Stress Ball

Conditions are looking good for a swim today. There is a fresh pulse of WNW swell in this morning that is forecasted to be a little larger than my comfort zone accommodates. However, Capo and Doheny do not respond as well to the NW swells as northern Dana Point beaches. Doesn’t matter anyways since I still don’t have a car and Capo is my only swimming option.

I check the forecast for changes when I get up and pay close attention while walking my dog up at Pines Park for swell conditions below at Capo. While Capo is just about always going to be smaller than Strands, as luck would have it, the spot where I get in the water at the edge of the Beach Road houses tends to be the largest break from what I can tell and it can be particularly volatile depending on the tide - breaking suddenly and immediately right on the shore. Things look tame enough from what I can tell up here on the bluff. Also, no fog today. Yay!

I have a 9:00 meeting and really want to do this before the winds potentially puff up mid morning with the incoming low pressure front. I manage to get out the door at about 6:40 which should give me plenty of time and I bring a watch just in case. The skies are mostly cloudy. It’s a pretty sky with the orange glow of the rising sun to the east over a scattered pattern of clouds.

I decide to go ahead and wear a shirt because for god’s sake it isn’t even 7:00 yet. However after I am running for about 30 seconds, I realize I could have comfortably left it behind. Over the entire run, I’m questioning my sanity. I don’t know why. Something about getting in the ocean right now that seems “not normal.” Well based on the number of people I see in the water - 0 - I guess that would be true but logically I can’t think of a good reason not to do this. Could it be that I am the only normal person in this town? Hmm…that makes no sense. I’ll just keep running and stop thinking.

I eventually reach the beach. I set my shirt on the rocks and head for the water. The tide is highish and rising. In between sets all is well. I’m stepping further into the water. Because of the higher tide, the trench is a few feet further into the water than usual right now. A wave approaches right in front of me. It’s not huge but it is about as tall as I am and literally three feet in front of me. Is this when I yell for help? Nah. C’mon I can do this. These waves are interesting because they rise and when they break they just kind of fall. So the impact, while it succeeds in getting me all wet, doesn’t knock me down. Almost immediately I am in over my head, literally, and I start swimming. I easily get past the surf and start heading north on what is becoming my usual route to the end of the last condo on Coast Highway.

On the one hand the surface seems smoother today but I can definitely feel an energy in the water. There is something alive and awake here. The clouds and the sun make for an absolutely beautiful sky and the light shines and reflects off the water’s surface in a magnificent manner. No surprises really but still utterly delightful. About 20 minutes into the swim I look up and can’t believe how far I have come. The current must be heading north. I’m about half way across the last big condo building.

For whatever reason I’m a bit of a stress ball today. The swell is larger and I’m really just not as familiar with this beach as I am with the Strand. I watch thoughts of impending doom float about the real estate of my head. These thoughts seem almost involuntary. All I can do is watch them. If asked, I absolutely know that this swim will go down in the books just like every other swim - complete and without significant harm to self. I let these conflicting thoughts sit with one another. They are like two kids sitting in the principles office together having been sent there for fighting.

I’m cold but not that cold. Honestly for February I am great. I can feel the waves moving beneath me and I can hear them breaking on the shore. I can hear them moving the small rock and cobble that make up the shallows of this beach. It sounds like a high pitched buzzing. I can only see the silhouette of the houses up on top of the bluff. My goggles don’t seem particularly foggy. Maybe it’s just the glare. However I do wish I could make out where I am. Every now and then I stop and lift my goggles and then I can easily tell my progress. Oh look - a train.

I swim circles around my stress ball. I even swim over it and then dive under it and pop up on the other side. It doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. In fact, I know exactly what it’s going to do. It’s going to inflate a bit before I head to shore. It will get really big and as soon as I am on the sand, it will run off south to the sewage that hangs out just east of Poche.

Well soon enough I see the Capo parking lot. This is where the waves typically start to get bigger and I may need to swim out a little further. The tide is even higher now than when I started and they will crash right on the rocks and splash into the parking lot. It seems like I travel from the south end of the parking lot and into the first few houses on Beach Road in nearly an instant. It’s time for that final swim to shore. Things do get a little interesting here. The waves are not particularly large but there is an odd dynamic with the tide and the sloping of the beach.

The waves break on nearly bare shore and then quickly push a thin layer of water up the beach and almost to the wooden edge of the houses. Then the water speeds back from whence it came - right to the edge of the next breaking wave. In retrospect, I wish I would have taken pictures or a video but that’s the last thing on my mind as I’m making my way through this. I remember lying in 4 inches of water and ready to get up when I see a wave right behind me about to fall right on me and I figure it’s probably best to remain horizontal. What was that I said at the beginning of this post about the waves gently falling on themselves? That’s not what is happening here.

That last wave tosses me around in the water and gravel and then I get up and run toward the houses. I am free! And that stress ball? What stress ball? I don’t know what you are talking about.

I remove my shoes. I have noticed over the last couple swims here that the small rocks scratch my feet and toes on the run home. I don’t have time to run to the public showers further up the beach so I’m just going to run barefoot home. What? It’s fine.

I get to the rock where I left my shirt and it’s gone. Really? Oh come on. It was a “work” shirt so I am not too broken up about it but there was a small dose of sentimental value in that shirt. The waves look larger as I run through the parking lot. I must say that I am just a little impressed with myself. I make it back home with 20 minutes until my first meeting. Perfect