Leap Into The Lido Leap Year

Not just another day at the Lido ... Nooooo, this day only comes around every 4 years : LEAP YEAR DAY! and another excuse (if there was any needed...?!) for SLSC members to leap into 7 degrees water first thing in the morning!

The idea came from no other than Sangeeta who is always happy to get a crowd together enjoying themselves.

This IS what I call leaping! Sangeeta in her element!

Sangeeta performed an additional leap after having brought about & exhecuted a group leap first thing at 7.15am

Way to go Sangeeta!

Ange was already in the water

before any leaping activity

All that remained after the group leap!

calm after the storm

Peter ("Ra" as he likes to be known as!) arriving after the group leap ...

Sangeeta enjoying her post leap swim

drawing on the water

Stephanie went on to swim and swim and swim ...

(after having joined in the group leap)

here she still has a full length ahead of her ...

almost there : lap 13!

lucky for some!

this arm ...

belongs to this man! Peter Ra.

Batch coming to the end of his stint-

Time for me to get in - 4 lengths and 2 widths ...

still can't get myself to swim 6 lengths ... soon I hope!

After all that early morning action we also had a photographer, called Magnus, from the South London Press, take photos of who ever was willing to leap in .... well not exactly, first he wanted as many of us to pose in front of the colourful (trademark) Lido doors ... so quite a few of us obliged .. before we also did a group leap ... Alex took part too and took some shots which he posted on his blog entry of today .... the water being colder than the air temperature, his lens fogged over a bit which makes for interesting distortions!

PS : the video clip of the group leap is HERE for ALL to see!

Photos Gallore

Kate, Alex and I were all snapping away this morning!

Check out their blogs too for an array of photos!

You'll find their respective links on the left hand side or further below

This morning we all lined up to take a shot of Steph diving in after her stint in the sauna ...

only this time, after making sure that both Kate and Alex were ready,

I missed Steph's 1st dive ....

but got this one of Steph resurfacing ...

Steph took pity on me ... and dived in again ...

Alex is in the background getting his second dive shot and many more photos which you can check out on his blog entry of today.

Time for Alex to get in and swim his 12 lengths ...

after my 4 lengths I stayed in the water to get some close up shots:

Vince swam 6 lengths

and a couple of widths ... and ...

.. not quite sure what Vince is doing here ....

I can, however, assure you that he is OK!

Kate was still fully dressed snapping away ..

showing me a photo she took of me ...

I couldn't really see it as I still had my goggles on ...

I'm curious to see all the shots she took which you can see on her blog of today.

you may have to wait a while until Kate has uploaded her entry -

she was still swimming when I left!

Alex was still powering along ...

.... getting to the end of his 12th length

watched by Jonathan ...

... who was urging me to take a photo of Alex still in the water

and him in the background clutching his hot drink ...

by now I was cold ... and off to the sauna

When I came out of the sauna,

Kate had still not been in the pool ... ;)

We are bound to have a feast of photos on her blog!

Ian is showing Kate his (intriguing) new toy !!

It's supposed to help the swimmer keep

his/her hands pulling back straight

looks more like Ian is clutching a mini surfboard

Ok then Ian ... they look more like ears

Kate is (finally!) ready for her swim

Full steam ahead

and a beautiful glide

and ... just about to take a breath

Pip arrived a touch later,

trying to make up ground and catch up on Ian

While Kate was still gggggliding - fully stretched out

... and on the way out I just had to stop and take a shot

of the first open Daffodil -

others will follow soon -

as there will be a bunch of them around the big tree to the left of the entrance

Effortless Power

Jonathan was swimming lengths ... that meant for sure) that the water temperature had risen!

In fact David measured it at over 6C (nearer to 6.5C than anything else!)

Alex was powering up and down and managed a total of 12 lengths.

Already exercised and fully dressed, I wanted to get some shots of Hilary who was seemingly enjoying her morning outing.

The water temperature must be warmer: Jonathan is swimming lengths -

taking his time!

... before turning onto his front again and finishing his second length

in his usual very relaxed front crawl style.

Hilary setting off ...

Mark was already swimming

I tried to get Hilary in full frame under water - to show off her effortless yet powerful stroke -

but always cut off 1 (vital) part of her!

however this shot shows (at least) her lovely rotation ...

pushing off the deep end ...

... and finally: Hilary in full frame .. albeit a bit far way ..

gliding back towards the shallow end

Hilary has this long, effortless reach

which propels her forward at a considerable pace

Barmy February Temperatures

Coming to the Lido after 10am would have been just perfect ... sadly I had already arrived at 9am and towards the end of my swim, the sun was trying to push through a thin layer of clouds

By 10am the sun was out in her full glory accompanied by a beautiful blue sky .... say no more!

well other than filling you in about the water temperature! If you went by David's reading it was just 6C and if you'd rather have a more optimistic reading, then Stephanie's 6.8C would surely draw you down to the pool instantly, doing lengths, after lengths after lengths ...

I managed 4 lengths which was plenty, specially as I haven't been feeling all that well these past few days, including today ... a painful stomach has been keeping me from fully enjoying my swims lately.

And if the truth be known I only swam 4 lengths thanx to Kate who was already on her seventh when I got in ... she swam 8 lengths and was in the water for 20minutes. She is aiming to do 10 tomorrow.

Stephanie starting off on her stint ...

after having taken the water temperature ....

... she was aiming for 10 lengths ... at least!

Stephanie spear heading towards the deep end ...

shame about the leaf covering her cap

Exuberant Steph

Stephanie was grinning all over her face ... she was very hot "having stayed in the sauna too long" and was ready to cool off and dive in ... Alex arrived a touch too late to catch Steph's (1st) dive ... so I asked her to dive in again .. she gladly did .. but where was Alex??? He disappeared (behind our backs) into his cubicle ... on hearing the second splash .. he popped his head out .... oh no he missed it again ... he was obviously too keen to get in the water ...

Steph said it was 6C .. and David measured it at 5.5C - split the difference ... and it is still "cold" albeit warmer than the day before! Both Steph and Alex swam 8 lengths - Vince did 6 - I kept it at 2 lengths, some underwater shots and 2 widths - plenty for me - before the sauna anyway ... after which I added on a couple of widths.

Stephanie diving for joy ... not only once ..

... but twice!

notice the slightly different style ...

and in this shot her hair is (already) wet

Alex cruising along on his first length -

on seeing the photo Alex commented that he didn't realise his legs were as low as they are ...

Alex pushing off the wall after his tumble turn -

he swam a total of 8 lengths and feeling, I wouldn't immediately say "much the better" for it ... but certainly "none the worse" for it :)

Alison... now you "see her" ...

... now "you don't" ...

Mark ... first "up" ...

... then "down" the pool ... a few times!!