First Swim 2009

[MikeBeebe]

Okay fess up before someone rats out on you.Who swam today?

[Susan Tinker]

Funny ... we've gotten a few personal messages about paddlers swims today. You'd be surprised how many swam today ... nice brisk way to start the year, but nobody seems to want to be the trophy holder!
A few confessions and a few ratted out on, but we'll wait to see whose names goes on the board to determine the winner!

Happy Paddlin' New Year!

Susan T

[Cowper]

Remember, to potentially claim the trophy, you must also report the approximate time of your first swim.

[BEubanks]

We had approximately 25 jump in (well, a few ran in) at noon yesterday for a very brief swim. This is the 15th year we've had a New Year's day swim. Tried to stop the tradition a few times, but our daughters won't let us! Water temp was 44 in our little lake in Caddo Valley; air temp was 42. It's a good reminder that I do NOT want to come out of my boat this time of year.

[MikeBeebe]

I just feel that someone is not coming clean...yet? Confession is cleansing they say

[Richard]

Mike, since swimming is cleansing, I am thinking they may not feel the need to be cleaner.
Maybe the statement should be "confession is good for the soul".

I came close. Took the dogs to the gravel bar. They were running from side to side in the canoe and waves occasionally washed across the gunwale. It does not take much of a south wind to generate white capping waves at Cadron Settlement. We were sprinkled but not immersed.

[MikeBeebe]

Richard, you are correct in that confession is good for the soul. From those that have commented, it would appear that the first swimmer from a kayak or canoe took place in North Arkansas around high noon on January 1, 2009.

[Cowper]

Mike, did you get a private message of an as yet unconfessed swim, or are you refering to the intentional dip some took as reported above? While I admire the fortitude of those who made this decsion, I don't think we should count the intentional swims, or this would quickly become a trophy claimed by the one intoxicated or crazy enough to jump in at midnight + 1 minute each New Year's Day. I won't name names, but in reviewing my GPS track logs, I found that at about 4:20 PM, our downstream progress suddenly stopped for approximately 12 minutes. Then at 4:32, our progress resumed at an increased rate of speed toward the takeout. Perhaps this will "jog" someone's memory...

[MikeBeebe]

Cowper check you PM
Mike

[Karla]

I think the person/persons in question should know what kind of a trophy/prize they will receive before coming forward with their admission.
So, Mike and Cowper, what is the prize???

Karla

[Susan Tinker]

While we were all having our New Years Day dinner, and we all thought it was a great idea to give out a First Swim Award, it seems the person that would receive the award, does NOT want the acknowledgement ....
and it was not an intentional swim ... as you are right Cowper, those do not count .... otherwise, there would be a fight to jump in each year, after a few warming New Year's Eve drinks!
So, I guess the others didn't care for our award idea ...

Anyone that reads this thread, and missed Debo and Cowpers annual New Years Day float should put it on their calendar. I had a couple of people email me that they didn't know about it. It was posted! So, mark it on your 2009 calendar ... NOW! It's New Years Day, Jan. 1st each year!

Happy New Year and new swims in 2009!
Susan T

[Cowper]

seems the person that would receive the award, does NOT want the acknowledgement ....

Oddly enough, it has been determined (but not publicly admitted) that our "swamp swimmer" would be at best, the second runner up for this year's honor.

But you may be right - this idea is just not catching on (yet). It seems the contenders all wish to remain anonymous, and their associates all wish to remain uninjured.

[Lupe]

I'm going to weigh in here and say this failure to publicly award "FIRST SWIMMER 2009" is a failure of all of us in the larger paddling community. How so? Each and every one of us who has a video recorder or camera, have a DUTY to record these swimming incidents so that there is hard, irrefutable proof, to be posted for all the world to see on the world wide web. Apparently, we had multiple New Year's Day swims, and yet an utter failure for someone to capture forever in digital pixels that very special moment. Pioneers such as Mike Coogan aka Captain Aleve and Chester aka Chester would never have let such a thing happen.

And trust me, I'm blaming myself with this condemnation. I had a camera on said day at said swimming incident, but it was not used. Protecting the innocent? No...it's letting the GUILTY stay unknown, unobserved, anonymous!

So I pledge a 2009 New Year's resolution: hence forth to not let any swim, carnage, blunder or any other embarrassing paddling-related endeavor go unrecorded. I think it's the least I can do for our dear paddling community, and will show that I've learned from the best...

[Karla]

I think our good paddling friends and hubby were more interested in assisting the swimmer out of the icy swamp than filming. It was a chore to get the swimmer back into their canoe and exhausting. Luckily the swiimmer had wetsuit and proper attire for the swim.