The water is in the mid-70s, and we see fewer black sausage suit swimmers (BSSS). For those who don’t speak lake swim slang, “BSSS” are swimmers who wear wetsuits. The only lower form of lake swimmer is an indoor Swimex swimmer, also known as LUCKY.

We have significant events returning for the spring season; first, the Easter Sunday swim on April 9th. Yes, that is on a Sunday (we always get at least one person asking if the Easter Sunday swim is on a Sunday); for those folks, keep asking, as preacher Tom is a very tricky fellow, and one day he may decide to do the Easter Sunday swim on a Tuesday to test us.

The Easter Sunday swim date is also important because that is the last day you can register for the Golden Mile® with the discounted rate of $95. The entry fee jumps way up the following Monday (of course, the Lake Cane Restoration Society appreciates the extra donation if you are a procrastinator).

And Speaking of the Golden Mile®, we have evolved into a swimming spectacular this year. Not only is the Golden Mile® available, but you can also choose a 2.4-mile swim or a 10K swim. The masochist swim lobby has been petitioning for years for a 10K, so here you go. You can register to do the one mile and the 2.4 or 10K together; we will have awards for the 2.4mile and 10K (not the real gold and silver medals like for the golden mile) and survivor medallions for all distances. Following the swim, we have our usual excellent breakfast. If you don’t get an endorphin high after your race, we will provide free drugs (however, these will be limited to Tylenol and aspirin). You can sign up for this fantastic experience by REGISTERING for the GOLDEN MILE®  HERE.

We are sad to report that this year’s Blacks ops frogman 5K Night Swim is canceled. The swim guzzlers are experiencing event fatigue and want to spend more time at microbreweries. We thank them for their eight extraordinary years of events and the 10s of thousands of dollars raised for the Navy SEAL foundation.

Rumors of a zombie swim in October are partially true if the technology can be developed; more on that in the next blog.

Saturday, March 28th, we are having a special Olympic training swim around 9:00 AM. If you see some of our Special Olympic athletes, give them a high 5.

Saturday, April 1st, we will have slightly extended swim times in the morning. We will start at 7:45 AM and keep the course open until 11 AM. We have a local team doing a 12K training swim that morning. This longer session is an excellent opportunity to do a long swim for everyone who needs punishment. Some folks like to be flogged, others like long-distance swimming. Make sure you bring hydration (the non-ETOH type) if you plan a long swim.

First triplets to do Lucky’s Lake Swim. Reportedly they started the swim as quadruplets, however, either they were fibbing, or the lake cane monster has started feeding again.

Sign up for the Golden Mile® before the registration increases on April 10th. Swim date is Saturday May 20th  Register NOW

Geno ties the oldest male Lucky’s Lake Swim record on his 92nd birthday. He is the oldest swimmer along with Brud Clevland. Geno reports he is the oldest blind swimmer, but if you are blind how do you know you did the whole crossing? Maybe you had cruel escorts and you did three crossings, we will never know.

Congratulations to Scott Zenoni who finished his 100th crossing. He was kind enough to write a giant donation check to the Lake Cane Restoration Society. Please, nobody tell him that check writing is not a requirement.

You may have missed your opportunity to get in the sub-60-degree club (the extreme idiocy club) and earn your patch. We had two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, when the lake temperature dropped below 60 degrees. It is unlikely the lake will be below 60 for the rest of this year, but happily, for those off their meds, there is always January 2023. To be inducted into the sub-60 club, you must swim a crossing of the lake without a wetsuit with the water temperature below 60 degrees. 

Seldom do we have swims on Sunday (Easter being the exception), but this being New Year’s Day, we will be swimming at 7:45 AM. Please note after this Sunday; this will only happen seven more times this century.

There is no patch for swimming on New Year’s day, but you will be honored with eternal glory, and we will take a group picture, which nobody will look at except those in the picture, and any psychotherapist you may be seeing.

Tuesday it was 59.9 degrees and Wednesday 59.3 degrees.

Some of our newest members of the sub-60 club with their patches. Not everyone that completed the swim is in the photo. Only the fasters swimmers that made it to the hot tub first. So, technically the ones in the water the longest really should be honored more, but that’s life.

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The water temp is 68 degrees, as of today, and we are seeing the percent of black sausage-suit swimmers out number the non-wetsuit swimmers.  This will continue until we drop below 65 degrees. Then we enter the “Lucky’s Lake Swim cold water paradox” as the non-wetsuit swimmers begin to outnumber the wetsuit swimmers.

Here is the schedule for the rest of the year.

