Michaela takes my Record!

My sister is a competitive swimmer who turned 14 on May 28, 2016. Both my mom and I have swam across Lake Ontario. I swam from Sturgeon Point to Crystal Beach in June 2014 at 14 years and 34 days to become the youngest SSO sanctioned Lake Erie swimmer and my sister wanted to break my SSO record, but do it using butterfly as her stroke, not freestyle!

Michaela did a lot of early season training the Welland Canal, Gulliver’s lake and in Lake Ontario. She also trained in the Florida Keys with us in March. A lot of her training was in flat water, so her swim in Lake Erie was a challenge.

On the day of my sister’s swim, Environment Canada’s 3 a.m. forecast on June 18, 2016 was “wind light becoming southwest 10 knots this afternoon, then becoming light this evening. Sailflow forecast west winds less than 10 mph in the morning, southwest 10-12 mph in the afternoon, then dying down to less than 10 mph for the evening. Analysis: the weather was not bad for Lake Erie but tough for butterfly.

We started at 8:31 a.m. from just east of the Sturgeon Point, NY, marina. Michaela was instructed to start in ankle deep water so it could not be said that she had entered the U.S. She started at just under 2k per hour and then settled into a pace of 1.6k per hour. When the waves got up to 1/2 m and were coming from different directions, she slowed to 1 k an hour. Towards the end, the wind dropped and she picked it up again to 1.4 kph.

The water was at 64o F for the first hour, then 66 for an hour and then 68-69 for most of the swim, peaking at 72 in the shallows. The air was hot but nice in the breeze in the shade. Air temperature was listed at Buoy 45142 at 19 to 21 degrees C. Zodiac #1, a.k.a. Big Red, was brand new with a canopy, rigid hull and larger motor.

My sister resolutely swam butterfly the whole way. At times my mom was discouraged with her pace and suggested several times that she could swim the rest of the lake crawl. Every time, Michaela refused and said she was doing the whole thing butterfly. She had a tendency to drop her elbows but was able to muster long stretches where she kept them high. In the late afternoon, her stroke appeared to be falling apart with her arms barely clearing the water. But then the water flattened out and she was able to pick it up again.

At 14y 21 days, she becomes the youngest SSO sanctioned swimmer to cross this route, younger than her sister by 13 days. Congratulations on a tough butterfly swim Mouse!

We enjoyed this day because so many great people came with us. Andrew Harpwood (one of my Lake Ontario crew members was Michaela’s Captain), Marilyn Korzekwa (my Lake Ontario Swim Master) was Michaela’s swim master, Krista Ten Brinke (a good family friend and swam Lake Erie last summer), John Schwenker (Dryland Coach for West Park and all around awesome human being), team mates; Charlie French, Amanda Goertz, and Ming Scott. Craig Ten Brinke, Krista’s dad, came and drove big red for us during critical moments of the swim. Bart Skala came and was the photographer for Michaela’s swim from Ridley College. My Gramma came and organized the large boat and did some paddling for Michaela. It was an amazing day full of ‘AWESOME’.