NDE's coming your way!

swim report saturday noon, cftc, RUTH!, wendy, lftc: cftc was on a mission for a NDE (near death experience) since she'll be leaving for colorado this coming week, RUTH! had to stretch out her boo boo's (cosmetic surgery), wendy had to rock the world in her new industrial strength swim suit, lftc had to swim as hard as possible to earn at least a cookie. grey skies, grey seas but warm at 70, big chop, zero viz but mostly clean, a current but we couldn't feel it due to the chop, we swam to the a for a toy check, across to the last outside pin buoy, which we completely missed and had to back track, a sweep over and around the inside buoys and back to the a. we played games a few times, the pace game, we each swam our hardest pace for 40 strokes while the rest kept up, sprint games, which almost killed (thanks cami, for making NDE's so fun!) and some tag. tag in the ocean is very tough and anxiety provoking, you just know something is going to grab your feet..    i really don't want anything to ever grab my feet in the ocean, it's my new motto! such a fab swim! thanks to my swim partners for the nde's, thanks for such fun company!
lftc-out

I'm baaaack.

So grateful to be back in the water! Thank you Wendy, Cami and Laura for a long, perfect swim. Warm water, some texture, a fish ball of Sargo and great company.

washing machine swim

a blustery day, LFTC, CFTC and our newest podnic Annie who we scooped up on the beach trucked on out to the 1/4, then to the 1/2 strong and fast "wow, we'll have a nice easy swim back, feel that current?" um, no, swirling waters of agony, no. But we plodded on... like an 80's jazz number, not a lot of rhythm but makes up for it in gusto. Made a few sprints all the way in, zero to 5 vis didn't seem to stop the masses, they have replaced the sea lions in and out of the water... people people everywhere. LFTC was on fire, as usual! Annie did great, first time out ( I think) and very brave, my favorite thing she asked at the 1/4 was, "so, you guys never see any sharks out here right?" "RIGHT!!" of course.

So... lets do it again tomorrow! Thanks LFTC, always, for a great swim.

sights: whitecaps. n.o.t.h.i.n.g. else. nada. zippo.

Smooth, sweet sundowner swim...

Wednesday after work summer swims are truly sweet!  Not bad visibility, water temps 68ish with smooth sailing. Bill, Don and I swam out and toured the sticks, and then went to the caves. Perfect day to go through the cave, extra calm, clear and we went through the small side door so we didn't have to wait for the kayak parade to finish. Though on week days there definitely are fewer kayaks.  Saw lots of fish,  and I saw yellow tails!  Only me!!! So that's a tough one to get much excitement from (except from me!).  A really nice swim all in all -- really washes the work day off!

Here's a couple of snaps from the gorgeous sunset hour...

~cary

Swim peeps see fish

Cool fish out today... some visibility and pretty calm waters, clear to the bottom in some spots. LFTC, the Mighty C's, CFTC, Sunshine and Arno Chrispeels all departed shore approx: 11:30 am, straight to the 1/4 and on to find soupfins (or bluntnose six gill ??), no luck in the shark department (did I really just say that?) but found FRED in a Neon Orange Cap and big black fins for the record. Onward towards the 1/2 when what to my dazzled eyes did appear???? YES! the elusive Yellotail!! see picture, not quite close enough to grab (as if!) but darn tootin close and right along side of me... the yellow and blue in its body were clear as day and the tail. The one in the picture is about the same size, WOW... now thats a first for this gilled gal. I screamed at the top of my lungs in utter delight and was a little taken back by how NONE of you even looked up.... hello? what if I saw... well, you know, whatever... no matter. Im sure if he had any intention of sticking around my scream sent him scurrying. Sorry y'all missed it, esp. Cary who has a thing for these guys. Onward to the Marine room across hwy. 5 of novice kayakers... to the sand, a few bat rays, a few leopard sharks witnessed by everyone except me, then southbound towards the Caves and a nice rolling swim in for the chicks as Bill raced the clock. Came in only to find not one but BOTH of my kids playing in the water.... woe, what a great day!!

Sunday morning swim in Lake La Jolla

Another fabulous day to swim! The water is clear down to 20,000 leagues; and flat as it can ever get. Git yer swim on!

Holy Myliobatis californicas Bat Man!

Saturday, I was to meet some of my more timid swim friends for a half mile swim. Knowing I NEEDED both a longer swim and a post-swim coffee, I opted to go early (we're talking' 7:30am early). It was totally glass out there and a dream. And ever since hearing every one's report of how clear the viz had been and not able to enjoy it, I took my camera and went on a hunt. Swam over to the Tower by way of the A,B and down to Marine Rm...but nada, zip, nothing. Then on the way back just a bit East of the 1/2 (whoa) a flotilla of bat rays in flight. Click click! At the 1/4, I saw a shadow...and there it was, a 7-8 foot Soupfin right below...Click! Went back to pickup my buds and went out again. They upped the anti to a mile this time! yea! And we saw more fish and more rays and two more soupfins, lions and tigers and bears...oh my! The battery died, but I had what I came for. Wish you'd been there.

swim on!