All swim times are at 7:45 AM Monday thru Friday and Saturdays Dec 19th -31st
No Swim on Christmas Day – Merry Christmas to everyone!
NEW YEAR’S DAY SWIM 7:45 AM 

Hooray! The cold water swimming idiots now have their own patch (technically it’s not a cloth patch, it’s a rubberized patch made to survive sub zero temperatures). The rules to get the patch are simple, you must swim an entire lake crossing without a wet suit in 59.9 degree water or lower (This happens only 2 or 3 days a year, some years it doesn’t get below 60 degrees.)  Yes, that is water temperature not air temperature. There are a few of you that have earned this patch already and you may pick it up from Lucky anytime. Ron, to be clear, watching somebody swim the lake in below 60 degree water, while wearing a heavy parka and sipping hot coffee, does not qualify you for a patch.

Yet another award patch for morons. There are five swimmers who have “earned” this patch. Names are withheld to protect their families from ridicule. 

Merry Christmas to all from Lucky’s Lake Swim.  May you get the perfect gift as well.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Lucky’s Lake Swimmers!!!  If you didn’t join us we know you were here in spirit. 

Black Friday swim time 7:45 AM

Poker Night at Lucky’s and Jacquie’s tomorrow (Black Friday) at 6pm  sign up here

All these brave souls get extra helpings today.

The 3rd annual Lake Cane Restoration Society poker night happens on Black Friday!

Unfortunately, we have only 40 player slots, so sign up now.

Yes, the Florida- Florida State football game will be on the big screen so that it can be a night of poker and college football.  Lucky and Jacquie’s house is the venue (the site of Lucky’s Lake Swim)

There will be food and drinks provided.

Even if you have never played poker, the dealers will have a training session starting at 6 pm, so you can play like a professional when the tournament begins at 7 pm. It’s easy to learn to play. Buy-in is only $40, and all proceeds go to the Lake Cane Restoration Society.

$500 in cash prizes up for grabs.

Sign up by clicking here or scanning the QR code.

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We will not be using Lucky’s deck of cards nor will we be using his rules.  Sign up Here

Hello Lucky’s Lake Swimmers,

The Water temp is still around 75 degrees, so still a leisurely swim temp without the need for black sausage suits. To be clear, it is okay to wear black sausage suits (fashionable, no, but okay to wear) and nobody will bully you if you do suit up (unless spitting on you is considered bullying).

We have a holiday coming up, Thanksgiving (AKA eat until you feel you need to purge, others like to celebrate being with the family, it is, however, okay to combine both.) To justify the upcoming gustatory excess, we always have a Thanksgiving Day swim where you can burn off a few more calories early to make that third piece of pumpkin pie emotionally okay.

Here are the swim times for Thanksgiving Week

Monday 6:30 AM

Tuesday 6:30 AM

Wednesday 7:45 AM

Thanksgiving Day 7:45 AM

Black Friday 7:45 AM     Poker Night 6 PM

Saturday 7:45 AM

Don’t forget to sign up for the Lake Cane Restoration Society’s (LCRS) Third annual Poker Night on Black Friday.  Food and snacks will be provided.  We only have 40 slots, and we are already ½ full so sign up now.  Buy-in is $40 with the opportunity to acquire more chips.  The winner takes home $300, the second $200, and the third $100.  All proceeds will go to the Lake Cane Restoration Society unless Jay gets an opportunity to buy some magic beans, and then who knows where the funds will go.  Beginners and practice sessions start at 6pm.  Poker tournament starts at 7pm.

Sign up here!

And speaking of Jay, the LCRS just scored another major award (no leg lamp with this award) from Water Rangers.  LCRS is now the GROAT (Greatest Ranger of all Time) . . . . . . for the month of November.  We don’t know what the physical award was, as Jay went on a celebratory binge and misplaced it, but he is determined that Lucky should turn over his prized leg lamp to the LCRS.  Thank you to all the great volunteers that do our water testing.  You are all heroes of the LCRS, and your reward will be distributed in heaven … for some of you.

Tonight at 6:30 PM is a LCRS board meeting.  All lake swimmers are invited to attend; you don’t have to be a board member.  We will have a photo contest, poetry contest, business meeting, debauchery, and more.  Here is the link.  Click here to sign in to the zoom meeting; the Meeting ID is  889 9450 5528, Passcode 774728

Woo Hoo! we have a new award patch! It is on a slow boat from China (literally) All you have to do is do the lake swim in sub 60 degree water without wearing a black sausage suit. It should arrive in time for the January swims.

The fearless five did the Hurricane Nicole swim this morning. Pete, Mi, Dave, Mike and Lucky. At least four of the five were seen after the swim.

