The Floating Lady is almost finished!

Swimming with the city's skyline in full view...I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty cool and I'm excited! The 25-meter, 4-feet deep, 7-lane pool officially opens on July 4th. According to a NYTimes article:

"A shuttle will be available to take people to the pool, with stops at Cadman Plaza and Borough Hall and in Brooklyn Heights. And shiny gangways will reach from shore to barge. There are locker rooms. The pathways to the pool from the locker rooms pass large translucent seascape murals. Next comes a spray-pad, where children can get wet without swimming, and a sitting area for adults. Lifeguards will watch over the swimmers, and in the background is the Manhattan skyline, a view all can behold. "

Hours, directions, and more, can be found on the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy's website.

(Picture taken by NYTimes photographer, Ruby Washington)

Free outdoor pools officially open

(Picture taken by NYTimes photographer, Nicole Bengevino)

For those of us who won't be going on a nice, sunny, breezy, beachy vacation this summer, or who envy those west coasters who seem to have an overabundance of great pools, sulk no longer! We can get our fair share of fun in the sun even if we are stuck in the city over the summer.

Though I can't vouch for their cleanliness or their conduciveness (is that a word?) to real workouts, the city's outdoor public pools have officially opened. They even have designated adult lap swim hours from 7am-8:30am and 7pm-8:30pm, Mon-Fri. Plus, you don't have to pay a thing. Not bad.

A photographer for the NYTimes, Nicole Bengevino, captured some great images of people enjoying the start of the summer pool season (click on "more images" underneath the leading photo).

So, for those of you with an affinity for strange tan lines, suit up and get on out there! And, don't forget the sunscreen!

Practice update & registration reminder

The current session ends this Sunday, June 24 and the new session begins Sunday, July 1.

Important: There will be no official practices Monday through Friday (June 25-29).

Registration is open for the new session. Sign up as soon as you can at the membership desk!

1500m in 15:42.54. Simply amazing...

18-year-old Kate Ziegler shattered Janet Evans' 1500m world record of 15.53.10 - set in 1988 - by an unfathomable 9.56 seconds at the TYR Swim Meet of Champions on June 17, 2007, breaking the longest-standing world record in swimming history.

There has been a lot of coverage on this incredible swim, but you can check out the SCAQ blog for a great summary, including Kate's split times. Can you imagine swimming close to 31 seconds consistently for each of the 30 laps including sprinting the last 50m in 29.27?!

Take a look...the video speaks for itself...amazing!

Fall's backstroke

See how it's done:

Grimaldo's Mile 2007

If you're intimidated by swimming around Manhattan, Grimaldo's Mile might be for you! One mile ocean race in Coney Island, complete with costume wave! The swim takes place Sunday August 5th 2007. To sign up or for more information, go to cibbows.org and be sure to check out Christina's wonderful illustration for the race.

Last year's pictures [more]:

"The worst part is that it's 9 hours of swimming and the best part is that it's 9 hours of swimming"

For those of you who don't know, our very own Alan Morrison is competing in his first Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, this Saturday, June 16. That's 28.5 miles! The race begins bright and early at 8:30am and goes from South Cove, Battery Park City, around the southern tip of the island, up the East River, around the northern tip and then all the way down the Hudson...and to think that some of us (and by that I mean moi) complain about an 800 yd swim!

To have decided to do this and trained for it is in itself an amazing feat. Alan is even featured in a NYTimes video about the event. (For all of you cibbows swimmers, Brighton Beach gets a shoutout in the video too!). The accompanying article also gives a nice overview of the race.

We hope you have the most amazing 9 hours of swimming on Saturday and wish you the best of luck! GO, ALAN!

New session starts July 1

A bit early, but it never hurts to get a reminder - the new session starts July 1 and sign up begins two weeks prior. The Y will try to make it possible to register online by that time (big yay!). We'll keep you posted...

Underwater videotaping session June 3

Igor's bringing his underwater video camera again! For those of you who did not get taped the last time, you'll get another chance this coming Sunday. Please arrive as early as possible, starting at 5 pm so that we can get as much of the taping done as possible before the regular workout from 6 to 8 pm.

Cristian & Patricia to swim the Potomac

Take a look at this swim that Cristian and Patricia are attempting and will no doubt finish in grand style this Saturday, June 2. The swim is a 7.5 mile crossing of the mouth of the Potomac River where it meets the Chesapeake Bay and divides Virginia's Northern Neck from Saint Mary's County, MD. The swim benefits the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, the Southern Maryland Sierra Club, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Potomac River Association, the Potomac River Conservancy and the West Virginia Rivers Coaltion.

Don't party too hard at the pre-swim dinner, put on lots of sunscreen and swim your heart out, guys! Good luck! We're cheering for you!

SCAQ Swim Club Site

Found a great swimming blog recently, created by a member of the Southern California Aquatics Masters Swim Club. He's got great pictures, videos, and interesting commentary on all things swimming. I've also included a feed on the right that points to the blog's most recent postings. Check it out!

Floating Pool in Brooklyn to open July 4

This must be our our lucky year...a floating pool is coming to Brooklyn on July 4th. According to a May 4 article, the public pool "will open for the summer on the East River between Brooklyn Heights piers 4 and 5....The Floating Lady’s pool can accommodate 174 people, though 400 can be onboard the barge, which will also have a children’s pool, a snack bar, changing rooms and showers. " See more pictures on the Neptune Foundation's site.

New 50-meter pool coming to town!

That's right - a brand spankin' new 50-meter pool is currently being constructed and is set to open this fall in Flushing Meadow Corona Park. "But that's in Queens!" you're probably exclaiming to yourself. Check out the details about the pool and you might soon find yourself echoing the sentiment of one New York Magazine writer instead: " We're looking forward to toting our flippers and goggles on the 7 train."

According to a press release from the parks department, this will be the largest recreation facility ever built in a City park. It will "house an Olympic-size pool and a NHL-standard ice rink. The public pool and ice rink will serve as a year-round facility for competitive and recreational use...The building is uniquely designed with a cable supported roof system that will allow for potential expansion to a larger venue...The pool and diving tank will be on the second floor with dramatic views of the park. The movable floor makes the Olympic-sized pool very flexible, creating the potential to have recreational swimming and competitive events simultaneously. An outdoor terrace will be accessible from the pool deck."

Here are some more pictures from the architects of the new facility and from the parks department.

Kudos!

Congrats to David (our "swim meet director") and Judy for competing in last Saturday's SCY meet at Yonkers. It was Judy's first meet (yay, Judy!) and David swam the 500 free and 100 fly (100 fly? who does that? :P), among other events. Will update this blurb once the results are posted.

And, Congrats to Cristian who competed in the Tenth Annual 24 Mile Tampa Bay Marathon Swim on April 21 as part of the two-swimmer team "Los Dos Conquistadores de Brooklyn".

Calling all open water swimmers

Summer's coming and that means lots of open water swimming. Cristian's been enthusiatically handing out "his cards" at practice (he likes to leave out the part that Christina was the one who did the design :) but I have heard from Patricia that Cristian does indeed organize some majorly fun swims). Just in case you haven't gotten a card, you can go to cibbow's race page for more info on how to register. Or....just ask Cristian!