Chesapeake Bay Swim!

Yikes!

Congratulations, you are selected in round one of the lottery entry process. PLEASE PROCEED TO OUR WEB SITE. Log on with the email and password you used to enter the lottery.

Then proceed with entry process and charging of your entry fee. In the right hand column of our website are event featured links. The direct Registration button is there.

Please email or fax your swim documentation as detailed in the Lottery Guidelines.

Linda A. Toretsky
Great Chesapeake Bay Swim
Swim Processing Coordinator

Swim Calendar

This is a great resource that my friend Rob from CA has posted on his blog.

He has trolled all the websites of LMSC and posted meets from all across

the country in this handy calendar. Nice! Thanks Rob!

See the Robaquatics Swim Calendar here.

Book reviews

For those of you with kids (and who also love swimming.. but of course you would not be reading this if you did not) this is a fun book that I stumbled on at the library. It was a rave with the girls and me.

Mermaid Queen: The Spectacular True Story of Annette Kellerman, Who Swam Her Way to Fame, Fortune, and Swimsuit History. illus. by Edwin Fotheringham. unpaged. reprods. CIP. Scholastic. Apr. 2009.

Here is the review from the School Library Journal...

"Gr 2-5–Kellerman’s name might not be familiar, but this rule-breaking, high-diving, early fashionista will inspire students. Her difficulties walking as a child, which are only hinted at in the book’s illustrations, drove her father to try to strengthen her legs through swimming lessons. In the early 1900s, before women were allowed to compete in the Olympics, her hard-earned athleticism drew more criticism than compliments. Swimming? Unladylike! Record setting? For the boys! Eager to do something more artistic with her abilities, Annette invented water ballet, and her acrobatic feats drew crowds. Each event described is interesting, but what really shines is Kellerman’s persistent refusal to rest on her laurels. After her attempt to be the first woman to swim the English Channel, and performing for kings and queens, she went on to pioneer the modern woman’s bathing suit, which led to her arrest in the U.S. Fotheringham’s glorious artwork is filled with period details and dress, high-dives and stunts, and priceless expressions on the faces of amazed audiences. The extensive back matter details Kellerman’s further accomplishments and includes citations. This well-written and brightly illustrated account is a perfect pearl."

Of course after this find I had to hear more about this interesting woman and find some grown up books. It turns out there is also a recent biography out entitled The Original Million Dollar Mermaid by Emily Gibson.

And best of all Annette appears to have written a few of her own books, wilst dazzling crowds with her water ballet and being a vaudeville performer. She is credited with creating the first modern "bathing suit" for women. She was even arrested in Boston near the turn of the century for wearing it in public! She had to sew in stockings to cover her legs (see below).

I think her 1918 book How to Swim would be a great gift for any female swimming addict. In fact I've already ordered a copy as a present for a historian friend.

If you have time check out these short videos of her vaudeville days... Neptune's Daughter.

Happy Reading!

Straight swim

Today we completed 35 x 100 on 1:30... the interval felt good but boy my back was aching by the end. We've got a new swimmer who already is kicking my butt and he is not even working that hard. Watch out! It is going to be a good season I think.

New Years Resolution

It is time to start living the life you've imagined.

-Henry James

Cool quote eh?

I love this picture....

I washed the windows and took the screens down this morning. Much better view of the outside world and so much more light! (Us Northerners get kinda desperate this time of year).