ARTS & CULTURE agree with him. I just nod eagerly instead. The south side of the Point is protected from north winds, which makes it less choppy and wavy for swimmers. Travis points out another swimmer in the water. “She swims for the whole year.” In February, she can be in the water for ten to 15 minutes. “I act as a valet,” says Travis. When swimmers exit the water after four to ten minutes, Travis hands them gloves and clothing. Travis tells me about the time one swimmer got into the water for three minutes with gloves on and the velcro fasteners froze shut. Travis and the swimmer had to work together to pull the gloves off of his hands. “There’s no explaining it. I just say they are different mammals,” he says. Once the water temperature hits 50 degrees in November, many swimmers begin to fall back and retreat for the year. However, some of these athletes brave the Chicago weather and swim through the ice and negative wind chills. Lake Michigan waters don’t typically drop below 32 degrees, which allows for swimmers to jump in, swim for approximately ten minutes, and hop back out. Travis even tells me about
a swimmer who swam a circle through a thin sheet of ice one year, leaving a path in the frozen water. “God,” I think to myself, “Will you make me a Point swimmer when I grow up? I notice during my morning that for these swimmers, jumping into the lake is more than a quick shock or exercise. It’s a mental necessity. The British Medical Journal has even reported a 2018 case study where a young woman struggled with depression and after swimming in 59-degree water, her mood improved and she was weaned off of antidepressants. I’m also reminded of Wim Hof, AKA The Iceman, who has boggled scientist’s minds with his method of swimming in ice for prolonged periods of time. In a recent Outside Magazine feature, Susan Casey follows Hof and his followers to an ice bath in Iceland. Hof, who has a cult following, teaches workshops and classes where folks are introduced to cold baths and cold soaks. The Icelandic guru has defied science and claims to control his own body temperature, nervous system, and immune response (when scientists tried to prove he was an anomaly, they tested 12
of his trained volunteers and found the same results). Before plunging into the lagoon, Hof tells the journalist, “You gotta swim today! Yeah—it will be good! We’ll go wild! We will sing in front of everybody! And we are gonna cut the crap and the bullshit and we are gonna live!” Whether you believe in Hof’s superhuman way of life or not, there is no denying the life force that comes with the cold shock of water. Alexandra Heminsley, author of Leap In: a Woman, Some Waves and the Will to Swim, details her experience with IVF and how swimming gave her solace. She says in The Guardian, “Because swimming outdoors is this constant confrontation of danger and the unknown, it reminds you that those tiny risks are worth taking. So in terms of just keeping my sanity, it was invaluable.” Overcoming obstacles has been a huge component of swimming in open waters for many folks.
“L
ourgeois heads to the Point from Rogers Park two to three times a week. She prefers swimming on the south side and has been doing so for years, as she spent her teenage years in Hyde Park. On the day I’m at the Point, she swims towards the pier, and once she’s about 50 yards from the mass that juts out into the water, she spots some other swimmers in the water nearby. She decides to swim back with the pod toward the rocks. The waves pound the shoreline as she shouts, “Welcome!” to me. “I’ve been swimming here since 1978.” I end up meeting with LeBourgeois to discuss her paintings a week or so later. She is successfully represented by galleries in New York and Los Angeles and paints images of the lake and the vastness she experiences in the middle of the water. When I talk to her, I can feel the unwavering importance of the lake in her voice. It’s something so tangible and simply beautiful. For LeBourgeois, swimming is everything. It’s how she spends her mornings, and when she isn’t swimming, she’s in the studio painting her memories of swimming. It’s all-encompassing.
ouise is a powerful swimmer,” says Travis. She’s in the water already before I meet her. Artist Louise LeB-
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