Bill Welzien Completes 91st Swim Around Island of Key West

Photo Courtesy: Bill Welzein

Commentary by Bill Welzien following his 91st swim around the Island of Key West

Well, well, well, I am only 9 swims away from reaching my goal of 100 swims around the Island of Key West, Florida.

Here I was 17 days after my last swim on June 24th. My schedule has been so crazy. After the Annual Swim Around Key West on Saturday, June 24th, I had a guest who was eager to “cross pollenate” on our experiences in evangelism. Since he flew in to meet with me from Georgia, my time was very focused during his stay. Not much time for swimming. Then on the 4th of July my wife, Sessie and I were on a flight to New Hampshire to visit my daughter Christiana and her husband John Warenda and our three grandchildren, Constance (4), Naomi (2) and Silas (8 mos.). I had some great ministry opportunities, including baptizing Silas on Sunday, July 9th. We were with the saints of Exeter PCA in Exeter, NH. Steve Magee is pastor.

Wonderful family time but not much time for swimming. However, I did manage to secure a free guest pass to the Manchester YMCA and I spend a few hours working out at the facility. I swam 2 miles in the pool and did my upper body dumb bell work out on that Friday. It was a great time. As I look back I see that I swam only about 13 miles in the last 16 days. Nevertheless, I was eager to get back into the salt water and try to secure my #91.

Tuesday, July 11 was my last shot coming off the full moon. The start time was getting later each day (as I seek to start from Smathers Beach 2.5-3 hours before high tide in the Key West Harbor). There was also the fact that I had a scheduled phone conference call on Wednesday from 8-10am and then I would need to leave for the airport at 10:30am. (I am writing this synopsis from a Hampton Inn in Pensacola, Fl.). Hence, Tuesday was a due or die day. If it didn’t happen that day, I would need to wait until July 24th, at the new moon.

On the way home from NH I asked my son Billy, if he could kayak for me. “No, dad! I have to work from 10:00 am onward.” I prayed, “Oh Lord, help me to find someone!” I contacted my son in law, Doug Weeks. He said, “No problem!” I thought, “Wow! That was easy!” Doug had kayaked for me recently on my #89. He is a very competent kayaker!

On Monday afternoon, I got my Hammer Perpetuem drinks together and grabbed pennant #91. Then I put the kayak on the top of my van and strapped it down. Goggles, swimming suit, lip balm, paddle, life jacket for Doug. I got it together and began to load the van in preparation for the next morning!

On Tuesday at 7:30 am we were on our way to Smathers. The wind was out of the ESE at about 9-13 mph. But, before I left my home I covered my body with SolRx sun block, matte SPF50. Doug did my back. I let it dry and then we took off. We would do another application at the beach. This is my 5th or 6th swim with the SolRx and I have had wonderful success with this product. The water temperature was at 87.5 degrees. The air at the start was 84 but would reach 90 by 3:00 pm. Your have to have a good product to keep you from burning in these condition, I was out there for just over 6 hours.

We started right at 8:40 am. I felt free of kinks and cramps. My first mile was a 31:10. The fastest mile was in the Key West Harbor, my 4th mile was a 22:51. My slowest miles was mile 6 at 38:02. Sadly, my Garmin 910 XT was finicky. It kept losing contact with the satellite. At mile 10 it lost satellite contact all together. My clock continued to run but all my splits and stats were skewed by the end of the course. I love so much being able to look back and see each mile split and gather up all the other interesting info. On this swim it was not to be.

We had the wind hitting us on our right side from mile 5 to 6. From mile 7-8.5 we had a head wind. However, it was all very doable!! The Cow Key was not raging. That mile was swum in just under 30:00. My last 2 miles were not split by my dormant GPS, the cumulative time was 1:09:10. If I break them evenly in half, I end up with each mile swum in 34:35. By the time I returned to the start/finish pole I had clocked a 6:14:19.

I felt good after the swim, in fact, very energetic. As Doug and I arrived at the Beach we had a stranger, Marlin from Atlanta, GA, take our victory photo and then we loaded up and headed home. I had a quick shower. The nice thing about the SolRx is that it washes off easily with soap and water. I ate and then I was off to Tuesday for our church’s evening prayer meeting and then afterward to lead our 90-minute Bible study.

I am happy to say that I am now in the single digit zone to reaching my goal of 100 swims by the end of this year! Nine more swims. The next swim is scheduled for the new moon on Monday, July 24th.

Please note that the Garmin 910XT watch lost satellite connection at mile 10.

Splits	Time	Cumulative Time	Moving Time	Distance	Avg Distance per Stroke	Avg Pace	Avg Moving Pace	Avg Swim Cadence	Calories
1	31:10	31:10	30:57	1,760	1.82	1:46	1:46	28	359
2	32:26	1:03:36	31:47	1,760	0.90	1:51	1:48	27	287
3	25:22	1:28:58	25:19	1,760	0.65	1:27	1:26	28	237
4	22:51	1:51:49	22:32	1,760	0.51	1:18	1:17	28	236
5	27:53	2:19:42	27:52	1,760	0.41	1:35	1:35	28	238
6	38:02	2:57:44	34:30	1,760	0.32	2:10	1:58	27	248
7	32:27	3:30:11	18:40	1,760	0.27	1:51	1:04	27	147
8	33:25	4:03:36	30:56	1,760	0.24	1:54	1:45	27	136
9	32:29	4:36:06	22:06	1,760	0.21	1:51	1:15	28	53
10	29:03	5:05:09	20:41	1,760	0.19	1:39	1:11	26	89
11	1:09:10	6:14:19	—	43	0	2:32:24	—	28	9
Summary	6:14:19	6:14:19	4:29:01	17,640	0.29	2:07

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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