Summer’s over

Unfortunately, summer’s over. At least up here in New England. Had some beautiful days lately. The kinds where you can turn off the a/c and open all your windows. Really perfect.

Bostonians are already wearing jackets. It’s not that cold yet. But I guess low 60s and cool in the shade is too much for some. Speaking of 60s, the water at Nahant Beach yesterday was 66-67F. Beautiful. Not at all cold. Not anymore. I’m sure I would have considered it cold last year. So nice to be sorta acclimated to the water!

August was a good month for me, swimming-wise. Got 13 swims in, totaling a bit over 17 hours of swimming (the more important of two metrics) and 26.34 miles. Also got a lot of books read (another hobby) and lots of language study (ditto). Took a language test and got great results. All in all a banner month for Iron Mike!

Friday was my last day at Mirabella. I’m gonna miss that odd-ball of a pool. Crystal clear and clean water. Great views. Had time for a 2-mile swim on the last day. A great way to end the outdoor-pool season. But it got even better.

Yep. That old lady is the USS Constitution. This is the second time she’s sailed by me while swimming laps and at least the fourth time she’s been out this summer. I’m embarrassed to say that prior to moving to Boston I thought she couldn’t ever leave port. That she was permanently installed somewhere along the harbor. Nope. She still can sail. There’s active duty Navy sailors assigned to her. They all learn how to sail her and they actually take her out. I’ve seen her with her sails unfurled as well as like above. I wasn’t gonna miss her this time so mid-way between miles 1 and 2 I jumped out, grabbed the phone and took her picture.

That’s her returning to port a couple hours later sailing past the Coast Guard base, firing her cannons. She’s a beauty!

I managed to get 21 swims in in open water this summer, and will get more in before the year is up. I want to see how far into fall I can go. Some of you dear readers know that last Halloween I tried to swim in 51F and managed a few strokes before standing up and walking out. Then this past May I did 34 minutes in 50-51F at Winthrop. I wonder how much lower and/or longer I can go?

Brrr!

I bailed on the Boston Light this year, deciding after my slow-ass 10K in Rhode Island that I’m just not fast enough or salt-adapted enough to swim eight miles in five hours in Boston Harbor. Even with currents helping me. Then the race had to be canceled due to fog. I feel for the swimmers who traveled up here and paid for hotels and especially the boat pilot. Luckily, I gave mine enough notice that I didn’t lose anything but the entry fee.

But, as mentioned, I did get a 10K (really, 10.5K) in down in Rhode Island. It was so nice, if a lot of work, and nice and small with just a few swimmers. I’m looking forward to doing that one again next year. The area is really pretty.

The Beavertail 10K’s iconic buoy. (c) Mike Scott

And Salem. I stupidly signed up for both the 2-mile and 5K this year, even though they would both be on the same weekend. Figured sure, I can do both. Not so much. I was so wore out from the 2-miler, which I thought I swam fast, that I wasn’t moving my arms the next day, never mind for a 5K. The 2-miler was in wonderfully cold water, 58F or so. I was one of only a handful of skins swimmers. Unfortunately, the Wild Fish Swim people don’t differentiate skins from neoprene, my only complaint about that swim.

A few skins swimmers in a sea of neoprene

One more swim this season, and that’s my favorite Swim the Suck in Tennessee. I will write at length about that swim later. Looking forward to meeting up with everyone in October in Chattanooga!

But yes, summer is over. Mirabella is closed. I’ll have to move my pool swimming indoors. Gonna try a new Y close by, see if their pool is nicer than my local Y. The local one is ok, but sometimes the water tastes funny; I think something is up with their filtration system. I have literally been kicked out of the pool before because the chlorine level was zero. Yes, 0.0. How does that actually happen?

Edit: Forgot to mention my DD took a trip down to Cape Cod. She was excited about the beach. Then she saw this sign.

4 thoughts on “Summer’s over”

  1. You can’t give up open water until the leaves are gone and the snow is falling. 😀 Is Winthrop that Halloween Blood Drive thing? Distance? I’ll check your blog. [yeah, directing readers to keep reading]

    So cool to swim near the Constitution. . . I was just getting the the lake when one of the steamships was settling into dry dock. . . that could have been cool to swim with . . . from a solid distance. 😀

    1. The Vampire swim last year was down at Pleasure Bay. Winthrop is up by us, near Revere Beach. It is just really rocky, you really need to wear swim shoes to get in/out.

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