Swimming Holes We Have Known: summer 2016

Farewell, beloved outdoor swimming

summer 2016

Labour Day Monday marked the last day for swimming outside in Toronto, and with air show madness down by the water, it almost didn't happen. But I persevered, and on attempt 2, I made it into Sunnyside's beautiful turquoise blue. It was totally packed, deep end to shallow end and every square inch of deck space and it was mayhem in the lane swim area, but it was still such a perfect final dip.

I swam back and forth, dodging late summer flailing arms and untamed kicks, reflecting on this most incredible summer of swimming. And what a glorious summer it has been complete with:
- kicking off the swimming season in Lake Ontario
- a swimming road trip with my swimming ladies
- my very first midnight dip
- CLIFF JUMPING – and celebrating a year of swim blogging
- the best swimming-centric family vacation, complete with a playpen on the dock!
- learning to jump into water, instead of taking forever on the ladder
- being so inspired by Penny Oleksiak (who started school today - ha!)
- knowing that my hero Mark Tewksbury read this blog (I might have wept!!)
- learning about, and swimming in the silkiest black water
- tackling my longest swim yet (also the most boring!)
- the second round of swim badges
- swimming with my kiddo all over the west end of Toronto
- sharing my love of Toronto swimming with CBC radio's Matt Galloway
- SO! MANY! DOCKTAILS!

Fittingly, at the end of my dip, my favourite beach towel, the one I've had since 1998 when I was lifeguarding indoors (worst!), tore. Sob. And now the pools are closed for the season (except for a few hours a day at Alex Duff pool!), and I will have to relive this glorious summer in turquoise photos and scraps of float-y poems I've penned on the edge of pools and lakes and rivers.

Lindsay
Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Grown-up swimming badges: Part II

all the swimming holes

I must begin with the caveat that summer is not over. I REPEAT, SUMMER IS NOT OVER. But as it's the last week the outdoor pools are open in Toronto, I figured it was time to celebrate some of our swimming accomplishments in embroidered badge-form:

This summer's grown-up swimming badges (clockwise):
- Laura Queen of the Docktail's Swimming Sommelier Badge (featuring a perfect vinho verde, a boozy watermelon rosemary lemonade, an aperol spritz and an epic red).
- Patrice's Swimming Sustenance Badge (featuring her roadtrip clambake)*
- My Jumping-In Bravery Badge (because this summer marks the first I haven't hung off the ladder for HOURS)
- Rhya's Director of Underwater Photography Badge (because of her hauntingly beautiful river photos!)

And I couldn't let our epic Swimming Holes We Have Known collective cliff jump go unrecognized! CLIFF JUMPING BADGES FOR ALL!

Check out last summer's badges here!

* please note the French knot shrimp. THEY KILL ME!!

Lindsay
Wednesday, August 31, 2016

The most charmed swim in recent history

high park pool

The sun was long and low when I locked my bike at High Park Pool and there was a T-ball game on. As I waited for the length swim to start, a kid named Moose got her first base hit and the umpire yelled "batter up" and "play ball" every time a kid stood in front of the tee. It was already summer perfection and I hadn't even gotten in the water...

The change rooms at High Park are cavernous, doubling as the change rooms for the skating rinks in the winter. I was so excited to find the pool, I got lost a number of times. Whoops.

But when I finally found the pool, it was so still and empty I almost wept. I was the only one in the water for the first few lengths, my arms cutting through the glass surface, the sun reflected through the water on the bottom and the sides of the pool in pale blue pale diamonds, shifting, wavering. And whenever I stopped to adjust my goggles, I could hear the the crack of a baseball on a bat at the diamond beside the pool, the eruption of fans at a home run, encouraging the runners home.

Oh, and I found a loonie in the deep end, making it the most charmed swim in recent years.

Except that the water was so cold my hands were numb before the first lifeguard stepped down from the chair and I couldn't make it the full 55 minutes. I was too cold and my goosebumps had goosebumps.

I didn't swim at the High Park Pool last year for a lot of reasons, and I'm so glad this year is already different than last, even if it did take the longest, hottest shower, wool socks and track pants to warm me back up.

Lindsay
Monday, July 4, 2016

Swimming Hole Season has officially begun!

summer 2016

We three swimmers are delighted to announce that Swimming Hole Season is officially here! (Because all three of us have now officially jumped in a lake).

Please see Exhibits A, B, and C.

Exhibit A:

Laura's Georgian Bay swim

Exhibit B:

Rhya's hazy and fresh Wasaga Beach swim.

Exhibit C:

Lindsay's Lake Ontario dip at Sandbanks

Now that it's official... stay tuned for this year's road trip guides... and new docktail reports... and fashion reports... and other meditations from all the swimming holes. We are so excited!

Lindsay
Friday, June 24, 2016

Cue the confetti cannons: My first outdoor swim of 2016

Lake Ontario

I woke up at 6 on Sunday morning, which isn't that strange given that I have a toddler, but the toddler was at home learning to cheers with his beloved nana and I was on a farm in wine country and should've been exhausted from the day of biking from winery to winery (with oysters!) to winery.

But it was 6am and I couldn't go back to sleep, because I was going to swim outside for the first time this year.

Is there anything better than wearing your bathing suit under your clothes with the anticipation of lake-swimming?

Last year I went to Sandbanks for the first time and it exceeded all of my expectations – the rolling white sand goes on and on, and Lake Ontario is so big it looks like an ocean and it feels like you're anywhere but 2h from Toronto. But the first time I went was in May, and the water was so cold it made my shins ache.

But this year, I went swimming and it was absolutely glorious. You can walk out for at least 200m before the water reaches your thighs. It is surreal to be standing in the water that far away from shore, so used to deep Ontario lakes am I.

The sand was so soft, and the waves so gentle. It could not have been a more perfect day to swim.

And so the year's first outdoor swim took place under a huge blue sky, with waves pushing me into shore. It really couldn't have been a more perfect day.

Next up: Sunnyside!