Category Archives: Swimming Equipment

12 Days of Christmas Gifts: Day Three

Iron Mike here presents to you twelve days of gift ideas for the marathon swimmer in your life. Check back daily!

Day three: Saturday, 16 December. Goggles.

Of course the swimmer in your life needs goggles. They are an important staple in your swimmer’s bag. But oh so personal.

I would have trouble recommending to you which pair of goggles to get. They really are dependent upon face size, eye socket physiology, and probably more metrics I’m not even thinking of. However, there are other aspects of goggle choice to take into account. For one, color of lens.

I’ve been through various hues of lens: blue, black, mirrored, clear. Two basic colors make up the vast majority of my goggle collection. Clear and black.

Clear goggles I use in the pool. Indoor pool that is. I like to be able to see the pool, who’s pretending to drown in the deep end, where the lifeguard is sitting, what the pace clock says, etc. There really is little reason to wear dark goggles in a pool. I guess if the pool is so overly lit it hurts your eyes? Who knows. But clear is a go-to color.

And so is black. Or dark. Or whatever works best for you under sunny skies. One of the joys of open water swimming is the great outdoors, but as you’re doing lap upon lap around your favorite watering hole, turning to breath and staring directly into the sun will hurt, and you don’t need your eyes watering inside your goggles. Likewise looking up and sighting into the sun. Buy the darkest you can for those wonderfully beautiful days.

But what about overcast days? I’ve found that if the day is guaranteed to be overcast the entire time, I’ll swim in my clear ones. For a race. If I’m in the lake for training, I’ll throw a dark pair in my trunks in case the sun makes a lasting appearance. What I will never do again, though, is buy blue.

I had blue because I had read somewhere they were great for the not too bright, kinda overcast days. So I raced in them. And immediately discovered their liability: seeing blue buoys.

The race was in National Harbor, MD, and the buoys were blue-ish, or close enough that they pretty much disappeared as I looked in the general direction everyone was swimming. For that entire race (5K I think?) I had to rely on other swimmers to follow to find the buoys. That’s fine if you’re fast and you’re up there with other speed demons. But in the back of the pack with the recreational/amateur swimmers, we’re not all the best navigators. Maybe I’m following someone who also can’t swim straight and we both are going not on the best line to that buoy. All because I bought blue goggles.

A pair I got recently that I think I like have dark grey/light black on the main round part of the lens, but clear around the sides. I wore these a couple times in Strogino here in Moscow and I really liked them. Dark enough that I had protection when breathing and sighting, but the sides allowed some light in. I’m going to look for more like them.

 

This is a great time to talk about favorite products. If you find a piece of swim equipment that you like, much as I did with these Speedo Hydrospex goggles, buy many of them! Speedo has gone and “improved” the Hydrospex (now Hydrospex2) which, for my head was not an improvement. They added a button which allows one to tighten the straps easier, but for me that is not needed, and the extra plastic on the edges of the goggles had changed the goggle socket and now they leak. I’ve gone out of my way to buy the Hydrospex Classics whenever and wherever I see them, but I do know that some online stores are running low on stock.

12 Days of Christmas Gifts: Day Two

Iron Mike here presents to you twelve days of gift ideas for the marathon swimmer in your life. Check back daily!

Day two: Friday, 15 December. Caps.

If you’re like me, you didn’t start out wearing caps. Didn’t seem to be a need. My hair has always been short enough that the goggle straps stayed put, for the most part. But as dear readers of this blog know, I learned my last time here in Moscow that caps are required in some pools. So I’ve gotten used to wearing them.

But, a swim cap is a swim cap is a swim cap, right? Not quite. You have choices when buying your cap. For marathon swimmers, I would recommend buying a highly visible silicone cap. Color doesn’t matter in a pool. The lifeguard is going to see you. But in open water, you want the drunk jet skiers to be able to see you from as far off as possible. I like bright orange and yellow. These colors stand out more in open bodies of water whether it is a sunny day or an overcast, rainy one. For caps, I am less attached to a brand than I am to the material (silicone) and colors.

The picture above is an example of the importance of bright colors. Look at the kayaks. Most of them are red or orange. Do you see the three that are not? They are lighter, white or light blue. Harder to spot. Imagine driving a boat at 30 knots.

Now look at the swimmers in the water. The heads that pop out at you are the ones wearing yellow. The ones wearing green are just a bit less visible.