Friday dream swim

I've been dreaming of the day when the water would FINALLY clear up! And that day is here! Clear, flat, warm water everywhere. LFTC, CFTC and TFTC swam to the half, caves and back, along with newbies, Steve D. and 12-yr-old Lauren. Schools of fish and rays are visible. Notably missing are the sea lions. But that's good. It's okay not to have the shark bait hanging around.

Whale

Sign On SD said a speed boat hit a grey whale in the Bay near Shelter Island Monday. Only said the people were injured....but what happened to the whale?

clean clear very clear warm

Delicious. under a grey sky LFTC, CFTC and Josephina took off under what seemed may be our last swim, talk is cheap but still the feeling lingers, then we saw it. Stopped me in my own wake. Clarity beyond any good day, to the bottom, clean, that color... you know, THAT color that happens when its overcast and warm and clear. The way 'azul' rolls off your tongue, its that color. Labradorite. Perfect conditions as we sailed on flat seas over to the 1/2, then far rt. pin in a gentle arching right turn towards the caves. Must've stopped six times to remark on the beautiful fish, bat ray, more fish. Most clear in the swim zone, we were a little east of it, then in with a gentle current pushing us along. delightful. No signs of "him" he got word we were pissed (ing) and he got real scared.. made some story up about needing to help his mom out and bailed. 'Nuff of that bully. Thursday we are bringing sacrifices just to be on the safe side.

Apparently several someones did...

Pacific Coast Shark News:


La Jolla Cove  — On July 17, 2011 Mitch Thrower reported the following;“This afternoon, when I went on my run with Amanda, we stopped by the cove and were stretching. This was about 2:00 PM, 2 hours ago, we saw two divers come up the stairs who just came back from the buoys under the swimmers in La Jolla Cove. They said they saw a 6+ foot Great White. They reported it to the La Jolla Cove lifeguards and the lifeguards radioed someone, but nothing happened, everyone is still swimming. Also, yesterday, July 16, there was a report of a 16 foot Great White off of the Children's Pool. The US Coast Guard helicopter was circling for a while, but we did not see it anywhere on the news.”Please report any shark sighting, encounter, or attack to the Shark Research Committee. 

did someone say shark?

wait, what?

http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/pacific_coast_shark_news.htm

brave, strong and fast

Oh we were so brave today... lots of chatter about the-man-in-the-grey-suit and feeling encouraged by our mighty lifeguards dismissive answers to our fears, LFTC, Diana Darling, The Mighty C's, Leonard, RUTH! and I took off under grey but clearing skies into very clear on the inside waters. 69+, beautiful fast swim to the 1/4, then on towards the tower, threading the needle between our two sailboat yachts which turned out to be quite far from each other and on to the Shores where Cary and Bill continued as planned to the tower onto sand, and Leo and Ruth! followed suit, while the three of us kept the water warm and chuckled about frosty chicks, creepy old men and boundaries.... once we had exhausted our knowledge of all of these things the Mighty C's came skipping along, and finally Ruth! and Leo came back to us too and we all headed home. A forceful chop-in-the-face type of return "are we getting anywhere?" exclaimed LFTC at one point not far from the Evil White House, but alas, we plodded on ... once we hit south of the 1/2 buoy the Neptune settled down a bit and Cary and Bill called us all over for a huge fish ball of Sargo which are my favorite fish in the world... so calm and still and beautiful... then onward and inward. Sorry I had no time to end our swim as a team but had to jet. Thanks all of you for another fabulous swim, Im so lucky to have you all in my swimworld!

Sunday morning swim

Sunday morning 7:15 swim. I hopped in after the Shri Chimnoy racers had cleared the cove. Lovely, warm water. Viz poor inside, a little better between the .25 and the half, where I spotted many bat rays. Water was fairly flat inside the .25, then giant rollers out in open water. I swam a ways with Howard out to the half, then solo on the way back. Many swimmers out this morning.

but wait! there's more: addendum, add on trivia.

