about where to swim and what to watch out for before he set off for his first-ever solo swim in Cold Spring Harbor. We hope he enjoyed his swim as much as we did ours...!

Tomorrow's weather is predicted to be a little cooler and cloudier but otherwise much the same as today -- so we'll continue to take advantage of these unseasonable conditions and grab one more November swim...See you in the Salt tomorrow (Sunday) at 11:30!

Thanksgiving -- With a Dash of Salt!

2011-11-24T21:51:00.000-05:00

If it weren't for the 42-degree temperatures, you could have mistaken this bright, clear, sunny, Thanksgiving morning for a mid-summer's day, especially when a half dozen wetsuited swimmers jumped into the water and started swimming like gangbusters! Annmarie Kearney-Wood and I were there, of course, as was Rob Todd as the lone representative of his gender (except for Sal Romanello, who came with his children to cheer us on from the beach and took this photo of what he termed "The Turkey Swim"!). Also coming out of early retirement to swim in the chilly waters were Gae Polisner and Kathy and Carole Wickham, the latter still recovering from her injured shoulder but no longer able to resist the call of the sea! Pod member Bonnie Millen and her dog Willow watched us incredulously from the beach, until pressed into photographic service by Gae, whose fingers were too cold to hold the camera, so Bonnie took most of the pictures and videos below -- thanks, Bonnie! We six enjoyed another lovely, energizing, invigorating swim, which whetted our appetites not only for our impending Thanksgiving feasts, but for our next open-water swim....Now that November's almost over, we've got our goggle sights set on December...! We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving to all, and much gratitude to this beach, this body of water, and this Pod.... See you in the Salt!

Bye-bye, buoys....!

2011-11-22T22:46:00.000-05:00

This year’s model of the "Pod-Sandal-Station" was sitting high and dry on the sand at the high-tide mark when Rob Todd, Annmarie Kearney-Wood and I arrived at West Neck Beach on Saturday morning for the planned 11:00 morning swim. The clasp that tethered the buoy chain to its concrete anchor had broken, and – the tide having receded in the meantime – the buoy was a mere tide-change away from being lost forever. Rob Todd, who had thoughtfully placed the device for the tender-footed Pod after the swim lines were pulled from the water in early September (prematurely, we thought), carried the buoy carefully to his car, promising to clean it up and bring it back "better than ever" next season. Then we laboriously dragged the concrete anchor from the shallow water up across the beach to the parking lot, leaving a long, deep trail in the sand that would leave late-day beachgoers wondering....

Our chores done, we turned our attention to the whitecapped waves breaking on the beach and the wind howling across the water, which made the air feel vastly colder than the thermometer indicated. The idea of swimming in those conditions seemed harrowing and potentially crazy, and we ducked into the lee of the wind behind the bathhouse as we weighed our options: We could forgo today’s swim altogether and try for tomorrow, which was forecast to be even warmer...or, since we were already here, and it was a gorgeous, albeit windy, sunny day, we could suck it up, suit up, and get in the water and swim! After considerable hemming and hawing, we chose the latter – and numerous shrieks and nine strokes later were still regretting our decision as the icy water sliced through our wetsuits and stung our faces, hands and feet. Our faces bright red from the cold, we wondered aloud if we could do this...and then, as we took our tenth, determined stroke through the icy waves, we felt the tectonic shift that has marked every one of our late-season swims so far, as we uniformly proclaimed, "You know, it’s not so bad!," and put our faces down and just kept swimming...Rob Todd, who'd finally yielded to my importuning and put on the insulated booties I kept offering him, quickly outpaced Annmarie and I, his cozy-toesies fueling a sprint to the North Buoy and back on a long, meandering course "way out there" that had me fretting for his safety while Annmarie and I more or less hugged the shoreline in front of the beach. Hopefully Rob got a good long last look at the north buoy, because, like the Pod-Sandal-Station, both it and the south buoy were gone from the water by Tuesday, along with the rest of the boat moorings, leaving the harbor empty and vast....but with no more danger of Rob tearing the top of his head open on a mooring ball like he did last year!

Sunday kept its promise of even warmer weather, and Annmarie and I returned to West Neck Beach for an even more amazing and exhilarating and invigorating late-morning swim as Joye, Carole and Kathy (and the dogs!) watched from the beach. Adopting some of the suggestions of Cold-Warrior Rob Martell, whose recent HUMS blogpost on cold-water swimming is destined to be a Pod classic (http://hums.blogspot.com/2011/11/cold-water-swimming.html), we wore extra "compression" layers under our wetsuits, and were amazed at how much warmer our hands and feet felt with that extra protection for our cores (oh, and my "grande" soy chai tea latte from Starbucks also helped -- not to mention the encouragement from Liz Perlstein, whom I bumped into there!). We stayed in far longer than our initial squeals getting in would have suggested, exchanging exhilarated high-fives when we eventually tore ourselves from the water with a now familiar reluctance that grows more intense with each successive late-season swim....The water is cold, and getting colder, and our open-water swims grow increasingly symbolic as their length and distance wane....

But we're not ready to give it up yet, and with Thanksgiving approaching, what could be more symbolic than a Thanksgiving Day Open-Water Swim to express our gratitude for an open-water season that continues to thrill and inspire us! So, this year our Thanksgiving "Turkey-Trot" will take us to the beach, across the sand and into the water for an 11:00 (in the water!) open-water swim at West Neck Beach! Late-season regular Gae Polisner, who bowed out for the last two swims, is apparently thinking about joining us -- maybe you will, too! See you in the Salt! -- and Happy Thanksgiving!

Late-Season Swims "Cold Comfort" for Pod Members!

2011-11-08T22:03:00.000-05:00

The wave of swimmers hitting the water at the beginning of the open-water season has now slowed to a trickle, if not an occasional drip, as water temperatures in Cold Spring Harbor have dipped into the low 40s. Air temperatures have danced crazily between the low 30s and the high 60s, sometimes in a single day, while we "holdout" swimmers anxiously watch the thermometer for the window of opportunity to open for "just one more" open-water swim. Weekday early morning swims are now out of the question, even with the end of daylight savings time, as the beach is too dark and too cold for pleasurable swimming, so we are relegated to the afternoons, weekends, days off, or borrowed or stolen times when a fellow conspirator calls or texts and says, "Let’s go!" – a call that none of us has ever regretted answering...Today, Election Day, was one of those days. The air temperature had wafted up to 65 degrees under a brilliant sun in a clear blue sky, and even the water temperature had risen to nearly the 50-degree mark, so "frequent flyers" Annmarie Kearney-Wood and I (Gae Polisner having been summoned for "refrigerator-repairman duty") suited up for yet another glorious open-water swim in this still-ongoing 2011 open-water season. It seems like the cold weather came earlier this year than last, but the threshold of tolerance for the cold seems to have changed for we Pod members who have not yet left the now-very-chilly water. Where last year an open-water swim was unthinkable if the air temperature was not at least 45 and the water temperature at least 50, those numbers have now become meaningless. For me, the determinant remains whether I am still able to enjoy the experience of being in the open water notwithstanding the cold, but I am finding that that is the case even when the temperature of both the air and the water is a scant 42...

As my tolerance for cold has increased, my tolerance for heat appears to have diminished, so when I ventured into the YMCA pool one weekday morning last week, I was horrified -- and nearly asphyxiated -- by the 85 degree water temperature. With my body made heavy by the heat, the unaccustomed lack of saline- and wetsuit-assisted buoyancy also hindered me, and I labored to pull myself through the chlorine-scented water that seemed thin as it slid between my fingers. Eighteen strokes later, I was at the wall, and as I turned to face the wall I had just left behind, I felt my heart sinking, until it felt as heavy as my body in the hot, still water. Back and forth I swam until I could no longer bear the heat or the heartache, and when I left, I sat for a long moment in my parked car, once again tasting the Salt as it ran down my cheek....
I haven’t been back to the Y since, and despite the sometimes heart-stopping coldness of the open water, it still feels more pleasant to me than a return to that box of hot water that we call a pool. It seems that the thing that has changed the most in me – and in more than a few of my fellow Pod members – is that I am no longer merely a "swimmer." I am now, first, foremost, and forever, an "open-water swimmer," and I am compelled to keep swimming, and to extend the boundaries of my open-water season as far as possible before I am forced to go back to the pool – if, indeed, I even can. That remains to be seen, but in the meantime, I’ll see you in the Salt!

On "Wimps" and "Wusses" and the West Neck Pod....

2011-10-30T10:36:00.000-04:00

Since yesterday's blogpost, there've been a flurry of emails and Facebook posts, some defensive, some jibing, expostulating on who is and is not a "wimp" or a "wuss" -- or just plain crazy! -- for swimming or not swimming in this late OWS season....It's all good-natured, of course, but it also all misses the point, which is that every single one of us who ever steps off the beach and into the open water is a hero, every single time....The open water is a realm that is populated as much by fear as by the real dangers that inhabit it: rough waves, raging currents, hungry fish, speeding boats, submerged obstacles, descending fog, stinging jellyfish, exhaustion, disorientation, aloneness -- and open-water swimming is not only physical exercise but an exercise in mastering fear and pushing beyond our physical and emotional comfort levels. Those levels are as individual as the astonishingly diverse universe of people who are drawn to the open water, including those of the West Neck Pod.

Whether you stopped swimming in early September, when the water temperature dropped below 70, or in early October when it dropped below 60, or are still swimming when it's dropped to below 50, you are still doing something that most people -- even most swimmers -- find unimaginable. So for all the good-natured teasing about wusses and wimps, I want to go on record as saying that there are no wimps or wusses in the West Neck Pod, and you are ALL my heroes, every day, every time! See you in the Salt!

Taking the forecast with a grain of Salt...

2011-10-29T20:39:00.000-04:00

As I sit here cozily ensconced in my favorite armchair writing this blogpost, the outside temperature is 34 degrees and a cold rain is falling, mixed with occasional sleet and even snowflakes, though it’s only late October. Mindful of the dismal forecast, I probably would have slept in this morning, but Annmarie Kearney-Wood’s urgent early morning text-message: "I’m coming but I might be late – don’t leave without me!" precipitated me out of bed and into preparations for yet another open-water swim – my 102nd of the season, yesterday’s late-afternoon swim with Annmarie having been my 101st. Happily, we arrived at West Neck Beach before the temperature plummeted and the first icy drops began to fall. As the last several years have taught me, these late-season swims are often lonely affairs, and Annmarie and I now seem to be the only holdouts, Gae having passed up yesterday’s swim on receiving reports of the dwindling water temperature, Carole sidelined by her shoulder injury, Joye still nursing her broken ankle, and "the boys" having dropped off the radar altogether (Rob Martell, of course, excepted).

In this late-season, Annmarie has become my new Pod hero – having blossomed from a timid, tentative newcomer last year to a seasoned, fearless open-water swimmer, who adroitly finds the adventure in every challenge, whether it be whitecapped waves or 49-degree water...which she keeps assuring me "doesn’t feel that cold"! With my doubled-up bathing caps and insulated booties and gloves, I have to agree, but I am surprised to find Annmarie (who, by the way, is roughly half my size with no discernable body fat) so willing to push the envelope, and "to keep swimming outside as long as I possibly can." Humbled by Annmarie’s willingness to embrace the cold water, I’ve stopped shrieking like a girl when I first get in, so I too can focus instead on how, after only a few strokes, the bracingly cold water becomes supportive and invigorating and thrilling and beautiful, and I feel so lucky to be out here, one with the water and the waves and the clouds and the sky...Annmarie is right, this open-water swimming season is not over yet....not today, anyway...See you in the Salt!

100 Days of Open-Water Swimming

2011-10-22T14:53:00.000-04:00

We of the "West Neck Pod," who swim in the open waters of Long Island's north shore (mostly!), in the northeastern United States, are forever lamenting what is, to us, an unfairly short open-water swimming season. Like all open-water swimmers, we are subject to the whims and vicissitudes of Mother Nature and The Old Man of the Sea, who ultimately determine the "outer boundaries" of each year's open-water season. We never know when the heavy curtain of winter will finally part, and our open-water season will begin, or when it will descend again, forcing us from the water until the next curtain call....For some of us, it is the "inner boundaries" that determine when we leave the open water and return to our local indoor pools, but I am one of those "outies" whose last day of open-water swimming is usually defined by the weather....When the air temperature is in the low 40s and the water temperature in the low 50s, and the wind that's whipping across the harbor feels icy on my exposed skin, and I know that I will find no pleasure in immersing myself in the icebath and stroking through the face-numbing cold, that is my signal that the season is truly over, and I reluctantly consign myself again to the chlorine...But it is always with regret, and I always wish that I could have had "just one more swim...."

This season, it occurred to me to count how many "just one more" open-water swims my season actually encompassed. Inspired by downhill skiiers' concept of a "perfect" skiing season of 100 days, I decided to make that my goal for 2011, and started counting with my first swim on May 27th. Today, October 22nd, was Swim #100 -- marking the completion of my "Perfect 100-Day Open-Water Swimming Season"! Bonnie, Gae, Karen, Rob Ripp, Rob Todd, and Tim Sullivan joined me in the water, while Ken and Joye tracked us from the beach as we made our way from South Buoy to North. Our tentative plans for a "Big Swim Across the Harbor" were quashed by the persistent westerly wind and whitecapped waves, but the chilly, 58-degree water temperature and 46 degree air temperature were otherwise no deterrent to this determined pod-let of other "outies," who were equally determined to see me achieve my 100th swim. With the unusual and even dramatic weather of this season -- from Hurricane Irene to the rain-drenched August to the precipitous cold of early September, followed by October's relentless westerly wind, that swim was never a certainty, and I think we all were a little relieved that I made it! Of course, now that I have, that doesn't mean my open-water swimming season is over! Tomorrow will be a day off for me (as I embark on my first-ever "Ziplining Adventure"), but I'll be back in the Salt next week -- weather permitting! ...By the way, although I seem to have been the only Pod member consciously counting swimming days, rumored sightings suggest that the evanescent "Pod-Father" Rob Martell has substantially exceeded the 100 number -- and he will certainly take the prize for longest open-water season, as his first swim was posted on May 15th and, as history suggests, he will continue to swim into December....!

Next season....counting mileage?? See you in the Salt!

* Thanks to Newsday, whose October 16th "Long Island Section" cover inspired the adaptation above, and to Kathy Wickham, who "Photoshopped" it into existence!

"The Tempest" meets "The Ides of October"...

2011-10-16T21:07:00.000-04:00

Late-week rainstorms eventually gave way to brilliant sunshine, just in time for this mid-October weekend, but a wild westerly wind in their wake left Cold Spring Harbor roiling with whitecapped waves that tossed the weekend swimmers from pillar to post....No scirocco, this wind, but not a nor-easter either, so water temperatures remained comfortably in the low 60s, with air temperatures not far behind, and the late-season's holdout swimmers (Tim, Joye and I on Saturday and Annmarie, Bonnie, Carole, Eric, Gae, Rob Ripp, Rob Todd and I on Sunday, following in Rob Martell and Christine's wake) lingered in the churning waters, enjoying the rollicking ride and plotting the 2011 Season's last "Big Swim." With boat traffic now virtually non-existent, the distant shore beckons, and a West Neck Pod "Cross-Harbor Swim" is now officially on the agenda for next Saturday, October 22nd, at 8:00 a.m.! (weather and water conditions permitting, of course). We'll swim from West Neck Beach directly westward across the Harbor, a distance of approximately .8 miles, and then return to the beach (if you can't join us in the water, please bring your kayak and join us on top of it!) If all goes as planned, this "Big Swim" will mark my 100th day of open-water swimming this season -- so there'll be bagels and coffee on the beach afterwards to celebrate! See you in the Salt!