Now this picture is of an overcast day. But look almost all the way across the river to the shore. See that little, round yellow buoy? And is that a yellow pedal boat? Even through the splash of dozens of arms, the main color that you see (besides wetsuit-black) is yellow from those caps.

Bottom line: Be visible.

Speedo silicone cap. Available in a nicely bright orange for the best visibility. I always have an extra one of these on-hand for when I bring a newbie to the lake with me. The more orange heads the better, as far as boaters are concerned.

TYR silicone cap. Available in a few bright colors, including pink (if you’re man enough).

12 Days of Christmas Gifts: Day One

Iron Mike here presents to you twelve days* of gift ideas for the marathon swimmer in your life. Check back daily!

Day one: Thursday, 14 December. Suits.

I am one of those swimmers (people) who are loyal to a brand when that brand works. Particularly, I am loyal to a particular model when that model works for me. Swimsuits are no different. I buy two brands of suits and only two brands. For each of those brands, I buy one model of suit and only that model of suit. (So, with my luck, I’m sure at some point in the future those models will be discontinued.)

But the suits I buy work for me. And maybe they’ll work for you too.

Dolfin Uglies. I bought these early-on simply because I wanted to make a statement. An ugly statement. But you know what? These suits have grown on me. They’re not boring, that is for sure. And they’re square-leg, which I seem to have more and more trouble finding. I think I have 4 or 5 pairs now. Whenever I do an order with SwimOutlet I’ll throw a grab-bag suit in. Good, solid trunks that last through miles and miles of swimming.

Egads, now that’s ugly

Speedo Endurance+. These suits last forever. I’ve worn these for more than 10 years now I think, and in all that time I’ve had to throw two away. They finally got sheer in the region of the suit where you don’t want it to be see-through. And that was back before I knew any better and I used those suit drying spinny things. I wear these now mostly in open water and in races when I don’t want to make too much of a splash with my Uglies. A little more expensive than the other suits, and I haven’t see these in grab-bags yet, but worth every penny.

*Yes, I know the 12 Days of Christmas is actually from 25 December to 5 January in the western Christian tradition. But if you’re shopping for that swimmer in your life, you gotta start before the 25th!

Equipment used for my Issyk Kul swim

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Packing for a swim is pretty much an individual endeavor. If you talk to 10 swimmers, you’ll get 10 different packing lists. I read what marathon swimmers I respect suggest for a long swim and came up with my own kit for Issyk Kul. What follows is a list of stuff I brought with an explanation of why I picked it and how (or if) it was used during the swim. I add links to the items so that you can read others’ reviews and even purchase the item if desired.

FOR THE SWIMMER

Suit

I’m a square-leg suit guy. Not a grape-smuggler wearer. I also like the Dolfin Uglies series because, well, they’re ugly. But on the boat as I was going through my suits, my team chief Chris noticed that the Ugly that I brought this year is the same one I wore when I DNF’d last year. Oh no way I’m wearing that this year! I switched to my prefered suit, Speedo Endurance.

Swim cap

I had hoped that the MSF cap would make it here before my swim, but unfortunately it is still in the mail. Not a problem though as I have a Speedo silicone cap, bright orange. I wear this same cap when I’m swimming by myself with my ISHOF swim dry bag, also orange. Figured that gives me a chance against the drunk crazies.

Sweatshirt and cap

You’re going to be cold when you exit the water. No matter the air temp. Upon completion of mine, the air temperature was 31C, or 88F. That’s hot! No matter. My body was shedding heat. I also wore my wool cap. A huge percentage of body heat is lost through the head, and when you’re follicly-challenged like yours truly, you need a cap. (No links because this is a personal choice, but if you like my OSS Dart 10K sweatshirt, you can buy it here.)

Propaganda shirts

Like the swim cap, I had hoped my MSF polo would be here, but not yet. I do have two MSF t-shirts from the last quarter’s swag issuance, and brought those. I call them propaganda shirts because I like to “sell” organizations that I support. Sadly here, many think MSF is for Doctors without Borders. No links for this because if you didn’t order these already, you’re SOL.

Sandals or flip-flops

I am sold on the Adidas “massage” sandals. I’m on my second pair, not because they wore out (although I lost some of the nubs), but because I lost my first pair. You need something on the boat and to/from your hotel.

