Point to La Pointe, Madeline Island, WI


When my friend Michaela moved to Minnesota, I thought I'd never see her again. I had no plans that called for a midwest visit, until of course she told me about this swim! I cashed in my air miles, booked the swim and a room in Bayfield, and soon enough August arrived. 

I am so used to West Coast topography. The FLATNESS of the land was disorienting to me. After my airport pickup, Michaela introduced me to Lindsay and the three of us road-tripped to Bayfield with an overnight in Duluth. Walleye is a thing in these parts.
A peek of the finish part of the course, from a bluff.

Successful finishes for all of us. 1 hr 8 mins is not nearly my best but it's fine for a new course. 
This was a 2.1 mile crossing.
People in Bayfield are very nice. My favorite part of the trip, after the swim, was a kayak night tour chartered with Rustic Makwa Den. These are the Red Cliff Band of the Chippewa, and they are casual and funny guys who really love their lands. Troy was excellent as a guide. Check out the local wineries and hybrid grape varieties, eat the cheese curds and surrender to the white fish specials!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A glimpse at now (and where did 2022 go)?

Image
  Jersey UK, Summer 2022 MV Lionheart, our pilot boat It has begun: Another year of training this middle-aged bod to be athletic for a long San Diego swim.   I say that in relative terms. “Long” isn’t doing the entire English Channel, but it’s not a 5k goal either. In 2013, I had yet to swim a straight 5k! In 2021 I finally edged up to 18.6 to swim around Coronado. I thought I was sated on marathon swimming until I signed up for another route in San Diego that intrigued me: Pt Loma to Ocean Beach, aka The 15k PLOB. October will bring this adventure, with swim pal Becky tandem-ing the entire route alongside. I’m thrilled (awed!) to swim this very cliff-lined coastal route and see a part of San Diego from an angle I’ve yet to see. Since mid-December I’ve been grunting it out at weekly CrossFit p/t, sprinkling in swims and additional gym workouts, and focusing in on nutrition. The ravages of perimenopause are sucky! It takes all the interventions to feel normal, let alone athletic . Two
Read more

Swim Buoys: A Must-Wear for Open Water Swimming

Image
It’s bright. It’s floaty. And yeah, on windy days it can be a pain in the ass, but STILL…all open water swimmers should be using a swim buoy aka tow float (as they say in the UK). For nearly six years I’ve been swimming with a New Wave Swim Buoy . In that time I’ve tried different styles and colors. The company has evolved its offering to many varieties: 15l or 20l, bubble or bag-type which is handy for stashing a Go Pro, or an encased phone (which the company also makes—waterproof cases), etc. A couple swims I’ve even tucked in a sundress, cash and light flip flops for a long point-to-point swim when upon exiting, I just dressed and got coffee to warm up. Some swimmers feel bound or constricted wearing a buoy, but it’s really nothing at all. If you have good form there is no reason you cannot wear one and swim seamlessly. Play with the strap lengths; it works. Why have one? ·       Visibility in places where there are (errant) boaters zipping around. Like lakes, or ne
Read more

Portage to Gold Beach Community Clubhouse: A 7-mile winter swim!

Image
In mid-December I had one of those days. We all have ‘em. Initially I held big goals for a big swim, which is kind of counterintuitive for winter time. There are winds that hit from either the north or south, you have to time your route with the currents (unless you just love extra punishment), and you need to feel rested and nourished. The goal of the day was a 10k, but I ended my journey at 6k yards after numerous gear failures and missteps; it was actually kind of funny—I had unwittingly popped my swim buoy by sliding in a thermos of hot cider, my nourishment for the feed breaks. It deflated early on and for more than three miles I’d been dragging this dead weight in a deflated sac, twisting and bobbing behind me. I also had a neoprene glove that was not on properly so it filled with water and performed like a lead weight with each stroke. In some ways, for THAT swim, I did pretty damn good. Joe Yarkin and Mary Singer, my island swim buddies and new members of the BlueSeventy Ra
Read more