Columbus Day Road Trip a "Swimming" Success...!

2011-10-11T23:36:00.001-04:00

In a modern-day version of "The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria," "The BMW, The Mazda and The CRV" made landfall in the parking lot of Long Beach, Sag Harbor, early Monday morning to commemorate the explorer spirit of Christopher Columbus with the West Neck Pod’s first-ever "Road Trip"! As has been oddly typical of this 2011 late-open-water-swimming season, all of the day’s explorers were women, and Pod members Annmarie, Susan, Gae, Carole, Kathy, Kaitlyn and I wasted no time in suiting up in summer-like temperatures under brilliant blue skies and hitting the crystal clear water (with Sarah kayaking alongside) for what was unquestionably the best swim of the 2011 open-water season...! (Seriously – this water was so clear it made Cold Spring Harbor seem like a mud-puddle by comparison!) We swam along the seemingless endless shoreline for nearly a mile, then lingered at the jetty in an endorphin-induced euphoric state that sparked various hijinks (see the video!) including synchronized swimming exhibitions and demonstrations of don’t-try-this-at-home "lifesaving" techniques....Ravenous hunger eventually forced us back to the beach where we enjoyed a banquet feast of bagels, coffee, cupcakes and tunafish sandwiches lavishly spread out on the hood of Annmarie’s BMW, after which Gae, Annmarie, Sarah and I returned to the water (sans wetsuits) for some leisurely, languid, don’t-ever-want-to-get-out noodling-around swimming before we all set out for the westward journey home....For some of us (Gae, Carole, Kathy, Karen and I), it was "back in the West Neck Salt" this morning, with another swim planned for tomorrow (Wednesday) at 6:45, but you can expect that next year's open-water swimming season will include a lot more "road trips" -- and it won't be long before we're tasting the Salt at Long Beach again! See you in the Salt!

Heading Into the Post-Season...

2011-10-09T16:41:00.000-04:00

It seems like only yesterday that I was bracing myself for the end of the 2010 open-water swimming season...The ache of that impending loss has only recently faded, and already it is nearly mid-October and – incredibly – I am facing the end of yet another season, and the pangs of another winter-long separation from the open water. The season’s end is forecast in the diminishing numbers of Pod members who turn out for the weekend group swims, and early-morning weekday swims (later and later every week in deference to the ever-dwindling daylight) are virtually solitary affairs, with Carole, Karen and I the only "regulars" (joined occasionally by Gae and Nancy Lipira). Both Nancy and Karen are training for upcoming Ironman Triathlons, Nancy’s in North Carolina at the end of October and Karen’s in New Zealand on March 3rd. Karen, alone of the Pod, is happy for the steadily dropping water temperature, as she attempts to acclimate to the 50-55 degree water temperatures she expects to encounter "down under." Interestingly, with but a few exceptions, this late open-water season has been owned almost exclusively by the women of the West Neck Pod, who continue to brave the unseasonably cool air temperatures and rapidly dropping water temperatures while most of their brethren have long since retreated to the pool...

This morning the air temperature had warmed up again to 56 degrees by 8:00, and the water temperature was still a tolerable though chilly 60-64 degrees, but only Gae, Annmarie, Bonnie, Sue, Joye, Liz and I, along with Rob Ripp (the sole representative of his gender!) were there to enjoy a blissful Causeway swim in clear, still water under a windless, cloudless, impossibly blue sky.

For those of us who continue to swim in the open water in September and October and even November (and, for our crazy Canadian, Rob Martell, in December!), the Fall is unquestionably the best time for open-water swimming, and it just keeps getting better and better! Aside from the astonishing crispness and clarity of the water, the exquisite oblique light, the dramatic kaleidoscopic skies, the emptiness of the vast horizon, and the stillness and quiet of the nearly deserted beach and harbor, we embrace the bittersweet awareness that each swim might be the season’s last. So every stroke in this late-season is precious, as we try to burn every image and sensation into our memories, to sustain us through the long, Saltless winter. For me, this season’s memories will include some "firsts": the Pod’s several exhilarating forays south to "The New Beach," choreographed "circle-dances" and a beer-toast out at the South Buoy, an armada of orange "floaty-bags" trailing behind a sea of swimmers; and (I hope) some "lasts": Bonnie’s breast cancer, Joye’s broken ankle, Chris Vasallo’s neck surgery, and Frank Fiore’s bike accident....But, this is only October 9^th, I still have 8 more days of open-water swimming to achieve my "perfect" 100-Day Open-Water Swimming Season (and beyond!), and there are plenty more memories to be made before we say goodbye to this 2011 open-water season. Next on the list: The West Neck Pod’s first-ever Columbus Day "Road Trip" to Long Beach in Sag Harbor – honoring the "explorer" in all of us....See you tomorrow in the East-End Salt!

"The Mists of Huntington..."

2011-09-23T21:00:00.016-04:00

The first day of Fall slipped in silently under a dense layer of fog, which hovered over the landscape at West Neck Beach, covering everything like a ghostly blanket. Only faintly visible from the shore, the few remaining boats floated like shadows at their moorings, seemingly suspended in a great, soft cloud. The water lay eerily flat and calm, its mirror-like surface dully reflecting the soft grey blanket tamping it down. A vast stillness swallowed all sound, and the voices of the gulls that swooped over the still water were muffled as if from far away. The overall effect was magical and mystical and ultimately irresistible, and the water called to us like a Siren. We swam, Carole and I, north along the Causeway, past the anchored ghost ships and the fuzzy outlines of the floating dock, into an unrecognizable world...Swimming into nothingness, the boundary between water and sky obliterated, we felt weightless and disembodied, with only the faintly visible misty shoreline to our right to guide us and keep us from being swallowed by the fog. We made our way as far as the yellow sign, then reluctantly turned back toward home in the deepening fog....A strange pair of flip-flops had joined ours at the Pod-Sandal-Station, Nancy Aboff having followed in our wake (though we neither saw nor heard her until her return), and Bonnie Millen soon joined us on the Beach, ready to undertake her own solitary sojourn into the void. As we stood, contemplating the deep, silent peace that enveloped us, a pair of Great Blue Herons flew over our heads, beating their wings soundlessly over the surface of the water, then disappearing into the fog like Great Blue Ghosts....This first swim of Fall felt like a blessing, holding the promise of many more glorious swims to come....

The West Neck Pod: Thank You from "The Fairy Pod-Mother"

2011-09-19T23:08:00.000-04:00

Thank you to all of the co-conspirators who concocted the plot to surprise me at my own party with such a loving acknowledgment of my Pod-nurturing efforts...I thank you for your kind words (especially Sue Robinson, who had the guts to say them into a microphone!), and for your wonderful and so-perfect gifts. I love my new embroidered and personalized "West Neck Pod" beach bag and all of the treasures you filled it with: my colorful new beach towel; the lifetime supply of Glide; my "H2O Girl" t-shirt, the photos of me in various aquatic settings, some with magnet-backs to post on my refrigerator so I can see them every day!; the bottles of wine, especially the "Super Swimmer" chardonnay!; the votive candleholders with the "Sailboat" motif; the necklace Margot made from a piece of beach glass she found at West Neck Beach; the booklet of "West Neck Pod Vegetarian Recipes," published by "Pod Press" and compiled by Bonnie, who sampled every one; the three varieties of Tate's chocolate chip cookies (who knew you could get gluten-free Tate's cookies!);the YMCA bathing cap for my inevitable "wintering-over" in the Chlorine; the grossly hilarious "Got strap-ons?" shirt whose ultimately innocent reference to our "SafeSwimmer" flotation bags was cleverly hidden on the back by its author Gae ["What? they're for safety's sake"]; the golf paraphernalia and gift certificates from Karen for when this OWS season is finally over...

I thank you all for your loving hearts and your thoughtfulness and your cleverness and your humor (and Gae for these photos which she took while I was otherwise engaged)....and I especially thank Rob Martell, the "Pod-Father," for his gift of a wonderfully sensitive and creative series of collages of dozens of photos culled from years of "Water-Blog" posts that culminated in this image of me at the buoy -- an image made up of all of those myriad photos of our beloved West Neck Beach, the open water of Cold Spring Harbor, and all the rest of you....That one brought tears to my eyes -- yes, Salt tears! -- because you are now all so much a part of me, as that last image so perfectly reflected....Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for all of your many gifts, but especially for this gift of you -- "The West Neck Pod." See you in the Salt!

Falling Out of Summer...

2011-09-18T23:43:00.001-04:00

Saturday, September 17^th, was an eventful and memorable day for the West Neck Pod, which celebrated the impending end of summer with the first-ever annual "Buoy-to-Buoy Sprint" in the morning (for those athletes not participating in the 34^th Annual Cow Harbor 10K/2K run!), followed by the annual Swimmers’ End-of-Summer Barbeque at Carol and Carole’s in the afternoon. The Sprint was the brainchild of Pod member Ken Longo, who, along with fellow Pod members, honored me by designating it the "Swim-Moore Buoy-to-Buoy Sprint," and by engineering the first-ever beer toast at the South Buoy....! Despite the distinctly-non-summer-like chill in the 56-degree air, 15 swimmers showed up for the event (happily, the water is still holding on to its summer warmth, measuring a comfortable 69-70 degrees). Ken, who opted not to swim in order to pilot his beer-laden kayak alongside the sprinters, escorted the lead swimmer (who else but our Roman candle, Sal Romanello) along the course from the North Buoy to the South Buoy, then commenced prying off bottle caps and pouring Corona beer into plastic glasses, adding a freshly sliced lime wedge to each, and handing them out to the swimmers as they assembled at the buoy. Short-course (beach to South Buoy) "Buoy-Lite" swimmers/cheerleaders Gae Polisner, Annmarie Kearney-Woods, Bonnie Millen, Harrison Huang, Mindy Deleary, Heather Ciccone, an unknown newcomer and I were already there to welcome Sal and the rest of the Sprinters as they completed their course (roughly in order of finish): Cathy Kabat, Vinny O’Shaughnessy, Rob Ripp, Lloyd Garten, Tim Sullivan, and Nancy Aboff. Sal then led the already high-spirited assemblage in the first-ever open-water beer toast (and, another first for me: beer for breakfast!), and we all swam back to the beach to prepare for the "season-ending party of parties" as Ken has dubbed it!

Shortly after 2:00, Pod members, accompanied by their spouses/partners/significant others/children/friends/and-in-some-cases-dogs, began to arrive at "The Carols’," bearing platters of food and goodies to augment the basic barbeque fare provided by the hostesses, and displaying unsuspected levels of culinary prowess – as well as other gifts and talents well hidden by those skimpy Speedos and bulky wetsuits! As our good friend and hugely talented singer-songwriter-guitarist Cathy Kreger (http://www.cathykreger.com) provided fabulous musical entertainment throughout the afternoon, Pod members Tim Sullivan and Bob Miller, along with Bonnie Millen’s partner Tim Peterson, joined Cathy on the stage (yes, we had a stage!), adding their harmonica/mandolin, banjo and guitar tracks to Cathy’s full-band sound for a rockin’ and rolling’ jam session that had the rest of the audience singing along like groupies!

Also hidden beneath Speedos and wetsuits -- and the real gift of this out-of-our element gathering: depths of conversation and insight not readily observed or shared "at the Buoy" or "at the Sailboat...." What was apparent in this gathering, as it has been for the last several years, is the deepening sense of community shared by the members of the ever-expanding Pod. We are a remarkably diverse, yet remarkably cohesive, group whose shared love of swimming and the open water has opened a pathway to a kinship that parallels that of many extended families....We were gathered to celebrate the end of summer, but more than that, the community and connectedness of the West Neck Pod!
September 23rd marks the Fall Equinox and the official end of summer, but the open-water-swimming season continues – for as long as we can tolerate the dwindling air/water temperatures! The fairest of us all have already hung up their wetsuits, but with the water temperature still in the high 60s and the air temperature in the mid-50s (with a promise of warmer weather in the week ahead), the 2011 open-water swimming season is still in full swing! If you haven’t joined us yet, there’s still time....See you in the Salt!

A memorable swim on a never-to-be-forgotten day...

2011-09-11T23:30:00.006-04:00

9-8-11 Heart above Empire State Bldg

This morning's blue sky and brilliant sunshine was itself a tribute to the memory of that terrible day, whose 10th anniversary we commemorated today....The dozen or so swimmers gathered on the beach at West Neck stood together for a long moment of silence, as we remembered those who were lost, honored those who survived, and thanked those who continue to serve and put themselves in harm's way. Rabbi ("The Rabbit") Steve Moskowitz (our resident Man of God) said a few well chosen words of hope and healing, and then we eased ourselves into the Salt for a cleansing, clearing Causeway swim. Rob Todd had thoughtfully provided us with a brand-new floating Pod Sandal Station (thanks Rob!), so our feet were happy even if our hearts were not....We headed out to the Sailboat mooring against a rip-roaring incoming tide, which had us clinging to the mooring for dear life as we waited for our fellow swimmers to arrive, lest we be instantly flushed all the way back to the beach! Carole, Kathy and Joan decided to forgo swimming for an easy ride back, heads cushioned on their orange flotation buoys as they kicked along lazily while the tide whisked them beachward, prompting Nancy Lipira to threaten to revoke their Pod membership cards and take away their buoys...!

Rob Todd's new Pod Sandal Station

When we returned to the beach, it was still the 10th anniversary of September 11th, a day that will always feel like it happened "only yesterday," but in the Salt, and in the fellowship of the Pod, there is comfort and healing and peace....

We're Back in the Swim!

2011-09-09T16:04:00.006-04:00

After seemingly endless days and nights of relentless rain, it was wonderful to finally see the sun -- and to taste the Salt again! Carole, Gae, Nancy Aboff and I reveled in our return to the open water this morning, enjoying a leisurely, invigorating, s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g-out kind of swim along the Causeway and a silly, giddy, noodling-swim back, in water that already has the crystal-clarity of Fall though the calendar tells us it's still Summer -- at least for a little while yet. But in this post-Labor Day landscape, the new season has already begun...The lifeguard station is shuttered and locked, the swim lines are gone, and the showers are already disconnected, leaving us to mourn not only the end of our ritual ablutions on the beach but our MIA floating Pod-Sandal Station (Rob Martell, we need you!). But the water temperature is still comfortably in the low-70s, you can see all the way down to your feet no matter how tall you are, and the best of this season's open-water swimming is still to come! See you in the Salt!

"Thirty Days [of open-water swimming] hath September...."

