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.

Inflation, increasing taxes, the globe teetering on the brink of world war III, want a solution? Jump into a wetsuit and do three hard crossings of the lake, and your brain will be so fried that you will have no further worries. The temperature remains in the high eighties (even the brain-eating amoeba are complaining), but tons of swimmers are still showing up. It will be like this for the next 3-4 weeks, and then we will drop into the low 80s (perfect swimming weather); however, our numbers drop. Lucky calls this the perfect weather paradox.
Thanks to the volunteers that showed up for the native planting on Lake Cane and Lake Floy and those that helped in the ongoing wall of Fame restoration.

Here’s what’s coming up in the future at Lucky’s lake swim.

August 8 – Underwater hockey glove making night – 7pm (Almost all the UWH players on Orlando’s team are Lucky’s Lake swimmers, and have earned their place in heaven (full disclosure: Tom continues to challenge the veracity of this statement)
August 13 – Wall of Fame restoration, right after the Saturday swim. Even if you can give us 10-15 minutes after the swim that will be a big help.  We are restoring names that are fading. All you need to bring is a steady hand.
August 13 Silent Auction for Lake Cane Restoration Society ends. Check out the auction HERE.
August 27 – Wall of Fame restoration right after the swim
September 1 – Doc Lucky’s Yo-Yo Talk   9:30pm Live on Facebook, Twitch, TikTok and Youtube. We know everybody already watches, but Lucky begged us to add it to the calendar of events.
September 5 – Labor Day – Swim time starts at 7:45 AM
September 19 – National talk like a pirate day  (best to stay away from Lucky this day – if you don’t know why watch this video)
September 24 – Special Olympics Swim for Inclusion Day – Special Olympians from all over Florida will join us for Lucky’s Lake Swim
October 2 –  2pm – 4pm  Velma Daniels will be doing a book signing at Lucky’s.  She will be signing her biographies she wrote on Lucky, and on Don Duncan Sr. (of Duncan Yo-Yos). Free yo-yos and ice cream will be provided. Lucky will give a tour of his yo-yo collection.
October 16  Rowdy and Lucky 1.5K swim – REGISTER HERE
October 22 – 5K night ops swim for the Navy Seal Foundation – REGISTER HERE
November 10 – Lake Cane Restoration Society meeting 6:30 pm
November 12 & 13 – Charleston Underwater Hockey Tournament – Yes we are sending a team of Lucky’s Lake Swimmers
November 23 -26 – Thanksgiving Vacation – Swim times are 7:45 AM these days.
November 25 – 3rd annual Poker night at Lucky’s to benefit the Lake Cane Restoration Society
December 19 -24 Christmas break Swim times are 7:45am
December 25  Christmas Day – No swim
December 26 – 31 Christmas Break continues with swim times at 7:45 am
January 1st – New Years Day – Swim at 7:45 am.

Currently we have a test auction running for the Lake Cane Restoration Society.  Only a half dozen auction packages are up, but a couple of really not to miss items.  There are two universal studio tickets and Sara McCarty has a swimming stoke  session package  as well. Sara is the real deal. A former elite international swimmer and triathlete. Multiple NCAA All American and more importantly the first Gold medal winner in the swimmer of the Ages division for the Golden Mile®.  If you are trying to become a better open water swimmer don’t let this lesson package slip by. So check out the auction here.

Sara McCarty donated a series of stroke lessons for our silent auction. We are doing a small test auction before next year’s big auction at the Golden Mile®.  An elite Swimmer Sara was a silver medalist in the World games. Later went on to become a pro triathlete. Too many swimming and Tri awards to list without getting carpal tunnel syndrome from typing. Head coach of SLAP.  If you want to become better at open water swimming then jump on these lessons in the silent auction.

See the silent auction HERE.

If you had swum this last week, you would have noticed a few more cars and big vans than usual in the front yard at Lucky’s Lake Swim.  And no, Lucky has not started renting out his yard for parking.  The parking overload was because the USA National Special Olympic games happened in Orlando, and two events were being hosted at Lucky’s Lake Swim, the stand-up paddle-boarding and, more near and dear to our hearts, the inaugural open water swim at the USA games.  Although we have had Special Olympics athletes swimming at Lucky’s lake swim for 20 years (apparently a well-kept secret), Special Olympics has finally caught up and recognized open water swimming as a sport.  So this race was a historical event.

Josh Olds from Miami (who finished 16th overall in the Golden Mile® two weeks ago) broke our 2000K club member, Gregg Dedic’s, Special Olympic course record by over 3 minutes.  It was an awe-inspiring time of 14:59.44, which is even more remarkable when you learn that he accidentally swam to the stand-up paddle-boarding finish line and had to swim another 50 meters over to the open water swim finish line.  Josh was so fast that we could not find a unified partner quick enough to keep up with him, and yes, he did that time while wearing a safe swimmer buoy.  After the swim, Rowdy and Lucky agreed to race Josh, but only if they could do it as relay and wear fins.

In the women’s division, Catherine Darrow from Colorado broke the Special Olympics 1K Course record of Orlando’s Lauren Bergquist by a phenomenal 7 minutes with a time of 21:16.32.

It was fun while it lasted.  Unfortunately, all that is left as a reminder of the historic event are a few tents and the fragrant aromas emanating from the remaining porta johns that have been basking for days in the Africa hot Florida sun.

We are returning to our regular summer schedule; the only exception will be on the 4th of July, when the swim time will be 7:45 AM.

Congratulations to Geno who finished his 2200 crossing today!  Not bad for a ninety-one year old.  When asked for some sage advice Geno reportedly said “I have lived nine decades  spending 98 percent of my money on wine, women and swimming, and I now  I have come to realize I wasted the other two percent.”

Josh Olds from Miami (standing between Rowdy and Lucky) made history on Wednesday when he won the inaugural open water swim during the USA National Special Olympics Games, which was hosted at Lucky’s Lake Swim.  Josh’s time for the 1K swim was 14:59.  He would have been faster had he not swam to the paddle-board finish line first. He should have never taken guidance advice from Lucky before the race. 

Here are the brave souls in the dynamic duo club for this year. To be a member you must swim Lucky’s Lake Swim, and the Beattie Lake Swim on the same day, and apparently identify as a boomer. My heartfelt apologies to those in the photo that don’t identify as a boomer.

Finally, we got the check from the Easter swim to the Edgewood children’s ranch. Jay said this check was lost, but he found it yesterday under the cushion of his sofa (Jay has a big sofa.) To clarify, Megan’s and Barb’s faces don’t normally look that red, but they recently returned from a tour of the Chernobyl reactor core, and forgot to wear their lead based sunscreen.

You may notice a lot of activity going on at Lucky’s lake swim in the mornings this week because Lucky’s lake swim is hosting two different events for the USA Special Olympic Games. We are hosting the inaugural open water swim for the USA games, which is historic, and we are also hosting stand-up paddle boarding. You will see many vehicles, emergency units, tents, volunteers, etc. With all this going on, will we still have our daily swim? The answer is a definite yes, and the swim always goes on.

Special Olympics events will happen every morning this week, but our Lake Swim continues!

If you did not see our recap video of the 2022 Golden Mile®, the video link is here. We are pleased to find out we have reached 100 subscribers on our YouTube channel Lucky’s Lake Swim. If you are not a subscriber, please watch the video and subscribe. The more subscribers, the more YouTube promotes our videos.

USA Games for Special Olympics happening at Lucky’s Lake Swim this week. Stand-up paddle boarding and Open Water Swimming. The lake swim will still happen at 6:30 am.