Goggles

This is another personal choice. For me, the ones that work are the Speedo Hydrospex junior (notice a trend?). I have a big head but the area around my eyes appreciate the smallness of the junior-size eye cup. All I have to say is that once you find goggles that work for you, buy a hundred pairs. If Murphy works for you as it does for me, once you love something, the company will stop making it. I advise clear and dark. I’ve used blue lens before and it made buoys and other on-water stuff hard to see.

Sun protection

For this swim I used SolRX SPF 50, which worked great. My daughter applied it to me prior to the swim, and four hours later when the sun finally came out, I was still adequately protected. Someone on the MSF forums recommended this product years ago and it had been sitting in my Amazon list for years. So glad I used it.

 

Baby butt cream

OK, so other, normal people, call this stuff diaper rash ointment. Call it what you will, it is necessary. I’ve done enough swims where I either forgot about it or didn’t use enough, then I’ve got to live with a horrible rash in the most uncomfortable places. There are plenty of products out there, go to the baby aisle. For this swim, I still had the tube of baby butt cream that someone let me have last year, so that’s what I used in all the rubby spaces.

ELECTRONICS

Tracker

You’re going to want something that’ll track your swim. Whether it is just for yourself later, or for your family and friends watching from home, you’ll want something to record your exploits. In 2015, my crew discovered that despite our preparations (wifi router, laptop, phone), we weren’t able to update my position for my family. So for 2016, I bought a SpotGen3. But instead of using Spot Gen’s own webpage to track my swim, I connected my device to track.rs from MSF. Track.rs is an application that easily links to your GPS device (whether it is your phone or some other piece of gear). Anyone anywhere can bring up your track.rs page and follow your swim, either on a computer or on their phone. For the swimmer, you can’t beat it. It’s $5 to use track.rs. How can you beat that?

Timing devices

I brought a couple watches and stopwatches on this trip. I wanted several timers going in case something went kaput. Chris wore my Garmin 310XT. I love this watch and have used it in hikes and swims for a few years now. But the last month or so it seemed to be acting up, dying quickly even after a full charge. It worked great on this swim (Chris wore it from start point to boat and in the kayak to the finish point. Otherwise it was strapped to a railing on the boat). I also brought along a Finis stopwatch. I used this when coaching and swear by it. Three of the crew also timed me on their iPhones.

Water bottles

You’re going to need to be fed. If you’re not going to use feed powders like me, you at least need water. Last year I used a huge bottle that I would have to unscrew each time. Didn’t like it. Someone on the MSF forums recommended the Rubbermaid Chug bottle. These bottles come with a plastic ring to which you can tie the 550-cord or string. The drink opening could be a bit wider, but I was able to drink enough at each feeding that I’ll stick to these bottles.

 

This is most everything I brought on my swim. Things not mentioned include treats for your crew while they’re sitting on the boat getting sunburn on your behalf; waterproof digital camera if you want one of your crew to take action shots, or you’re simply expecting a clumsy crew member to drop your camera in the drink; in that same vein, how about a camera floating wrist strap?

Issyk Kul crossing, 6 July 2016

OK, so I’ve had some time to rest and reflect. Here’s the first post covering my successful crossing of lake Issyk Kul on 6 July 2016. In this post, I’ll cover everything up to the swim.

Planning for this swim started way back last year after my DNF trying to swim this same route. Last year, due to logistics issues, I couldn’t attempt the swim until the end of September, when the water was cold (for me) at 13C. I learned a lot about organizing a swim like this in Kyrgyzstan, which helped inform me and the crew for the swim this year.

Many moons ago, the big boss offered me the use of her pool. That came at the perfect time, as swimming at the indoor place was getting tougher. Calypso Aqua Club has a two lane pool (with a side section for kids and grandmas) which they’ve turned into a three-lane pool. A really skinny three-lane pool. The only good times (read: fairly empty) to go were between 1000-1400. Hard to get away from the office and put in enough time. Especially when I’d show up and all lanes would be full with grandmas and their swim noodles not wanting their hair to get wet. Hard to do serious laps in such a skinny lane.

