San Diego Ocean Swim. Toasty Warm at 55 Degrees (same as my age).

Two weeks elapsed since my body got into this beautiful water.  Long weeks.  Bad weeks.  Today it felt Cold cold because I wasn't used to it.  I didn't get used to the water until eighteen minutes into my swim; that was when I was off the end of the pier checking my time.  The surf was small but rough and sloppy.  The first hundred and fifty yards were up & down swimming, and pulling hard to warm up.
After that the chop was about a foot to a foot and 1/2.  It was not enough to make it miserable to breathe, but enough to be annoying.  I puked once on the way in.
I was cold even after I was home for about an hour.  Then I took a hot bath to warm me up.  That did it.
Visibility about 8 feet. Current moving southeast making diagonal chop out there.
A decent swim of 34 minutes around the pier.


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

Checked it out, but no swim.

The water was a warm 56-57 today and the water looked to have a two-foot chop to it.  Surfing was mediocre with very few people in the water.  The wind was strong from right to left.  I didn't have any life force in me so I just took a few pictures and left.


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

Rough Ocean Today

When I got to the beach this afternoon I decided to wear my Churchill Slasher fins along with this thin, wet-suit jacket that I have in the trunk.  The water looked quite rough and ugly, and I wanted the fins for survival.  My neck is out of whack again so I couldn't freestyle swim; I decided to go for a kick swim lying on my back.  The water was a cold 55 degrees.  The waves were up to 4 foot with lots of power in them.  Also there was a chop up to 2 feet everywhere.  I was kicking away to get out through the surf zone; moving across past the pier was ok; but the kick in was surprisingly difficult.  I kept thinking that the water didn't make sense.  If I'm kicking hard against the water to get out farther (this is out past the breakers), then kicking in on the south side of the pier should be easier, because I'll be kicking WITH the water flow.  But this didn't occur.  How can I be swimming against the movement of the water on both sides of the pier?  Really, I don't get it.
It took me 44 minutes to do the swim.
So afterward, I'm putting clothes on at my car in the parking lot, and there is this lady with her son parked next to me.  The boy is looking like a small, fourteen-year-old kid in his wet-suit who is heading toward the rough water with his surfboard.  I was impressed with the kid's guts and assumed ability so I say to the lady, "Hi, is that your kid?"  I follow it up with, "I'm amazed at these young kids who go out in that water.  They sure are tough." (or similar words).  She is annoyed by my existence and walks to the far side of her car (a Mercedes 4 door expensive car) and opens her back door and gets in.  End of my attempt at being amiable at the beach.  I got dissed.  All I wanted to do was compliment her son.  I HAVE to learn NOT to be nice to people at the beach.  What is wrong with me?


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

Special Olympics Oceanside CA

polar-plunge-special-olympics/

Some folks jumped in the water at the Pier yesterday.  Here is the newspaper link.

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

Neat afternoon at the beach

The air temp was 82 at my house in Oceanside today.  The water temp was 56.  Visibility was a few feet and the ocean was flat beyond the breakers.  The north side was 1-3 feet but the south side had some nice 4 foot waves which brought a bunch of surfers out there.  There was a moderate current all over to the north, for a change.  It didn't sink in until I was having to exert a continued effort to swim from the north side of past the end of the pier to the south side.  Then I had to keep a swim effort going to keep the current from bringing me back to the pier. Very different conditions today.  There were lots of beachgoers because of the unusual warm temps today; we had a summer feeling to the day.  A good 34 minute swim.

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