Better than Summer
Well this Tuesday is looking a lot like last Tuesday - perfect. The sun is at about 100% and it is 61 degrees out when I leave the house at 10:30. That’s definitely a few degrees warmer than yesterday at that time. The wind is calm and it looks like the surf is still on the smaller side. There is a SSW swell that is rising. It looks smaller right now than it was forecasted to be at this time so I’m not going to let it stop me from swimming today.
I’m driving up the coast from Capo to Selva and it is lovely all the way. It looks like Summer from all I can tell. In fact, considering the first half of Summer is often covered in a marine layer at this hour, it looks even better than Summer. It can be hard to believe sometimes that I have a job I need to return to after this is done. Here in the outdoor sun, all traces of work appear to have been eliminated. Unfortunately I’ll need to replenish the food stores soon and my mortgage lender probably wants me to continue making payments - bastards.
All is well here at the Strand parking lot. I’m leaving my pack in the car and jettisoning my shirt before heading to the stairs. Based on yesterday’s experience, I won’t need a towel and extra clothing on the way back and I’d rather not have my pack smothered in boulders from the construction taking place on the beach.
Heading down the stairs, I’m thinking about the surf. While everything I saw on Surfline indicated tame conditions, it’s just impossible to know for sure. There wasn’t anyone in the water to add perspective making knee high surf nearly indistinguishable from overhead. The reported size is 3-4+ which usually means that it is well inside my comfort zone but last fall I saw some waves that were way bigger than that while Surfline reported 3-4+. Just last night I watched this video of Black’s in San Diego that was almost double overhead and the poster claimed that Surfline was reporting 3-4+. I figure you just never know and these numbers can only serve as ballpark figures. Well, the view from the stairs so far looks pretty darn harmless and I can also tell from the sound (or lack of sound) that things can’t be big.
When I get to the beach it is even more obvious that there is really nothing here. It seems smaller than yesterday. It’s almost laughable the amount of thought energy I put into all of this just for apparently nothing. The other thing I notice here is that the tractor is focused in the exact spot where I stash my pack so I’m extra glad I didn’t bring it. I have oddly become emotionally attached to the half a dozen large boulders surrounding the area where I usually park my stuff. I’m guessing this is going to cover and/or scatter them and that makes me kind of sad. I’ll get over it. Maybe I already am.
I head out into the water on this idyllic piece of coast. There are two breaking waves that kind of stack up on top of eachother right in front of me and knock me over. I’m almost grateful…no, I am grateful…because it gets the cold plunge over with quickly and involuntarily. I head out and start to swim.
Really not a lot to say about today’s swim. It was so great yet nearly indistinguishable from other recent swims. The water might have felt cooler than yesterday possibly because I’m out earlier. There were some super nice warm spots but they were brief and lots of cold pockets too. Overall though it was not at all extreme and I was comfortable enough. The water looked cleaner and more blue today than yesterday. The ocean surface was smooth to begin with but the wind picked up before I was done and it looked a little blown out as I came in to shore. No dolphin sightings.
As I walk to the ramp, I appreciate the warm sunlight but also sad to be on the return voyage home. There is something about this place and these swims that feel like they transport me outside of time. There is something about being alone out in the water 300 feet from shore that makes me feel like I might as well be in outer space. I might feel differently if I had actually ever been to outer space. It puts me in a setting so removed from anything else in my daily existence. Also few enough in the world do this that I don’t have that sense of “shared experience.” It is something that feels very much my own. While I am always excited to find other swimmers or tell others about this experience, there is a specialness given to this pastime solely by virtue of its uniqueness.