So, an indoor pool all my own came at a great time. It is small, so I would have to use the straps, which I am a big fan of if you’re stuck with small pools. I shared the pool with the boss and one other woman in the community, and it was a perfect relationship. I managed to get plenty of swimming in. I averaged 7000 meters per week in the 25 weeks prior to the swim. That’s not a lot for most marathon swimmers, but we must consider that for the last two weeks prior to swim-week, I only swam once each week. My elbow started to give me troubles. (I have arthritis pretty bad in my right elbow from an injury years (and years) ago.) I was afraid that my elbow would flare up during the swim; the pain can be described as a stabbing pain every time one bends the elbow. That’s serious especially when you love drinking beer.

So, take those two weeks out and the average goes up a bit, closer to 8000 meters per week. I also had a good “heavy” week of 18K about 6 weeks out from the swim. I think that helped prepare me for this swim. I like to at least swim the distance plus (depending upon race distance, I aim for 1 to 1.5 times the distance) about a month out from the swim. The swim being 13+K, my 18K week was sufficient to prepare the body. I needed a good long time “horizontal.” I only had one 2-hour swim prior to the big swim. Probably could have used a 3-hour swim prior, but I can’t argue with the results!

Timing-wise, I was thinking July 4th. Wouldn’t it have been great to shoot off fireworks after my success?! Unfortunately, I had to work on July 4th, so that wouldn’t work. Also, I wanted to have a window of possible swim days, instead of choosing one day weeks out and then having to stick to it, like last year. Thankfully, the boat Captain (Kurbat) was so impressed that a foreigner wanted to swim his lake last year, that when Talas called him to beg for a three-day window for my swim, he responded: The boat is Mike’s for as many days as he needs. Wonderful! So I picked 6-8 July, with 5 July as the travel out day and 9 July as the travel back day.

For lodging for me and my crew, I chose the Hotel Aliya again. They took care of us last September, so I decided to stick with them. The hotel is in a good location in Balykchy, right next to where the boat captain berths Appak, and with a wonderful beach and pier. Great place for people to hang out while I’m swimming the lake. Unfortunately, Olya, the wonderful lady who took care of us last year, no longer worked at the hotel. No matter; the owners were great; they and their daughters took care of us well.

Hotel Aliya staff, my family and I
Hotel Aliya staff, my family and I

The crew was easy. Most all of the same folks from last year wanted to come back and see me succeed. Added to the crew was my 16-year old daughter, Maggie, and the Peace Corps volunteer Sarah, former college swimmer who will destroy my time for this same route in August!

sarah and flag
Peace Corps volunteer & support swimmer extraordinaire, Sarah.
maggie on board appak
My daughter, Maggie, responsible for mixing my “feeds”

We drove out to the lake on 5 July, checking in rather late (4pm or so). Once the entire crew was there, we took a trip to the beach where I planned to end the swim, so my wife could see how to get there. (Plan was for my wife and youngest to meet me there at the beach, and be there for others from the embassy who might want to come see my swim.)

Beach landing spot in Toru-Aygyr
Beach landing spot in Toru-Aygyr

After the trip to the beach we went back to the hotel to eat. Dinner wasn’t too good, but I did manage to stick to my LCHF diet. After dinner, we rallied in the hotel lobby by our rooms and discussed the plan. I went over the rules of marathon swimming, and pulled out all the equipment, much of it different from the previous year.

Last year, the plan was for my son, Sam, to update my FB with my location and how I was doing. We brought our internet router on the boat and thought we’d have internet. Well, we learned that in the middle of the lake, the best you could do is 2G. My son last year did his best using up data on my phone to update people, but it wasn’t enough.

This year, I got a SpotGen and linked it to the MSF’s track.rs application. This turned out to be a wonderful choice. Due to the GPS, we didn’t have to worry about internet; all we needed was for the little orange wonder to see clear sky. Family and friends from around the world told me they were able to easily follow me.

OK, so back to the equipment discussion. I brought along a solar panel (Goal Zero Nomad 7) and battery pack (Goal Zero Venture 30). I wanted to be ready for any contingency. The battery could power a couple phones, and even more important, it could keep the GPS alive. I went over how I wanted everything to go. I reminded the crew about my safe word. Other personal rules: Never tell me how far I’ve gone or for how long. If I ask for my distance, then I have to use my safe word. In this case, if I’m over half done, go ahead and tell me. If I’m not half done, lie to me. I also made sure everyone on the boat knew that only my observer, embassy doc Chris, could end my swim. (Well, technically, I could by using the safe word and persuading Chris that I was serious. But Chris told me that this year if I asked to quit, he’d just flip me off and tell the boat to speed off.)

