Thursday, November 22, 2012

Wednesday Swim

I forgot my camera yesterday (Wednesday) when I went to the Pier to swim.  The waves had picked up to the 3 foot range and the water was 58-59 degrees.  It was calm water past the breakers and a nice swim.  I stayed chilly in my upper body for a good ten minutes; the swim was 30 minutes.  Lots of surfers on the south side when I was coming in; I had to dodge them to get in and not mess up their rides.  I got dumped hard once coming through the surf zone, but that's fun as long as you don't lose any goggles or swim caps. 


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

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Families Taking Christmas Card Photos at the Oceanside Pier Today










I'm glad that I went to the Pier this afternoon before the new, earlier sunset times.  The water temp was 58-60 and comfortable.  The visibility was a bit better at 6-7 feet.  We had some small waves, one to three feet, with a few dozen surfers stretched out.  There was a small to moderate number of folks walking the Pier and the Beach, and enjoying some family time.  This is the time of year that families take their Christmas card photos (organized families) at the beach, and before sunset is a popular time for some families. 
I had a thirty-minute peaceful swim in flat, pretty water.  I took a big arc around the pier and went a good hundred yards past the pier.  No boats or jet skies to cause me concern today.  Instead of my latex swim cap, I'm wearing the warmer silicon swim cap now. 
Afterwards, I saw two big dolphins close in that appeared to be feeding on small fish.  I tried to get photos but my camera couldn't pick them up.  They are always a good omen to me. 

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

Thursday, November 15, 2012

First Winter Water Today










I don't know; look at that LOW tide. How could it still take me 26 minutes to get around?  And the flatness of the water again was amazing.  Visibility about 4-5 feet. No waves.  Very few people.  This is the first day that I can say that the water was cold.  It hurt my face getting used to it; it took me 12 minutes to get used to it.  Let's look at surfline.com.  It says 58-60 degrees but it was colder than yesterday's 58-60 degrees.
Hey, it was my first day being cold on the drive home. Alright.  Gotta love it.


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

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Beautiful Swim This Afternoon Around Oceanside Pier

I forgot my camera today.  I was deciding whether to use my lousy camera with blurry photos, but which I know how to use, OR take the better camera that takes clearer photos but makes me crazy trying to use it.  Then I just forgot to take anything.  But, it doesn't matter.  The photos would have been much the same as the past three posts of mine. 
The tide was low, but not crazy low like yesterday or the day before.  The ocean was FLAT!  Wow.  No movement in the water and visibility of about 4-5 feet.  No dredging at the Harbor today.
Very small waves, like one foot or two foot.  I found several cool shells, which fired me up.
OK.  Swimming.  The water cooled off more and now I can say the water is chilly.  Surfline.com has the water temp at 58-60 degrees.  Sounds right to me.  It took me about 10 minutes to get used to the water temp. 
I swim slowly.  I'm just slow.  I wish I were faster.  It took me 27 minutes around; I should be a couple of minutes faster.  I had good wind.  I was concentrating on the fundamentals of the swim.  My kick is lousy.  But I feel so much better in my head having done the chilly swim today.  And that, my friend, is PRICELESS.


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

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

No Swim. Just Pictures of the Lowest Tide I've Seen
















Now that's some serious low tide.  And that's all I have to say about that.


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