Hello spring and goodbye COVID-19
Gene Augustine turned 90 on Saturday, and, of course, he swam the Lake. Nobody thought to time him for his swim; they were too busy blowing up 90 balloons and trying to fit 90 candles on the cake. So, still no record for the 90- to 95-year-old age group. Geno has to do it again to get the record. When he ages up at 95, I hope folks remember to time him when he does his birthday swim; there is a valuable lesson in here somewhere.
The Aquatic Center needs your help!!
The great news is that the Aquatic Center has reopened as the Rosen Aquatic Center. As you may or may not be aware, due to COVID-19, The YMCA of Central Florida had to abandon the YMCA Aquatic Center. The permanent closing, of course, was a severe blow to the Central Florida Aquatics community. The prospects for reopening the Aquatic Center looked bleak, and it has been a year since the Y shuttered its doors. Fortunately for Central Florida, the Harris Rosen foundation stepped in for the save. Taking over responsibility for the Aquatic Center is a tremendously risky undertaking for the Foundation as no money is flowing in and won’t be for the near future. The Rosen team has done a fantastic job fixing the center up, and it looks the best it has in decades. In March, there will be a soft opening with four large swimming meets each week, and then the plan in April is to open it back up to the community. The first swimming meet is the Florida Age Group Swimming Championships; it is scheduled from Thursday through the weekend. With the new reopening, they are in desperate need of timers to help with this first event; if you have any time available this weekend, you would be a superstar to volunteer for a timing slot (and tell them you are a Lucky’s Lake Swimmer). Volunteer Here
Geno completes his 90 birthday swim wearing a smoking vest, or at least that’s what I am told. Next week Geno will have to swim again to get the 90-94 record, because nobody bothered to time him. His response was he estimated it took about 10 minutes to do the 1K crossing. However, time seems to go much faster when you are 90, so we will have to see about that next week, or perhaps tomorrow, as that may seem to be next week for Geno.
The Rosen Aquatic Center is reopening for the first time in a year and the center needs your help. We need volunteers for this weekend’s opening swim meet. Please Volunteer.
Technically the event should be called Pray, swim, eat, but the other way has a better ring to it.
Our testing team at work. Great news! No heroin or cocaine was detected and only small amounts of cannabis, which may be explained by Geno’s rumored “special garden” near the shoreline. He may be 90, but he still likes to party, and the carp love it too. For this three hour testing tour we thank Jay, Kathleen, Bradley “the intern”, Les “The Movie Star” not shown but also starring on the boat was Shawn “Gilligan” Grandpa M “The Professor” and Lucky “The Skipper”. It has been 4 days since they were last seen on their 3 hour testing tour. Based on “The Skipper’s” swimming navigational skills they are likely beached on a small island in the pacific.
What is a rarer sighting than Big Foot or a Yeti? Well, you can see it here, documented and certified, definitely not photoshopped. This is a photograph capturing Lucky running. He is the one being passed. Unbelievable you are thinking, but it’s true. This is amazing, it’s like letting the press in Area 51 and showing them all the alien bodies. I have heard from a good source that this will never be seen again, and most likely the blog will be cancelled and deleted. Winston Smith is currently rewriting the history of this sighting, so in a few weeks it will be like it never happened. Only a wisp of a rumor will remain.