Discussion went well and we broke off to go to the local grocery store to get food and treats for my crew. Bought a metric sh!t-ton of water along with carb-crap for the crew. I got my sausages and cheese, should I need any food. We got back to the hotel at around 10pm. With a 4:30 wake-up, I was ready to hit the sack. I read for a little bit, then fell asleep around 11pm. Then promptly woke up again at midnight. Even with melatonin I was having trouble sleeping. Thankfully, I can sleep on the boat to the start the next morning, right?!

Next up, the swim!

Aquagear Comes Through

As promised in my previous post about Aquagear, “the neighborhood swim store,” I bought some items using my own money.

Previously, Aquagear was good enough to supply me with a swim towel in exchange for a review, which I did on the blog. I also reviewed their shipping, which wasn’t totally fair since I’m stationed overseas and at the whim of Uncle Sam shipping. Plus, the towel got held up in Snowpocalypse 2016 in the DC area, so I really couldn’t gauge their shipping.

But this time I can. See, the State Department records when a product comes into the mail facility, as long as that package has a tracking number, which my latest purchase did. So I was able to see how long it took my items to travel from Aquagear’s HQ in Florida to the mail facility in northern Virginia. The package left late afternoon on the 25th of March (3 hours after I placed the order!) and arrived in Virginia at 2am on the 29th. Not too shabby, especially since I paid nothing for shipping! After that, it’s all up to Uncle Sam to get the items to me in Kyrgyzstan, so I can’t judge Aquagear.

So, what did I buy? Goggles of course! Like I said in my previous review, I didn’t want to review goggles since those are so personal. Different face shapes, distances between eyes, nose sizes, all make for goggle-fitting being a very personal thing.

But what I will comment on is the wonderful people at Aquagear who actually still have my preferred goggles in stock! They are, of course, sold out everywhere, and the manufacturer improved them a few years ago and of course they’ve sucked ever since. I got bit on the butt some time ago when I thought I was ordering the goggles I’ve come to love, only to get delivered “Goggles v2.” Which no longer fit my face and whose sole purpose seems to be to torture me with a slow trickle of water that seeps into each eye cup just slow enough to make me think that yes, maybe, this one time, these POS goggles won’t leak.

So, boys and girls, dear reader(s), listen to Iron Mike now when he says: If you find a swim product you love, run, don’t walk, to the nearest swim retailer or, better yet, go to Aquagear online, and order a crap-ton* of the product! Otherwise, just when you feel invincible and ready to conquer any swimming obstacle, the manufacturer of your most-love-swim-product-ever will cease production and improve it for you.

That’s why I have four unworn pairs of Speedo Endurance square-leg trunks. One of these days…

 

*crap-ton is a unit of measure variable based on what is being measured. In swimming, for instance, a crap-ton of goggles, which you have to replace every few months, might equal a dozen, whereas a crap-ton of pull-buoys might mean two in reserve.

Review of the Discovery Trekking Ultra Fast-Dry Towel

So, as I blogged about previously, the online swim store Aquagear asked me to review an item from their store. I chose the Discovery Trekking Ultra Fast-Dry Towel. I’d been looking for a swim towel, something I could easily pack into my swim bag, something that dries quickly, and dries me quickly.

When the towel arrived, I didn’t even know it was the towel. Usually when mail arrives here, it is an event. My 12-year old loves opening up Mommy’s eBay purchases. I noticed my wife with a purple shawl around her, and she mentioned she didn’t remember buying it. I looked at it and realized it was the swim towel.

The swim towel is large, about the size of a beach towel. But it is very thin, like t-shirt thin. It is 100% polyester, and stretches quite a bit. The color is a nice dark purple. Did I mention it is thin?

I’ve used it a couple times after swimming. I’m not too sure I would have picked it if I’d seen it (touched it, really) in a store. It gets wet incredibly quickly, and remains wet for a while. It does dry your body, but you remain feeling slightly damp, like you tried drying yourself with your t-shirt.

After I am done swimming and return to the car, I “hang” up the towel in the back of the car so it dries. The towel certainly dries quickly. Within about 2-3 hours, the towel is bone dry.

