Laurin Weisenthal

So I’m finishing up a training session this afternoon, swimming toward the beach.  Suddenly, my hand comes down and grabs something soft and squishy and tendril-y.  My thoughts go something like this:

Soft and squishy.

Oh Crap.

Stinging sensation.

Ugh, that’s annoying.

I swim in and head immediately for the Dolphin Club kitchen, where a cluster of people are chatting and preparing food for Boat Night. “So, what should I do if I get stung by a jellyfish?” I ask calmly.  The reaction is immediate.  Concerned friends grab and inspect my arm.  Someone calls an EMT friend on my behalf.  A search for white vinegar ensues to little avail.  People start pouring wine down my arm and hand.  But it’s not really helping that much.

In the back of my mind, I seem to remember someone telling me that urine is supposed to help with jellyfish stings.  A nasty bright red rash starts to spread down my inner arm and patterns across my fingers.  I figure, well, it’s worth a try.

I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that I have confirmed for you that yes, urine does help alleviate mild jellyfish stings.  (Please note, Portuguese Man-o-War stings might require more professional care).   Nice.

Still, if white vinegar is available, you might want to go with that instead.

Thanks to everyone at the Dolphin Club who helped me today!

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My dad put together a phenomenal video of my swim on Saturday (Thanks Dad!!).  It’s rather long (25 minutes), but it’s really good with some awesome shots of the San Francisco Waterfront.  And some footage of a very large sea lion with a huge sea bass being brandished from its mouth.

Enjoy!

My 5 hour swim on Saturday was incredible!  I had a blast, and I realized that I’m the luckiest girl ever.  I had so many wonderful people out supporting me – check out the support team breakdown:

In the Farrell – Reuben (Senior Pilot and navigator), Neal (Co-pilot and chef), and Daddy (photographer and videographer)

In the Arias – Dave (Captain and boat deflector), Mom (head cheerleader and occasional commando), and Old Grand Dad (champion open water swimmer and Laurin Fan)

At the Dolphin Club – Fernando (morale boosting swimming companion)

We started at the Dolphin Club at 8:05am and headed toward the Bay Bridge.  Neal and my parents prepared a wonderful surprise for me in the form of large poster boards with uplifting or funny messages written on them.  Neal or my dad flashed them at me often during the swim.  So freakin’ cool!

30 minutes into the swim, I found my stride, and started flying.  The water was warm!  57-58 degrees, warm enough such that my hands did not splay for the entire swim!  After months of swimming with claws for hands, that alone was super exciting.

We passed under the Bay Bridge and continued on toward AT&T Park.  The sun came out from behind the clouds as we rounded the bend, and the stadium loomed above us, breathtakingly beautiful from the water.

Everything just went perfectly.  Neal warmed up my GU before putting it into the GU Gel Bot (an awesome contraption that allows you to have GU and a drink of your choice in the same vessel), so for the first time I was able to actually able to get the GU out of the Gel Bot and decreased my feeding time to about 25 seconds.  My friends and family cheered me on for the entire 5 hours, clapping, waving signs, laughing, making me feel strong and happy.  Dave made sure no boats ran me over.  The sun came out 2 hours in, warming my back as I swam.  I felt fast, I felt strong, I felt warm, and I felt loved.  I couldn’t help but smile as I swam.

Our only mishap was misjudging the currents – I ended up swimming into a very strong flood current, which ultimately prevented me from getting back in time to do the last hour of the swim with Fernando (he still got a swim in, though, so it was okay).  But hey, fighting a crazy current is good training, too.

I’m humbled to know that so many people care about me and want to see me reach my goals.  It’s amazing how fun training can be when you have such a plethora of love and support.  A huge thank you to all of my supporters on Saturday!!

The Lake Berryessa swim today was awesome!  The lake is beautiful, the water clear, clean, and warm (69 degrees!)  While this is obviously way, way warmer than the Channel, it was a fun chance to have fun and race.  The sun was shining, and it was super warm out. 

A ton of my friends showed up – members of the Dolphin Club, South End Club, San Mateo Master Marlins, and Mountain View Masters were there, and I met some really nice people from Santa Cruz.  I also managed to get my friend and former Princeton swimmer Fernando out to swim.  What can I say, swimmers have a tendency to rock. 

The Davis team did a fanstastic job running the event, and they used a really nifty timing system.  They had us all wear electronic bands on our ankles that recorded times as we ran up the beach.  Very high tech, and it made turn around time on the results very fast. 

I entered both the 2 mile and 1 mile events.  The 2 mile went off at 9:45, and it was this race that was my focus.  I got out fast, and once I was in the lead, I started freaking out that someone was going to catch me from behind at the finish (it’s happened before).  Since open water swimming has no turns, I had no idea where people were behind me, so I kept ramping up the effort through the whole race.  It paid off, and I came in as the first female age 18-39(11th overall if you include the men).  Later in the day, Suzanne Heim-Bowen, a fellow Dolphin Club member, would surpass my time by 35 seconds to claim the 5th spot overall.  Well done her!

I was feeling tired, and the 1 mile was set to start what seemed like almost immediately.  I decided to just have fun on the 1 mile – just enjoy the warm, clear water and the chance to swim with other people.  But 30 seconds after the start, I found myself at the head of the pack again.  Well, I figured, if I’m ahead now, I may as well try to stay there! 

The 1 mile seemed to be over almost as soon as it started, but once again, I finished first out of the women age 18-39. 

I had a great time, and I’m definitely going to be back next year!  Hope to see you there, too! 

PS.  Loved the shirts!

The Davis Aquatic Masters are hosting what promises to be an awesome open water event this weekend! There will be a 1 and a 2 mile event (and if you enter both, there’s a discount), as well as age group events.

It will be held at the beautiful Lake Berryessa in Napa, California.  If you haven’t got something fun to do on Saturday morning, you should definitely come out and swim!  And maybe hang around for some wine tasting in the afternoon. 

Info at http://www.damfast.org/berrywelcome.html