Whale
The Whale is the longest of all long distance swims. It consists of swimming all the way around the Lake McWain, an uncertain distance between four and six miles. Only Senior Campers and sometimes CITs ever get to swim their Whale. The first three Whales were swum by Jean Hard, William Rounds, and Pat Brewster. There is a plaque in the lodge dedicated to them for it.
Swimming a Whale
A camper must be well prepared to swim his Whale. To be able to swim his Whale senior camper year a camper must have swum his Seal the previous year. Otherwise he probably cannot do his Whale, but there are some exceptions. Whales are almost always swum near the end of the summer so the campers swimming them will have the maximum amount of time to prepare. Some campers do extra Whale training of double periods of swimming to be even more prepared.
Whales usually starting early in the morning before everyone gets up. The person swimming his Whale never knows exactly what day he will be woken up. After he is woken up, he swimmer covers himself with Crisco to stay warm during the swim. A Whale can take anywhere from two to four hours.
The Achievement
When a Whale is close to being finished, the bell will ring and the whole camp will go down to the water to cheer the swimmer on. After the swimmer gets out of the water the whole camp forms a tunnel on the disco deck that he walks through to get to the Moose Manor to get his temperature and vision checked. At the next meal the camp does two standing Birch Rock Cheers for the Whale and there is Whale cake. The Whale will also become part of the Whale club, which consists of every person who has ever swam his Whale who is at camp at the time. At the end of the summer the new Whales will all receive a Whale badge. Their names will also be put up on the plaques under the Whales section along with their times.
Noteworthy Whales
There have been a few whales through the years that deserve special mention.
- Jean Hard swam one of the first Whale's ever and the only woman to ever swim her Whale
- Dave Jenkins broke the camper Whale record about an hour and a half after Kip McMannus broke it in 1985. When Kip came in Dave was in the water on the other side of the Lake.
- After a summer of training with Dave Jenkins, Jamie Grantham broke Dave's camper record and held the record until Andrew B. a decade plus later.
- Will Weeks swam possibly the hardest Whale ever. The wind was against him almost the entire way and he swam through white caps. He did manage to finish with the longest Whale time ever, more than four hours. On the Whale plaques for that year there are waves carved next to his name to make note of his harsh swimming conditions.
- Andrew Bowden swam the fastest Whale ever, taking him only two hours and one minute
