Open Water Swim Group -- Pine Point (2016)

[Brian Swalla]

All,

 

Now that the weather is starting to get really nice (finally!), it's time to take our swimming outside into the open water! 

 

Last year we had a group of 5-6 people that regularly met to swim one weekday morning each week before work. The weather was beautiful, the water was calm, we laughed and a great time (and workout!) was had by all!  I want to thank Galina Hanson, Joe Coppolino, Ann Dillon, and Lynn Larson for swimming with me and forming the core of our group and making it so enjoyable.

 

I am already looking forward to another great experience this year.  We have some new members, and some with steadily improving abilities that I hope will also be able to join us and help grow the group. 

 

The general plan will be to get in 1-2 swims per week, with one day during the week and one on the weekend.  The location will change through the year as follows:

 

Early season (May, June):  While area waters and morning air temperatures are still warming up, we'll aim to swim in area lakes, including possibly Crystal Lake, Highland Lake,  Sabbathday Lake, Kennebunk Pond, or possibly Wassamki Springs Campground.  Timing may be early in the morning, or after work when the air temps are warmer.  Location and time will depend on what works for the people who are interested.

 

Later season (July to September): We'll move to swim in the ocean off Pine Point Beach.  This is a really great place to swim with easy parking, bathrooms, and showers with warm water.  Yes, I said WARM water!  Timing will be around 6-7 am when the water is calmest.

 

Everyone is welcome and there is no required swim speed/pace to join the group, but you should be able to swim well enough to be safe on your own in the open water since there will be no official safety support.   Swims will generally be an out-and-back of fixed duration beginning and ending at the same point, so the group may spread out but will start and finish together.

 

At this point I am looking to know who is ready to start swimming with us so we can make plans at the area lakes. I am thinking we'll start sometime in the next week or two.  If you're interested, please reply here to let me know!  

Also, you can watch this thread for updates as I will post here as our plan is formed and we set our first dates.  I will continue to update this thread weekly with our current swim destinations. 

 

Thanks!

Brian

  

[Brian Swalla]

Hi everyone,

 

Planning to swim this week on Wednesday morning at Crystal Lake.   Please let me know if you’re interested to join.  As usual, the plan is to meet at Wilkies Beach (map), get in at 6:00am, and finish up around 7:00am to be back in Portland area before 8am.

 

FYI, going forward:

•  It looks like Wednesday morning works best and will be the usual day each week. 
• Water temp at Pine Point is reported at 60F (offshore buoy), so I’m thinking it’s time to switch over and start swimming the ocean next Wednesday on 6/29.   

 

Also, this weekend on Sunday 6/26 morning I’ll be hosting a group swim/bike/run training in the Scarborough/Cape Elizabeth area, including an ocean swim at Ferry Beach (Scarborough).  If you’re interested, please send me an email or look for a post here on Google Groups soon.    

 

Hope to see you there!

Brian

[Brian Swalla]

We're on for swimming tomorrow morning at Crystal Lake.  At this point it looks like 4-6 people will be there (me, Joe, Ann, Dan, and maybe Denise and Erik).  

On Friday, May 13, 2016 at 5:35:18 PM UTC-4, Brian Swalla wrote:

[Brian Swalla]

Thanks Dan, Erik and Joe for the company and a great swim this morning at Crystal!  The weather and water was excellent this morning!

[Brian Swalla]

All,

Here's the plan for next week's open-water swim at Pine Point starting on 6/29:  

We'll meet at 5:45-5:50 in the main parking lot by Emma's Eats (map here) to get ready and suit up, and then get in the water at 6:00 am.  Parking is free in the morning.

 

Last season, we all headed West along the beach and swam for a set amount of time, and then turned around and headed back so that we started and finished together.  Everyone could swim at their own pace and we didn’t explicitly stay together (though some folks did), but we did stay in sight of each other and ended up together again at the end.  

 

This season we may have a more diverse interest in target swim distances and times.  For example, I’m aiming to swim around 50-60 minutes for at least 2 miles.  Others may only want to go 30-45 minutes and do 1 mile or less.   We’ll discuss with the group before entering the water and decide the best way to swim together depending on who is there and what everyone's goals are.

 

There are rest rooms and showers available.  Last year the showers were warm which felt ***great*** to rinse off the salt and I’m hoping it's the same this year!

 

Lastly, although Wednesday is the target, we may switch to Tues or Thurs depending on the weather/surf forecast.   Right now Wednesday 6/29 looks like it will work well.  I will post here and also send an email on Monday to confirm (we have some non-IDEXX folks that aren't on this group so i will duplicate these communications with email).  

The water was consistently calm and beautiful early in the morning!

As of today, here's who is currently planning to go:

• Me
• Galina
  
• Joe
• Ann
• Erica
• Julie (new person)
• Denise (maybe)
• Dan (?)

