Warp Speed

I’m out of the house a little before 10:30. It has evolved into a beautiful sunny morning from the overcast sky we had just a couple hours before.

When I get to the Strand parking lot, there is a bit of a breeze starting to kick up but the surface on the water still looks relatively calm with just a little bit of bump. The sun feels good.

I walk down the stairs and relax my thoughts. Given my surroundings, that is not difficult to do. I just have to let my mind settle on what I am seeing right in front of me.

It’s medium tide and the water feels cool on my feet.

When I get to my take off spot, I head on out but am temporarily distracted by my camera being stupid. I forgot to switch the screen mode from the touch screen on the back to the selfie screen on the front. If the touch screen is active and the it gets water on it, it starts to freak out and do unpredictable things. That is what it is doing now. I wrestle it into submission and switch screens. This means I can’t see the screen on the back when taking photos and so I just hope that whatever I am aiming at makes it into the photo. It usually does. Overall, this saves me a ton of frustration and causes the camera to mostly “just work.”

The waves are a little larger today but there is a lot of space in between sets. So after the last set passes, I make it out past the surf line in a waveless lull.

I’d say the water is for sure colder today. There are more cold patches. The water is also more turbulent today which may be contributing to the colder water. It’s not “prohibitively” cold. It is all quite good out here in the ocean.

I get to the south end and pause before turning around. The water is definitely more busy than it was when I started. It feels like I got here pretty quick and when I begin to head back north I definitely feel like I am swimming into the waves.

It’s a bumpy but enjoyable ride. My body rides these wakes like a ramp, climbing their peaks and then slamming onto the surface below and then piercing into the face of the next wake. I come out the other end watching sheets of water fall over my goggles. Sometimes my airway is clear and I get a good full breath which feels odd when there is simultaneously water running over my eyes. Then coming through another one, I get a whole mouthful of water. That’s ok, I got plenty of air on my last breath, hopefully I’ll get more on the next one.

I’m looking up from time to time and gauging where I am in relation to the Salt Creek lifeguard tower at the end of the point below the Ritz. First it looks far away and then grows closer and then closer and then closer. It’s too soon for this swim to be drawing to a close. I don’t want it to be over yet. I stop for a moment to gaze at that cliff at the point and notice that while I am certainly closer from a north/south perspective, I have drifted west quite a ways. As I view the horizon, I notice how the breeze has picked up. The water is all bouncy and there is just this big ripple/wake - one after another after another - infinitely rolling south east. My body feels drawn directly into them which pulls me north west.

I re-aim myself somewhat sharply inshore and continue to swim. In response to my previous complaint about being done so soon, this last bit draws itself out quite a bit. Those northern bathrooms look close but just don’t seem to move until eventually here they are.

It’s just a beautiful beautiful day out here. The sun is bright and its light shimmers over this uneven surface.

Now I turn around. I pass the houses that sit on Breakers Isle - the street of my future home that I will purchase just as soon as I make that first 100 million dollars. I’m sure once I pass the first one, it will be a slippery slope to 100.

I take a stroke, turn my head towards the ocean floor (which I don’t see at all today) and then look again at those houses. Is this possible? It feels like in the course of just a few breaths I have passed like three houses. I seem to be swimming at warp speed and it feels like I reach my future home in just a few minutes.

I now turn directly inshore and head to the beach. Well that was nice. I walk back to my car. The pavement feels warm beneath my feet and the sun, like an orb of pure goodness, fills all the space I can see.