Nantasket

Put May 28th on the Calendar

/ Tom Baker / 2 Comments

IMG_2787

Time to scrape off the crusty barnacles, dried seaweed and sea salt still clinging to your goggles from when you last swam in the ocean this past Fall. Hopefully everyone enjoyed the winter, but it’s time to break free from the pool and get back in the open water.

May 28th, the Sunday before Memorial day, is the best day to kick off the season at 8:00 am from the usual location at the start of Nantucket Beach. If anyone wants to join an early bird swim or get out on the Sat or Monday of the holiday weekend, send me an email or let me know in a comment below.

Water temps are finally creeping up. In a few weeks it will feel like a hot tub for Kimberlee, Ted and Chris and it will be very comfortable in a wetsuit for the rest of us mortals as the waters will no longer be anything like the nor’easter surf pictured above. In the meantime, enjoy the technicolor-green tree leaves all this wonderful rain is gifting us.

July 21-22 Open Water Swims @ Nantasket Beach

/ Tom Baker / Leave a comment

Welcome to all the new swimmers who joined the swims this weekend. Congratulations to all those who participated in the Swim Across America one mile charity swim at Nantasket on Sat and for all the awareness for and contributions to such a great cause supporting cancer research and prevention.

Also, kudos to Chris D for bracing the frigid waters on Sat. in York Maine for the Nubble Light Challenge, a 2.4 mile swim to support the Maine Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. We have confirmed from two very reliable sources he completed it sans wetsuit.

Swimming times/locales are the same for this weekend and as mentioned previously, are merely guidelines as we know how busy everyone’s schedules are. To remind everyone, Sat, we meet and try to quickly get into the water around 7:30 ad Sun meet around 7:45 and get in the water around 8:00 am. Sunday’s have been known to have fresh fruit, pastries, bagels, animal crackers and coffee available following the swim. We will try a swim either Sat. or Sun to Gunrock Beach to change things up a bit depending on conditions.

The water temps right now are reportedly 72 degrees, which is unusually warm this time of year and if they hold, make it easier to head out swimming without a wetsuit. However, we strongly encourage you swim in whatever makes you most comfortable and we are in no way sole adherents to the bare skin doctrine adopted by other admirable but masochistic open water swim groups.

To maintain our fearless leader/swim recruiter Vic’s tradition, here’s the “random” photo from last weekend taken by none other than a friendly officer that checks in on us from time to time to ensure we’re safe.

 

 

 

 

 

Quote of the day:

“Did you know that dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish?” Anonymous (or I’m too lazy to research who said this – anyone know?).

Upcoming Swims/Save the Date: Aug 12, 2012

/ Tom Baker / Leave a comment

Upcoming Swims:

Weekend swims for July 14th and 15th remain the same – meet around 7:30 AM on Sat. morning and around 7:45/8:00 am Sun. Both days we start from the Southeast end of Nantasket Beach (take your first right into the beach parking lot where you’ll see Beach Fire restaurant). I promise fins casting long 10 foot shadows will remain south of Cape Cod.

Another option for this Sat (July 14) is the Swim Across America one mile swim in Hull starting from the Mary Jeanette Murray bathhouse. It starts at 9:00 am with a post-swim celebration at the Red Parrot. To register or to support a swimmer click here. The Crusty Barnacles has it’s own team this year and it’s looking for more members.

Save the Date

August 12, 2012 is the 2nd Annual Barnacle (Mass) Bay Bash at 7:00 am. This is an approximately three mile fun swim where we plan to have kayaks and paddle boards escorting us from our usual meeting place in Nantasket to Black Rock Beach in Cohasset. We had to change venues from last year’s swim from Black Rock to Sandy Beach and back due to limited parking at BR Beach and very vigilant lifeguards at Sandy (we would pose a liability to the town if we swim in during life-guarding hours).

This is purely a fun swim only and is NOT a race. There are two coves along the way swimmers can stop and either rest at or turnaround from. The early 7:00 am start and day were selected for the 8:00 am high tide on Aug 12, allowing everyone to swim with safe clearance over breakwater rocks on the way there and back that will significantly shorten the swim distance.

