Thursday, June 30, 2011

The one with the barge.

My friend RJ met me at the beach at 7:30 for a swim. The sky was filled with fluffy white clouds and the lake was still. It was perfect swim conditions. RJ hasn't done a lot of solo open water swimming, so we laid out a plan and got in. The water was cool, but we warmed up easily.

As we were leaving the swim beach RJ commented that she'd never seen a barge in Lake Washington before. I hadn't either. It was filled with gravel or something similar and being pushed by a tug.

As we swam northbound, it passed us, northbound as well. And then the waves came. And came. And came. Two foot swells. Relentless. And we were swimming into them. It was hard work.

RJ is a stronger swimmer than I, and swam laps around me (this is no surprise, she's incredibly athletic). There were times I couldn't see her in the swells. I switched between breast stroke and crawl. Felt strong.

Around our turn-around spot, we saw an eagle. Fish in its mouth. A few minutes later, another eagle started to circle. I feared it might be checking us out. How do you make it clear to an eagle that you aren't a fish?

We turned around and let the waves push us back. The down-stream swimming was so easy.

Water Tem: 66 Air Temp: 62 Swim time: 60 min

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