Some of us, by which I again mean some softball players, decided to drive upto the Misery Bay on Saturday afternoon : it’s shallow - water doesn’t get above waist level for about 250 ft into the lake, it’s warmer than Calumet and even if the water was cold, there is a river that joins the lake, which is definitely warm. We teamed up into groups of three and though it seemed easy enough to run in the shallow waters, it burnt us all out in about 30 minutes - forcing us to call half-time, with the opponent team leading 3-1 (It could have been 3-3 but for my foolishness - while defending, I did not know where the end line was and while acting like a quarter-back, I convinced myself that I could throw over Jason’s head!)

After a brutally warm Sunday morning and afternoon, we set out to practice softball around 6ish and after having practiced for about an hour, we thought of cooling off in Hancock Beach. We decided to swim to the Sand Bed, about 500-600 ft into the Portage; about halfway through to that point (with water probably about 10-15 ft deep or more), I get totally burnt out and both my legs are cramped! It wasn’t a very good feeling to have my entire life flash through in a matter of seconds and but for Chye twins, Peter, Jason, Tim, Andy and Arin, my season was pretty much over. It took about 30 minutes, after reaching the deck, to come out of cramps and I wish I was in a better frame of mind to see the people around….

As Pete said and everyone else agreed, here are some things that one ought to keep in mind. When you go swimming, make sure you know how far/long you can swim and more importantly, make sure you are with those who know how to swim, probably better than yourself. It will take sometime for me to get over this thing, but it certainly will not stop me from swimming in the Portage/Superior again…