2011-09-05T18:22:00.001-04:00

In the wake of Hurricane Irene, the usually traumatic transition from August to September went relatively unnoticed by the swimmers of the West Neck Pod. Only a small group (Ken, Tim, Carole, Kathy and I) ventured into the Salt on Thursday for a short, "First of September" swim that was characterized by a shockingly littered seascape -- with the water chock-full of logs, branches, twigs, leaves and other storm washups that, as Ken described, had us constantly "picking our heads up like prairie dogs" as we swam through the debris.

By Friday the water had cleared again, with only a few remnants of the storm still littering the harbor. Carole, Kathy, Rob Ripp, Rabbi Steve and I enjoyed a wonderfully energizing swim to the Southern Buoy, where we lingered and chatted as I snapped the inevitable photos and videos to memorialize the day. Steve (still a relative newcomer to the Pod and open-water swimming), casually commented, "You know, no offense, but the pictures on Facebook and the Blog all look pretty much the same...." His comment might have stung a little bit but for its undeniable truth. The fact is that the West Neck Pod (or some portion of it) swims the same routes, nearly every day, from the same beach, and in the same harbor, so the scenery, background and subjects tend to be much the same from day to day and week to week, and maybe even year to year. Those of us who have been swimming here year after year appreciate and rely on the constantly changing water and wind and waves and weather to keep it interesting and fresh...but sometimes a little outside perspective is a good thing....
Robb Ripp, recognizing an opportunity to "change it up" for the Pod with a new "photo-op," wasted no time in coaching Carole, Kathy and the surprisingly willing Steve in a carefully choreographed circle-dance in front of the buoy, and my video camera, which even Rabbi Steve must concede produced images never before seen out there by the Southern Buoy!

Inspired, no doubt, by the grace and beauty of Friday's performance, the 20-plus swimmers who turned out for Saturday morning's group swim were easily inveigled by Rob and his cohorts to perform a celebratory end-of-summer circle-dance around the Southern Buoy -- again captured by my video camera as evidence of the not-always-the-same exploits of the West Neck Pod!
By Sunday, when more than 30 swimmers showed up for the 8:00 swim, circle-dances by the buoy were beginning to seem old...so the Pod "changed it up" again with a first-time swim beyond the Southern buoy to the "beach before the jetty," for a two-mile round trip that exhilarated and inspired all those who participated (including Cammi and Ursula, who accompanied us on their stand-up paddleboards and helped keep us safe and on-course -- thanks, you two!). Everyone lined up on the beach for a water-start return, which was absolutely phenomenal viewed from the water....

Monday's Labor Day swim, though well-attended, seemed almost anticlimactic, with one group opting for the usual "Buoy-to-Buoy-and-back swim" and the rest of us opting for the shorter "Buoy-lite" swim, but here the weather and wind intervened to take this swim out of the ordinary, as all were made to battle a brisk outgoing tide and howling southerly wind that stirred up a sizeable wave-chop. Also memorable were the coffee, bagels, donuts and muffins we enjoyed on the beach afterwards, as well as the company of our Pod-sister Joye, still striving to heal her badly broken ankle so she can rejoin us in the Salt before this 2011 season closes....

Today's Labor Day swim also marks the completion of my 69th open-water swim of the season -- bringing me that much closer to my season's goal of 100 days of open-water swimming. As the September air grows disturbingly crisper, I am less certain of reaching that goal -- but I celebrate and am grateful for the memory of each of those 69 days, and the subtle nuances that make each of them unique and different -- even if those endless photographs and videos don't show it...

See you in the Salt!

Swimming in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene...

2011-09-01T21:00:00.001-04:00

The ravages of Hurricane Irene, and the resultant Health Department "advisory" that closed 131 Long Island beaches – including West Neck Beach – had Pod members itching and twitching to get back in the Salt by mid-week. Mindful of the Health Department recommendation that "bathers" wait 48 hours and four tidal flushes after a heavy rainfall, by Wednesday morning five of us deemed the water "safe enough" for swimming, even though the health advisory had not yet been officially lifted at 6:30 a.m. (though it was later that day, much to our relief!). But as I pulled into the parking lot at West Neck Beach that morning -- for the first time since Irene swept over our Island -- and viewed the altered landscape, I felt oddly sad and disoriented. The parking lot – which had been underwater days before – was still filled with sand, the beach was littered with logs and branches and other debris, the concrete bench lay broken where the surging tide had dumped it, and the swim lines were cast up on the beach, along with the buoy that demarcated the "Swim Area." The empty boat moorings – too soon for the season -- amplified the sense of strangeness – and this place that was so familiar to me now felt vaguely foreign. As I waded into the water, I felt somewhat apprehensive, not knowing what hazards Hurricane Irene may have hidden there....

We set out towards the Sailboat mooring – Gae, Evelyn, Karen, Cathy Kabat and I – marveling at the comparative cleanliness of the water, even as we dodged the occasional tree branch or other floating remnant of the storm. It was wonderful to swim again – and by the time we reached the mooring, I was starting to feel "normal" again....On the return trip, Karen, Cathy and I were roughly pacing one another (Gae and Evelyn having turned back earlier), and I knew it was Cathy swimming to my left because I saw her orange flotation buoy trailing behind her. So when I stopped to sight midway to the dock, saw Karen to my right, but found that Cathy was nowhere in sight, I became alarmed – especially when I looked back toward the Sailboat mooring and saw an orange flotation buoy in the distance just off the mooring, but moving rapidly northward. My alarm turned to confusion, especially when I saw an unknown, lone swimmer (with no flotation buoy) heading north along the Causeway at a rapid pace. I consulted with Karen, who at first was equally confused, but we finally came to the realization that the orange buoy was Cathy’s, which had somehow become detached from her waist belt, and that she was chasing it down, hell-bent for leather!

Dara Torres certainly has nothing on our Cathy Kabat, who was skimming along the top of the water like l'Hydroptere in full sail, and who caught up with her buoy before it reached Fort Hill Beach! Karen and I swam back to meet her, and we all swam back together giddily, all the tension of the morning now lifted, and glad to be back home in the Salt for this last, wonderful swim of August 2011!

Good Night, Irene...and Good Riddance!

2011-08-28T17:10:00.000-04:00

Though not nearly as harmful and dangerous as was originally feared, Hurricane Irene's driving rains and fierce winds still delivered Long Island a serious whuppin' throughout the night and early morning, flooding the shoreline communities and making a Sunday morning swim completely out of the question....Unless, of course, you're Ken Longo, who sent out a series of increasingly frenzied e-mails this morning looking for other inmates -- I mean Pod members -- to swim with him. Turns out he's not the only one who was itching to get to the Beach, and numerous other Pod members risked life and limb on their quest to get to West Neck, if only to take pictures! Most of us (yes, of course I'm one of them!) have been thwarted, as West Neck Road has been closed all day due to flooding and numerous downed trees blocking the road. My latest attempt was around 3:00 this afternoon, and the road was closed just beyond John Daves Lane as yet another tree had just fallen! Lloyd Harbor police officer (and fellow swimmer) "Vinnie" confirmed, though, that the water had completely covered the Lloyd Neck causeway, and that West Neck Beach was completely underwater at the height of the storm. Nancy Aboff (who lives in Lloyd Neck) just reported via e-mail that she finally made it down to West Neck Beach -- along with a bunch of windsurfers taking advantage of the white-capped surf in the Harbor! That must be that "storm surge" the forecasters kept talking about....Hopefully Nancy will post some pictures of our favorite beach in the aftermath of Irene -- but in the meantime here are some others from those on the Quest, including Rob Ripp (who narrowly escaped being crushed by a falling tree as he was taking these pictures) and Liz Perlstein. See you in the post-Irene Salt!

Huntington Harbor overflowing onto West Shore Road (Rob Ripp)

Boat dock at Gold Star Beach (Rob Ripp)

New York Avenue in Huntington (Liz Perlstein)

Boat dock in Cold Spring Harbor post-Irene

Me, Myself & Irene

2011-08-27T21:46:00.000-04:00

For the second time in as many years, the West Neck Pod (along with the rest of the eastern seaboard) is anxiously anticipating the arrival of a major hurricane. Last year’s Category 4 "Hurricane Earl" turned out to be a major non-event, bringing Long Island none of the threatened heavy rains and dangerously high winds, and cheating Pod members out of not even one good open-water swimming day as it passed harmlessly north and east of us (http://thewater-blog.blogspot.com/2010/09/hurricane-schmurricane.html) ....The story is likely to be different with "Hurricane Irene" – indeed, as I write this, the television news is reporting that already six people have died as Irene lurches her way northward along the coast. But early this morning, Irene – and those deaths – were still far to our south. With Irene’s arrival seemingly inevitable and imminent, and the immediate future of open-water swimming in its aftermath being something of a cipher, it was perhaps no surprise that a total of 16 somewhat trepidatious swimmers showed up at West Neck Beach for this morning’s swim – to see what Irene might have been stirring up and to get in one last swim before "Armageddon." (Regrettably, the Tobay Triathlon and Tri-Relay must be denoted another of Irene’s victims, having been cancelled early this morning – though Don Bond still managed to claim his commemorative shirt, if not a trophy!) Even Frank Fiore, now fully recovered from his horrific biking accident, rejoined the Pod for his first open-water swim of the season!

To the great surprise of all of us, Cold Spring Harbor showed no overt signs of Irene’s approach, other than the overhanging clouds. The water was eerily flat and calm, an effect that was exaggerated by the expansive vista of the harbor, now virtually devoid of boats and floating docks -- all moved to safer water in anticipation of the storm. Despite its surface calm, though, there was much stirring below, as we watched wave after wave of snappers leaping from the water in a desperate flight to escape the bigger fish hunting them below. Huge underwater swells, invisible on the still only lightly rippled surface as we began our swim to the Sailboat’s now-empty mooring, swept and lifted us, and in the strength of the incoming tide we felt Irene’s power for the first time. The return trip, though, was no less onerous, with an inexplicable outgoing current holding us as if in place. But despite the challenge, we felt privileged, swimming as a body in the vast, uninterrupted expanse of open water that touched the sky at the horizon. The swim was awesome, in the truest sense of the word – inspiring awe as we contemplated the majesty of Nature, her beauty, and her enormous and sometimes terrible power...

It’s evening now, the air is dense and thick, and a steady rain is falling, signaling Irene’s relentless approach. I’ve done all the preparing I can, I’ve had my "last swim," and, like most of my fellow Long Islanders – swimmers and otherwise – I am waiting....Be safe everyone!...I’ll see you in the Salt! (but probably not tomorrow!)

August is waning....

2011-08-23T22:41:00.001-04:00

Last week was a gorgeous mid-August swimming week at West Neck Beach, despite torrential rains that washed out Sunday's swim and raised concerns about contaminated runoff that kept swimmers out of the water on Monday. Ten of us ventured back under still-cloudy skies on Tuesday, for what turned out to be an exquisite swim in crystal clear water, only to find on our return that signs had been posted announcing the Beach was "officially closed." We swimmers survived with no ill effects, and the signs were gone when we returned on Wednesday, but the "moon jellies" apparently took this as an invitation, invading Cold Spring Harbor in unprecedented numbers that made our old jokes about "swimming through tapioca pudding" seem like happy memories...The jellies were so thick in the water that we could have practically walked on their backs to the southern buoy, and Cathy Kabat, who swims without a wetsuit, was scooping them out of her too-loose bathing suit like extra helpings of mashed potatoes....Happily, the evening's outgoing tide swept the moon jellies with it, and the rest of the week was virtually jelly-free! The dire predictions of rain and thunderstorms for the weekend never materialized, and though our numbers were diminished by the Huntington Tri-Masters Swimmers Tobay Triathlon and Tri-Relay practice swim on Saturday, and the John Daly 1-Mile Ocean Swim on Sunday, the remnants of the Pod enjoyed lovely, languid, leisurely weekend swims marred only by the intrusion of a speeding jet ski on Sunday...By Sunday evening the rain had returned, and with it the disturbingly chilly air that seems unusually premature for this date in August. As always when the air temperatures begin to dip, signaling the imminent transition from Summer to Fall, I become a little wistful, because I know that my remaining open-water swimming days are numbered....How ironic, as this season I've actually been counting those days in pursuit of a "100-day open-water swimming season" -- like the "perfect" skiing season I've heard downhill skiiers rave about...Today's swim, on Tuesday, August 23rd, was number 59 -- and with the air temperature at only 60 degrees at 6:30 this morning, I began to wonder if I'll be able to achieve that goal before the deep cold sets in and I'm forced to retreat to the chlorine....That makes me wonder about the 87 names on the West Neck Pod's e-mail list and the 75 "Friends" on the West Neck Pod's Facebook page, many of whom I've not yet seen in the Salt this season....

As this month of August draws to a close and September looms, and with it the summer's end, I invite those holdouts to reconsider their other "pressing business" and remind them of the drawing power of Salt...

Swim Across America: Raising Funds to Fight Cancer, "From Sea to Shining Sea...."

2011-08-15T23:47:00.004-04:00

The year 2011 marks the 25^th anniversary of "Swim Across America," a not-for-profit organization dedicated to raising funds and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment through swimming-related events. In addition to numerous pool events, there are now 13 open-water Swim Across America ("SAA") fundraising events in various venues throughout the country, including two on Long Island.
This year, five West Neck Pod swimmers participated in the August 13^th "Sound-to-Cove" open water swim from Long Island Sound to Morgan Park in Glen Cove: Evelyn Cruise and I swimming the 5K and Bonnie Millen and Karl Bourke swimming the 1-mile as part of "Team Hope;" and Meghan McGovern swimming the 5K as part of "Team T.O.A.S.T." Together we raised more than $6,000 for local cancer research programs sponsored by Swim Across America. Next year we plan to swim as part of "Team West Neck Pod" and raise even more money to fight this monstrous disease that has left virtually no family – including the West Neck Pod family – unscathed. Bonnie, swimming the 1-mile event just a few months after her own surgery for breast cancer, swam in memory of her best friend Gail Scamoni, whom cancer claimed in January; Karl swam in memory of his Uncle Edward Burke; Evelyn swam in honor of her Uncle Michael; Meghan swam in honor of her two aunts and friend who are currently battling cancer; and I swam in honor of my Pod-mate Bonnie, and in memory of my Aunt Mary Agnes Patscott, my friends Richie Clarke, Richard Thatcher and Barbara Sforza, and too many others....

Swim Across America’s mission has been embraced not only by hometown athletes, but by numerous Olympic and world swimming champions, including Diana Nyad, a longtime SAA supporter, whose heroic effort to swim 103 miles from Cuba to Florida had been cut short just a few days before the "Sound to Cove" SAA swim. Like so many others who had been both inspired and humbled by Diana’s "Xtreme Dream," my heart was still aching with disappointment -- not for myself but for Diana -- when I set out to swim a course that I was mindful was approximately 100 miles shorter than the course Diana had set for herself! Having swum several 5K events before, I was confident that I would be able to swim the 3.1 mile distance, but I was somewhat daunted nevertheless by the one-way course whose start point was out in the middle of Long Island Sound! The seemingly endless boat ride out to the starting buoy, the wait for the last 10K swimmer (10K!) to pass on his way all the way across the Sound from Larchmont, the leap from the boat into DEEP, unfamiliar water, 3.1 miles from a shore that I could no longer see, unnerved me, especially when I realized that my goggle strap had detached when I jumped, and I watched my fellow 5K swimmers recede into the distance as I struggled to rethread it and adjust my goggles for the swim. When I finally started swimming (of course I had to take a few photographs, first!), I was far behind the pack, and all alone in the middle of Long Island Sound (except for the kayaker who quickly zeroed in on me – thanks, Fran!).

