Blustery birthday bash!

Goody, Kim and I enjoying the rough conditions.

This morning I met Goody and Kim out at Pineview.  Today's my birthday, and I couldn't imagine celebrating it without a decent swim.

I was a little late getting out the door.  Cathi being the sweetheart that she is made me a delicious breakfast and I wanted to be appreciative and eat it all up.  When I drove into the parking lot at our small swimming beach.  Goody was already in the water and Kim was just heading down from the parking lot.  The forecast for today was supposed to bring us quite a storm around 11am and I got there at 10:30.

We got in and did a "Dam route".  A round trip of just under two miles (1.77 according to my GPS).  Going out was pretty nice and calm, but about 800 yards from the red buoy line by the dam and the wind picked up and Goody and Kim were able to catch up to me.  We talked for a second and I took a temperature reading with my watch.  It read 61.2°F.  We swam back and because we were now had a tailwind, I was able to get a really good time coming back.  I quickly ate one of my egg sandwiches which I stowed in my case and Kim got out while Goody and I did one more lap.  I wanted to get in about three laps today, but it didn't work out.

Goody and I decide not to risk getting fried by lightning.
Probably a good idea.  I'd like to at least make it to another
birthday.

When we got about 1/2 way to the buoys we saw a storm surge coming very quickly in from the narrow Ogden Canyon.  It was quite the sight.  I was smiling.  I kind of like swimming in really crazy weather.  As long as there is no lightening I feel perfectly safe.  I imagine myself as a submarine that is immune to the crashing waves, where a boatsman would have to be concerned.

My Swimming Buddy board was really catching the wind and I was unable to keep up with Goody.  He stopped for me and we kept going a bit further.  I looked over and saw that he now was stopped.  He looked really concerned with the surge making its way even closer.  The wind was really building up.  I took another temp, just to see where we were at:  60.0°F.  I felt great.  I could have swam at that temp all day.  It was refreshing.

This GoPro image just doesn't capture the rough conditions,
or the fast moving nature of this storm surge.  It was very
dramatic!

He said that he heard thunder.  I always swim with ear plugs, so I end up saying "What?" too much when people talk to me when swimming.  Goody wanted to head back.  He promised Patricia that he would be smart in the water.  I reluctantly agreed and we started swimming back.  Once we got around the bend right before getting back to our starting point the waves died down a little and we made our way back to the beach.

We're planning to come back on Monday when the weather is supposed to be fantastic and all this stormy weather moved east.  I'm looking forward to doing a long swim on Monday.  Hoping for at least 5 dam routes, and some.   A minimum of 10 miles.


Total for today: 3.03 miles according to the GPS in 2:42