2 mile GSL swim with Goody and Alicia

Met Goody and Alicia at the causeway entrance at 4:30pm.  When we creeped out way into the water it felt cold.  I took a temp and it read 59.  We started our swim heading out of the marina towards Fremont Island.  There were dark clouds to the north, but far enough away.  It was sunny to the west.  The wind was coming form the northwest with small waves.  Not a big deal.   We swam for about 10 minutes out of the marina and stopped to take a couple pics.  After swimming out about 1/2 mile, I could see very faintly the bottom of the lake with the sandy spots and then the black bioherms.

I would swim about five minutes and flip turn and swim towards Goody and Alicia.  I told Austin to stay with them.  This was Alicia's first swim in the GSL.  We went 50 minutes then headed back cause we started to see some serious black clouds that were up ahead and heading our way.

Here's the GPS data which is pretty much the same distance that Goody and Alicia did.

I went back and forth a few times, I'll estimate about a half mile.  So 2 1/2 miles.  Definitely not what I had planned for the evening, but what do you do?  You can't curse mother nature.  Even though she's been in a pretty pissy mood lately with all this rain we've had this week.  You see a opening in the clouds and she sends you another round to remind you she's the boss.

Definitely found some hot spots to lube up extra well next time,  The front of my neck where the beard starts.  The inside of my legs by my knees, my stomach on each side by my belly button, and my upper check bones under my eyes.  Just to be safe I'll just lube up my entire body.  When I see vid of Channel swimmers totally covered in grease, I just shake my head.

It also tells me my heading (which I don't care about), but
here it is telling me that sitting at my desk, the room temp is
80.8°.  I'm thinking it also sucks some heat from my arm, so
it isn't 100% accurate.

Yesterday my birthday present came in the mail.  I got this new watch that I did a search for.  I wanted a watch that would tell me the water temp when I swim.  Sometimes I'll be at BL and then I'll hit a real cold spot and say in my mind, I wonder what that dropped down to?  Now I can tell at the press of a button.  I had to calibrate it with my digital one just to get it as close as possible to the digital therm, which I'm assuming is the real deal.  During today's swim I took several readings throughout the swim with both the watch and with the digital therm, and the watch was usually off by no more than 0.3°F.  Not bad.  So I'm pleased with it so far.

When I got home I had to hurry and get showered, and then head off to a massage with Cathi.  She's running the Ogden Marathon tomorrow, and I'm

Goody and Alicia swimming into the oncoming rain clouds.

also planning to do a super long swim tomorrow.  It's the last day of my HELL WEEK.  The massage was awesome.  Typically when I roll my neck it sounds like I'm driving on gravel, but now it's smooth and silent.  Love it!

Nice job Alicia for going for so long in the 60° water for so long!  The mile event you're doing will be more enjoyable now that you have a some experience and know a little more about what to expect.

Thanks to Austin for coming out and being the support rower.  He was a good sport and didn't complain.  Goody also is entertaining to talk to, so that helps his mood and makes it less boring for him.  Typically I'm pretty tight lipped and just go.

Today's total was 10K yards from this morning with an estimated 2 1/2 miles on top of that this evening.  Short by about 5K yards, but I'm not upset.  I'd rather swim 3 miles in GSL than 6 miles in the pool any day.

North Antelope Swim

I met Goody at the entrance to the park at 4:50 pm and we drove out together to the marina at the North End of Antelope.  The water on the surface was 61°, but about 18 inches below the surface I held my digital thermometer and it read 58°.  The sun was shining and there was a slight breeze but nothing major.

I took the SSD and it was full of both of our stuff (Goody's two bottles, my big Gatorade, and then my container which had my phone, ipod (for taking pics), thermometer, and my car keys.  Trying to tread water and empty that thing out without getting water in, was a pain.  I got a cramp in my quad.  Not fun.  I need to get the big size SSD.  Cause I like to have my stuff, but don't want it to be so cramped.  I was hoping to swim out towards Egg Island and then cut in between that island and the northwest corner of Antelope and then swim to the south end of Bridger Bay.  The water level was high, but still not high enough as we started to hit bottom with our hands just as we started to get to the shallow land bridge from Antelope to Egg Islands.  So we decided to turn around and head north for a bit.

I get nervous swimming out there more than half a mile from shore.  The weather was perfect, and the odds of a storm coming out of nowhere is extremely slim.  But I still get paranoid, so I suggested we swim east.  I think Goody was getting bugged with the route changes.  We almost got in our planned 4 miles, but not quite.

Stats:

 3.5 miles in 1:50

I was a little chilled.  With my GSL swim in 3 weeks, I may actually be able to qualify for English Channel after all with that swim.  My start is in the morning on the west side of Antelope so the water will be pretty close to 60 I bet.  We'll see....