Anxious to catch up with the pack, I found myself beginning to hyperventilate, and had to stop swimming to calm myself and regulate my breathing. I found myself thinking again of Diana Nyad, swimming for nearly 30 hours straight, much of it in total darkness, in a vast body of roiling water, plagued by excruciating shoulder pain, innumerable jellyfish stings, relentless nausea, and an inexplicable attack of asthma that left her gasping for breath as an implacable current carried her ever farther off course, and I felt ashamed of my seemingly petty fear and anxiety.

As I found my breath and settled into my swim, trying to channel my inner Diana Nyad (except for the asthma and the shoulder pain!), my thoughts turned to the courageous cancer patients and their families whose struggles for survival, quality of life, and dignity are ultimately the motivation for this and all of the other "Swims Across America." Though their struggles are not freely chosen, unlike the "Xtreme" challenge Diana Nyad had set for herself, and the far more modest one I had undertaken in swimming from "Sound to Cove," they all bear witness to one fundamental truth: It’s not the destination that matters, but how you make the journey.... See you in the Salt.

Big Weekend for a "Big Swim"

2011-07-31T19:06:00.000-04:00

The West Neck Pod bid a fond farewell to July this weekend, commemorating this glorious month’s-end with two "Big" open-water swims. Saturday, as guests of the Greenlawn Beach and Swim Club, and joined by the Huntington Tri-Masters Swimmers, the Pod enjoyed the peaceful, natural beauty of Makamah Beach and reveled in the crystal-clear "big" water of Long Island Sound, which lulled us with an effortless eastward swim on a calm, flat incoming tide, then churned and slapped us from side to side as the wind picked up on the westward return. Despite the waves and chop, the bottom was clearly visible throughout the swim and seemingly close enough to touch even in ten-foot depths, its apparent proximity an illusion induced by the astonishing cleanliness and clarity of the water.

On Sunday, July 31^st, the Pod returned to West Neck Beach for the long-awaited day of the "Big Swim," the season’s first organized collective effort to increase our swim distance and push beyond our usual boundaries. Scores of Aquafit swimmers also heeded the call to adventure and joined the throng of Pod swimmers headed "to the Sailboat and beyond." Though an unusually strong incoming tide and a disconcerting jellyfish insurgence dimmed the group’s enthusiasm for a 3-mile jaunt, a substantial number voted "yes" for 2 miles and continued north to Fort Hill Beach. After the obligatory stopover at the floating dock where Sal Romanello demonstrated his "cannonball" technique and others followed suit, the still-rapidly-incoming tide all but flung us down the Causeway and back to the beach....and the beginning of a new swimming month. See you in the Salt – in August!

Carol Moore's "Swim Across America"

2011-07-26T23:57:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, August 13th, I will be participating in the "Swim Across America" in a 5K (3.1 mile) open-water swim from Long Island Sound to Morgan Park in Glen Cove to raise money for cancer research. If, like so many other families, you and yours have been touched by this plague, please consider making a donation to help support my effort and this cause. You can make a donation online via the attached link: http://www.swimacrossamerica.org/site/TR/OpenWater/NassauSuffolk?px=1057120&pg=personal&fr_id=1186, and I promise to swim my heart out! Thanks for your support! -- Carol

"The cure for anything is salt water -- sweat, tears, or the sea." -- Isak Dinesen

"Dry Run" for "The Big Swim"

2011-07-23T14:13:00.000-04:00

Anticipating next weekend's "Big Swim," a dozen Pod members took a preview this morning, swimming northward past our usual "Sailboat" destination to Fort Hill Beach for a two-mile roundtrip (Margot Edlin, Evelyn Cruise, Gae Polisner, Annmarie Kearney-Woods, Nancy Reycraft, Sue Robinson and I), or all the way to the dock before the point for a three-mile roundtrip (Cathy Kabat, Rob Ripp, Rob Todd, Todd Rowley and Mark). Yesterday's blistering heat had abated somewhat by the time we entered the water, and conditions were perfect for a long swim. The water was clean and clear and relatively calm despite a steady northerly breeze, and its coolness was a welcome antidote to the sun still baking the beach. Approaching the mouth of the harbor, the water felt distinctly cooler, and big underwater swells rolled and lifted us, auguring the “big water” just beyond the point where the harbor meets the Sound (next season’s “Bigger Swim”?).

Reconnoitering at the Fort Hill Beach floating dock, we caught our breath and chatted, then set off in the direction of the Sailboat for the l-o-n-g swim back to West Neck Beach, swimming hard against the outgoing tide that had propelled us northward. Happily (and not by accident), next Sunday’s “Big Swim” will be on an incoming tide, for a tidal assist on the return trip! (For details about the “Big Swim,” see the West Neck Pod Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Neck-Pod/128827940504281#!/event.php?eid=231555000200139. ) As for tomorrow’s swim, we’ll see you in the Salt at 8:00!

Sunday, July 10th Open-Water Swim at West Neck Beach

2011-07-13T23:16:00.001-04:00

Here are photos and videos from Sunday's swim:

More pictures (by Mike Engel) are posted on the Huntington Masters Swimmers ("HUMS") blog at http://hums.blogspot.com/2011/07/some-pictures-from-sunday-july-10-2011.html! (Don't forget to join HUMS and "Swim for the Home Team"!)

"Boobs to the Buoy": Bonnie's Back!

2011-07-10T18:07:00.002-04:00

Just five weeks after a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery for breast cancer, West Neck Pod member Bonnie Millen returned to the Salt today for the first time since her surgery! Showing the indomitable spirit she has evinced since her devastating diagnosis (particularly poignant since Bonnie’s mother died of breast cancer at the age of 49) and throughout her amazingly swift recuperation from this major surgery, Bonnie swam all the way to the southern buoy! There she posed in triumph, as Pod members celebrated and enthusiastically welcomed her back to the Salt. No doubt Bonnie’s remarkable healing had something to do with those vegetarian meals lovingly cooked up and delivered every night for a month after Bonnie’s surgery by members of the West Neck Pod’s "Support BRA" – Bonnie’s Recovery Assistants! The BRA stands ready to continue to support Bonnie and her partner Tim when the final pathology reports come in and Bonnie’s treatment protocol is finalized. In the meantime, Bonnie’s glad to be back in the Swim, as her e-mail to the Pod, delicately captioned "Boobs to the Buoy," reflects: "Swimmers: Wonderful to see you all in the Salt on my return to OWS! Thank you Joye for watching my back, swimming at my manatee-like pace, even with flippers. Anyone interested in a leisurely Tuesday morning swim, say at 7:30 or 8 a.m.? Next goal, Boobs to the Boat -- Bonnie"

Indeed... Welcome back, Bonnie! See you in the Salt!

Safety First: "No-see-'ems" in the Water?

2011-07-09T17:08:00.000-04:00

Despite the overnight rain showers and some naysayers' dire warnings of possible coliform-laden runoff, a baker's dozen of hard-core (and hopefully iron-stomached!) swimmers took to the West Neck Salt this morning in conditions that were macroscopically, even if not microscopically, perfect! A swift outgoing tide nosed up against a steady northerly wind to stir up just enough wave-chop and underwater movement to make the swim interesting and exciting, and the water, under a brilliant sun in a cloudless sky, was remarkably clean and clear, for all the fretting of the nautical nabobs of negativism...!

All of the fuss and flurry about the runoff issue reminded me that I used to be one of those cautious swimmers who would wait for two tidal "flushes" after a heavy rain, but after years of swimming in this harbor without any intestinal ill-effects, I've become satisfied that the close proximity of West Neck Beach to the wide-open mouth of Long Island Sound keeps this harbor cleaner than most on Long Island -- and unlike other local beaches, West Neck Beach has almost never been closed due to a high coliform count...So I've become willing to take my chances on the "no-see-'ems" in the water and not pass up an otherwise perfectly good swim...!

There's a difference, though, between risking those "no-see-'ems" in the water, and being one of those "no-see-'ems" in the water -- hence those brightly colored orange buoys you see floating along behind several of the swimmers in these pictures! Having come "this close" to being hit by a speeding powerboat last Father's Day while swimming (see my blogpost at http://thewater-blog.blogspot.com/2010/06/happy-fathers-day.html), I'm acutely sensitive to how relatively invisible, and how vulnerable, we open-water swimmers are to the many boats that traverse this busy harbor -- a problem that's not adequately solved by our brightly-colored caps on our tiny little bobbing heads, which can barely be seen by other swimmers at the water's level, let alone by speeding boats in a heavy chop when their drivers are not expecting us to be there! So when I first learned about the new swimmer safety device being promoted by the International Swimming Hall of Fame, I ordered one online and tried it out, then ordered a dozen more more for the Pod! These inflatable floating dry bags enable swimmers to carry personal items with them (including medical supplies like asthma inhalers or Epi-pens, or the camera I took these pictures with!), provide flotation assistance if needed, create virtually no drag, and are highly visible to boaters and other watercraft. (They're apparently even visible to people on the shore -- Carole and Kathy said they saw our buoys way out in the harbor today as they were walking our dogs on the beach!)

These swimmer safety devices are a relatively easy and inexpensive way to enhance our safety and the safety of our fellow Pod members, as well as the peace of mind of our friends and family who love us, as we pursue our passion for this wonderful but dangerous sport of open-water swimming. I urge every Pod member, and every open-water swimmer, to get one -- and look forward to seeing a flotilla of bobbing orange buoys every time we hit the Salt this season! (For more information about the device, go to http://www.ishof.org/safety/faq.htm.)

As for the other "no-see-'ems" in the water today, dysentery may yet set in, but if it doesn't, most of this morning's crew will be doing it again tomorrow morning at 8:00 -- See you (safely) in the Salt!

Fourth of July Weekend Photos

2011-07-06T13:02:00.000-04:00

Here's a slideshow of photos from the Fourth of July Weekend swims at West Neck Beach:

Fourth of July Weekend -- 2011

2011-07-06T01:13:00.023-04:00

It's hard to believe that this 2011 open-water swimming season is already more than a month old, and that another major holiday weekend -- the Fourth of July -- has come and gone since the season "officially" opened Memorial Day Weekend! It seems like only yesterday since – after the winter’s long, chlorinated confinement – I first tentatively edged myself into the still-chilly water of West Neck Beach, fully encased in a long-sleeved wetsuit, and struggled to make my way as far as the yellow sign, let alone the Sailboat (which I finally reached for the first time several weeks ago – broken ribs now well-healed, thank you very much!). The intervening First Annual Huntington-Cold Spring Harbor 1 & 2 Mile Swim at West Neck Beach, which took place on Sunday, June 26th, is undoubtedly responsible for much of this sense of being caught in an accelerated time-warp, as I and many of the other West Neck Pod members were busily engaged in helping to plan the event, which consumed much of our time and energy for the last several weeks and months. Those efforts paid off with a wonderfully successful first-time event in which 181 swimmers participated, and which introduced dozens of newcomers to the Cold Spring Harbor/West Neck Beach venue and to the Pod of open-water swimmers that habitually plies its waters! Many of the competitors came back to swim with us this Fourth of July weekend, some more than once, and the Pod is now enhanced by new members Sharon and Jason and David and Karen and Cristina and others whose names I didn’t get...

Jennifer Rocke, a marathon swimmer from Colorado who was on Long Island to visit relatives and found us on the internet through"The Water-Blog," swam with us Friday morning and again on the 4th of July, partaking in a casual "Sailboat chat" with the rest of the Pod before heading back to start her journey home (with a new, bright yellow "To the Sailboat and Beyond -- West Neck Pod" swim cap in her bag!). Jennifer, who swam the English Channel in a relay, and is training for a relay swim across Lake Tahoe ("only 11 miles"!), says she’ll be back next year – when she plans to swim in the Second Annual Huntington-Cold Spring Harbor swim!

Bob Miller’s Huntington Tri-Masters Swimmers also joined us on Saturday for their first open-water swim of the season, and will be back next Saturday morning for another stint in the Salt.

More and more newcomers – experienced open-water swimmers as well as "newbies" – have recently been seeking out opportunities to swim in the group open-water environment offered by the West Neck Pod, and more and more open-water prodigals have been returning to the Salt (Sal Romanello and Lynn Perzetsty, to name a few!). The Pod itself has grown from a handful of swimmers a few years ago to a cohesive community of several dozen swimmers (with an e-mail list of more than 80 names) – and this extraordinary growth coincides with an explosion of interest in open-water swimming in the larger athletic community. Joye Brown and I, who were fortunate to be able to attend portions of the 2011 Global Open Water Swimming Conference in NYC in June, met scores of open-water swimmers from around the world who are passionate about open-water swimming and about sharing their passion – and their knowledge – with others. (Read more about the conference on Steven Munatones’ blog, http://dailynewsofopenwaterswimming.com/.) More and more people are taking to the open water – and falling in love with it, as I did so many years ago, and do again every time I swim!

I envision that by the time the next major holiday weekend rolls around (Labor Day weekend), the swimmers of the West Neck Pod will be as thick as moon jellies in the harbor – and that when we set out on our group swims, we’ll hear what Carole Wickham described when she lifeguarded for the June 26th 1 & 2 Mile Swim: "As the largest wave of swimmers approached, I heard a sound that was like a flock of swans flying low over the water, beating the surface with their wings...I could hear the swimmers coming before I could see them...It was an amazing sound....

Hope you all had a wonderful and safe 4th of July weekend....See you in the Salt!

(Follow this link for more pictures of the 4th of July Weekend at West Neck Beach: https://picasaweb.google.com/101213847005616295077/FourthOfJulyWeekend2011?authuser=0&feat=directlink)

Results Are In for the 1&2 Mile/400M Swims at West Neck Beach!

2011-06-29T13:52:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to all of the participants in the First Annual Huntington-Cold Spring Harbor 1&2 Mile/400M Swims at West Neck Beach! Here are your results!

