Night Swimming

Goody picket me up at 7:30pm and we drove down to the GSL Marina for a night swim.  I would have preferred to go to Antelope Island, but Dave Shearer hinted to Goody that he'd prefer our first night swim to be down there.  So we went down there.  I was supposed to bring a high powered flashlight, but I forgot and we were already 10 minutes from my house so we decided to just bag it and hope that we wouldn't really need it.  Fortunately we didn't.

When we got there we checked in with Dave.  He asked if we knew a swimmer with a camo truck.  We didn't.  He said that someone with a camo truck came into the marina early in the morning and swam out of the marina without a friend, and without an SSD and almost got hit by a sailboat.  Not good.  If an accident happens, Dave would probably prohibit swimming in the marina.  Have I swam alone, have I swam without an SSD?  Yes.  So I'm not much of a perfect example.  But 95% of the time I'm with someone and/or wearing a SSD or Swimming Buddy.

Anyway,  Goody and waiting till around 9:15 and set out for Black Rock.  He swam first.  I paddled to the right of him and although there was no moon at all tonight, the lights from the Kennecott plant on the other side of I-80 had blazing lights that reflected over to the lake and I could see as well as if there was a full moon.  We swam towards black rock and although I couldn't see it, I could see the "Gap" in the red tail lights of the cars heading towards Stansbury Park.  That "gap" was where the lights were unseen as they were behind black rock.  We got within 200 yards of blackrock and my GPS read 1.02 miles.  Goody took a feeding and we turned around.  Occasionally he would do some breaststroke, and would also tell me that there were some serious cold patches that he had to swim through.

When we got back to the marina, he got dried off, clothed and we switched.  My clear goggles that I picked up at Big 5 on the way in sucked bigtime.  They leaked within a few seconds.  Foam padding goggles suck!  I switched to my charcoal ones that I didn't want to use.  "I wear my sunglasses at night".  Anyway, at least they didn't leak and I could still see bright lights, and barely see the green glowsticks that were tied to the kayak.  The swim out to black rock was awesome.  The first 2-3 inches of water was cold (probably around 66f), but below that, much warmer.  There was no wind at all and it was like glass on the lake.  Awesome for a night swim.  I swam strong, yet relaxed.  Goody said my stroke count was averaging around 63 spm.  I moved the glowstick from the back of my goggles to inside my wrist watch, which I liked much better.  To see the bioluminescence of the glow stick was quite fun especially since I couldn't see much light at all otherwise with my stupid dark goggles.

Swam back and this time it was easier to sight as there was a huge glaring light at the mouth of the marina.  When we got back it was a little after 11:30 and I called home to make sure everyone was in bed and they knew I was on my way.

What a fun evening!  Definitely want to do it again.  Next time Antelope Island Marina though.

Total Distance: 2.0 miles in 58 minutes