It was a beautiful evening!  My lips and tongue did much better this time.  I also didn't have any chaffing at all.  Then again I tried out my 50/50 lanolin/vaseline mix.  I ordered some lanolin online and mixed it up in a baggie and applied it using the baggie.  It worked out perfectly.

Given that this location is only 15 minutes from my house and much closer for Goody as well, we'll be making this the preferred GSL swim location.  The GSL Marina is fine, but its a 3 times further than the Antelope Island Marina.

Here's some pics

Goody was a good partner.  Our pace was right about the same.

This picture does NOT do the view any justice.  It was beautiful!

Looking at the boat docks in the marina with the
snow capped mountains in the background

3.5 miles total

Black Rock to Saltair and back

Jacob and I start the swim right up next to Black Rock.

I met Goody and we started our swim at Black Rock.  I was AMAZED at how high the water was.  Last year when I swam out there with Josh we had at least 50 yards from Blackrock down on to the beach before reaching the waters edge.  This year,  the water is I would guess about 2 feet higher which equates to quite a way up the beach right up to the edge of the parking lot.

Jacob and I turn around near Saltair beach

Goody brought his wife Patricia and I brought Jacob with them in their own kayak.  After getting in we waded up to our waist and then dived in.  I was a little cool and went right for the Marina.  Once Jacob and I got there I took a sip of Gatorade.  Then I kept fallowing the path along the green buoys and decided to go to Saltair which we figured was about 2 1/2 miles.  We got close to Saltair, but I was hitting the sandy bottom with my hands during my stroke, so I stood up and took another drink of Gatorade.  The GPS that Jacob had read that we had swam just over 2 miles.  The waves were pretty strong and I looked back to see clouds that didn't look so nice, so we turned back around since it was about another 1/2 mile to the waters edge and too shallow to swim.  I definitely don't like the idea of having to be rescued with bad weather on the lake.  Been there before and it's a little embarrassing.  Better to be smart and turn around, than waste another 30 minutes wading through 12 inches of water just to get to the waters edge, only to turn around and walk alongside the boat to get where it's deep again.

Real Swimmers Swim Naked

There were definite cold and warm pockets in the lake.  When we started off, the water was 63.6 degrees.  I took an other reading in the cold spot and it was 62.8 degrees.  I'm thinking that my 20 mile swim in three weeks will be too warm to count for an English Channel qualifier.  So I might have to do that in the fall.  But I'll still plan to do my swim anyway.

My lips and tongue were really starting to swell up.  But my shoulder was feeling just fine.  We got past the marina on the way back.  I was really getting some serious chaffing going on downstairs.  Mental note:  Next time, wear a jammer, not a speedo in GSL.

Marcia Cleveland had a shirt made up a while back for crazies like me.  I bought one a while back, but never have worn it.  Today I actually tried it out and deserve to wear it.  Not a big deal since there aren't other swimmers or boaters in the area.  It kept Jacob amused the rest of the way!  It sure paid off cause without a suit, there was no painful chaffing.

When we got close to the finish I slipped back in to my suit and waded back to the starting point.  The GPS read that it was just over 4 1/4 miles and just over 2 hours.  Actual swim distance was right around 4 miles with 1/4 mile in walking along side the boat towards Saltair before deciding to just turn around and swim back.

Jacob and I climbed the rock.

What an enjoyable swim!  

4 Miles total

First GSL Swim this year

Josh, Goody and me after the swim.  

I met Josh and Goody at the GSL Marina and also Paul who took pictures for the Utah State Parks.  I was nervous about my shoulder but figured I could get at least 1/2 mile or so without trouble.  We left the boat ramp at the end of the parking lot and went out of the marina and along the buoy line.  We went to the end of the green row.  My shoulder didn't give me any pain whatsoever.  I was so happy about that!  So we swam back.  When I got water in my mouth I was so excited to be swimming in the GSL that I didn't mind at all.  It actually put me in the mood for a big salt pretzel from Vozen's.

The sun was shining and there was only a slight breeze from the north.  It was perfect weather.  The back of my legs kept hitting my SSD.  Next time I'll go without it.  An SSD is major overkill in the GSL.   First of all there are no boats.  Plus if you have trouble in the GSL, just hold still.  I mostly used it to store my gatorade among other things in case I wanted a drink while out there.  But I was fine.  
Josh's family was there when we got out, and Jake got in just as we got out.  If Paul wasn't there we would've waited, but he wanted to take pictures and get on his way.

I'm so pleased that I didn't have shoulder issues.  I'll definitely be back in the pool tomorrow.  Hopefully I can get back on track and not have to delay my GSL swim.  I haven't had a good solid swim in over a week!