U S A S W I M M I N G D I V I S I O N

Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time

1 Ryan Aroesty M 10 LBA 103 Long Beach, NY 7:57

2 Dylan Harrington M 10 LBA 104 Island Park, NY 8:24

3 Kieran Lent M 10 LBA 102 Long Beach, NY 8:29

4 Amanda Nasti F 10 LIND 105 East Northport, NY 9:02

5 Brookie Waller F 10 LBA 101 Long Beach, NY 9:15

6 Zachary Baldassare M 8 WISC 108 Lindenhurst, NY 10:45

7 Peanut Arciniegas F 7 COND 107 Spring Valley, NY 12:24

11-12, 13-14 & 15-17 One Mile Swim Overall Order of Finish (regardless of age or gender)

Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time

1 Patrick Kilgallen M 17 LBA 412 Belle Harbor, NY 19:55

2 Michael McCarthy M 13 LBA 418 Long Beach, NY 21:54

3 Morgan Harrington F 13 LBA 419 Island Park, NY 22:04

4 Maggie Aroesty F 12 LBA 411 Long Beach, NY 22:05

5 Caroline Longo F 11 LBA 407 Rockville Centre, NY 22:09

6 Joseph Pedisich M 12 SSC 432 Lake Ronkonkoma, NY 22:30

7 Griffin Taylor M 13 MAKO 423 New York, NY 22:30

8 Sandra Li F 11 LIE 427 Jericho, NY 23:20

9 Matt Cannon M 11 LBA 408 Long Beach, NY 23:22

10 Brooke Harrington F 11 LBA 420 Island Park, NY 23:24

11 Caroline Farrell F 12 LBA 406 Long Beach, NY 23:39

12 Gaby Solis F 11 LBA 404 Long Beach, NY 24:17

13 Grace Conway F 17 CIY 428 Jamaica Estates, NY 24:36

14 Kathryn Mannle F 13 LBA 416 Long Beach, NY 24:38

15 Izzy Ripp F 12 SSC 421 Selden, NY 24:49

16 Connor Lent M 12 LBA 410 Long Beach, NY 25:23

17 Joseph Weinhofer M 11 SSC 426 Holtsville, NY 25:24

18 Jackie Gruber F 14 LBA 424 Long Beach, NY 25:26

19 Samantha Chase F 11 LBA 414 Long Beach, NY 25:31

20 Ellie Kavanagh F 11 LBA 402 Long Beach, NY 25:33

21 Vincent Budke M 11 SSC 430 Farmingville, NY 25:34

22 Kyle Sheinberg M 11 LBA 401 Oceanside, NY 25:35

23 Nicole Weinhofer F 12 SSC 425 Holtsville, NY 25:37

24 Emma Levin F 11 LBA 413 Lido Beach, NY 25:38

25 Michael Bulik M 12 LBA 422 Long Beach, NY 26:08

26 Emily Burns F 11 LBA 409 Long Beach, NY 26:17

27 Brittany Waller F 12 LBA 403 Long Beach, NY 26:35

28 Jack McDonnell M 12 LBA 405 Long Beach, NY 26:41

29 Anna Kuo F 17 CIY 429 Floral Park, NY 26:44

30 Blaine Siegel F 12 LBA 415 Lido Beach, NY 29:56

31 Katie McCabe F 11 TVSC 431 Patchogue, NY 30:01

32 Carolyn Crocker F 13 LBA 433 Broad Channel, NY 38:11

11-12, 13-14 & 15-17 Two Mile Swim Overall Order of Finish (regardless of age or gender)

Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time

1 Matt Darcy M 15 TVSC 203 Holtsville, NY 40:16

2 Kristen Pozmanter F 15 TVSC 207 East Setauket, NY 40:30

3 Sarah Catterson F 14 TVSC 204 Mount Sinai, NY 47:35

4 Emily Ostrander F 16 TVSC 205 Setauket, NY 49:20

U . S . M A S T E R S S W I M M I N G D I V I S I O N

Sunday 26 June 2011 West Neck Beach Open Water Swim Events

NON-WETSUIT One Mile Swim Overall Order of Finish (regardless of age or gender)

Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time

1 Bradley Scalise M 30 AQFT 514 Carle Place, NY 24:28

2 Bob Kolonkowski M 63 AGUA 556 East Atlantic Beach, NY 25:56

3 Kelly Healy F 46 METR 537 Long Beach, NY 26:10

4 Dannick Boutin M 35 AQFT 558 Mineola, NY 26:47

5 Brian Heneveld M 52 METR 535 Massapequa, NY 27:45

6 Richard Infield M 52 AQFT 548 Valley Stream, NY 27:58

7 John Durante M 41 UNAT 503 Breezy Point, NY 29:14

8 Dennis Wresch M 40 UNAT 507 Belle Harbor, NY 30:09

9 Frank Loscalzo M 54 UNAT 510 Northport, NY 30:12

10 David Kaufman M 41 AQFT 505 Plainview, NY 30:45

11 Kerri McCabe F 44 UNAT 513 Patchogue, NY 31:25

12 Cori Caporimo F 47 AQFT 559 Oceanside, NY 31:42

13 Frank Fiorello M 48 AQFT 545 Nesconset, NY 33:34

14 Sharon Snyder F 52 AGUA 506 New York, NY 35:26

15 Lorraine Colombo F 79 METR 516 Patchogue, NY 43:25

WETSUIT One Mile Swim Overall Order of Finish (regardless of age or gender)

Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time

1 Scott Kessler M 48 HUMS 518 Cold Spring Harbor, NY 21:21

2 Ken Longo M 58 POST 554 Cold Spring Harbor, NY 23:21

3 Tim Sullivan M 50 HUMS 552 Huntington, NY 24:03

4 Stanley Lozinski M 46 OWS 541 Great River, NY 26:10

5 Bobbi Nigro F 49 UNAT 530 Bellerose Manor, NY 26:25

6 Lawrence Maraldo M 49 AQFT 532 Wantagh, NY 27:02

7 Ron Helin M 72 UNAT 550 Middle Island, NY 29:04

8 Stuart Frost M 63 POST 546 Great Neck, NY 29:54

9 Lisa Hiller F 48 AQFT 520 Roslyn Heights, NY 30:33

10 Brian Spillane M 38 AQFT 557 Massapequa, NY 31:10

11 Lorraine Huether F 55 POST 529 Massapequa, NY 32:02

12 Nancy Aboff F 51 POST 526 Lloyd Harbor, NY 32:10

13 Brigitte Occhi F 48 AQFT 517 Glen Head, NY 32:14

14 Keith Niesenbaum M 53 UNAT 525 Roslyn, NY 32:27

15 Mary Elizabeth Smith F 60 AQFT 501 Breezy Point, NY 32:44

16 Kathy Raimonde F 55 AQFT 524 Garden City, NY 34:29

17 Nancy Reycraft F 63 HUMS 504 Northport, NY 37:18

18 Kristen Kastrinos F 36 AQFT 502 Valley Cottage, NY 37:22

19 Dorothy Whalen F 60 UNAT 519 Oyster Bay, NY 42:53

20 Victoria Elbrecht F 41 GSM 540 Ocean, NJ 47:17

21 Cristina Rieppi F 36 POST 522 Manhasset, NY 1:02.05

NON-WETSUIT Two Mile Swim Overall Order of Finish (regardless of age or gender)

Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time

1 Laura Aronsson F 25 BCTM 373 New York, NY 41:42

2 Katelyn Kane F 25 BCTM 359 New York, NY 42:31

3 Thomas Broderick M 44 POST 365 Manhasset, NY 44:00

4 Peter Ventura M 32 AQFT 351 Glen Cove, NY 45:15

5 Nicole Hirschman F 37 SEAW 344 Stony Brook, NY 46:53

6 Abigail Fairman F 34 REDT 314 New York, NY 48:29

7 Erin Dougherty F 28 REDT 327 New York, NY 48:54

8 Robert Unger M 53 SEAW 345 Smithtown, NY 48:58

9 Kenn Lowy M 54 CHEL 354 Brooklyn, NY 49:45

10 James Feeney M 44 METR 334 Long Beach, NY 51:39

11 Caitlin Rosen F 31 OWS 302 Brooklyn, NY 53:15

12 Laura Gibson-Rimer F 32 UNAT 313 Brooklyn, NY 53:21

13 Geoff Ringstad M 50 UNAT 370 Gilgo Beach, NY 53:21

14 Brian Fallon M 48 AQFT 325 East Northport, NY 53:32

15 Thomas Goulding M 29 NYCH 328 New York, NY 54:20

16 Lisa Valentine F 46 POST 305 Huntington, NY 54:38

17 George Hough M 44 WM 377 Mount Kisco, NY 55:22

18 Phyllis Springer F 62 NYCH 332 New York, NY 55:43

20 Cindy Thornton F 53 WM 361 Somers, NY 56:34

21 Thomas Sullivan M 57 BCTM 364 Brooklyn, NY 58:03

22 Matthew Wood M 36 SEAW 374 Miller Place, NY 58:16

23 Andrea O’Brien F 41 HUMS 367 Centerport, NY 58:25

24 Angela King-Horne F 48 UNAT 318 Bayport, NY 58:42

25 Diane Korn F 59 AQFT 329 Freeport, NY 1:08.24

26 Martina Pavlicova F 39 UNAT 322 New York, NY 1:19.01

27 Kathy McGuire F 57 BCTM 301 New York, NY 1:19.35

28 Steven Goran M 53 TNYA 306 Poughkeepsie, NY 1:23:56

19 Abigail Falk F 49 NYCH 335 New York, NY *55:43

manual backup timing correction of incorrect electronic chip time

WETSUIT Two Mile Swim Overall Order of Finish (regardless of age or gender)

Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time

1 Michael Wright M 47 POST 319 Plainview, NY 44:09

2 Amanda Marcus F 25 AQFT 312 Wantagh, NY 44:45

3 John Sullivan M 49 BCTM 330 Brooklyn, NY 45:19

4 Randy Hill M 52 AQFT 356 Hempstead, NY 48:33

5 Danielle Sullivan F 34 POST 336 Blue Point, NY 49:22

6 Todd Rowley M 41 HUMS 355 Huntington, NY 49:40

7 David O’Connor M 48 UNAT 316 Brightwaters, NY 50:15

8 John Coyle M 40 AQFT 376 Cold Spring Harbor, NY 53:42

9 Jared Cohen M 34 TNYA 311 Sea Cliff, NY 1:00:52

10 Eliana Feldstein F 43 AQFT 353 Melville, NY 1:01:09

11 Paul Marsac M 56 AQFT 350 Bethpage, NY 1:01:20

12 Daniel O’Connor M 63 POST 341 Oyster Bay, NY 1:01:21

13 Francine Ronan F 46 SEAW 338 Port Jefferson, NY 1:02:06

14 Eric Bressler M 60 UNAT 333 Cutchogue, NY 1:07:18

15 Paul Seltzer M 59 UNAT 310 Dix Hills, NY 1:07:59

16 Janet Seals F 51 HUMS 362 Greenlawn, NY 1:11:54

17 Matthew Conroy M 42 METR 352 Lido Beach, NY 1:22:48

O P E N S W I M M I N G D I V I S I O N

(athletes NOT affiliated with USAS or USMS)
Sunday 26 June 2011 West Neck Beach Open Water Swim Events
NON-WETSUIT One Mile Swim Overall Order of Finish (regardless of age or gender)
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Luigi Carminati M 24 n/a 553 Huntington, NY 29:35
2 Matt Connolly M 48 n/a 539 Huntington, NY 29:38
3 Philip Healey M 54 n/a 544 Massapequa, NY 30:38
4 Justin Eddings M 25 n/a 512 Huntington, NY 33:25
5 Christina Vossen-White F 44 n/a 560 Greenlawn, NY 44:14

WETSUIT One Mile Swim Overall Order of Finish (regardless of age or gender)
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Don Bond M 54 n/a 549 Huntington, NY 25:20
2 Eamon Flood M 35 n/a 555 Great Neck, NY 25:23
3 Elizabeth Perlstein F 39 n/a 531 Huntington, NY 29:16
4 Kevin Shanley M 35 n/a 542 Huntington, NY 30:19
5 Randy Dodd M 66 n/a 523 Long Beach, NY 30:31
6 Mark Eicher M 55 n/a 551 Fort Salonga, NY 31:07
7 Courtney Fitzpatrick F 39 n/a 509 Glen Head, NY 32:47
8 Grace Winters F 48 n/a 515 Bayville, NY 33:27
9 Rosemary Wisler F 42 n/a 511 Greenlawn, NY 35:43
10 Joey Posillico III M 42 n/a 561 Farmingdale, NY 1:00:03
NON-WETSUIT Two Mile Swim Overall Order of Finish (regardless of age or gender)

Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Bird Norton M 67 n/a 368 Huntington, NY 41:04
2 Stephanie Myers F 33 n/a 369 New York, NY 54:11
3 Jan Noordin M 41 n/a 315 St. James, NY 1:07:20

WETSUIT Two Mile Swim Overall Order of Finish (regardless of age or gender)
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Andrew Motola M 47 n/a 347 Great Neck, NY 43:17
2 Peter Fitzpatrick M 41 n/a 326 Glen Head, NY 51:04
3 Michael Paradise M 39 n/a 331 Centerport, NY 51:50
4 Tom Fanuzzi M 45 n/a 358 Fort Salonga, NY 52:46
5 Jason Bruno M 36 n/a 342 Greenlawn, NY 53:41
6 Joana Bekerman F 39 n/a 321 Glen Cove, NY 57:43
7 Tim Daly M 56 n/a 360 Fort Salonga, NY 58:04
8 Mikey Posillico M 49 n/a 303 Farmingdale, NY 58:34
9 Chris Smith M 50 n/a 343 Huntington, NY 59:06
10 Karen Ruth F 46 n/a 366 Painesville, OH 1:01:51
11 Constantine Chigounis M 41 n/a 323 Long Beach, NY 1:01:59
12 Ralph Tocco M 39 n/a 324 Long Beach, NY 1:02:03
13 Jen Howard F 46 n/a 348 Northport, NY 1:02:13
14 Vinny O’Shaughnessy M 50 n/a 375 Cold Spring Harbor, NY 1:03:42
15 Nick Francesco M 23 n/a 357 West Babylon, NY 1:05:21
16 Jennifer Taggart F 37 n/a 307 St. James, NY 1:07:26
17 Adrian Crockett M 37 n/a 371 New York, NY 1:09:23
18 Tony Sforza M 49 n/a 349 Northport, NY 1:16:06
19 Armand D’Amato M 67 n/a 339 Lloyd Harbor, NY 1:19:46

USA SWIMMING DIVISION - AGE GROUP RESULTS
Sunday 26 June 2011 West Neck Beach Open Water Swim Events
Girls 10 & U 400 Meter Swim

Sunday 26 June 2011 West Neck Beach Open Water Swim Events

10 & U 400 Meter Swim Overall Order of Finish (regardless of age or gender)

Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time

1 Amanda Nasti F 10 LIND 105 East Northport, NY 9:02

2 Brookie Waller F 10 LBA 101 Long Beach, NY 9:15

3 Peanut Arciniegas F 7 COND 107 Spring Valley, NY 12:24

Girls 11-12 One Mile Swim

Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Maggie Aroesty F 12 LBA 411 Long Beach, NY 22:05
2 Caroline Longo F 11 LBA 407 Rockville Centre, NY 22:09
3 Sandra Li F 11 LIE 427 Jericho, NY 23:20
4 Brooke Harrington F 11 LBA 420 Island Park, NY 23:24
5 Caroline Farrell F 12 LBA 406 Long Beach, NY 23:39
6 Gaby Solis F 11 LBA 404 Long Beach, NY 24:17
7 Izzy Ripp F 12 SSC 421 Selden, NY 24:49
8 Samantha Chase F 11 LBA 414 Long Beach, NY 25:31
9 Ellie Kavanagh F 11 LBA 402 Long Beach, NY 25:33
10 Nicole Weinhofer F 12 SSC 425 Holtsville, NY 25:37
11 Emma Levin F 11 LBA 413 Lido Beach, NY 25:38
12 Emily Burns F 11 LBA 409 Long Beach, NY 26:17
13 Brittany Waller F 12 LBA 403 Long Beach, NY 26:35
14 Blaine Siegel F 12 LBA 415 Lido Beach, NY 29:56
15 Katie McCabe F 11 TVSC 431 Patchogue, NY 30:01
Girls 13-14 One Mile Swim
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Morgan Harrington F 13 LBA 419 Island Park, NY 22:04
2 Kathryn Mannle F 13 LBA 416 Long Beach, NY 24:38
3 Jackie Gruber F 14 LBA 424 Long Beach, NY 25:26
4 Carolyn Crocker F 13 LBA 433 Broad Channel, NY 38:11
Girls 13-14 Two Mile Swim
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Sarah Catterson F 14 TVSC 204 Mount Sinai, NY 47:35
Girls 15-17 One Mile Swim
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Grace Conway F 17 CIY 428 Jamaica Estates, NY 24:36
2 Anna Kuo F 17 CIY 429 Floral Park, NY 26:44
Girls 15-17 Two Mile Swim
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Kristen Pozmanter F 15 TVSC 207 East Setauket, NY 40:30
2 Emily Ostrander F 16 TVSC 205 Setauket, NY 49:20
Boys 10 & U 400 Meter Swim
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Ryan Aroesty M 10 LBA 103 Long Beach, NY 7:57
2 Dylan Harrington M 10 LBA 104 Island Park, NY 8:24
3 Kieran Lent M 10 LBA 102 Long Beach, NY 8:29
4 Zachary Baldassare M 8 WISC 108 Lindenhurst, NY 10:45
Boys 11-12 One Mile Swim
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Joseph Pedisich M 12 SSC 432 Lake Ronkonkoma, NY 22:30
2 Matt Cannon M 11 LBA 408 Long Beach, NY 23:22
3 Connor Lent M 12 LBA 410 Long Beach, NY 25:23
4 Joseph Weinhofer M 11 SSC 426 Holtsville, NY 25:24
5 Vincent Budke M 11 SSC 430 Farmingville, NY 25:34
6 Kyle Sheinberg M 11 LBA 401 Oceanside, NY 25:35
7 Michael Bulik M 12 LBA 422 Long Beach, NY 26:08
8 Jack McDonnell M 12 LBA 405 Long Beach, NY 26:41
Boys 13-14 One Mile Swim
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Michael McCarthy M 13 LBA 418 Long Beach, NY 21:54
2 Griffin Taylor M 13 MAKO 423 New York, NY 22:30
Boys 15-17 One Mile Swim
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Patrick Kilgallen M 17 LBA 412 Belle Harbor, NY 19:55
Boys 15-17 Two Mile Swim
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Matt Darcy M 15 TVSC 203 Holtsville, NY 40:16

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
U. S. MASTERS SWIMMING DIVISION - AGE GROUP RESULTS
Sunday 26 June 2011 West Neck Beach Open Water Swim Events
Women 25-29 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Laura Aronsson F 25 BCTM 373 New York, NY 41:42
2 Katelyn Kane F 25 BCTM 359 New York, NY 42:31
3 Erin Dougherty F 28 REDT 327 New York, NY 48:54
Women 25-29 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Amanda Marcus F 25 AQFT 312 Wantagh, NY 44:45
Women 30-34 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Abigail Fairman F 34 REDT 314 New York, NY 48:29
2 Caitlin Rosen F 31 OWS 302 Brooklyn, NY 53:15
3 Laura Gibson-Rimer F 32 UNAT 313 Brooklyn, NY 53:21
Women 30-34 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Danielle Sullivan F 34 POST 336 Blue Point, NY 49:22
Women 35-39 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Kristen Kastrinos F 36 AQFT 502 Valley Cottage, NY 37:22
2 Cristina Rieppi F 36 POST 522 Manhasset, NY 1:02.05
Women 35-39 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Nicole Hirschman F 37 SEAW 344 Stony Brook, NY 46:53
2 Martina Pavlicova F 39 UNAT 322 New York, NY 1:19.01
Women 40-44 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Kerri McCabe F 44 UNAT 513 Patchogue, NY 31:25
Women 40-44 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Victoria Elbrecht F 41 GSM 540 Ocean, NJ 47:17
Women 40-44 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Andrea O’Brien F 41 HUMS 367 Centerport, NY 58:25
Women 40-44 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Eliana Feldstein F 43 AQFT 353 Melville, NY 1:01:09
Women 45-49 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Kelly Healy F 46 METR 537 Long Beach, NY 26:10
2 Cori Caporimo F 47 AQFT 559 Oceanside, NY 31:42
Women 45-49 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Bobbi Nigro F 49 UNAT 530 Bellerose Manor, NY 26:25
2 Lisa Hiller F 48 AQFT 520 Roslyn Heights, NY 30:33
3 Brigitte Occhi F 48 AQFT 517 Glen Head, NY 32:14
Women 45-49 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Lisa Valentine F 46 POST 305 Huntington, NY 54:38
*
3 Angela King-Horne F 48 UNAT 318 Bayport, NY 58:42
2 Abigail Falk F 49 NYCH 335 New York, NY *55:43
*
manual backup timing correction of incorrect electronic chip time
Women 45-49 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Francine Ronan F 46 SEAW 338 Port Jefferson, NY 1:02:06
Women 50-54 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Sharon Snyder F 52 AGUA 506 New York, NY 35:26
Women 50-54 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Nancy Aboff F 51 POST 526 Lloyd Harbor, NY 32:10
Women 50-54 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Cindy Thornton F 53 WM 361 Somers, NY 56:34
Women 50-54 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Janet Seals F 51 HUMS 362 Greenlawn, NY 1:11:54
Women 55-59 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Lorraine Huether F 55 POST 529 Massapequa, NY 32:02
2 Kathy Raimonde F 55 AQFT 524 Garden City, NY 34:29
Women 55-59 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Diane Korn F 59 AQFT 329 Freeport, NY 1:08.24
2 Kathy McGuire F 57 BCTM 301 New York, NY 1:19.35
Women 60-64 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Mary Elizabeth Smith F 60 AQFT 501 Breezy Point, NY 32:44
2 Nancy Reycraft F 63 HUMS 504 Northport, NY 37:18
3 Dorothy Whalen F 60 UNAT 519 Oyster Bay, NY 42:53
Women 60-64 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Phyllis Springer F 62 NYCH 332 New York, NY 55:43
Women 75-79 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Lorraine Colombo F 79 METR 516 Patchogue, NY 43:25
Men 25-29 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Thomas Goulding M 29 NYCH 328 New York, NY 54:20
Men 30-34 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Bradley Scalise M 30 AQFT 514 Carle Place, NY 24:28
Men 30-34 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Peter Ventura M 32 AQFT 351 Glen Cove, NY 45:15
Men 30-34 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Jared Cohen M 34 TNYA 311 Sea Cliff, NY 1:00:52
Men 35-39 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Dannick Boutin M 35 AQFT 558 Mineola, NY 26:47
Men 35-39 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Brian Spillane M 38 AQFT 557 Massapequa, NY 31:10
Men 35-39 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Matthew Wood M 36 SEAW 374 Miller Place, NY 58:16
Men 40-44 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 John Durante M 41 UNAT 503 Breezy Point, NY 29:14
2 Dennis Wresch M 40 UNAT 507 Belle Harbor, NY 30:09
3 David Kaufman M 41 AQFT 505 Plainview, NY 30:45
Men 40-44 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Thomas Broderick M 44 POST 365 Manhasset, NY 44:00
2 James Feeney M 44 METR 334 Long Beach, NY 51:39
3 George Hough M 44 WM 377 Mount Kisco, NY 55:22
Men 40-44 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Todd Rowley M 41 HUMS 355 Huntington, NY 49:40
2 John Coyle M 40 AQFT 376 Cold Spring Harbor, NY 53:42
3 Matthew Conroy M 42 METR 352 Lido Beach, NY 1:22:48
Men 45-49 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Frank Fiorello M 48 AQFT 545 Nesconset, NY 33:34
Men 45-49 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Scott Kessler M 48 HUMS 518 Cold Spring Harbor, NY 21:21
2 Stanley Lozinski M 46 OWS 541 Great River, NY 26:10
3 Lawrence Maraldo M 49 AQFT 532 Wantagh, NY 27:02
Men 45-49 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Brian Fallon M 48 AQFT 325 East Northport, NY 53:32
Men 45-49 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Michael Wright M 47 POST 319 Plainview, NY 44:09
2 John Sullivan M 49 BCTM 330 Brooklyn, NY 45:19
3 David O’Connor M 48 UNAT 316 Brightwaters, NY 50:15
Men 50-54 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Brian Heneveld M 52 METR 535 Massapequa, NY 27:45
2 Richard Infield M 52 AQFT 548 Valley Stream, NY 27:58
3 Frank Loscalzo M 54 UNAT 510 Northport, NY 30:12
Men 50-54 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Tim Sullivan M 50 HUMS 552 Huntington, NY 24:03
2 Keith Niesenbaum M 53 UNAT 525 Roslyn, NY 32:27
Men 50-54 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Robert Unger M 53 SEAW 345 Smithtown, NY 48:58
2 Kenn Lowy M 54 CHEL 354 Brooklyn, NY 49:45
3 Geoff Ringstad M 50 UNAT 370 Gilgo Beach, NY 53:21
4 Steven Goran M 53 TNYA 306 Poughkeepsie, NY 1:23:56
Men 50-54 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Randy Hill M 52 AQFT 356 Hempstead, NY 48:33
Men 55-59 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Ken Longo M 58 POST 554 Cold Spring Harbor, NY 23:21
Men 55-59 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Thomas Sullivan M 57 BCTM 364 Brooklyn, NY 58:03
Men 55-59 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Paul Marsac M 56 AQFT 350 Bethpage, NY 1:01:20
2 Paul Seltzer M 59 UNAT 310 Dix Hills, NY 1:07:59
Men 60-64 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Bob Kolonkowski M 63 AGUA 556 East Atlantic Beach, NY 25:56
Men 60-64 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Stuart Frost M 63 POST 546 Great Neck, NY 29:54
Men 60-64 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Daniel O’Connor M 63 POST 341 Oyster Bay, NY 1:01:21
2 Eric Bressler M 60 UNAT 333 Cutchogue, NY 1:07:18
Men 70-74 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Ron Helin M 72 UNAT 550 Middle Island, NY 29:04

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
OPEN SWIMMING DIVISION - AGE GROUP RESULTS
(athletes NOT affiliated with USAS or USMS)
Sunday 26 June 2011 West Neck Beach Open Water Swim Events
Women 30-34 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Stephanie Myers F 33 n/a 369 New York, NY 54:11
Women 35-39 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Elizabeth Perlstein F 39 n/a 531 Huntington, NY 29:16
2 Courtney Fitzpatrick F 39 n/a 509 Glen Head, NY 32:47
Women 35-39 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Joana Bekerman F 39 n/a 321 Glen Cove, NY 57:43
2 Jennifer Taggart F 37 n/a 307 St. James, NY 1:07:26
Women 40-44 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Christina Vossen-White F 44 n/a 560 Greenlawn, NY 44:14
Women 40-44 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Rosemary Wisler F 42 n/a 511 Greenlawn, NY 35:43
Women 45-49 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Grace Winters F 48 n/a 515 Bayville, NY 33:27
Women 45-49 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Karen Ruth F 46 n/a 366 Painesville, OH 1:01:51
2 Jen Howard F 46 n/a 348 Northport, NY 1:02:13
Men 18-24 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Luigi Carminati M 24 n/a 553 Huntington, NY 29:35
Men 18-24 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Nick Francesco M 23 n/a 357 West Babylon, NY 1:05:21
Men 25-29 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Justin Eddings M 25 n/a 512 Huntington, NY 33:25
Men 35-39 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Eamon Flood M 35 n/a 555 Great Neck, NY 25:23
2 Kevin Shanley M 35 n/a 542 Huntington, NY 30:19
Men 35-39 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Michael Paradise M 39 n/a 331 Centerport, NY 51:50
2 Jason Bruno M 36 n/a 342 Greenlawn, NY 53:41
3 Ralph Tocco M 39 n/a 324 Long Beach, NY 1:02:03
4 Adrian Crockett M 37 n/a 371 New York, NY 1:09:23
Men 40-44 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Joey Posillico III M 42 n/a 561 Farmingdale, NY 1:00:03
Men 40-44 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Jan Noordin M 41 n/a 315 St. James, NY 1:07:20
Men 40-44 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Peter Fitzpatrick M 41 n/a 326 Glen Head, NY 51:04
2 Constantine Chigounis M 41 n/a 323 Long Beach, NY 1:01:59
Men 45-49 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Matt Connolly M 48 n/a 539 Huntington, NY 29:38
Men 45-49 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Andrew Motola M 47 n/a 347 Great Neck, NY 43:17
2 Tom Fanuzzi M 45 n/a 358 Fort Salonga, NY 52:46
3 Mikey Posillico M 49 n/a 303 Farmingdale, NY 58:34
4 Tony Sforza M 49 n/a 349 Northport, NY 1:16:06
Men 50-54 One Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Philip Healey M 54 n/a 544 Massapequa, NY 30:38
Men 50-54 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Don Bond M 54 n/a 549 Huntington, NY 25:20
Men 50-54 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Chris Smith M 50 n/a 343 Huntington, NY 59:06
2 Vinny O’Shaughnessy M 50 n/a 375 Cold Spring Harbor, NY 1:03:42
Men 55-59 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Mark Eicher M 55 n/a 551 Fort Salonga, NY 31:07
Men 55-59 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Tim Daly M 56 n/a 360 Fort Salonga, NY 58:04
Men 65-69 One Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Randy Dodd M 66 n/a 523 Long Beach, NY 30:31
Men 65-69 Two Mile Swim Non-Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
1 Bird Norton M 67 n/a 368 Huntington, NY 41:04
Men 65-69 Two Mile Swim Wetsuit
Place Name Sex Age Club ID # City / State Time
19 Armand D’Amato M 67 n/a 339 Lloyd Harbor, NY 1:19:46

Congratulations, everyone! We'll see you next year -- in the Salt at West Neck Beach!

We did it! The First-ever Huntington-Cold Spring Harbor 1&2 Mile Swim at West Neck Beach!

2011-06-26T23:20:00.001-04:00

The long-awaited day of the race finally arrived, mercifully sunny and warm after a week of clouds and rain, and by 5:30 this morning, West Neck Beach was a-bustle with activity, as West Neck Pod members – including race co-director Rob Ripp, Safety Director Carol Moore and Awards Co-coordinator Margot Edlin – hauled tables and chairs, cartons of oranges, bananas, and t-shirts, and hundreds of bottles of water from the lifeguard station where they’d been stored overnight, along with a dozen massive swim buoys that had been painstakingly inflated the night before by Hospitality/Logistics Coordinators Rob Todd and Ken Longo. Batting away at the army of gnats that descended in the windless parking lot, a steadily growing cadre of volunteers, organized by Pod member Evelyn Cruise and YMCA Executive Director Eileen Knauer, arrived and donned their yellow t-shirts (designed and procured by Pod members Joan Addabbo and Tommy Capobianco) and swiftly transformed this quiet, sleepy little waterfront venue into the site of what is destined to be one of the premiere open-water swimming events on Long Island: The First Annual Huntington-Cold Spring Harbor 1 and 2 Mile Swim at West Neck Beach!