The description at Aquagear says the towel is wicking. Well I guess that is true. The material does feel like those t-shirts you get from some runs and swims that are described as “wicking.” Still, I cannot fail to repeat that the towel immediately gets wet when you start to dry yourself, and remains wet. I guess I describe it thus: You dry off after swimming, then go to the locker room and shower. When you grab this towel to dry off after the shower, it feels like you’re using a wet t-shirt to (try and) dry off your body. I don’t like it.

Rolling up the towel, cinching it to wring out the excess water, does nothing to change the feeling that you’re using a wet cloth to dry yourself. I guess I was expecting a chamois type towel.

I will tell you that the towel does compact down quite well. You could roll the thing up into a very small package, which will not take up much of your swim pack. However, here is one area that a terry-cloth towel wins out. I prefer to roll my suit up into my towel. It dries the suit quickly. I rolled up my suit into this towel twice, and in the time a terry-cloth towel would usually dry my suit, this towel left my suit still very wet.

So, here’s the pros and cons for the Discovery Trekking Ultra Fast-Dry Towel.

Pros:

-Large enough to dry the whole body quickly

-Dries very quickly (but not quickly enough)

-Nice colors available (aqua, blue tie-dye, purple, dark blue, royal blue)

-Compacts tightly

Cons:

-Doesn’t dry quickly enough (between getting out of the pool and out of the shower)

-Material not substantial enough (feels like a wet t-shirt)

-Doesn’t dry a swim suit very well

All in all, despite four pros vs. three cons, the feeling of the towel “wins” out in my mind. I would not spend my own money on the Discovery Trekking Ultra Fast-Dry Towel.

Now, the review of the towel for the purpose of swimming complete, let me state that the towel would, in fact, be handy when one is hiking. I could see it being used to mop up sweat quite successfully. I will probably throw the towel in my pack for the spring when we start hiking in the mountains again.

But for swimming? I’ll stick to my generic, white terry-cloth towel.

*Thanks again to the folks at Aquagear for giving me an opportunity to review one of their items. I will order more from Aquagear, even with my own money. 😉 

New Kid on the Block

There’s a new kid on the block (at least to me), in the online swim product arena. Aquagear is “a family owned and operated swim shop specializing in swim gear and training equipment for water sports enthusiasts.” The owner contacted me and asked if I’d be willing to review the website and a product of my choice.

Let’s start with the website. It is very easy to navigate. The top bar on the site lets you choose your discipline. The rest of the main page is very manageable. You can shop by activity, person or brand. There’s also a sale and “what’s new” section.

They gave me $40 to play with, so I had a look around the “swim shop.” (I had no use for “exercise” or “lifeguard,” but those options are available for those who need those products.) I wasn’t sure what to get. A swimmer could always use goggles, but goggles are such a personal choice. If I reviewed a pair of goggles, how the heck do I know if those goggles would work for someone else? I know a few swimmers like me: you find a pair that works, then buy a hundred of them to avoid the special business maneuver delens fabrica, or “item no longer produced.” (Admit it. How many times have you found the perfect product, perfect fit, size, shape, etc, only to find out later that the company no longer produces it.) So, point is, I didn’t want to review a pair of goggles.

Suits aren’t that much different. Slightly less personal. Goggles have to fit the face, with all its weird angles. Suits are also personal, but less restrictive with respect to angles of the hips or shoulders (for women) or whatever. But still, personal.

I don’t need a pull buoy. And besides, how much do you need to review a pull buoy. “It floats.” There. Review done. Same with  a swim cap. I guess if I had long hair it would matter. But I’m lacking in that department.

I settled on a swim towel. That’s kinda universal. Everyone could use a towel. Especially one that can be thrown in a swim bag and quickly dried. So that’s what I decided to order. The ordering process was very quick. The order page allows you to input your zip code so you can figure the shipping charges before committing. If your order is $75 or more, then shipping (in the U.S.) is free. I got through the ordering process in about a minute.

(By the way, a great characteristic of the website is that they tell you on each item if the product is in stock, a pre-order, or even a team order. It’ll even tell you how many of that particular item are left in stock.)

I ordered the towel (more on the specific towel later) on 19 January. Early morning for the U.S. (2145 my time, 0845 eastern time).

Well, the guys at Aquagear must have been waiting by the computer because 40 MINUTES LATER, I got the email saying the towel was shipped. Incredible. So quick.

