I left the house at 8:45 this morning. It’s mostly sunny out and already over 70 degrees outside. As I pass the river mouth at Doheny, I can see the surf is up. The surf forecast mentioned that we are seeing the SSE swell from Frank roll in and is due to peak this evening. Arriving at the Strand, I can see that the water surface is much more bumpy than yesterday.

I head down the stairs alongside some of the morning jr. lifeguard traffic and I can see waves rolling in. Nothing huge but several notches above what I had yesterday morning, which was next to nothing.

On the sand the water feels very comfortable. It feels about the same as yesterday which is about perfect.0 degrees.

I make my way past the surf and head South. The water is definitely more cloudy today.

When I get to the South end, I can see quite a bit of surf breaking on the rocks way outside. I pause for a bit here to take in the scenery. It’s a little tricky to get a picture of the breaking waves. Because I am so low to the surface of the water, my view is quickly obstructed by waves as they rise right in front of me. Just as I am lifted up on the rolling wave, my shore facing view makes me feel like I am on the top of a mountain and the rocks that are just a few feet in shore from me become exposed as the water is sucked into the wave.

Eventually I turn around and head Northward. I’m getting plenty of mouth and eye fulls of water as small wakes break in my face. Despite the fact that swallowing ocean water is not the most pleasant of sensations, I love being in the midst of this energy. I used to swim in an indoor gym pool for a couple years and this is so much more invigorating. I did enjoy the pool swimming, but this is just an entirely different ball game. Actually, if it was a ball game I would not be interested at all. My personal policy is not to participate in any sport that ends in “ball” or “cer.” I’m definitely more of an “ing” person.

I’m aiming to empty my thoughts today in the water. I’ve got a case of Monday “where the heck is my life going” blues. As I was walking my dog and my son earlier this morning I felt a peace as I just soaked in the beautiful morning. I find that I am extremely skilled at feeding my own freak outs with thoughts that are not really “fact based.” My own sort of “fake news.” So here I am with this beautiful scenery and inviting water and it is good just to feel the freak exit in the bubbles of every exhale.

On the North end there is a small amount of jr. lifeguard activity afoot. I am circling the Green Monster buoy and some paddle boarding guards are making their way out to another one of the buoys nearby.

I soon make my way back to shore. I linger just a bit trying to catch one of the incoming sets and tumble and roll in the break water. By the way this makes me think: you know what the best thing is to do if you get hit by a large oncoming breaking wave (not that these are particularly large)? Relax. You know what the best thing is to do if approached by a shark? Don’t panic. You know what is the best way to swim through cold water? Stay calm. How do free divers prepare for a deep dive competition? Go into a meditative state. The ocean is a pretty darn good teacher.

I am feeling better now on this sand than I did before getting in the water.