Don’t forget to send in your photos for the LCRS photo contest. This is a painting done by a computer ai titled “Van Gough’s paints  Lucky’s Lake Swim”

Some of the folks at the final table at the Lake Cane Restoration Society 1st annual poker tournament. The 3rd annual tournament happens on Black Friday 7pm at Lucky and Jacquie’s house.  All proceeds go to the Lake Cane Restoration Society.  Details are above.  Sign up now 

How can you justify three helpings of dessert without other family members giving you the stink eye. Why, swimming Lucky’s Lake Swim. Not only do you get to punch your man card, but you get to be first in line and get seconds as many times as you want. It’s the law in Florida.

Sadly, the open water swimming gods are displeased, and the 2022 Rowdy and Lucky 1.5 K open water swim has been canceled this year. However, those that have registered for the open water swim will get to swim a 1500-meter pool event at the Rosen Aquatic Center. The decision to remove all the lane lines and add natural lake bacteria and wildlife to the pool during the 1500-meter event has not been decided on yet.   The Rowdy Gaines Masters Classic short course meters meet will be run as scheduled. The reason to cancel the open water swim was multifactorial, including the recent hurricane, a sudden unexpected tripling of the insurance premium, and the angry open water swimming gods. To appease the gods, we have sent Jay Madigan to Egypt. There are no open-water swimming gods there, but Jay is unaware of this fact. However, we know that human sacrifices to Nile crocodiles reportedly do please open water swimming gods wherever they reside. Please text or email Jay, and encourage him to take a swim in the Nile during his visit.

Canceled for this year. Boo Hoo.  Jay will be swimming the Nile this week in pursuit of improving our odds of this event returning next year. Explanation above. 

Hurricane Ian Swim 2022. Paulie, Lucky, Pete and Brian doing the swim.  The working movie title is Dumb, Dummy, Dumber, and Dumbest.

Saturday October 22nd.  Folks, it’s all about the post swim party. 

If you haven’t heard, there is a hurricane.  Therefore, being wise and prudent we are changing the Lucky’s Lake Swim times to 7:45am for Thursday and Friday. To be clear we do not recommend first timers doing a swim during a hurricane. We also don’t recommend swimmers in the 1000K club doing a swim during the hurricane or anyone else for that matter.

Many thanks to all those that participated or donated to the Special Olympics Swim for Inclusion.  We raised over $15,000 for Special Olympics open water swimming.

Lucky’s Lake Swimmers Team members that swam the event and raised funds as well as those that donated include:

Taylor Acton	tayacton@gmail.com
	Berit Amlie
	Stephanie Avitabile
	Glenn Baker
	Mark Behrens
	Mary Davila
	Sarah Gibbon
	Brice Gyurisko
	michiyo hoshino
	Michiyo Hoshiono
	Amy Jackson
	Patrick Kwong
	Gene Mathis
	Jake Meisenheimer
	Lucky Meisenheimer
	Lucky Meisenheimer
	Maximus Meisenheimer
	Maylin Meisenheimer
	Michelle Moore
	Jesse Morenus
	Stephanie Moriarty
	Michael Tall
	Racheal Thomson
	Sherry Wheelock

This is what it looks like swimming in a hurricane. And you thought that rocket scientists and physicians were supposed to be smart .

Joshua Olds, a Special Olympian, not only crushed Lucky in the 1K swim for inclusion by over a minute, but he then went on to swim 9 more crossings for a 10K swim.  Joshua received the big Kahuna award for his efforts. Lucky received some tips from Joshua on how he could be a better open water swimmer.  The swim for Inclusion raised over $15K for Special Olympics open water swimming.

Swim for Inclusion this weekend – Saturday 9AM – At Lucky’s Lake Swim

Please join us with our annual open water swim with Florida’s Open Water Swimming Special Olympians.  Lucky’s Lake Swim is an official sponsor of Special Olympics Florida Open Water Swimming. This is Special Olympics largest fundraising event, and we would like as many Lucky’s Lake Swimmers as possible to join us as a team member.  This swim will start at 9Am right after the regular Saturday Morning Lucky’s Lake swim (7:45).

Here’s what you do to become a team member: (I know there was a computer glitch before that prevented some from signing up, but this has been fixed.)

Go to this Link:  Click HERE to become join the Lucky’s Lake swimmers team.

Try to raise or donate $100

If you raise or donate $100 or more and complete the one-kilometer swim you will get:

1. A swim for inclusion patch
2. Swim for inclusion T- shirt
3. A BBQ ticket for right after the swim.
4. A warm feeling in your heart
5. Your next 23 Lucky’s Lake Swims will be FREE! And you can bring a friend for free!

We will still have our normal Saturday Morning lake swim at 7:45 but feel free to do both.

