7-Time World Champion Shelley Taylor-Smith Gives Us Her Open Water Swimming Secrets

The sign-in table... Thanks to Pat, (Bob Miller's "better-half"), for manning the table, making the name tags, buying the bagels etc. etc. -- well, you get the idea!

Left to right: Bea, Joye, Shelley Taylor-Smith, Joan and Carol. And that's the last time I try to identify everybody in a picture without Bob standing over my shoulder!

Is Carol mapping out her course for tomorrow's 5K In the Bay swim?

Oh yeah... there were certainly some dramatic clouds around this Saturday morning, (July 10, 2010), and though rain was pretty much a sure thing by Saturday afternoon or evening, the weatherman is promising great weather for Sunday's 5k or 10k in Huntington Bay.

Shelley had ALL our attention in the land portion of the course. We all got some great Open Water Swimming tips from one of the world's greatest open water swimmers plus a couple of laughs and then it was on to the open water swimming portion of the program. This is the portion where Shelley would get to laugh at us! Just kidding, she was very supportive even to most "aquatically challenged" among us!

If you missed this Saturday morning class, you missed a great opportunity. Hint: If and when Bob sets something like this up again -- DO IT!

And, I finally got in a picture. Thanks to Pat Miller who handled the camera for me while I got some swimming in... if you play the video below, I'm in the first group, first line on the left -- and yes, the cap does look pink in the video though it really isn't and, if you insist on calling it pink, I'll just say that it is in honor of my new granddaughter Thora Jayde Engel. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Bob is in the dark green, Shelley is in the light green -- can you guess which coach most of those colorful caps are listening to?

In the Video below, Shelley has some of the swimmers practicing a rope start.

And below is a close-up of the rope -- I can hear all of you non-open-water swimmers going "euhhhhh" right about now from all of the seaweed dangling on the rope. Well, I gotta tell you, if seaweed is the worst thing we run across in ANY open water swim we are quite happy -- heck we're happy when the jellyfish are just small!

I seem to have this thing for shooting seaweed up close... maybe I just like the color green!

Of course, two of our favorite coaches ARE wearing green. And, if you listen closely in the video below, you may hear one of the coaches, (Bob), suggesting a swim across the bay to Sand City. In case anyone was wondering, He Was Not Being Serious!

And, I can always count on Todd for happy smile to end the swim session.