Now, let’s be honest. Some companies out there automatically send out emails saying the order has shipped, but in actuality they are just acknowledging the order. I have no way of testing this with Aquagear. Mother Nature reared her ugly head to prevent that. Snowpocalypse started around the 21st, followed by the federal government closing offices on the 22nd. For my dear reader(s) who don’t know, since I’m stationed overseas, all my mail goes to a State Department mail forwarding location in Virginia. Those folks who work there are all government employees. So they had a bunch of days off during Snowpocalypse and when they are not at work, the mail isn’t received. Packages have to be re-delivered at a later time. Bottom line, I can’t judge them on the shipping. I’ll have to order something else in the future to track the shipping speed (if Mother Nature cooperates).

Now, as for the towel, I’ll post about that separately. I’ve been busy with travel and haven’t had much chance to swim since getting it. I want to use it a few times and, more importantly, store it in my bag and see how it reacts to changes of temperature, location, exposure. More on that later.

However, the website and the company are top-notch in my book. Prices are pretty good too. I compared some items from another online swimming outlet and the prices are about the same. Shipping is $5.99 standard up to the free shipping amount. (The shipping page says your order needs to be $75 or more. However, I threw a bunch of stuff in the cart and once I got over $50, shipping was free.)

So, bottom line, I give Aquagear two thumbs up. I will order from them again.*

aquagear

*…even with my own money.

Swimming in a storm

Managed to get an hour-long swim in before the storm started this evening. Which reminded me of this experience [link is an mp4] of a couple weeks ago. A whopping 900-something meters in 40 minutes of trying. My shoulders were dead after that. Thankfully, I picked a better day about a week later and made it all the way to Supetar.

Angry sea no like Mike swimming
Veles is angry and does not like Iron Mike swimming in his sea

If you didn’t click on the movie link, I understand. It is kind of a big file (48MB) and I couldn’t figure out how to make it smaller. But the picture above should show how angry that damn sea was. You can just make out my head, and I’m only about 20m off the shore. More importantly, you can clearly see the SaferSwimmer, with its bright orange color. I am sold on that thing. I used it for three weeks in Croatia and a long weekend in Issyk Kul and really I didn’t have to worry about getting run into by a jet skier.

Sure enough, when I got out of the shower after my swim tonight, it was raining cats and dogs. And lightening!

Nice evening swim

Yesterday I swam a nice, gentle 3.16km in and around Sutivan. The waves were 1-2ft, so I didn’t try to fight the water, more like just enjoy the experience.

Evening swim, 31 July
Evening swim, 31 July

I went west initially into the waves & current (and sun). Figured I’d do all the work up front and then just cruise on home. Well, I know that I got assistance from the current on the way back. But it surely didn’t feel like that. When you’re on the front of the wave, you can feel a push, and if it syncs correctly, I’ll kick and pull harder when I’m on that side of the wave. But, there’s also that feeling that you get when you’re on the back end of the wave. The feeling that you’re actually going backwards. That’s the feeling I can’t get out of my head when I’m swimming.

This evening swim had other challenges. On the way west there was still enough light left that I could see the bottom, and I could actually see things on the sea floor passing me by. So despite swimming into current & waves, I knew that I was making progress. On the way back east, the sun was close to setting, and I could barely see the bottom. Yes, I know that I was making progress by seeing buildings pass me by, but still that feeling you get of going backwards when you’re on the back end of the wave was hard to shake. Thankfully, as I was not racing or in any kind of hurry, I just let the swim progress, and before long I made it back to where I wanted to get out.

Used the SaferSwimmer again. Love that thing. Love having all my crap with me wherever I get out of the water. During this swim, a wave came up behind me twice and kicked the dry bag up and over my stroking arm, locking it back, freaking me out. (Yes, I still have drowning nightmares from a couple of incidents in my life…can’t shake them.) I stopped, unwrapped my arm, and got back to work.

The swim was also great practice for navigation. I realized early on that the turn-around spot I was swimming to was directly west. It hurt the first time I tried to alligator-eyes sight. But then I discovered that I could see where the sun was in the sky by looking through the water. So I kept the sun “head’s up” in the water and pretty much went the right way for the first half of the swim. Easy peasy.

The weirdest thing about the swim occurred a couple hours later. I was sitting in bed and realized that the whole building was rocking to the waves, the same tempo I was rocking to a couple hours earlier! I hadn’t had that feeling in quite a while, probably mid-20’s, mid-recovery from a bad drunk.