Discussion on Winter Hoffman Island Swim - Part I

From: "Tim " To:

C,

I was promising everyone there would be rectal probes, at least one guytold me "no rectal probes, no kayak" but I'll see what I can do.
Sounds like fun in the snow with the polar bears let me know how it turnsout.

Enjoy,
Tim...
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My Dear Friends,

Once again I would like to thank everyone for the concern shown towards my well being. I appreciate all of the words of caution. Please be aware, that while I have two small children waiting for their daddy to return home at the end of the day, I will by no means jeopardize my life in an attempt to visit some seals living on Hoffman Island.

Yes, the swim I propose to do is similar to ones done by Lynne Cox. However, unlike her, I would be doing the swim in a thick wetsuit and without a team of doctors slowing me down to take measurements from rectal probes, heart rate monitors and other such gadgets.

Before I will even consider an attempt, I will practice swimming in my proposed gear in Coney Island while remaining only a few feet from shore. This way if I get too cold, I can simply walk to my car and drive to the hospital.

Lastly, any test swim, and/or the actual swim, will only be done provided that the air temperature is warmer than the water and it is a relatively calm, sunny day. Judging by the recent weather and my upcoming date with IMAZ, it looks like my desire to make this winter swim will be thwarted. But who knows? Maybe the stars will all align and I will have a marvelous time. If not, I will be no means disappointed, as I look forward to making a summer attempt with my caring friends.
C

----- Original Message -----
From:

Given the water temperature and the distance, this swim is almost equivalent to one of Lynne Cox's swims. Think about all of the precautions she would take if she were doing it: a small flotilla of support vessels, divers ready to pull her out of the water at a moment's notice, doctors monitoring her vital signs with internal temperature and heart rate monitors. If she needed to stop, she'd be out of the water and getting medical treatment in minutes. If you found yourself going into hypothermia half a mile from shore, how long would it take you to get to a doctor, even assuming that the kayaker could get you to shore before you went into cardiac arrest?

If you don't want to do this swim in the spring because of the triathlon season, why not just wait till next fall? Pick a nice day in October when the water is in the high 50's. You might even get some people to join you.

-----Original Message-----
From: bb Of Peter
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 7:22 PM
To: BB Subject: Re: Collective conscience

Consider your wife and children. The hell with us, except in so far as you recognize that we are also a little crazy and some more then others push boundaries.

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: c
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 2005 14:04:11 -0500

Hey Everyone -

As a result of the recent Polar Bear New Year's Day swim, I connected with Tim Gamble, a kayaker extraordinaire and willing escort to swimmers venturing forth into our local waters.

Tim has offered to escort a group of swimmers to Hoffman Island a small island off of Staten Island. Tim has kayaked there numerous times and tells me that a population of seals hangs out there during the winter. The sight of this sounds quite intriguing to me and I am wondering if one of you feels the same.

We are going to meet this Friday at 5:30pm to go over the logistics of this swim and perhaps down a few beers. If you are interested, please let me know. If you are unable to attend, but are interested, let me know and I will keep you in the loop.

Of course, due to the water temperature, I would do this swim in a wetsuit. I will also do a training swim in Coney Island to see how long I can stand the cold with the wetsuit. The last thing I want is to make it to Hoffman, and then be too cold to make it back home.

C