Spring Arrived in Oceanside Today

It was 64 degrees at the beach today but it felt warmer.  The sun was bright and the warmth was palpable.  Really beautiful.  More people there enjoying the warm conditions; you could play in the water to your waist and get warmed up by the sun.  Let me check surfline.com for the water temp.  It felt a bit warmer than yesterday so I'll guess 59.  And the answer is: 55-57.  Wow. That tells you how much I know.
The surf was bigger than usual and the surf zone was very deep--about 150 yards of surf to swim through.  The outside waves were 6 foot.  You can't tell that from my photos.  Also I didn't think it was that big as I studied the water before I went in.  The interval between waves was small, maybe 5-10 seconds.
I went in and swam hard for 7 minutes to get through that surf zone; I rested for a minute after it.  With the current moving north to south I faced the common "get out past the waves before you get dragged into the pier" scenario.  Mission accomplished.
The ocean was flat but it had neat, large swells out 300-400 yards.  Very pretty and easy to swim through.
The south side had bigger waves and I got wiped out 2-3 times by some big white water.  Just a beautiful afternoon and an exciting swim.  34 minutes to get around the pier.





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

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."