No Poetry Necessary

This was definitely one of those days where I was on the fence as to whether or not to swim. I ended up sleeping in and I have a bunch of stuff I want to do. It rains a pretty good rain but only for about 20 minutes and I’m really not feeling that swim vibe. However as the morning passes, I get a couple big things done that have been weighing on me for weeks and the weather semi-clears and it seems like I have more time than I thought and it’s Sunday and the big swell has come down and tomorrow is going to be a crazy day at work. What better time than now for a swim? So I’m off to the beach at 10:45.

It’s mostly cloudy. I can see some shades of blue through the cracks in the clouds but it still feels like a grey cloudy day. The wind has actually died down a bit from earlier in the morning and the water looks semi-smooth. There are still waves in the water but nothing is breaking far offshore at Capo and south Doheny which is an indicator that waves will not be out of hand at the Strand.

The tide is just coming down from a 4.8 and there is not a lot of exposed sand on the beach but enough to get to my usual starting spot. The water feels cold but not quite as cold as I expected. Buoy temps have come down a degree in a couple spots from the wind we have had over the last couple days.

Lots of waves in the water but nothing too big. I’m standing in waist deep water just a couple paces in and waiting for this set of waves to pass. The waves just keep coming and I lose patience and decide just to start swimming and dive under the waves. I do this and after a couple waves, things clear up and I swim through the settling white water until I am free and clear.

It’s almost immediately clear that the water is warmer than my last swim on Thursday. We are in that magical period of March. Some years it seems like the last few days of March is when we begin the true transformation of Winter into something warmer than Winter. Then other years it decides to get colder than ever just when you thought Summer was coming around the bend. Well as the swim progresses, there are a few patches of darn cold water, but these patches give way to warmer patches that feel like a hot sauna in comparison. I mean they do feel truly warm with no need for imagination, metaphor or euphemism. It’s the warmth of pure prose - no poetry necessary. The clarity and color of the water change with the temperature. The warmer spots of more clear and have a turquoise like tint.

I can really feel the waves in the water even well past the breaking surf. There is a peaking south swell and a fading northwest swell which is what had been dominant Friday and Saturday. Sometimes I feel pushed and other times pulled by these pulses of energy. Someone from an open water swimming group on Facebook described a swim in San Diego yesterday as an E-ticket ride and I can feel how one would use that simile. I rise and fall and rise and fall and need to make sure - am I really well past the surf? I appear to be. At least until I reach the southern end of the beach. I’m looking up and trying to be alert for anything breaking. All seems smooth. Then suddenly I feel a push from the west that was well more forceful than usual. This wave felt like it nearly took me with it. I dive and veer sharply toward sea and when I pop back up I can see the wave crashing just a few feet inshore of me. Wow that was close. Perhaps the closest call I have had here in this part of the beach.

I pause here and watch these waves pass me as they lift me up high and over and then they spike up just before they break. I stare all around and I gaze north up the entire length of the beach to the Salt Creek lifeguard tower and Monarch and beyond to Laguna. It still very much looks like a grey day but I feel good about being here and feel like I made the right call.

I head back north. I wonder what the swim to shore will be like but really don’t stress much about it. I’m sure it will be fine. Again there are cold spots and then those crazy warm spots. I stop in a warm spot for a bit. I mean why not? No rule against enjoying ourselves here. As I pause, maybe the water feels not quite as warm as it just did but its warm enough and it is beautiful here. As I continue north, the sun starts to peek out from the clouds and there are moments when I raise my head to breath and it feels downright sunny. This sun casts a whole different mood over the water. The waves I hear sound less ominous and more playful. In the presence of the sun, what bad thing could possibly happen?

I’m getting close to my northern turnaround point and I see two other swimmers swimming inshore of me. They don’t see me but seeing them makes me feel even more peaceful. I’m not just some solo idiot out here doing something stupid. If these two other swimmers decided to do the same thing, then surely it is a sound thing to do. They look like they must know what they are doing with their wetsuits, swim caps and swim buoys.

I swim to the end and back to my finishing spot that was at one time my starting spot. There are some waves that roll over me and spin me round underneath the water which is more delightful than frightening. I wonder whatever happened to the exposed rocks in the trough near the water’s edge. It’s all level sandy bottom as I finish up the remaining 50 feet to bare sand.