This is a message from our sponsor of the Lucky’s Lake Swim Calendar. The best way we can have high quality drinking, fishing and swimming water is to protect our rivers, lakes and underground wells (did they mean to leave out ponds? Please no backlash from all the pond lovers out there I’m sure it was only a typo) . Keep them free from pollution all the time (in another words don’t pee in the lake, unless someone is drafting off you and you can’t shake them, then it’s okay) – it’s easier and less expensive to keep water safe and healthy by preventing problems. Protecting our water sources effectively reduces public health risks. Better health that costs less money? (Why is there a question mark after this statement? It gives me pause. Maybe better health costs more money. Yes, I have just confirmed this with 2 big pharmaceutical lobbyists, better health should cost lots of money, and they wouldn’t lie.) Two very compelling reasons to join LCRS in all that we do to support Lucky’s Lake Swim, Water Equation and the American Water Works Association in protecting plants, trees and animals that all thrive alongside clean water! #ProtecttheSource #SourceWaterProtectionWeek 

^{Please hashtag our sponsors and don’t mention any of the editorial comments.} 

A big shout out to Chris Nikic who is off to Kona next week getting ready for the Ironman. Chris is the first athlete with Down’s Syndrome to complete an Ironman.  Chris BTW would like every Lucky’s Lake Swimmer to participate in the swim for inclusion as it gives Special Olympians an opportunity to enjoy open water swimming.  Chris has a book out (1% Better The Chris Nikic Story) now and he gives a nice shout out to Lucky’s Lake Swim.  You can purchase the book on his website  https://chrisnikic.com/books/#story   and if you bring the book to the lake swim I’m sure he would be happy to autograph it for you for a substantial fee .

If you did not know Source water protection week starts Sept 25th and ends Oct 1st. Please don’t pee in the lake during these dates. Also please use those hashtags listed above.

Join our Lucky’s Lake Swimmers Team the swim is Saturday 9AM. Details above. Sign Up Here.

Several significant events are coming up in the next few months at Lucky’s Lake Swim that you don’t want to miss unless you are an antisocial orc.  The first is the Swim for Inclusion for Special Olympics, which will take place on Saturday, September 24th at 9 am.  Participating in this event will give you extra credit points when someday, hopefully in the far, far future, you are trying to convince Saint Peter why you should pass through the pearly gates (ed. note: I can’t confirm this is actually the way it works).  Here is a short video explaining the event https://youtu.be/7QdflPpa82w  or you can go directly to the website and sign up there www.RaceForInclusion.org  or you can join the Lucky’s Lake Swimmers Team HERE

Next is the Rowdy and Lucky 1.5K swim on October 16^th you can register here https://www.clubassistant.com/club/clinics/reserve.cfm?c=1779&cid=92792

On October 22^nd is the 8^th annual Night Ops 5K swim for the Navy Seal Foundation http://www.swimguzzlers.org/

Some sad news we lost one of our Lake Swimming Pioneers, Victor Sirbu.  Many of you may know his daughter Danielle, an avid lake swimmer (aka stealer of Lucky’s turtles – she feeds them at Geno’s now).Victor was a fantastic individual; he was the first Olympian to sign Lucky’s Lake swim wall of fame (he was in the pentathlon in 1964 for Romania).  Victor also swam and played water polo competitively.  He was a fixture on the Team Orlando Masters swim team for decades.  Even though he lost a several-year battle with pancreatic cancer, he was always upbeat and continued to exercise at the Rosen Aquatic center, of which he was a big supporter.  RIP Victor.

Come join the fun and help out Special Olympics Open Water Swimming. Saturday Sept 24th 9 AM   sign up here

Victor passed a few days ago and was a legend in the local swim community. Lucky and Victor were friends for over 30 years. The Memorial Service is on Sept. 24, 2022, from 11:00 to 13:00 at the Winter Oak Funeral Home in Winter Garden, Fl.  This link will bring you to their website and Victor’s page.  

Kathleen accepts the award in behalf of the Lake Cane Restoration Society.  She did not mention the $500,000 cash prize that went along with the plaque.  She was seen partying on South Beach later into the wee hours of the morning. The Dr. Daniel E Canfield, Jr. Volunteerism award is given to a volunteer organization or outstanding volunteer for significant contributions to the research, restoration, and/or preservation of our water resources. The award is named after Dr. Daniel Canfield, founder of Florida Lakewatch, the pioneering citizen-volunteer water quality monitoring program involving over 1200 lakes statewide, and now being emulated across the United States.Florida Lake Management Society (FLMS “pronounced phlems” they might want to think about changing the pronunciation of the acronym) 

Okay, the plaque was nice Kathleen, but what about the 500K cash. Don’t deny it, we saw you at the Ferrari dealership looking around.