"Maggie Gilbert Is Smiling!"

Dateline: Saturday, November 6, 2010

The Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center at Palisades High School is hosting its First Age Group Swim Meet this weekend, hosted by Westside Aquatics, a local age group swimming program that has already been running workouts at the new facility for several weeks now.


I had an opportunity to visit the facility during this two day age group swim meet on Saturday, Nov. 6th, and I must say that I was overjoyed with the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of age group swimmers and parents and coaches in attendance. As the photos above and below attest, this facility is already keeping its promise of contributing to the health and welfare of the community. To see the smiling youthful and happy faces of all the kids swimming and the enthusiasm and support of their parents and coaches at this new facility funded by Mrs. Rose Gilbert in honor of her daughter, Maggie, was a truly special experience.

Maggie Gilbert Is (Definitely) Smiling Down Upon Us All From Heaven!



And below, some additional photos from the second day of this same swim meet, Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010:






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Thank you Mrs. Gilbert for your generosity, vision and commitment to Palisades High School and to the Community ! Your dream has become a reality !

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The "Old School" Pool Thermometer Solution

Sure enough, Norris Hardware, right here in the Palisades, carried a trusty "old school" pool thermometer made by JED (Jed Pool Tools, Inc.), www.jedpooltools.com

JED even has two pages worth of pool thermometers!... Check it out for yourself:

http://www.jedpooltools.com/page22.html

We dropped this thermometer in the photo above off at the Pali Pool and the manager has confirmed the receipt of same and we hope the pool staff will use it to assess the pool temp each day for the benefit of the students and the community, rather than relying on the to date unreliable digital temperature gauge that is part of the state of the art pool heating equipment.

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The Heater vs. The Pool: Trick or Treat

This afternoon, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2010, the Pool Chart indicated that the temp of the competition/lap pool was a crisp 74 degrees, while the teaching pool indicated 81 degrees.

Turns out the temperature gauge on the pool heater may be inaccurately reading the pool temp in the competition pool as the water felt more like 80 degrees than the posted 74 degrees when the undersigned checked the pool temp by dipping his hand in the pool and then taking a swim. The water in the competition pool was definitely warmer than a week ago Sunday (Oct. 24) when it was posted at 78 degrees. The pool staff confirmed that there seems to be an issue with the heater properly identifying the actual pool temp.

Suggestion: Perhaps an "old school" pool thermometer that can be hung on a string from one of the pool exit ladder's handlebars could help the staff and the community to have a more accurate temperature reading.

Nevertheless, it was a beautiful afternoon at the Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center, as the photo below illustrates.


Meanwhile, on the quad today at Pali High a Community Festival was happening and one of the booths was hosted by Clay Evans (see photo below) of SCAQ (So. Calif. Aquatics), the venerable and popular Masters swim team, which is already holding Masters swimming workouts at the new Pali High competition pool.


Get out there and swim !

Will Maguire, Editor
Pali Pool Temp Dot Com
http://PaliPoolTemp.blogspot.com

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Grand Opening of: "Pali Pool Temp Dot Com", the Blog

(Photo above, dated, Oct. 24, 2010. Pool Temp: 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Photo by & Copyright Will Maguire. All Rights Reserved. Used here with permission.)


(Above, a printed Schedule of Pool Hours, available at the Pool Office; and also available online at: http://palihigh.enschool.org/mgac )

Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010

Dateline: Pacific Palisades, California

The purpose of this Blog is to keep track of the pool temperature at the new Palisades High (aka, Pali High) competition/lap swimming pool, pool hours, pool events, etc. et al at the newly opened "Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center".

The temp until some time earlier this week had been 78 degrees Fahrenheit. The undersigned swam for the first time in this pool this past Sunday, Oct. 24, 2010 and was surprised at the chilly 78 degree temp of the pool. This is colder than most competitive swimming pools which are typically set between 80 and 82 degrees. On the day of the Grand Opening Ceremonies on Sat., Oct. 10, 2010, the heater was broken and the water was frigid at best! So cold, in fact, that this writer upon jumping in feet first into Lane #7, immediately climbed back out.

Rumor has it that the 78 degree temp in the lap pool since opening to the public on Oct. 18th was the result of trying to save money by the powers that be. We have since learned, however, that the pool temp has been increased to approximately 80 degrees, which is very good news to parents of age group swimmers, high school swimmers, masters swimmers and lap and recreation swimmers.

Below, three photos of the lap/competition pool today at around 12:30 pm:






An audit of the pool temp today around 12:30 pm, revealed that the lap pool was 79 degrees and the teaching pool was 80 degrees (see photo below). The lifeguard on duty also indicated that the lap pool had been 80 degrees the day before but the temp had dropped overnight, which is not unusual given the two significant early morning heavy downpours.



(Photo, dated, 10.24.2010. Photo by & Copyright Will Maguire 2010. All Rights Reserved. Used here with permission.)

*** Last but certainly not least, Many Thanks to Pali High School Teacher Mrs. Rose Gilbert for her vision and generous donations which made this Aquatic Center, named in honor of her daughter and competitive swimmer, Maggie Gilbert, a reality! ***

Will Maguire,
Pali High Class of 1973,
Editor, "Pali Pool Temp Dot Com" Blog
http://PaliPoolTemp.blogspot.com

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