Vertical Swimming -
Jodi, Tom and Niel did a swim in storm conditions this morning. The air temperature was 52°. It was very windy with light rain. The water temperature was up to 53° to 54°. The surf wasn't large but the SW wind from the storm had pushed up a highly variable, large and confused swell that made today a very physical swim. The swells were close together so getting in sync with the water required me to do short and frequent breathing. We all swallowed a lot of water.
The beach was covered with Velella velellas or By The Wind Sailors, palm sized colonies of small animals that number in the billions and are pushed by the wind. The steady onshore winds from this storm has driven large numbers onto the Central Coast beaches. They are a beautiful blue color but it is sad to see so many dying on the beach.
I've also been seeing baseball sized globs of tar on the beach this week. I don't see nearly as much of this as was common before the big cleanup in the late 90's. Jodi stepped in some today. Baby Oil and a strong paper towel is the best way to remove the tar.
Swimming parallel to the beach and parallel to the swell was the most difficult, across or into the swell was easier. We did 2362 M in an hour which tells you that the conditions were swimmable but couldn't make good progress.
Tom and Jodi.
Experience what it was like out there today:
I'll swim tomorrow at 11 if we do not get enough rain to dirty up the water.
niel
Been swimming the bouy line from creek mouth to big rock and back weekly. What is that distance, if u know? Appreciate these posts… esp water temp info.
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