Antelope Island To Blackrock Race - 3:24:37

In preparation for this race, I was very lucky to be able to contact the wife of Orson Spencer, Phyllis, who told me during our conversation that she is over 100 years old.  She told me that her husband had passed away in 1983.  She said there were newspaper clippings of Orson's record swim which she would try to locate. Here they are!

According to the research that Josh conducted, Orson Spencer set a very respectable record of swimming from the south tip of Antelope Island to Blackrock.  He did it in 1937 at a time of 3:40:52.  That day must have been very favorable for swimming, because that is an extremely fast time for an 8.12 mile swim.  That is a 27:12/mile pace.

Well today that record is broken.

We went to Garr Ranch and hoped to meet up with one of the Antelope Island Rangers.  I had previously arranged with one of them and he was totally on board with it. But he called in sick and must not have informed any one of his colleagues of our arrangement.  But that was OK, cause Cathi, Jacob, Oliver and Sam all enjoyed Garr Ranch.  I was amused at the conversation I had with a volunteer and with the Director at Garr Ranch.  The volunteer told me you can't swim from Antelope to Blackrock anymore.  The director said, "You're going to do what!?"

It's funny/annoying when people get this certain mindset about the lake, that it's just too salty, too shallow to swim in.  It's totally false.  It's definitely shallow until you get deep enough to swim in.  But from my experience, that's anywhere from a 50 - 300 yard wade.  The salt?  My mouth has gotten used to it.  When I first started swimming in the Great Salt Lake earlier this year, I felt like I needed something to drink, or to rinse with, every 20-30 minutes.  But now I'm fine going an hour without a rinse.  Although, today I was really going for speed, and decided against frequent breaks.  Anyway, after about 30 minutes of park staff making calls to get approval for me to make the attempt, they finally opened the gate for Cathi and I to drive down the dirt road to the southern tip.

She dropped Jacob and I off where we walked 2.2 miles with the kayak along the beach and across some trails to finally get to the southern tip where we had to walk to the waters edge.  What a long walk!  I was a little tired just doing that walk.  But this was a swim I had been anticipating all week long!  I had carbed up like crazy for this swim.  I wasn't about to let a little hike ruin my day.

The awesome thing about this swim was that we had a pretty good wind from the North the whole way!  It was truly an answer to my prayers.  I really wanted to get a good time and the wind from the north really pushed me right along.  It was sunny all day and the waves were mild, but pushing me the way I was going.  It was perfect!

When we waded through the water until I got up to my waste, I took a temp using my digital therm.  It read 69.8 degrees.  Sweet!  I then took a waypoint on the GPS.  (N 40° 50.019 W112° 11.229).  I pointed Jacob in the right direction and started the swim.  Jacob did a great job staying close to me, and gave me notification at each mile point.  I only stopped for a quick drink of Gatorade every 2 miles.  I looked at my watch on each Mile point and noticed I was hold 23 minute miles.  After reviewing the GPS track data, this is how I did:

Mile 1: 23:08
Mile 2: 23:22 - 30 second Gatorade drink
Mile 3: 23:33
Mile 4: 23:38 - 30 second Gatorade drink
Mile 5: 23:17
Mile 6: 23:15 - 30 second Gatorade drink
Mile 7: 25:05
Mile 8: 25:59 - spent WAY too much time looking for the finish and wondering how much further!
Last .12 mile to the Finish: 13:20 (Had to wade through knee high water which was SO SLOW!  But once I got to mid calf depth I ran the last 50 yards.  I stopped the clock once my feet were on dry sand.
Finish: 3:24:37 (25:11 per mile pace)

Here's the map of my actual route.

I would never have gotten these times if it weren't for the strong southerly wind!  I was so pleased.  I often thought of Orson Spencer during my swim.  I definitely didn't know the man, but I respectfully thought of his swimming in these waters, and wondered what kind of life he led.  I imagined him right next to me, much like Josh, swimming along side me on this most beautiful day!  That really helped me because I focused the whole time on really strong, yet slow and deliberate pulls.  I had issues with cramps over a dozen times, but I didn't stop, I just gently kicked through those until they went away.  Good thing my legs were already floating so well.  I didn't even need to kick, but in order to get the best possible time, I occasionally did some powerful kicks to get just a few seconds faster on each mile.  I truly pushed this swim.  I felt like my pace was more like a 200 yard race, not an 8 mile race.

When I got to the mile 7, I kept anticipating seeing the black rock right there in front of me, so I spent too much time trying to sight for it.  The GSL Harbormaster, who was also notified during all the radio communication trying to get me in, came by on his boat at around 7.5 miles and checked up on us.  He said to Jacob, "Almost there!".  When I got to the point where my hand was hitting the bottom on every stroke, I decided to wade in.  I was hitting sharp Tufa reef and would rather walk gently on it than risk scratching my hands or chest on it.  It was still quite a way in, so my last tenth of a mile in to the finish was very slow. Cathi was there with the kids at the end playing at the beach along with their Hatch cousins.  They all had fun.

