Huntington Masters Swim Team

The Huntington Masters Swim Team ("HUMS"), an official club of US Masters Swimming, holds daily early-morning pool workouts year-round at the Huntington YMCA, 60 Main Street, Huntington (contact the Y at 631-421-4242 for Full Y membership fee information).

Indoor Pool Workouts in one of the Y’s two 25-yard pools begin at 5:30 a.m. weekdays and 7:00 a.m. weekends and last one to two hours. These workouts are open to all Full Y members.

Open-Water Swims are held from May to November at West Neck Beach and other local Long Island beaches. Outdoor swim schedules are posted on The Water-Blog.

Want to swim for the Home Team? You can! Join HUMS at clubassistant.com.

Monday, May 31, 2010

Memorial Day 2010 Open Water Swim: Here Comes The Sun!

May 31, 2010: The sun was out on a beautiful Memorial Day Morning -- but the gate at West Neck Beach was down for the count and created a "massive" traffic jam (nothing like the LIE or Northern State will be later tonight, but you get the idea!). Finally, around 8:10 AM somebody with a key showed up, (too much party on Sunday night?), and the gates were opened.


The early Open Water Swim group, just couldn't wait and so they parked their cars outside the lot and made the long walk in -- BUT, they were already in the water and swimming while we were still parking! The "early" swimmer gets the calm water?

This was one of the very few boats I spotted on Cold Spring Harbor and it really is a lot farther away from the swimmers than it looks in this photo -- telephoto lens!

Nearly perfect swim conditions!


In the shot above, I have the telephoto lens fully extended. You can see the Yellow Buoy and the swimmers swimming toward it. In the shot below, taken from the same position, just a second or two later and with the telephoto lens back as near "normal" as it gets, you can hardly see the swimmers and the Yellow Buoy. This gives a clearer view of how far the buoy really is and, believe me, it looks even further away when you are in the water swimming to it!


In the photo above, the second group of swimmers are putting on their wetsuits and getting ready to pose for the camera below. No political statement was intended by posing in front of the "No Lifeguard On Duty" sign. In truth. when you swim with the West Neck Pod, its hard NOT to be swimming with numerous lifeguards, ex-lifeguards, competitive swimmers etc.


I can always count on Tim for a smile and a goodbye wave before he takes off!


Low tide at West Neck Beach is always a problem -- rocks, rocks, and more rocks -- all designed to hurt the tender feet of unwary swimmers. Chris has a very elegant solution. Check the photo above. Chris has some velcro fastened sandals which he just loops and fastens onto the buoy rope AFTER walking down the rock-filled beach in comfort. He does his swim, stops on the way back and picks up his sandals! What could be easier? OK, Method 2 below is to swim up to the beach with your feet out of the water! Works great until you actually get to the beach. This method is fine for High to medium tide but low tide -- not so good!



The last group is out and on their way!

Joye gives me a final wave... or, is she just fixing her goggles? No matter, an Open Water Swim with the sun shinning and the waters of Cold Spring Harbor as smooth as glass is a GREAT way to start Memorial Day 2010!


Saturday, May 29, 2010

Open Water Swimming Season Has Officially Opened at West Neck Beach

Saturday, May 29, 2010: The Memorial Day Weekend is finally here and it isn't raining!

Air temperature was around 66 degrees and the water temperature... well, lets just say it was in the upper fifties and leave it at that!

Whatever the temperature was, the West Neck Pod People were determined to officially start the Open Water Swim season this Saturday morning -- and that they did in grand fashion.


Ken, Tim and Chris walk confidently into the, shall we say, "cool" waters of Cold Spring Harbor. Hmmm, did no one notice the word "Cold" in Cold Spring Harbor? Maybe it was called Cold Spring Harbor for a reason!

Not even the pebbles and rocks of a VERY LOW Tide slowed their confident stride!


Carol is NOT surrendering... she's showing off her new gloves which hampered her swimming so much that she ditched them and swam sans gloves.



Some people dress...

Some people just celebrate life!

Thanks Margot. Or, was that your swan dance? Yes, there were a pair of swans swimming in Cold Spring Harbor at the same time the West Neck Pod was doing its thing.


Joye Brown gave the swim TWO THUMBS UP... and then swam away!




Yes, that is the famous Yellow Buoy above, (one of them), and the even more famous Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

At high tide, we swim OVER these rocks -- just goes to show how low the tide was this morning.


Bye, Bye West Neck Pod... We'll catch you again -- the Summer is just starting!





Monday, May 24, 2010

The Water-Log: Open Water Swim Season Set for Memorial Day Weekend Kick-Off

From Carol Moore:

Well, "Saltines" (as opposed to "Chlorines"), it seems that a fair number of you have expressed interest in braving the still-frigid waters of Cold Spring Harbor to open the Open-Water Swimming Season on Memorial Day Weekend, so it's official! Weather permitting (that means it's not snowing or raining), the West Neck Pod will be kicking it off on Saturday, May 29th at 8:00 a.m. at West Neck Beach, with a repeat performance for those who are interested (and survive!) on Sunday, May 30th, at the same time (it will be an incoming low tide both days).

Note that Rob Martell (who hails from Canada, which is in a different time zone), is planning on jumping into the water at 7:00 a.m., and invites the early birds among you to join him for a "long easy swim" at that time. Since the water temperature is still in the mid-50's, I plan to sleep an extra hour, let the sun do its work, and then jump into water that's hopefully a degree or two warmer than what Rob and his Canadian-wanna-be's encounter, so I don't plan to be taking the plunge until 8:00! (And, for the record, if it's too damn cold to swim, I reserve the right to scream like a girl, jump out of the water, and go have coffee and donuts on the beach 'til the rest of you numb-nuts come back in!)

On a serious note, those of you who are "newbies" to open water swimming should know that YOU HAVE TO BE REALLY CRAZY TO SWIM WHEN THE WATER IS STILL THIS COLD!! So if you're not REALLY CRAZY, you should plan to wait to join us until the water temperature gets well into the 60's -- probably sometime in late June! We'll keep you posted on scheduled dates and times...See you in the Salt! -- Carol