safety first, people

Earlier this month I was graciously invited to a relatively new friends cottage on the Lake, to train for my swim across Lake Ontario this summer.

My friend Jackie and her husband Paul (super generous couple!) have a guest house beside their home on Lake Huron that my husband Zach and I and our friend Dan stayed in.

We arrived on a Friday afternoon and were amazed by the beautiful place we were able to spend time at over the weekend.

View of Lake Huron from Paul and Jackie’s cottage. Photo by Dan Stenning

Jackie hopped in a kayak and paddled just over 4km alongside me while I swam in the clear, cold water of Lake Huron.  There is something really wonderful about being in a huge body of water with someone beside you. Even with my senses underwater, knowing there is safety within reach is reassuring.

The sun wasn’t quite setting, but it was glimmering over the lake. The surface of the water I could feel was “warm” from the sun.  As my hand passed under my body each stroke, I could feel the colder water underneath.  It was a nice balance of refreshing and comfort. 

We swam and paddled over to her sisters cottage where we waved from the water as they were having a fire outside.  I think I scared them when they saw I wasn’t wearing a wetsuit.

I forget sometimes that 60F is cold to some.

We finished the evening with a few too many minutes in the hot tub, and a well deserved dinner.  I may have had an appetizer in the hot tub.

Hot tubs and Hot dogs. Photo by Dan Stenning

Saturday morning we woke when the sun shone through the windows.  I always look to the lake first to see what it’s doing.  It looked choppy.  Wavy. Inconsistent.  The lake is down about 18 inches from the year before, so some rocks are exposed that normally aren’t, and the shallow parts had white caps crashing over them.

As we were having our morning coffee, we saw a helicopter fly by.

Based on Paul and Jackies reaction, this wasn’t a common occurrence on a Saturday morning. 

The helicopter was hovering nearby. We thought maybe it was a search and rescue doing a drill.  Then we saw another helicopter that began circling around.

A concerned neighbour called who knew that I was around for the weekend and going to be swimming in the Lake.  His worries got the best of him and thought maybe I was in trouble. Fortunately, I was safe and hadn’t gone out for my swim yet.

Within the next hour we heard that someone in their nearby cottage had witnessed 3 people capsize their canoe at about 6:30am.  The helicopters flying around were looking for these people.

The plan to swim that day went ahead, and I wanted to get some experience swimming in choppy conditions.  I figured this was a good time to get out into the waves because I had support.  Paul and Zach were happy to come along on the seadoos to accompany me out in the lake.

Heading out of the bay and into the lake with Paul and Zach on the seadoos. Photo by Dan Stenning

I geared up with my swim suit, googles, cap, sunscreen and swim buoy.  The swim buoy is that bright inflatable bubble attached around my waist you may have noticed that I wear when I swim.  It tows along behind me, and unless I grab onto it, it does not assist my swimming.

The purpose of this buoy is for safety.  It makes me more visible to boats, worried husbands and moms on shore, and gives me something to hold onto that floats if I were ever to have a bad cramp or something while out in the lake. That being said, I never swim completely alone.  If I had to swim alone, I stay close to shore where there are other people.

Swimming into the wavy lake. Photo by Dan Stenning

As I took my first few strokes out into the waves, I could feel the current pushing back against me, and my mind went straight to the 3 people who were lost out in the water.  Would I see them?  Likely not, but it crossed my mind.

The swim was fun. Challenging but fun.  My pace was slow as I was basically trudging through waves for 2 hours, but I moved about 6km on this particular swim.

We hit some spots where the waves were 6ft!  One particular wave pulled me backwards and I could feel the belt of my swim buoy tighten around my waist.  

My mind went back to those 3 people.  I am a strong, confident swimmer.  I wasn’t ever scared for myself or my own safety, but I realized that if a non-swimmer were out in these waves, without lifejackets, they wouldn’t fare well. 

Paul guiding me back to the dock. Photo by Dan Stenning

Paul was a wonderful guide.  Being in the lake where there are no visible tree lines, or landmarks for sighting my direction, there were moments I’d pop up to sight but felt a bit lost as to which way I was swimming.   Paul gave me direction when I’d loose sight of which way we were heading.

The waves weren’t rolling in a consistent direction either.  The water is strong, and a powerful force you must respect. It does not care if you are there, it keeps going and without proper safety and understanding, you can be seriously injured or get lost out there.

Satisfied with my swim. Photo by Dan Stenning

I ended up having a successful training session in the waves.  I feel grateful for that whole experience.  This theme of this swim was safety.  Without Paul and Zach with me on the seadoos, my swim buoy, and understanding the power of the lake, this wouldn’t have been a safe training swim.  Also in my mind were the 3 who tipped over in the canoe…

We soon learned that they were in their 20’s, a girl and two guys in the boat.  The girl swam to shore to save herself.  Tragically, the two lifeless bodies were recovered from the lake hours later.

I haven’t found information about this in the news, but we also heard they were renting a cottage.  If they had life jackets on, would they have survived? Why didn’t they have life jackets on?  What were they doing on a choppy lake in the early hours of the morning in a canoe?

The girl who survived…so many thoughts here. How would she tell the story?  How will she cope now? Surely the two young men in the boat with her were her friends, or family, or a boyfriend.

The moral of this blog, my friends, is safety.  We can all learn from this. 

Even us strong swimmers must take caution.

A huge thanks to Dan Stenning for capturing such beautiful photos over the weekend. Find him on Instagram! @majordanage