Offshore Breeze Feb 10 O'Side Pier

Hey there was another ocean swimmer in the water just south of the pier today. You can barely make him out in my bottom, right picture. Maybe I should have introduced myself but he didn't look like he would make it too far. I went in with wetsuit, webbed gloves, and fins. The water was chilly and the chop was about two feet high out far. I swam around the pier against the chop, from south to north. I was slowing down the last quarter of the swim from the cold, I think. An invigorating swim after work.

Wed Feb 9, O'Side Harbor to Pier Swim

So I decided not to wear fins today as the water was smooth out there and there appeared to be no currents. The surf was small. I started at the right side of the rock jetty in the pictures about 100 yards and swam south (or left). I was wearing my webbed gloves for security and concentrating on a proper arm pull. I felt comfortable, albeit slow, but I made it to the pier and could easily have kept going.

I jogged back up the beach to where I began at the O'Side Harbor. A really nice day and I feel like I made some substantial improvement.

Tuesday, Feb 8th Oceanside Pier

I drove to the Oceanside Harbor first but there was not a soul in the water. The beach was nasty, thoroughly without shape, just rough chop.

I drove over to the south side parking lot for the Oceanside Pier, which I never do, and parked there. There was one intrepid surfer in the water trying to catch any kind of crummy, shapeless wave to get his fix. I decided to swim around the pier the opposite way from my usual north to south because the mild current, waves, and chop were moving southward. I wanted a more difficult swim against the wind and choppy water with my fins and webbed gloves.

I felt good in the water, strong heading out. Once I rounded the pier, it was easier to swim toward the sand with the wave action helping me in. A nice, thirty-minute, vigorous swim. I took some pictures before and after. Oh, and I found a nice sand dollar in the water as I exited! It was in great shape, unbroken. While not as large in diameter as the one I lost yesterday, it helped.

Monday, Feb 7th, Oceanside Pier

First I drove to the Oceanside Harbor to swim but it was packed with surfers. I drove to the pier area and got in there. The water was 57 but felt chillier. I felt cold the entire swim, which is unusual. I wasn't trying to put much effort into the overall swim; I was concentrating on my arm entry, catching the water, and pulling, pushing, and recovering.
I swam around the pier and it was very smooth out there. The waves were small inside but a good shape for surfers-probably 2-3 feet mostly.
One interesting thing did happen on this outing. The tide was low and I found a large sand dollar in about two feet of water that was in perfect, intact condition. Since I couldn't take it on my swim with me, I left it near a pile of kelp up the beach. When I finished and returned to get it, it was gone. Doggonit! I think I know who got it. There was an elderly lady with a bucket picking up shells near me. I bet she eyeballed me when I went into the water and then went back out and dropped something back up on the sand. Oh boy. It was a nice one too. Watch your shells out there folks.

Sunday, Feb 6, 2011

I'm just waking up at 10 AM over and I am sore. My low back is sore from leaning over my longboard scraping off the wax. Lesson learned: next time get a couple of wood rests and lay the board higher up on the work benches-or whatever the heck they are called. Oh, I know, saw horses they used to call them. So next time buy two saw horses to lean the board on when I clean it. Isn't life interesting?
I'll hit the beach later this afternoon.
I got in the water in the afternoon for a swim with fins around the pier. Pretty uneventful swim. Afterward, I jogged back up to my car. Then I got the idea to go back in the water without the fins and wet suit to see how I would fare. Well, there IS a big difference with wet suit and without the suit. I swam through the sets of smallish waves (2-3 feet) and tried to swim north parallel to the beach. I swam for about ten minutes and started to feel it so I stopped. I was farther south than where I started. The current was pulling south and without fins I was not going anywhere, except in reverse. Getting out I was a little dizzy and was falling down in the waves-probably a bit too cold. Once again, I need to learn more about currents, tides, etc.