First Gridley Strait of 2013

This morning the sun was out and the wind had died down since yesterday.  I checked the forecast for this afternoon and it looked good.  I posted on Facebook on SLOW page, that I was going out this afternoon hoping I could get some friends to come.  Stacey bit and I'm sure glad.

Last year I did a Gridley Strait a little too early in the season and had quite a struggle with it especially at the end.  That was on March 29th last year.  This year I waited a couple weeks longer, and still it was a struggle. The water felt cool getting in, but not terribly so.  Stacey and I ventured in and I had my Swimmer Buddy board which had the GPS and water packed on it.  I must say Stacey is quite the swimmer.  I did not have to hold back at all in order to keep her close by.  She was within 15 feet of me the entire swim.  That was fantastic.  I was able to keep a high stroke rate which was necessary to endure the cold water.

Forgot to hit the capture button on the GoPro that I had
set up on the Swimmer Buddy Board so all I got was stupid
pics of me turning it on, when I thought I was turning it
off.  Duh!

I took a water temp a couple times and it ranged between 56 and 57 degrees.  That's a little cold for me.  When we got about 250 yards or so from Black rock my hand was starting to brush the sandy bottom.  We stood up and took drinks and then swam back.  I was shivering and Stacey hardly seemed cold!  I absolutely had to go almost at a sprint in order to not go into hypothermia.

When we arrived back there were lots of people walking around taking pictures.  I had my ear plugs in and could hear Stacey answering their questions that they were shouting from the rocks.  I was almost in a tunnel vision mode like last year.  Not as bad.  I actually felt comfort breathing to the side during the swim and seeing her there.  Last year I went solo and that seems to make it harder mentally.  When we got out I was shivering pretty good and couldn't talk very clearly.  Stacey on the other hand seemed barely phased by the cold.  I think that was probably her 3rd or 4th swim in the GSL.  I'm very impressed!

GPS showed we swam exactly 1.97 miles in 57 minutes.  Including the drink break near Black Rock.
Not too shabby!