Thank you to all my supporters

Thank you for everyone's concern about my health and safety. I am healing up just fine. As proof, I went for a swim for an hour today. Everyone is asking whether I will try again next year. We will have to see what happens with Covid. My camera was lost in the high waves but I do have a couple of pictures from a phone that I uploaded for you. For those of you still thinking about a donation, the donation goes to NADY and they know that all donations that came in in August and September are for my swim. I hope it adds up to a new piece of equipment for the Trackers. Thank you to everyone who donated.

Marilyn's story of Lake Nipissing

The boats drove us over to beautiful Campbell's Bay. It looks like a deserted Algonquin beach with beautiful cliffs on either side. It was nice and fairly flat in the beginning hour. The north wind whipped up, much stronger than predicted. The spray literally whipped by horizontally above the water. The waves were hard to swim in because they were broadside and my shoulders started hurting. This struggle chilled me. This lasted almost 2 hours. I joked that it would start snowing soon, it looked so bad and the temperature fell. Then it became a different lake, calm and almost flat. The sky was overcast and I was counting the hours until the sun was forecasted to come out to warm me up. Swimming was pleasant other than the cold wind on my back until we were approaching the Manitou islands when the waves were coming from several directions. This slowed me down and chillled me too. But then behind the shelter of this ring of islands, an ancient volcano, it was calm and warm and sunny. It was a little oasis. Coming out of the Manitous, the wind picked up, totally in my favour. The water was pretty flat and my speed really picked up. Then, the sun set and the waves started getting bigger and bigger. My son started taking on water in the kayak to the point where he had to go back to the boat. At the same time, the inflatable boats were having great diffulty in the waves. They were 8-10 feet and breaking over me. The big boat in the rear stayed with me but he couldn't get any closer than 30 feet or else he'd run me over. I was having trouble hearing them. When I passed our inflatable upside down, I knew the conditions were really bad. (I later learned that the flip over happened near the boat and she was rescued right away.) I decided getting out was the safest thing to do. Even that was tricky, it took 3 tries for them to throw me a rope. I later heard that the winds were 65 km an hour, that's gale force. I was so glad to hear that everyone was Ok, that disappointment at not finishing was not so important. Lake Nipissing threw everything she had at me. A very challenging lake. I want to thank my Captains, Andy Geseron and Tim Shurgour. They were beyond awesome. And my Swim Master, Shelagh Freedman, who kept me safe. And my faithful crew who have been with me for so many swims. And all the wonderful people at the Nipissing Trackers and Nipissing Association for Disabled Youth, Anne and Rick Taylor and Jim Stewart. And finally to the 2 dozen people who came down to the beach to cheer me on

Evacuation

Approximately 1.6 km from shore waves were 2 to 3 meters and it became unsafe to continue the swim so it was called. This was not forecasted. All are safe but some equipment was lost. Marilyn is warm and resting. More tomorrow!

Darkness with Blood Moon

She is giving this swim her best! She does not want to let the Trackers down! About 3.2 km left. Stroke count 63! She will have nothing left! Marilyn is determined to support the Trackers mission! Thank you for your support!

North Bay in sight

Left Manitou at 6;30pm with 8km remaining so earliest arrival time is approximately 10:30. Finally wind has shifted to southwest and is pushing her straight to Marathon beach where she trained 4 times in the heart of North Bay. Hope she can swim hard enough to prevent hypothermia.

Shivering

Marilyn entered Manitou Island sheltered water but has been cold for more than 1 hour. This is where exhaustion, cold water and waves take their toll. Can she finish only time will tell.

Manitou Is. approaches

We are 3 km from Manitou Is. and Marilyn is staying consistently at 58 to 61 strokes per minute. Visually a circle of rugged tipped islands that bring to mind volcanic activity. In this we will be sheltered from the wind...that keeps on blowing!

Sun is glorious!

Warming all of us especially Marilyn! Westerly wind 28 km distance travelled 15.2km water temp 20C air 19C. She just keeps on going! OPP visited us they wrre curious and escorted us for few kms.

HERE SHE BLOWS!

Strong westerly about 25 km per hour with 1 meter waves and on course for Manitou Islands. Most importantly sun is finally shining and warming Marilyn who was looking cold. This should help!

Enjoy weather!

Today reminds me of Calgary weather if you don't like it wait 5 minutes and it will change. Apparently this good weather will last for 4 to 5 hours then south wind starts to blow. Hope she can continue her usual 2km per hour swim speed. She has kept this pace from the start and is looking strong.

Blue in the sky!!

Gentle waves less than 1 foot and light breeze now from south west less than 5 knots along with blue sky! Stroke back to 65 per minute.

Calm

Wind has blown itself out! Light breeze from north and waves 1/2 meter. Still foggy/misty. Winds are supposed to change from west. Stroke rate around 58 per minute.

Storm

Storm is beginning to weaken, disorganized waves 1 meter and cold rain. Marilyn fighting but these waves are really hard on her shoulders. Feeding regularly at 45 to 60 minute intervals. We can see Goose Island through fog/mist.

Weather

As predicted weather front is moving in with rain for next hour or two. No lightning in forecast nor in the sky! Wind is picking up.

Temperature

Water 20C and Air 17C and at 1hr Marilyn is having her first feed. These are powdered nutrients Maxim and Perpeteum along with occasional Boost and coffee. Stroke is strong and steady about 63 per minute.

Spot Tracker

If you are following spot tracker you should know that it is attached to our lead boat about 50 to 100 meters ahead of Marilyn. Also select 24hr view to see the path of all the way points.

Marilyn the Elder

Big shout out to Marilyn Bell! Thank you for your warm greetings that I read to Marilyn the younger as we were driving to the beach for the start!

The start

At 7:16 am Marilyn left beautiful sand beach on South Western shore of Lake Nipissing near French River as we planned.

Zooming across Lake Nipissing

we're on our way to the start. The rain has stopped and its fairly calm. All systems go! Marilyn signing out.

Getting ready for the swim tomorrow

Here is the SPOT tracker link https://maps.findmespot.com/s/6QSG It isn't going to start transmitting until we turn it on at the beginning of the swim tomorrow sometime around 6 or 6:30 a.m. The new software automatically does "live" picture which is only the current location, in other words, just one dot. If you want to see my whole course, you have to click on the 24 hour history view. We are busy getting our equipment all ready and sorted for our 5 am drive to the marina. It's a beautiful partly sunny morning here in North Bay but we have a 60% chance of thinder later this afternoon. Tomorrow will start drizzly but calm. The rain should end by noon and the sun come out. It will be a bit windier but the wind will be exactly behind my back. Hopefully they will be nice surfing waves. Water temp is holding at 20deg C. Ait starts at 13, peaks at 22 and ends at 15 C.