[at-l] TA DA!!

[lehmkuhl@verizon.net (lehmkuhl@verizon.net)]

And you deserve it...thanks for a great report!! Nice to know you aren't too old to do this kinda thing.:) understand the need to prove things to yourself.

all the best
v> 
> From: kahley <kahley7@ptd.net>
> Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 09:26:39 -0500
> To: at-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [at-l] TA DA!!
> 
> There isn't much to tell because for the most part it was pretty boring.
> I didn't leave the house till after 9:30 because the sun just refused to 
> come out
> and I really needed sunny conditions. I would have waited longer but the boat
> traffic really goes nuts once people get off work at three so I couldn't wait.
> 
>   I didn't replicate the original swim that I did as a kid because, as I 
> said, they
> damned the river and instead of our own personal playground with, maybe
> three dozen little boats, it's a recreational hotspot with hundred of huge 
> boats
> and jetskis <grrrrr>.
> http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/projects/foun099/Urbanization/Fabridam.html
> 
> If I swam the same route now, it would take me past the Marina and into water
> that now gets 2 foot chop with only a steady 15mph wind with 200 hp boats so
> I cut about 1.5 miles off the end of the swim and tacked onto the beginning,
> Also, now that it's a lake, I lost the current.  Based or historical date 
> from the
> USGS i figured that the dam has reduced the current by at least a factor of 3,
> not counting the present drought conditions that further slow things down,
> so I bought a used set of fins from ebay and cut them down to double the 
> size/area
> of my feet to sorta compensate for swimming thru almost still water instead 
> of with
> the current.
> 
> My shoulders are built wrong for a swimmer..just don't have the rotation range
> needed for a proper stroke so I'm limited to the breast stroke which I hate.
> So I basically use just my legs, either on my back or on my belly  and use a
> mask and a snorkel .
> 
> I towed a lightweight "wake board"  with shoes, a skirt and a fleece jacket
> (in case I had to bail and walk home) plus gatoraid and milk and gu, on
> a line tied alternately to my wrists and my waist.  I tied a  2 gallon jug, 
> painted
> dayglo orange, to the board so the boats could see me.  In case of
> trouble I had it to float on but didn't need it. (See Gimee.I did tow a 
> lifevest <g>)
> 
> One thing i didn''t check was my mask which developed a leak that
> hadn't really bothered me until yesterday.  After about four hours with my
> nose constantly in a puddle, it began to run like a race horse.  Nothing
> worse than wearing a mask with a runny nose.  I have no clue to how
> much more than six miles I swam but for sure, it wasn't the straight line
> course I had planned.  The further downstream I swam, the less effect the
> current had and the cues that I relied on to keep me headed downstream
> failed.  I got in a sort of zone where i didn't look up as often as need be
> and kept going zigzag...waaaay off course.
> 
> Also there were mats of rotting water weeds....huge...caused by last
> weeks mega heat, which I tried to avoid until the sun went in and then
> I swam into/through it because the decomposition raises the water temp to
> toasty.  When the sun came back out, I exited.....yucky yucky.  And
> the occasional fishing boat that i had to swim out to avoid.
> 
> My throat is really sore today because I didn't swallow enough and
> it really dried out.
> I got the hiccups at one point.  That was no fun.  And was harassed by
> a horse fly for maybe a quarter mile....that was probably the fastest
> quarter mile i swam <g>.
> 
> It didn't take as long as i thought because in my training swims, I was
> looking around more and fooling around more.  This was pretty much
> business from the get go.  I saw a bunch of suckers in the weeds,
> one decent sized bass, hundreds of minnows which is how I knew i
> was swimming too close to shore.  I saw the silt trails of a couple bigger
> fish, probably carp.  And a duck and I scared the heck out of each other.
> Ducks look pretty strange from under the water..   I didn't see it until
> I was almost under it and it took off...sorta like spooking a turkey in'the 
> woods.
> That's it..like i said..pretty boring.  Too much to think about, and after 
> a while,
> too hard to concentrate to do any real deep thinking.
> 
> Right now I never want to do anything like this again, but maybe I'll
> change my mind......I did it in part to prove that I'm not old yet but
> man do I feel old this morning <VVVBG>.  I HURT..even my back
> which surprises me.  I think it's because of the shivering.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who sent good wishes and congrats!!!!!!!!  I'm headed
> for a hot soak <ahhhhhh>.
> 
> 
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