[Erika McCoy]

i'll definitely be making this one! i can make tues/thurs too if we switch to that. i'll aim for a similar distance as you Brian

On Friday, May 13, 2016 at 5:35:18 PM UTC-4, Brian Swalla wrote:

[Brian Swalla]

Just confirming that we're on for swimming at Pine Point tomorrow morning at 6am. 

Brian

On Friday, May 13, 2016 at 5:35:18 PM UTC-4, Brian Swalla wrote:

[Brian Swalla]

Hi everyone,

 

We had a great first ocean swim of the season last week at Pine Point.   The morning was beautiful, and the water was calm -- see the pictures below.  I'm also happy to report that the facilities were open and the showers were indeed warm!   Thank you to Joe, Paula, Dan, Erika, and Julie Forsyth (new person) for coming out and making it even more enjoyable. 

 

This week, the weather is looking great again so let’s swim tomorrow morning (Wednesday 7/6). 

 

We’ll follow the same plan:  meet at 5:45-5:50 in the main parking lot by Emma's Eats (map here) to get ready and suit up, and then get in the water at 6:00 am and swim to around 7:00 am.  Parking is free.

 

Please let me know if you plan to attend. 

Hope to see you there!

Brian

[Brian Swalla]

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder that the group is swimming every week at Pine Point, typically on Wednesday mornings at 6:00 am.  

Because there are a significant number of non-IDEXX people on the list (not members of our Google Group), I typically send weekly schedule updates via direct email.  Anyone is welcome to join us - if you want to be on the email list, please reply to let me know!

Two other notes:  

• This week it looks like Erika McCoy and Joe Coppolino will be swimming again at PP on Friday (8/12) morning.  (I unfortunately can not make it that day).  Please reach out to one of them directly if you are interested.  

• Next week I will be aiming for Thursday (8/18) due to a schedule conflict.
  

Brian

On Friday, May 13, 2016 at 5:35:18 PM UTC-4, Brian Swalla wrote:

[Brian Swalla]

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder that the group is regularly swimming every week on Wednesday at Pine Point if anyone would like to join us!

Note this week we'll also be swimming again on Friday morning.

Brian

On Friday, May 13, 2016 at 5:35:18 PM UTC-4, Brian Swalla wrote:

[kristen-cyr]

Hi Brian - if you also email folks can you add me to that list?  Thanks!

[Brian Swalla]

Sure!  I'll add you.

I do primarily notify the group by direct email because there are quite a few non-IDEXX non-TRIDEXX folks on the list.

Brian

[Brian Swalla]

Just a reminder that we're still swimming Pine Point each week, usually on Wednesday.  We're aiming to keep going as long as the light and temps remain favorable, probably through the end of the month.  After that we'll go week-to-week and see what happens.    

This morning was great with a beautiful sunrise and a stunning double rainbow that stretched 180 degrees across the sky.    And of course the water was nice too, with just a bit of lingering seaweed from the storm last week :)  Thank you to Joe, Erika, and Julie F for coming out again this morning!  Paula, I'm sorry we missed you this time -- it was quite a sight! 

If you want to join, just let me know and I'll add you to the list!

Brian

On Friday, May 13, 2016 at 5:35:18 PM UTC-4, Brian Swalla wrote:

[Brian Swalla]

Hi everyone,

 

It's been a great season of open-water swimming this year, but as the conditions have become consistently less amenable, the reluctant consensus after last week was that we are at the end of the ocean season for this year... 

 

I want to thank all the folks that regularly made it out to swim with the group:  Joe, Erika, Julie, Lynn, Paula, Ann, Dan, Hannah, Ryan, Ingrid, and Galina -- thank you all for braving the early mornings, lack of sunlight, cool waters, waves, and other unexpected conditions each week.   I really enjoyed meeting up with this group and look forward to keeping it going next year! 

 

I know even more of you wanted to be there but couldn't for various reasons -- I hope we can find a way for you to join next year!  Please feel free to send me any suggestions for how we could make the group more accessible (days, timing, location etc). 

 

Looking forward:

 

*  Over the last few weeks some of us started running on the hardpack sand at the beach before swimming and we're going to keep the running part going for a time at Pine Point.  If you're interested, we're meeting this week to run from 6:15 to 7:15 am.  (more info here.)

 

* We may try to continue open-water swimming (and probably brick running too) into the fall at Crystal Lake or elsewhere, but this will most likely happen on the weekends in the afternoons due to the later sunrise and warmer temperatures.  I'll communicate any future updates on this.

 

* Some of us will make the grudging transition to the pool and start swimming indoors soon…   

 

If you're interested in any of the above, please reply to let me know!

 

Lastly, looking ahead to 2017, we will definitely get the group together again to start open-water swimming in the spring, most likely at Crystal Lake starting in May.  I'll communicate more about this as we come into the spring.

 

Brian