Before Sunset, Tuesday February 18th, 2025

Damn, I wasted countless days sitting in my recliner chair--NOT GETTING IN THE WATER--feeling sorry for myself with my perennial antagonist: pain.

No, I have not had the gene of self-pity excised by "Ancestry" or "23 and Me."

This parasite has accompanied me in this life. But I have had my periods of time when I can locate the kernel of self-motivation hidden latent deep within my soul. 

The motivation is unearthed by fleeting physical pain, exhaustion, extremes of cold, and physical danger...the physical challenges that one lives in a young life, and throughout a life if a person is quite special, like Socrates, who propounded his idea of living a Stoic life in his Classical Greek age. I am not such a Stoic; perhaps I tasted a few years of that as a young man, without realizing the importance of it.

Wait! Isn't this a blog of swimming? 

This was yesterday:

This was me yesterday:

Fourteen years ago, this was me:

Not the build of a swimmer; I'm more of a plodder. I haven't been able to freestyle after 2 cervical surgeries, but...maybe...who ever knows.

Yesterday the Harbor Beach was rough, surging 2-5 foot waves without much of an interval to recover between waves. I was unable  to get to the big waves, much less through them and out past them, which is typically my goal.

I had 15 minutes of difficult, chilly fun in my Churchill fins. My lumbar is holding up well today. Fingers crossed. 

Surfers KNOW the secret of life. Cold salt water striving to achieve the adrenaline pump of speed and power. I envy them.

"The first time you quit is the last time you try."

Sunday Swim Oceanside Harbor

About 3pm I was pleased to see some waves between the 2 rock jetties. The water was fine, the temp, in a wetsuit. Waves 2-4 foot maximum, poor-fair shape. Several surfers doing ok on both sides of the south jetty. 

About 2 foot visibility. Surfline quotes 56 F degrees but much warmer, I believe. About 62.

A decent number of folks enjoyed the area, lots of dog walkers, but no dogs on the sand. I'm a hard-liner on this: no dogs on Oceanside sand. Use dog beaches wherever they may be. Del Mar is one and I heard Orange County has a dog beach.

I tried wearing a hard plastic neck brace today to prevent neck problems and it did. Pretty uncomfortable though. I kicked out past the big surf and hung out a bit, then kicked in. My wind is poor. Legs and lumbar feel good with the buoyancy of the heavy salt water but something isn't normal in my right side of the diaphragm. It is pushed upward for some reason. Who knows. I don't even know if it affects my wind or if I just need to exercise more.

A very pleasurable day overall at the beach. We're lucky to have it.

"The first time you quit is the last time you try."

Rained Out

I've been craving some salt water for several days now, but we actually have been experiencing 'rain' in Oceanside. Rain here means dirty water runoff from the creeks and some street drainage that flow into the Pacific. That keeps you out of the water. The rule of thumb is 'wait 48 hours' after rain to swim/surf.

It's  kinda' like when you were a kid, and every adult warned you to 'wait 30 minutes' after eating to go in the water at the beach. "You'll get cramps and drown." Of course, no kid ever waited 30 minutes, and the deadly cramps never occurred. 

However, you will get a sinus infection in dirty water. So, I wait. 

Today is Saturday the 15th, a sunny day. Tomorrow I will return to my 'salt water fix.'

"The first time you quit is the last time you try."

SATURDAY 4 pm Rough Water at the Harbor

Medium tide with lots of rough white water surgy waves one on top of the other. Little interval between waves. Current pulling south fairly strong. 56 degrees F per Surfline but the water felt warmer than that. 

7 surfers struggling to get  out to the 3-5 foot poorly shaped waves this afternoon. I saw several decent rides. I'm always amazed at how the surfers paddle through the incoming surge and actually get through to  the bigger sets. Tough, wiry guys. 

I kicked out and around here and there, being pulled toward the south rock jetty. I didn't have much wind. 

I couldn't get out to the big stuff today. Even if I had had the wind, I don't yet have the confidence again yet. 

I decided to get out and I walked north to the north jetty. I kicked around and tried to get out but half-heartedly. Ended up kicking easy and drifting south a bit before I called it a day.

Cold is good for me. 

A couple of photos. Hot  coffee is nice afterward.

"The first time you quit is the last time you try."

Cloudy Day with the Water Getting a Little Rougher

Thursday late afternoon at the Harbor. A little chillier, 2 foot visibility, waves 2 to 4 foot swells. Several surfers but the shape was poor, closing out.

I liked the roughness of the incoming  tide smashing me at the distance out from the sand with the surfers. I'm still needing more wind but I felt good and got some nice kicking in for 15-20 minutes.

"The first time you quit is the last time you try."