Where to Open Water Swim?

I hope Lake Niapenco is warm-ish for Binbrook this weekend ...

Good question, anyone been out there yet to test the water?

We swam for an hour at Binbrook last Thursday with a wetsuit and the water was fine. Was coolish (not bitter cold) on the face for about a minute.

Kelso Park in Milton has a swim beach on the West end of the lake. Its a small lake so it warms up fast. Plus some great riding and running in that area.

Kelso isn't too far from me, when you say west end do you mean just east of Appleby Line, just off Kelso Rd? Have you swam there yet?

Swam at Kelso / Glen Eden on Sunday for Subaru Series - water was great
Swam at Gulliver Lake (Safari Road in Flamborough) on Saturday - water was even warmer

Wetsuit in order but much warmer than last year for Kelso

Happy Swimming

Jean

While Kelso is good, Gulliver's Lake is GREAT. The water is way clearer since its spring fed. if you swim the perimeter of the lake it's approximately 1km. It's where I did all my IM training swims. The only drawback is that you have to pay to get in and its farther out of GTA.

Here are the links to the courses:
Gullivers (IM Training): http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/map.asp?route...
Kelso (after drinking vodka): http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/map.asp?route...

I haven't swam either lake this season. This season I decided to train using the Total Aversion swim method - no swimming until my first race.

Edited by mgalanter 2013-06-05 11:29 PM

Just a FYI - be careful when the weather gets warmer if deciding to swim at Gulliver Lake

There is a high risk of getting 'Swimmer's itch" once flocks of birds gather for their daily swim - so once done wipe yourself very well and rinse your wet suit ASAP

This was an advice from those from the TCoB who dealt with this last year

Happy swimming

JT

Interesting re the swimmer's itch. Experienced it in B.C., but have been swimming a few years at Gulliver's and have never had a problem.

Was in Kelso this weekend water was great, i did have my wetsuit on. Lots of triathletes training there

At Kelso, did you swim with an organized group? Or on your own? I'm looking for some weekend open water swims and have heard Kelso is a nice swim.

Hello
I think there is a group / supervised swim on Thursday evenings
It is a drop in

Will check and keep everyone posted

Happy and safe swimming

Jean

I used to swim at Kelso for the last 3 years. I was part of the Open Water Swim Club through JJ Neely. Good set up. Plus great to ride through the escarpment after a swim. These are monitored swim's w/ life guards on Thursday eve and Saturday morning. They have a 500m loop and a 1.5k loop! Rouggly $60+ for 10 swims or $95+ for the entire summer. Does not include park entry fee which is roughly $6 each time.

I recently switched over to the James Dick Quarry since it is very clear, swim buoys are set up every 200m and they have a swim window for each day which fits my schedule! Cost is roughly $75 through C3...free parking as well. Again, they main difference for me was the daily options for open water swimming: http://www.c3online.ca/workouts.shtml

Hope this helps!