One by one, the support boats began to arrive, with Karen McArdle and Bill (Hon. William B.) Rebolini taking their places at the south and north turn buoys, and the Huntington and Oyster Bay Harbormasters beginning their patrol of the course, while Cold Spring Harbor Fire Department volunteers stationed themselves on the beach along with ambulances from the Huntington Community First Aid Squad, under the medical supervision of race physicians and Pod members Paval Romano, M.D. and Anne Neder, M.D. Event co-sponsor SeaTow hauled the swim buoys from the beach then methodically placed them along the half-mile length of the 1 and 2 mile courses carefully laid out by Pod member Rob Martell, along with the 400 meter course for swimmers 10 and under. A flotilla of kayakers, under the supervision of Barry Goldblatt, and a squad of Pod-member lifeguards led by Pod member Sal Romanello, arrived for their pre-race briefings on course conditions and safety protocols, then took up their posts within the swim lines for the swimmer warmup, then along the perimeter of the course to await the beginning of the first race.
Swimmers and their families and friends were next to arrive, filling the parking lot to nearly overflowing, and helping themselves to complimentary bagels and fruit at the hospitality tables while they waited for the race to begin. Swimmer registration was smoothed by the pre-race efforts of Pod member and race co-director Colleen Driscoll, and adroitly handled by Pod and other volunteers. Race officials, among whom was Pod member Joye Toor, took their appointed places and, at the scheduled time (using the detailed timeline prepared by race organizer and Pod member Rob Ripp, announcer Bob Fonti summoned the first wave of swimmers into the chute for the in-water start, then, with the pop of the starter’s gun, the first wave was off. Four waves later, there were a total of 181 swimmers churning the waters of Cold Spring Harbor as they made their way once or, for the two-milers, twice around the course. By the time the last wave was approaching the first turn, the two fastest of the 17-and-under group had caught up with them, then surged past the pack as they rounded the turn, taking their first and second place finishes scant minutes later as the crowd of more than a hundred spectators on the beach cheered!

As each of the next 179 swimmers stumbled out of the water and onto the finish ramp the crowd cheered again, and again as the winners accepted their awards (procured by Pod members Nancy Lipira, Margot Edlin and Lynne Perzetstzy) after the results were quickly and efficiently compiled. (Final results have yet to be posted, but among the recipients of those awards were Pod members Scott Kessler, Ken Longo, Tim Sullivan, Don Bond, Todd Rowley, Liz Perlstein, Nancy Reycraft, Armand D’Amato, and Louie Carminati!)

From the time the idea of a sanctioned swim at West Neck Beach was first conceived more than a year ago, West Neck Pod members have spent months and months meticulously planning, organizing, strategizing, problem-solving, and problem-anticipating, in an endeavor to create an open-water swim event in our home venue that brings to newcomers the same sense of joy and appreciation of this remarkable harbor that we who swim there regularly enjoy. The race planning committee’s respectful collaboration and teamwork, and the invaluable contributions of the many race-day volunteers (both of which included many non-Pod members!) culminated today in an open-water swim event that participants and spectators uniformly agreed was virtually flawless. I am very proud of my West Neck Pod community, which was so pleased to welcome all of you to our home – and we look forward to seeing all of you next year!

(Other West Neck Pod volunteers: Gae Polisner, Annmerie Kearney, Bonnie Millen, Kaitlyn Robinson, Sue Robinson, Bob Miller, Carole Wickham, Kathy Wickham, Mike Engel, and others whose names escape me right now!)

Tick...tick...tick...Registration Deadline for June 26th 1&2 Mile Swim at West Neck Beach is Approaching...!!

2011-06-20T22:06:00.000-04:00

The West Neck Pod is excited and proud to be hosting the first-ever HUNTINGTON-COLD SPRING HARBOR 1 and 2 MILE SWIM at our home beach, West Neck Beach, on Sunday June 26th! (There are both wetsuit and non-wetsuit divisions for you Tri-types, as well as a 400-meter event for athletes 10 and under.) Pod members joined in the planning of this first-time event with local members of sponsoring organizations US Masters Swimming (go, HUMS!) and USA Swimming to make it as organized, safe, and FUN as it can possibly be! More than 150 swimmers have already registered -- and the deadline to do so is fast-approaching! On-line registration closes at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21st, so if you're one of those last-minute types, tick...tick...tick...! Follow these links for more detailed information and to register for the USMS, Open, and USA Swimming divisions:
US Masters Swimming:
https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1743&smid=3166 (register as a member of the Huntington Masters Swim Team ["HUMS"] and swim for the "Home Team"!)
USA Swimming:
https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1743&smid=3182
Open:
https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1743&smid=3183

The Swim is a benefit for the Huntington YMCA's Swim Scholarship Program for kids in need, so come on out and do some good while having fun in this exceptionally beautiful open-water venue!

See you in the West Neck Salt on the 26th!

"Swimming to Antarctica"...at West Neck Beach...!

2011-06-12T12:19:00.000-04:00

The dreary, overcast, and unseasonably cool weather continued for another day, winnowing the number of Sunday morning swimmers at West Neck Beach down to four (the "early crew" having been thwarted by still-locked gates that were not opened until 8:00). Rob Ripp, Nancy Lipira, Margot Edlin and I were pleased to see, though, that the water was calm and crystal clear, despite the recent rain, and that the ubiquitous jellyfish that had plagued us the last several weeks were nowhere to be seen. Although the air temperature was only 56 degrees, our last several weeks of pleasantly temperate swims had us confidently expecting more of the same, and left us completely unprepared for the arctic freeze we encountered when we hit the water!

Uncertain how long we could tolerate the face-hurting, hand-numbing, chest-constricting C-C-C-COLD (especially for Rob Ripp, the only one of us not wearing a wetsuit), we headed south towards the buoy, then turned and headed back without even a thought for the usual "buoy-side chat." Grateful for the outgoing tide's assistance in hastening our return to the relative warmth of the beach, we emerged from the water with chattering teeth. Rob, whose exposed chest and limbs were red as a tomato, wondered aloud if it had rained ice cubes during the night!

The weather forecast for the next several days does not suggest a return to the 90-degree temperatures we tasted last week, but hopefully this arctic freeze will soon pass and make the water swimmable again for this week's morning swims. I'm aiming for Tuesday and Wednesday at 6:30 and Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8:00....See you in the Salt!

Makamah Beach Open-Water Swim

2011-06-11T13:49:00.000-04:00

An early morning shower, cloudy skies and the threat of thunderstorms put a bit of a damper on this morning's open-water swim at Makamah Beach, hosted by the Greenlawn Beach and Swim Club. Still, despite the uninviting weather, Evelyn and Karl Cruise, Rob Todd, and Denise Tirino Bishop showed up for the 8:00 swim, joined by Beach Club members Todd Rowley and me. Confronted by a chilly wind and a Sound surging with whitecaps and rolling waves, Rob and Denise opted to stay on the beach, keeping a watchful eye on the rest of us swimmers as we dove into the surf! After a short but exhilarating swim, we all reconvened on the beach for bagels and coffee, compliments of the Swim Club. It's back to West Neck Beach again tomorrow for an 8:00 a.m. swim, hopefully under sunny skies! See you in the Salt!

Don't Miss the 2011 Global Open Water Swimming Conference in NYC

2011-06-06T22:29:00.000-04:00

June 17th, 18th and 19th are the dates for the 2011 Global Open Water Swimming Conference, to be held in New York City at Columbia University, with the final day's events -- including the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame induction ceremonies -- to be held at the United Nations! The conference is organized by Steven Munatones, Marathon Swimming Hall-of-Famer and creator of the blog "The Daily News of Open Water Swimming," the premier source of information and anecdotes by, for and about the global open-water swimming community. The Conference program will include workshops and presentations by numerous well-known open-water swimming personalities, as well as the opportunity to obtain certification as an open-water swimming coach. The Conference is being held in conjunction with the annual Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, whose long-time record-holder Shelley Taylor-Smith will be among the Conference speakers. Register now at http://www.openwatersource.com/2011-global-open-water-swimming-conference.html and join your fellow open-water swimmers in learning more about and celebrating this extraordinary sport and its practitioners!

A Not-So-Memorable Memorial Day

2011-05-30T20:58:00.000-04:00

Violent early morning thunderstorms dashed the Pod’s plans for a Memorial Day swim – for everyone, that is, except Tony Santomauro, Mike Paradise, Greg and Magda...Undeterred by the raging tempest, they headed for the beach, waited the requisite time until the last of the thunder and lightning had died away, then entered the water, despite the glowering skies and the steady rain that continued to fall. Also undeterred by the rain, as reported by Tony, were the jellyfish, whose early arrival had been noted by the weekend’s swimmers, and additional throngs of which had apparently been driven into the harbor by the storm and the incoming tide. As with the weekend’s group, today’s swimmers passed harmlessly through the gelatinous invaders, whose tentacles appear to have been rendered innocuous, perhaps by the water that’s still chilly by jellyfish standards. Whatever the reason, Pod swimmers are grateful to be spared close jellyfish encounters of the painful kind. As every open-water swimmer knows (and will soon undoubtedly be humming as they swim), when it comes to jellyfish, "It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that sting [doo-wa, doo-wa, doo-wa, doo-wa, doo-wa...]"!!

Weekday swim schedules this week – the first week of June! – will be posted on Facebook and/or e-mails; weekend swims will be at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. See you in the Salt!

Day Two of the 2011 Open Water Swimming Season

2011-05-29T17:52:00.001-04:00

Well, the thermometer still read 66 degrees, but the squeals of the swimmers as they entered the water this morning said otherwise....With the sky still overcast and the sun having not yet burned its way through the clouds, the water felt significantly colder to this morning's flock of 16 or so swimmers, especially those like Peter and Rob Ripp who swam sans wetsuits! The southwest wind had kicked up overnight, too, to throw a pesky chop in the faces of the returning swimmers, but neither that, nor the jellies that dotted the water (still no stings reported!) dampened the spirits of the swimmers in this second official swim of the 2011 season.

Returnees from yesterday Gae, Annmarie, Carole, Margot, Brett, Steve, Joye and I were joined today by Coriander, Rob Ripp, Pete, Rob Todd, Nancy, and Joan (Rob Martell and Christine having taken an earlier dunk before their run -- beware, parking outside the still-locked gate got them both tickets!), and the sun was shining brightly by the time the last swimmers returned to the Beach. Hopefully it will be again tomorrow, when the West Neck Pod reconvenes on the Beach at 8:00 a.m. for a Memorial Day Swim! See you in the Salt!

"Hooray, Hooray for the 28th of May...Outdoor Swimming Starts Today!!"

2011-05-28T14:09:00.000-04:00

Nearly 25 swimmers turned out at West Neck Beach this morning to mark the official start of the 2011 Open-Water-Swimming Season! Striking off from the beach in several waves between 6:30 and 8:30, even the early swimmers (Rob and Christine, followed by Carole, Kathy, Gae and Annmarie) were treated to the same crystal-clear and astonishingly temperate water that Joye Brown and I enjoyed in our preview swim yesterday, and that Margot, Adam, Carla, Don, Scott, Tim, Tom, Steve, Kara, Cathy, Kaitlyn, Sara, Sal, Liz, Joye and Sue, et al. got to enjoy in the later waves today).

And today, contradicting Newsday's report, the thermometer that Carole hung from the swim lines confirmed what our senses were telling us: that, at 66 degrees, the water is surprisingly warm for late May -- even for those wearing sleeveless wetsuits -- and far warmer than at last year's Memorial Day Weekend season start! (Perhaps the warmish temperatures account for the large numbers of jellyfish that were spotted below us as we swam, but no stings were reported, and their presence seemed as benign as the water temperature. Hopefully, the jellies will be gone by late June, as they were the last time they made such an early appearance!)

For this inaugural swim most of us, still finding our sea-legs (and our sea-arms), ventured only to "the yellow sign" and back, but some hearties went the distance, swimming all the way to "the house at the end of the Causeway" (the iconic "Sailboat" not yet having taken its accustomed place at the mooring). All swimmers emerged from the water grinning and glowing, and looking forward to their next sojourn into the Salt....

For me, that'll be tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 8:00 -- hope to see you then!

Raising the Flag on a new open-water season...

2011-05-27T16:43:00.000-04:00

In a fitting prelude to the Memorial Day Weekend which begins tomorrow, the faded, tattered flag that had graced the flagpole at West Neck Beach for many seasons past, and had given constant, faithful, critical notice to us open-water swimmers of the wind's direction and strength, was finally replaced this morning. "Adam" of the Town of Huntington's General Services Department did the honors, as his fellow workers busied themselves cleaning and raking the beach to make it ready for the Memorial Day weekend.

A bevy of toddlers and their parents, gathered for a two-year-old's birthday party, watched the Town's payloader make pass after pass over the beach, raking up a winter's worth of beach straw and other marine detritus. The bravest of them waded in the water, but it was Joye Brown and I, there to preview conditions for tomorrow's opening day swim, who were the first (and only!) to take the plunge! And what a plunge it was! Despite Newsday's ominous reports of 54 degree water temperatures, we found the temperature almost pleasantly comfortable, and both of us forbore the insulated booties and gloves we had so carefully packed. In deference to my still-healing broken ribs we didn't swim far (only to the dock and back), but we honored the Pod's venerable buoy-chat tradition by lingering in the water for a long time afterwards! If today's preview swim is any indication of what is to come, this 2011 open-water swimming season is going to be the best ever! See you in the Salt!

"Fran Schnarr" Is Dead...

2011-05-18T16:04:00.000-04:00

For nearly the last 20 years, the open-water swimming community has paid tribute to the memory of Fran Schnarr, a long-time advocate and champion of swimming, who died in December of 1991. This tribute took the form of the "Fran Schnarr Memorial 5K in the Bay," an annual swimming race held in early July and venued in the challenging waters of Huntington Bay on the North Shore of Long Island. From time to time the race, which routinely included age-group events for children, also included a 10K competition, and the Fran Schnarr Memorial race consistently attracted world-class competitors from around the globe. Most notable among these is seven-time World Marathon Swimming Champion Shelley Taylor-Smith, a close personal friend of Fran Schnarr and her family who has swum this event several times, most recently in 2010. So venerable is the tradition of the Fran Schnarr Memorial Swim that in July 2010 the United States Coast Guard established a permanent Special Local Regulation to protect the swimmers and their safety craft, which was published in the Federal Register and is a permanent part of the Congressional record (Federal Register, Vol. 75, No. 128, Tuesday, July 6, 2010, Rules and Regulations, p. 38710).

