Cold, Glassy, Sunset Pier Swim-Oceanside, CA

Today the water was completely different from yesterday; it was flat and glassy out there-great for swimming.  I'm still holding off on the wet suit and I was very cold coming in today.  I was wishing that I just could be beamed up and out of the ocean without having to finish the swim.  I had a beautiful view of the post-sunset, horizontal-striped, colorful sky as I swam out and a bright full-moon view on my way in.  Really cool scenery.
I even noticed when I was out past the pier that there was a blimp flying southward at about 400 feet or so.  I don't know what that was all about-maybe the Goodyear blimp?
The waves were small for about a dozen surfers-but they know how to work 'em to get the most out of a small wave. 
A gorgeous, colorful evening at the beach.  Tomorrow I won't be swimming because I work until 6 PM - after sunset.  But I guess that I'll be back at it on Friday.

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

Channel Swims, Marathon Swims, etc

Honestly, I just don't know how the long-distance swimmers can do what they do in the open water-with the rough conditions, the effects of the cold water on one's ability to swim, problems with visibility due to waves, etc.  I am getting a better appreciation of the difficulties of doing a swim of a few miles or a swim across one of the Channel Islands, or the Catalina to Long Beach crossing. 
It is tough out there.  With the cold water now-probably 58 or 59 - the body quickly doesn't want to perform.  The hands chill up and the fingers don't want to stay together during the arm pull; the legs just want to hang there and don't want to flutter kick; and keeping on direction gets tougher.
Tuesday's swim was fine, but I only swam for 31 minutes.  Without a wet suit, think of the swimmers in colder water swimming for several hours...Just amazing.
I swam north to south and guessed correctly-with the current.  I've been watching the surfers and the direction in which they face in the water.  The chop was 1-2 feet.  The last two swims of mine I swam through the surfers coming in even though I was looking out for them to avoid them as usual.  It's hard to see with the chop now.  I rounded the pier before the sun set and had a view of an almost-full moon coming in. 

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

Time Change Swim After Work

Neat, rough swim after work today (Monday).  The time changed, so it got dark early.  I got in at 4:30 PM and as I rounded past the end of the pier the sun hit the horizon.  I could see the moon behind me when I breathed to the right, and the setting sun when I breathed to the left.
The water was rough with a one-foot chop at least, but nowhere near yesterday's rodeo swim.  I swam south to north and was heading into a mild north to south current.  I swam in while it was getting dark-always a good motivator to swim fast.  The trip was 38 minutes-the current took some extra time.
The pictures show the before and after with the darkness after I finished.  I think that this will be the earliest that the sun will set now so I can look forward to the sun setting a bit later week by week.

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

Rough Water Swim Oceanside CA Pier Rainy Swim

Now when I say that I had the beach to myself, I mean it literally Sunday.  I was hurting so much (low back) that I went for a swim.  I think the buoyancy helps take the pressure off the bones or discs.  I'm still hanging in there with no wet suit, just trunks.  The water is pretty cold.
Sunday was truly a 'rough water swim.'  Actually, I think that swimmers who lke a good, rough swim would have loved it Sunday.  It was hard swimming out.  Waves were washing-machine quality at about a good three-foot chop.  Very windy.  I got around in 32 minutes.  I swam about 3:30 PM. 
A lot of the swim was trying to time my breathing with the swells so that I would try to breathe when a wave was bouncing me upward.  On the north side (I went south to north) close in to the shore there was a sretty strong north pull of the water.  The south side had a northward pull in the first hundred yards or so, but not strong enough to be a real concern. 
I walked the beach on the south side for a while afterward and collected a bunch of seashells.  The rough water threw a lot of good shells onto the beach. 

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