Sunrise, yesterday.

Meade's photo of me taking a photo of the sun and the paddleboarder at 5:57:

Enjoy this open thread on Independence Eve.

Sunrise — 5:29, 5:33, 5:57.

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"... Campbell had not been wearing a lifejacket."

From "Obamas’ chef drowns in paddleboarding accident near their home" (London Times)("The search for [Tafari] Campbell... began on Sunday after reports emerged from another paddleboarder that an individual who had been struggling on the surface went under and did not reappear.... [D]ivers had recovered the body about 100ft from the shore in 8ft of water").

From the comments over there: "We have just had a family fight because I insisted on kitting out and buying my granddaughter a life jacket for when she goes on her paddle board. I also managed to persuade her to wear it. She is talented and can swim, but at almost ten years old I felt it was reckless to let her believe she didn't need one. For me this is the story. And if this young man had not been associated with celebrities, no one would have known about it...."

7:07 a.m. — temperature 43° — paddleboard.

Paddleboarding on Lake Wingra.

It was sublime!

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"For a great white shark, a seal is a big juicy steak with a slice of chocolate cake. A person is an old piece of celery that’s been sitting on the counter all day."

Said the nature writer, quoted at the end of the WaPo article "‘You are paddleboarding next to approximately 15 great white sharks,’ chopper tells Calif. beachgoers."


All right then. This gets my "things that could have been worse" tag.

We put in many hours of hard spectating at yesterday's Ironman Wisconsin in Madison.

The swimming began in Lake Monona at 7 a.m. and we biked out there to see what we could:



The paddle boarders had a nice view, and so did the people who got a higher sight line from Monona Terrace:



The swimmers got their bikes up in those ramps and came out the other end onto the street that goes along next to the bike trail that is our usual bike trail, so we biked alongside them — us on the trail and them in the street — until they had to make a sharp turn at Wingra Creek...



... and we went along our way, completing the 20+-mile Capital City trail. Stowing our bikes at home, we set out on foot, walking over towards Lake Mendota to catch the Ironmen and -women in their running phase, up on Observatory looking out toward Picnic Point...



... then down at Library Mall...



... and later, out by the stadium...



What an exerting day in Madison it was for us! My iPhone app counted 6.45 miles of walking on top of that 20+ miles of biking. True, I didn't swim, but I did take a shower.

Sunset on Lake Wingra.

This evening, with paddleboard and dog:

A Wingra interlude.

On the lake, this evening.

"And here we are... waiting for the sunset."

(Yesterday, on Lake Wingra.)

Thirsty?

I could go for a nice big glass of hornets... after a rough day of paddleboarding...



... on Lake Wingra.

Paddleboard.

Want one?

It's not that often that I do something new, but I did something new yesterday: stand-up paddleboarding. I managed to stand up, didn't fall in, and paddled around Lake Wingra as the sun set. It was cool. Cool enough to invest in all the equipment? I don't know. We rented: here.

No photos. We don't have a waterproof camera. Yet. Okay, I bought this one. And a wristband flotation device.