The Easter Sunrise service – Lake Swim – Pancake breakfast is almost upon us. It should be a beautiful morning (high for the day 84). Yes the water temp is still a bit cool so some of you might still want to bring the old wetsuit along with you. Pastor Tom says the wetsuits will “probably” not be needed because he is planning such a fiery easter sermon the water temp should rise 5 degrees during the service. Plan on being here by 7AM if you want a good seat and good parking. Speaking of good seats – that will be as good as the one you bring – blankets to sit on are fine too. Do you have to swim? No, but you will be forced to eat pancakes after the service. Is there a charge? No, but we will be taking donations for Gene’s medical relief fund (Gene by the way is doing quite well with his treatments). Will the hot tub be working after the swim? Absolutely! Can I bring non-swimming friends and family members? Certainly.

We will be accepting no more complaints about the cold water. This is Sinje after returning to her lake in Sweden. Please note: She is not wearing a wetsuit. Cold water swimming at its best.

Now there has been a lot of facebook buzz going on suggesting that this is the lake cane monster. I can assure you that this is not the lake cane monster, it’s much too small. I’m sure we have a few of these in our lake too, but don’t worry they are mostly harmless if they bite you (photo below). Now that we have such good lake visibility you will probably be able to see them coming, so no problem.

If you want to know what a sting ray bite looks like this is it. The world’s largest hickey. This is what happens when you hold a squid next to your jelly roll in the presence of a 6 foot ray. Seriously this really happened. This was not from the ray above but see below.

Just in case you think I could not be stupid enough to get in the water with a six foot sting ray with a 3 foot spike for a stinger.

There are several great open water races coming up shortly in Florida. I have listed the links to the races below. I know that we have several swimmers planning on attending the Hurricane Man swim in St Pete and one of our 100K swimmers Steve Willis is an event sponsor.
Swim Miami April 6th , Miami Yacht Club 1/2 mile, Miami Mile, 5K swim, 10K swim
Tampa Bay Marathon Swim April 20th This is a 24 mile race and if you are not already registered it is too late (but not for next year)
Hurricane Man Swim May 4th, St Pete 1K , 2.4 mile
Swim Across America Clearwater Beach May 18th charity swim for cancer 1/2 mile 1mile 2.4 mile contact Trent Fraebel 727-743-8460 trent@swimacrossamerica.org

Kudos to Jake Meisenheimer, shown here at his first lake swim age 6 (he is now 14 and 5’11”) Jake was selected to the All Tournament Team at the Olympic Development Program 14u National Championships held in Las Vegas last weekend. Jake was also selected to tryout for the US national 14u team in May. He is coached by Randy Walters who does not have his name on the wall of fame, but will be harassed until the job is done. If you have kids 11-14 that like the water I can’t recommend this Jr water program enough.
OMG! This is a time limited offer. Act now before it’s too late! YCF Underwater Hockey is looking for some new players. If you act now you can bring a friend at no extra charge. That’s right a two for one special this week and the following weeks only! If you have any of these symptoms consider Underwater Hockey, Depression, Broke, Looking for Love, Not looking for Love, Hate your Boss, Love your Boss, wild exuberance for life, skin disease, excessive gas (actually you might consider another sport, but if you take simethcone before practices we will give you a second look). So if you have a heart beat you will qualify for this limited time offer. Don’t hesitate, practices are at the YMCA Aquatic Center Wed & Fridays at 7:15PM. First time players are free after that it’s $5 per session. Y members are free.