Today's swim wasn't the longest I've ever done, but one of the most memorable.

Here's a short video:

Update:  Here are the records of all those who have swam this specific course in the Great Salt Lake.  The course was abandoned as a race after 2014 due to logistics getting permits and transporting people to the south end of Antelope Island.  

Salty White Horses - 5K in GSL

I got up early and drove out to Black Rock to meet Josh.  Another swimmer, Julian Riley, showed up.  The wind was coming pretty strong from the west so we had a great swim to the last buoy at the end of the marina.  I stowed a Gatorade in the back of my trunks which was nice to have at the turnaround point.  We then swam back into the waves and that was much more exciting.

Compared to last Friday's swim, this was crazier.  The waves at Berkely were higher, but they were at a lower frequency.  One wave every 5 seconds or so.  This morning the waves were closer together, not as high, and even got lots of spray coming from the white horses (spit?).  We got separated pretty good about halfway back and so we waited to regroup.  We regrouped a total of 4 times throughout the swim.

I'd say that the wave conditions this morning were probably the worst I've ever swam in.  Even though I wasn't having troubles and in fact was having fun.  We were close to shore so safety really wasn't an issue.

Total swim: 5K in 1:33.  Not bad considering the 4x 2-3 minute regrouping pauses.

Meeting Dave Shearer - Harbormaster for GSL Marina

Josh and I went out to the GSL Marina at 7am and boated along the deep channel reef and measured out the distance to the end of the red/green buoys.  Came to 1.6 miles one way.  Josh noticed a spiderweb on one of the buoys.  It wasn't the biggest spider I've seen of this species, but still quite big compared to Jumping/Wolf Spiders which is all I see around the house.

We then met Dave Shearer at 8:30 at the marina office to discuss the race and the proposed route.  I was very encouraging.  He was very supportive and told us of the parks willingness to help us out with support boats, etc....  He did discourage using the deep channel buoys as there is a significant current that goes northeast from the southern tip of Antelope Island down to black rock.  He said depending on the runoff for the year it can be strong clear until the end of June.  He suggested a route that goes along the racing buoys where the current wouldn't be head on and inhibit the forward progress of the swimmers.   After discussing it with Josh, we're going to take that advise and count on the support of the State and the Yacht club and forget the convenience of the already existing channel buoys and avoid any head-on currents.

So I took a map of the racing buoy coordinates and will plan the routes using those.  The idea is to have a large support boat every mile to assist with liquid/feedings as well as provide safety coverage.  Each of those boats would be in radio comm with each other and with a HQ.  We got paperwork required for getting the event setup with the State Parks.  So we've got some homework to do.  Dave was extremely helpful and easy to work with.  I'm very excited about this event.  No organized event like this has occurred in the GSL since the 1930's.  It's time to revive it!

Black Rock thru GSL Marina Deep Reef Channel 5K swim

Met Josh at Black rock at 6:20am this morning and we walked to the beach right there and about 75 feet into the water where it was finally deep enough to swim.  I towed a watertight container with my GPS, small gatorade and some mouthwash.  After analyzing the GPS track data of where we actually started to swim and where we ended, it came to 5K in 1:28.  Here's the map:


It sure didn't seem like we were gone very long.  Probably because it was so fun!  The wind/waves were going pretty well to the Northeast so going out was easy, but coming back we were going right into the waves.  Could have gone much faster, but this was just a relaxing swim and not a tough workout.  My shoulder didn't have any issues at all, so I'm fully back to normal there.  Whew!

After we got back to our cars we went over to the Marina to meet with the marina harbormaster, Dave Shearer, but he wasn't there so we'll catch up with him later.  The Black Rock thru the reef channel to the end of the buoys would be a perfect course because there are two beaches with easy access:
1) The beach at Black Rock
2) The beach at the Marina
and then there is the outlook at the end of the marina.  It really is an ideal location!  The water is much clearer on the south end of the lake versus north of Antelope Island.  The tufa rock is about 3 feet from the surface for the first half mile or so at the beginning of the swim, but that's no big deal.  After that it gets about 6-10 feet deep.  The thing about this swim is that you wouldn't want a bunch of novice kayakers and canoers out there on race day.  If the wind picks up just a little like it did today, it would be very difficult for the boaters to control their vessels.

Oh did I not post this yet?  I already registered the domain:  greatsaltlakeopenwater.com and am in the very early planning stages for setting up a race just like Deer Creek (1 mile,  5K, 10K and 10 mile) events.  Hoping to schedule it for early-mid June.  I have alot of planning and coordinating to pull it off right.  The web site will have a skeleton in the next couple days.