Limited edition 2nd Annual Mass Bay Bash shirts will be made available for a nominal price, so RSVP as soon as possible. More details to follow…

Swim Caps

The first run of bright orange, can’t miss you swimming from a mile away, Crusty Barnacle Swim Caps has been depleted and we have had requests for more caps. We’ll be placing a new order shortly, but to help get the most accurate number of caps, email us at swim@crustybarnacles.com if you think you would like another, don’t have one and would be interested in keeping your noggin warm, or you know someone else who just likes to wear bright orange with blue accent caps out and about.

Quote of the Day

“When life gets you down, do you wanna know what you’ve gotta do? Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming”, as spoken by the modern day philosopher extraordinaire/blue fish named Dory from Finding Nemo. I admit I stole this one or perhaps received inspiration for it from the book “Swim” by Lynn Sherr, which I had promised to review but have not yet finished on account of travels with an infant which is a comedy of errors the precludes one from staying focused on any one task greater than 15 seconds. Stay tuned or just go out and get the book (it’s available on those Nooks, Kindle and Ipads if it’s easier, as The Old Colony Library Network was an extended wait-list). But seriously, does swimming not make your day all the better compared to those days you don’t swim?

Lots of Happenings: New Summer Hours…

/ Tom Baker / Leave a comment

Unseasonably warm waters made it a perfect weekend for swimming for the Crusty Barnacles on both Sat and Sun.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Cohasset Tri and/or Mile Swim Off. See the photos below (if you have more that you want posted, send them along or if possible upload to the comments section).  Sufficed to say we had a good turnout and even a first place finish in the swim for Andy Strehle.

Too early to predict next weekend, but we are now enacting our new summer hours – this means meeting around 7:30 AM at Nantasket on Sat. morning and around 7:45/8:00 am Sun. Of course, these are merely guidelines and we encourage everyone to show when it’s convenient as there are sure to be swimmers coming or going. Just arrive before 8am, as that’s when the parking lots begin charging. But no worries if you arrive before 8am and leave your car. They will not charge for parking once you’re inside the gate.

Summer Reading: NPR had an interesting interview today with an author of a new book titled Swim: Why We Love the Water. I can’t speak intelligently about the book, but the interview is worth reading or listening to. here’s the link – http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2012/06/25/swim-lynn-sherr. I’ll post a review if someone else doesn’t beat me to it. For anyone who does swim, I suspect it’ll be something we can all relate to in some way.

Enjoy the week…

Quote for the day: “I’d far rather be happy than right any day.” Douglas Adams

And now some of the photos (reminder: send more if ya got ’em)

Disclaimer: The image with a likeness to Senator Brown may or may not be him and if it were him, which we’re not saying it is, doesn’t swim with us, but he would have an open invitation. That said, this website takes no political position nor does it affiliate itself with any political party, other than as a generalization based on no scientific fact we would venture to say the political leanings of the collective organization are fanatically moderate.

Impromptu Sat. Swim @ Nantasket 7:30 AM

/ Tom Baker / Leave a comment

Given the water conditions and the wonderful weather, we’re having an impromptu Sat swim (June 23 just in case). For those interested, and assuming no t-storms are present, swimmers will be meeting at 7:30 am at the usual place in Nantasket. We’ll either go along the coast or if interested, we can head south to Gunrock Beach. Round trip, this swim is about one mile depending on the tide.

Also, those who are not participating in the Cohasset Triathlon or one mile swim, folks are still meeting at the same time and place on Sun (7:45 AM from the start of Nantasket). Sorry about any confusion on that. We may however not have the usual supply of coffee and bagels, but you never know.

Enjoy the weekend…

Weekend Swim Reminder; Swim Across America Team Forming for July 14

/ Tom Baker / Leave a comment

Reminder that folks will be swimming both in Hull Sun meeting at 7:45 am (or thereabouts) from the start of Nantasket, and in either the Cohasset Tri or One Mile Swim. If you would like to participate in the one-mile swim, space if available and you can register by clicking here.

The Crusty Barnacles have also formed a Swim Across America Team for the event in Hull, MA on Sat. July 14. It starts at 9:00 am with a post-swim celebration at the Red Parrot. To register for the team, click here.

The water temps have definitely risen, now up to 64 degrees, where it’s comfortable going without wetsuit (at least on the surface). But as we all know, this can change quickly. Otherwise, forecast is for flat seas, which is no fun for surfing, but excellent for swimming so get out and swim.