With but a few exceptions, the Fran Schnarr Memorial Swim has been organized and directed nearly every year since its inception by Bea Hartigan, a Huntington resident and long-time friend of Fran Schnarr, whose grown children still fondly refer to Bea as "Mrs. H." Like Fran Schnarr herself, Bea is also a lifelong swimming advocate, and her many contributions to the sport were recently recognized in an article on Steven Munatone’s reknowned blog, The Daily News of Open Water Swimming (http://www.dailynewsofopenwaterswimming.com/2011/02/bea-all-you-can-bea.html) and in the Huntington Patch on January 31, 2011 (http://huntington.patch.com/articles/bea-hartigan-steps-up). In 2008, Bea, a swimming coach, first aid instructor, meet director and official with Metropolitan Swimming, the local chapter of USA Swimming, was inducted into the Metropolitan Swimming Hall of Fame.

As she had every year since she first undertook shepherdship of the event, in January 2011 Bea Hartigan submitted her usual sanction application to USA Swimming for the "2011 Fran Schnarr Memorial 5K in the Bay" – what would have been the event’s 20^th anniversary. Instead of being granted in due course, however, as it had been in past years, the application was "tabled" and then, on February 26, 2010, denied on the basis of unspecified "situations that arose in previous years." On learning of the denial, I spoke with representatives of the Open Water Committee of USA Swimming as well as the Metropolitan local masters swimming committee (LMSC) of US Masters Swimming, who told me bluntly that the Fran Schnarr Memorial race would not be sanctioned "if Bea Hartigan has anything to do with it." When questioned about the reasons for such a drastic restriction (apparently without any disciplinary action having been taken, and without "due process" and a fair hearing), the representatives only spoke vaguely of "problems" with past events.

As a veteran of three past "Fran Schnarr 5K in the Bay" swims (2007, 2008 and 2010), and as a spectator at the 2009 event, I can confirm that there have been "problems" with some of the recent races that did NOT have to do with devilishly freakish currents and occasional jellyfish infestations that are hallmarks of the Fran Schnarr swim. In 2009, the eastern turnaround boat inexplicably – and unforgivably – simply failed to arrive, leaving swimmers confused and disoriented and rendering the results uncertifiable. Last year (2010) a contretemps ensued involving the disqualification of a 10K swimmer for allegedly illegal contact with his support kayak, which was later reversed (without, however, reversing the bitter controversy that ensued). Reportedly, some of the younger swimmers also went amuck last year and crashed the pool and members’ cabanas at the Bay Club where the race has historically been held. In other years, the race has not always started on time, there have been too few marker buoys and/or kayakers to keep swimmers on course, and the timekeepers have sometimes seemed uncertain and overwhelmed. Still, despite the "problems," I (and innumerable other Fran Schnarr veterans) have treasured every one of my "Fran Schnarr" races, and have admired and appreciated Bea Hartigan for her virtually single-handed efforts in making the race happen, year after year after year. Indeed, if Bea is to be faulted for anything, it may be her predilection for "singlehandedness" and a tendency to try to "do it all" – which peccadillo unfortunately appears to have invoked the rancor of the sanctioning bodies and/or their leaders.

Determined to keep the "Fran Schnarr Memorial 5K in the Bay" alive, a group of local Huntington swimmers (myself included) immediately convened to lend our support in the hopes that a "committee" approach to organizing the race would deflect any personal animosity of the sanctioning organizations towards Bea Hartigan. Our plan was to "track" the Huntington-Cold Spring Harbor 1 & 2 Mile Swim planning process, with which several of us were intimately involved (and which was being organized by the open-water chairpersons of USA Swimming), and thus ensure that all sanctioning requirements were met. Despite our involvement, we were told by the sanctioning officials that if Bea was involved in any "official" capacity, as anything other than a mere "volunteer," the race would not be sanctioned. Period.

In light of the fact that Bea Hartigan is one of but a handful of local officials certified to direct open-water events, her exclusion from the planning process was devastating. More devastating still was the reaction of the Schnarr family – Fran Schnarr’s adult children, who had been avid sponsors and supporters of the race since its inception. Faced with this extremely onerous constraint, and the insult embodied in the relegation of their friend Bea Hartigan to the role of a mere anonymous volunteer in a race that bore their mother’s name, the Schnarr family requested that the committee discontinue its efforts, and withdrew its sponsorship and support. Reluctantly, the committee agreed to defer to the wishes of the Schnarr family, and accordingly, there will be no "Fran Schnarr Memorial 5K in the Bay" in 2011....or ever again. An innocent victim of organizational politics and personalities, the "Fran Schnarr Memorial 5K in the Bay" is, after nearly 20 years, dead....

Rest in peace, Fran Schnarr....May your memory live on....

The 2011 Open-Water Swimming Season Is...OPEN!!

2011-05-17T21:25:00.001-04:00

Rob Martell in his 2010 Halloween swim garb

True to his Canadian roots, Pod member Rob Martell(a/k/a "The Crazy Canadian"), whose last swim of the 2010 open-water season was on December 19th, continues to expand the outer boundaries of the open-water swimming season, taking to the Salt again for the first open-water swim of the 2011 season on Sunday, May 15th!! Rob's two-and-a-half-minute swim in 53-degree water, under grey, cloudy skies, without a wetsuit, marks the earliest documented open-water swim in the recorded history of the West Neck Pod, and throws down the gauntlet for his still-pool-bound swimming fellows in his adopted country to the South. Rob's exploit was captured on video and posted by fellow Pod member Rob Todd on the West Neck Pod's Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Neck-Pod/128827940504281), where you can almost hear the sound of Rob's teeth chattering above the sprightly music of the soundtrack! (also check out the first of Rob Todd's series of instructional swim videos designed to help the Pod improve its technical proficiency...)

While Rob Martell may now hold the Pod record for the longest open water season (May 29-December 19, 2010), and has evidently entered his bid for 2011, the competition for highest number of open-water swims in a season is still open, and begins when the next Pod member hits the open water! For me, that will be the Memorial Day weekend (as my broken ribs continue to heal)...See you all in the Salt then!

Register Online Now for the First Annual Huntington/Cold Spring Harbor 1 & 2 Mile Swim!

2011-05-06T17:56:00.000-04:00

As the most punishing winter in recent memory drew to its inevitable close, Salt-deprived members of the West Neck Pod joined with local representatives of US Masters Swimming and USA Swimming to organize the first-ever Huntington/Cold Spring Harbor 1 & 2 Mile Swim, to be held at West Neck Beach on Sunday, June 26, 2011. A benefit to support the Huntington YMCA's children's swim scholarship program, this sanctioned event will also include a 400-meter swim for children ten and under, and will feature both wetsuit and nonwetsuit divisions. On-line registration opened this week -- follow these links to register for the USMS, Open, and USA Swimming divisions:
US Masters Swimming:
https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1743&smid=3166 (register as a member of the Huntington Masters Swim Team ["HUMS"] and swim for the "Home Team"!)
USA Swimming:
https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1743&smid=3182

Open:
https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1743&smid=3183
Although the water temperatures are still hovering around the 50-degree mark, West Neck Pod members expect to hit the Salt again by Memorial Day weekend at the latest (check the Blog for dates and times). Come join us and start training for the First Annual Huntington/Cold Spring Harbor 1 & 2 Mile Swim! See you in the Salt!

SPRING IS...HERE...??

2011-04-04T21:02:00.000-04:00

A brilliant "perigee moon" -- the largest in almost 20 years -- spotlighted the long-awaited arrival of Spring on March 20th (here shown shining over the waters of Dolphin Beach in Quogue). The first full day of Spring dawned clear but cold, but the already blooming crocuses and daffodils were undaunted, with warmer weather no longer a hope but a promise.... For us open-water swimmers, though, the promise seems still distant, with the past two weeks marked by still-freezing temperatures and punctuated by intermittent snow flurries and even a surprise overnight snowfall that dusted the Island in fluffy white. Spring may be officially here, but Winter has apparently been slow in getting the message! Still, the Pod Sandal Station maintains its vigil just offshore, the water temperature is creeping upward, and it's just a matter of time before the Pod is tasting Salt again....! Keep thinking those warm thoughts, and I'll see you soon, in the Salt!

"Soon Shall the Winter’s Foil Be Here"

2011-02-24T00:24:00.001-05:00

Soon shall the winter’s foil be here;
Soon shall these icy ligatures unbind and melt—A little while,
And air, soil, wave, suffused shall be in softness, bloom and growth—a
thousand forms shall rise
From these dead clods and chills as from low burial graves.
Thine eyes, ears, all thy best attributes—all that takes cognizance of natural
beauty,
Shall wake and fill. Thou shalt perceive the simple shows, the delicate
miracles of earth,
Dandelions, clover, the emerald grass, the early scents and flowers,
The arbutus under foot, the willow’s yellow-green, the blossoming plum and
cherry;
With these the robin, lark and thrush, singing their songs—the flitting
bluebird;
For such the scenes the annual play brings on. --Walt Whitman

Groundhog Day: Signs of Spring??

2011-02-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

As yet another major winter storm bore down on the already snow-schnockered Northeast, Long Islanders anxiously awaited the February 2nd emergence of the local celebrity marmots from their winter burrows....Would "Malverne Mel" and "Holtsville Hal" see their shadows, meaning we must endure another six weeks of winter, or would their shadowless silhouettes mean we will have a mercifully early Spring?? (and -- for us open-water swimmers, a quicker return to open water swimming?) Alas, Malverne Mel's appearance was cancelled due to the weather, but Holtsville Hal reportedly saw his shadow this morning, signalling six more weeks of winter (and contradicting the predictions of "Staten Island Chuck" and their more famous relative, "Punxsutawney Phil" of Pennsylvania, for an early spring)...Of course, this ancient tradition of using groundhogs' shadows to predict the weather is deeply rooted in superstitition, and there are those who prefer to rely on more objective, scientific evidence that Spring is on its way....

Happy Groundhog Day!

'Snow time like the present....

2011-01-16T14:22:00.000-05:00

The second major snowstorm to hit the New York area this winter dropped another 18 or so inches of snow in Huntington this past Wednesday, reminding us that Spring is still a long way off. By the weekend all of the roads had been cleared, but the gates at West Neck Beach remained closed, the lot unplowed, and the only footprints on the long path to the waterfront were the deers'....until mine. Homesick for my familiar water-home, I parked outside the gate early Saturday morning and trudged in through the knee-deep snow for a glimpse of the open water and my beloved beach, which looked both familiar and strange in its snowy, icy blanket. The brilliant sun did little to warm the 19-degree air, and a thin layer of ice extended out from the shore, covering the shallow water of the low tide and the exposed rocks of the jetty to the south.

The air was still and silent, and except for the flock of geese bobbing in the water just beyond the ice, I was alone....Even the flag was gone from the pole, to be replaced with a fresh new one sometime soon as a result of Rob Martell's importuning the Town on behalf of our faithful, tattered friend (see Rob's story on his new blog at http://touchsomethingeveryday.blogspot.com/2011/01/day-32-west-neck-beach-essential-friend.html ).

Standing there, watching the frozen, shimmering water, with the sun glinting brilliantly off the snow-covered sand, I felt an acute awareness of the cycle of the seasons, and an appreciation of the importance of each season to the whole cycle of life....Having been nurtured and nourished by this beautiful beach and body of water throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall, I suddenly felt ashamed of my growing impatience for a return to warm weather and the open water. I was reminded that even our Mother needs her long winter's rest, and I cannot begrudge her that....For the rest of this winter season, I resolve to honor and appreciate the winter soul of West Neck Beach and to practice patience as I wait for the days to lengthen, the sun to strengthen and the winter to melt into spring....But I'll be back to visit before then...See you on the Beach!

"Polar Bear Swim" -- Caribbean Style!

2011-01-01T23:30:00.017-05:00

The annual "Polar Bear" plunge into icy waters is a New Year's Day tradition that is practiced in various wintry venues throughout the world, including Canada, the northeastern United States, Holland -- and, yes, the Caribbean island of St. Maarten! In a gesture of solidarity with their frigid compatriots in the Old Country, and perhaps nostalgic for the colder climes of their homeland, the Dutch residents of St. Maarten, aided and abetted by the sponsoring Dutch soup manufacturer, Unox Soup Factory, also have a tradition of an annual New Year's plunge into the sea -- albeit the far more temperate Caribbean Sea! Wearing bright orange woolen caps emblazoned with the Unox logo, and warmed by the prospect of a hot, steaming bowl of soup when they emerge, hundreds of game Dutch folk and friends line up on the sun-drenched "Karakter's" beach and then, at the signal, plunge into the surf to celebrate the beginning of the New Year!

While I had the pleasure of joining this deeply quirky frolic on my last trip to St. Maarten two years ago (as these photos and videos show), this year's scheduled Polar Bear plunge conflicted with my flight home and I was unable to join the silliness.

Still, mindful of my brethren back in the snow-blanketed North, and fraught with the significance of the first open-water swim of the New Year, I was determined to undertake my own solitary "Polar Bear" plunge....As I entered the water at Simpson Bay and took my first strokes, a rainbow hung in the early morning sky, signaling an auspicious beginning to this new swimming year! In the warm Caribbean water I swam easily and effortlessly (buoyed, no doubt, by the higher salt levels, which seemed to help compensate for my week of pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris!).

Though my proximity to the equator made my Polar Bear swim less onerous than that of my northern fellows’, it felt no less momentous...In that purposeful “plunge” I had a distinct sense of “washing off” the old year (an exceptionally difficult one for me, as those who know me are aware) – and of immersing myself in the unlimited hope and possibilities of the impending new year. When I finally left the water it was with some regret, as I knew this would likely be my last open-water swim until Spring, but I was also looking forward to returning home -- to my friends and family, to my Pod, to my own West Neck Beach....where I’ll see you all soon, in the Salt! Happy New Year!

"Christmas in the Caribbean...."!

2010-12-29T22:44:00.000-05:00

With the winter's first major blizzard bearing down on the New York area and threatening to put the kibbosh on our Caribbean vacation plans, Carole and I were vastly relieved that the storm held off until after our plane landed in St. Maarten on a bright, sunny and HOT Christmas afternoon!

Reports of the approaching storm filtered their way to the beach-bar where we sat sipping our first pina coladas of the trip (it being too late in the day to head for the beach), but the snow did not actually begin to fall in New York until the day after Christmas.

That day also dawned rainy and overcast in St. Maarten, so our long-anticipated return to open-water swimming was postponed (in favor of shopping in Philipsburg) until the following day, when we reopened the 2010 open-water swimming season and spent a long, blissful day swimming endless lengths of the beach at Friar's Bay. Coincidentally, it was also my birthday, and being able to swim my heart out in the exquisite, turquoise-colored water made this birthday truly feel like something to celebrate!

Tuesday brought more of the same perfect conditions, but today (Wednesday) was another rainy, windy day, with high waves that both of us deemed too rough for swimming. Hopefully the sun will be out again tomorrow and we can hit the Salt again -- and again and again and again -- until it's time to leave on Saturday -- but not before we undertake our own New Year's Day "Polar Bear swim" in solidarity with our brethren in the cold, snowbound North! And so the 2011 open-water season begins....! See you in the Salt!