Great Lake Swimmers

[DigMe]

Anyone listening to this band? I downloaded their self-titled album from emusic.com this week. It's really an incredible album. Very mellow, simple acoustic stuff with a lot of depth. They recorded it in an abandoned silo, which is cheesy in concept but it really adds incredible atmostphere to the songs IMO.

I listened to the snippets of the album they released right after this one but they weren't really doing it for me.

Anyone else familiar with this band?

brad cook

[Dan1099]

I swim in the great lakes all the time. Lake Superior is like, 45 degrees, even in the summer.

I have never heard of this band, though. I'll have to check it out.

[cheezewiz]

Lake Erie is much warmer, but you have to dodge the occasional free floating turd.

[Dan1099]

Originally Posted by cheezewiz

Lake Erie is much warmer, but you have to dodge the occasional free floating turd.

And don't forget, Lake Erie has the occasional random hypodermic needle flot.

[NJL]

I have always wanted to swim the Great Lakes.

[Dan1099]

If you're serious about that, let me know ahead of time, and you can crash up here. I'm in the middle of the state, pretty much, and within driving distance of everything but superior.

[steveksux]

I love swimming the Great Lakes.... at the bottom. There are really cool shipwrecks near the Mackinac Bridge, about 100-120 feet deep depending on the water levels. Imagine swimming through the cargo holds of a 600ft long freighter, entering through a huge gash in the side amidships that doomed the might vessel, then swimming up to the bow, exiting by the pilothouse and exploring the bridge. Totally freaking cool.

I think it was in 1965, the Cedarville, a 600 ft freighter, was T-boned by another ship, right in the middle. Imagine sailing smack dab in the middle of the side of a 600 ft long freighter... (I think it was foggy that night). Oops.. The other ship, hitting the Cedarville head on, crushed its bow, but was not leaking badly, it survived. The huge gash it ripped in the side of the Cedarville doomed that ship, it rolled over on its side and sank to the bottom.

Resting intact on its side, its an amazing wreck. The cargo holds are the size of a small movie theater and go for 300 ft in either direction from the gash, you're just floating along, exploring as you go. Nearly pitch black at that depth, save for an eerie blue/green glow visible outside through the cargo hatches, all you see are the lights of the others. Reminds you of a scene from Aliens, floating weightless in the derelict ship, exploring an alien landscape.

Randy

[Vorago]

Diving in shipwrecks isn't exactly beginner stuff, isn't it?

[The Golden Boy]

Don't forget all that old growth lumber they've been harvesting from the lakes back when logging was a big thing, and a lot of the logs sank. Stuff is going for big bucks.

Then there's Washington Island off the tip of Door County WI. I heard the island is named for a ship that sank there.

[steveksux]

Originally Posted by Vorago

Diving in shipwrecks isn't exactly beginner stuff, isn't it?

Generally no. The cargo holds of these huge freighters, with hatch covers every 15 feet to provide easy exit, no narrow passageways to get hung up in, are the exception to the rule.

Otherwise, entry in shipwrecks or especially caves is potentially deadly. A few years ago some guys decided to explore the passageways of the same ship instead of the cargo holds. Found the engine room, couldn't find their way out, too much silt stirred up, couldn't see. They found a porthole, were banging on it and waving to other divers going by, who didn't realize they were trapped and waved back on the way past. Finally one guy took off his gear, wriggled out through the porthole, grabbed his gear through the porthole, made it to the surface and luckily some real shipwreck divers were on the boat. Someone went down with an additional tank, passed it to the remaining trapped guy through the porthole (in just tank and swim trunks, no wetsuit at 45 degree water!, turns out it was my original instructor, dubbed the polar bear for his tolerance of cold water). The others went in, with proper lines to mark the way back out, found the guy and led him out safely. A couple of the dive boats had oxygen on board, hooked up lines so they could decompress on oxygen at 15 feet, the trapped guy had been down much too long, as well as some of the rescuers who went back down for the rescue although they had been up to their no-decompression limits on their regular dive.

Very lucky those two did not die that day.

Randy

[DigMe]

Knuckleheads.

brad cook

[NJL]

Knuckleheads? Is that a new technique on long distance swimmings?