1. cami can see! her new super bionic, night vision, x-ray, hi def goggles work! she can see what we really look like in the water-yikes-and the oceanside pier. she also saw the lost buoy that sits sunk off the marine room in 20' of water. really, she did.
2. i gave RUTH! a momento-a leopard shark key chain- for her swim bag so she won't forget us or her leopard shark days in the sun. and surf. and storms. and icy cold. we will always own these days. lucky we are.
3. my swim partners rock.

happy birthday, cary! a mighty c indeed!

birthday hair! you look amazing!

cami and ruth checking out the toys!

cami and ruth heading back after playing frogger with the kayaks.

cami's hot legs and the level of viz today.

my david waiting for me to return, we were out for nearly two hours, working it today!

swim report saturday, it is saturday, right?   bumped into all the players today, janie, hovic, carol and her niece, fred who went off with that group to check out the caves, we all spread some love around and head off seperate ways. passed the mighty c's on our way out, they were coming in looking all happy and radiant the way they do and lftc, cftc, RUTH! decided to tour the buoys today, the a, b, marine room, all the pins. my watch read 69/70 steady and the sun was shining right down on us. no viz really, maybe some clarity around the a/b but we didn't care, we were cruising in big bumpy seas, some hard work, some chat, some stripping off suits, some getting dressed but only because we encountered a fleet of kayaks, we literally popped up out of the 'zone' into kayak nation, it could have been weird.
we swam for nearly two hours today and could have gone on (RUTH for sure) but we had stuff to do. david and ali went to childrens today and swam! they said the water was clean, few seals, many swimmers, this is awesome news! 
such a fantastic swim today, thanks to my intrepid partners and thanks for going barefoot with me! it feels good to work hard with out the magic fins! (i miss them though)
no fins, no pants, no problems! where else can you go around here and find that lifestyle...
lftc-out

swim report and XTERRA news

swim report for tuesday: cftc, lftc and pam! who decided to take it down a notch. it's never me that has to dial down, take it down a notch, go easy, slow down, pace myself. i always have go harder, go faster, kick it up a notch and work for it. darn. but it's okay, i'm a mid range swimmer and i like it. plus, i can use it as an excuse for being too slow to hang with the super studs.
we swam in HOT water, some roller action at times, big ones too but no waves to speak-and i so would speak of them-we all cruised around looking for a good time, i couldn't place the current, it was everywhere all at once but we had so much fun! sunny and warm!   we did see some beat down and beat up tourists, one guy being dragged up out of the water by katy (new guard) and another bleeding from his back on the beach. the guards are busy..
ON A SEPERATE NOTE, for the people in the pants: 

-Xterra (who is sponsoring the sitka sound adventure swim) is moving their suite warehouse and rental facility to Denver this fall. So any Xterra lovers may want to visit the San Diego office before its gone if they need to exchange a suit or try on a new one. They have great deals on used suits when you can actually go see them!

this info is from claudia-who doesn't wear a wetsuit. thanks claudia!

lftc-out

Monday-IN-the-Buff

Misleading? perhaps, but no fins, no neoprene and all fabulousness. LFTC, Pam and CFTC swam in warm calm flat waters with the occasional roller floating us to the top of the world and back. A to the 1/2 to 1/4 back to the A and in. Some visibility of maybe 10 feet in a few spots, around 5 ft in most, 67 in most spots. Kelpy in spots but clean and nice. Good company too!

Wild and Crazy Group on Sunday...

Busy, happy times at the cove!

Water still fairly warm, though it felt lower than 67 today. No viz, but still beautiful...Such a group -- Ruth, CFTC, Wendy and her friend Alexis, Leonard, Carol, Shane and Annamarie made it along with the C's... Toni missed us and Phoenix jumped in behind and of course caught up with her blazing speed swim.  Gorgeous swim out the the 1/4, then A, B, 1/2, back to the A and then in for a nice picnic. Roger dear was there to meet us on the grass and Toni made a lone swim and then found us on the grass (she totally missed that we were waiting up on the grass for everyone to assemble). We kept waiting and looking, but in the summer chaos and crowds we never saw Toni go out to sea... so glad we could meet up for a little picnic following the awesome swimming.  Even Doug and Marta stopped by for the festivities... Phoenix shared her special home brewed marmalade and Toni made a yummy granola (that I need the recipe for). Cami's cookies were devoured and we had lots of chips and guacamole, hummus, fruits and chocolate -- we swim for food?

Amazing art -- thanks to Cami!

They're the cutest!

Here's a couple of pics of the day... and oh, Cami made the most gorgeous birthday card for Toni and I... here's a peak at her artistry! We missed those that couldn't make it, but are always ready to swim next weekend!

Ruth, Bill, Cary, Leonard and Marta
By the time I started taking photos,
nearly everyone but these die-hards were gone!

Check those smiles!

Summertime and the swimmin' is sweet.

kayaks by the dozens

short and sweet compared to fast and far, both rock..

swim report saturday noon, lftc, ethan swam out RIGHT AT NOON! or very close as ethan declares he likes to be on time due to fading motivation. okay, but if i have swim RIGHT AT NOON i'm going to have to demand more distance as the 1/2 mile is just to sissy for me. we had a deal. we missed the mighty c's by 5 minutes, RUTH! was on deck waiting for her pals, diana was cruising in a little after 1 so many people were around but it was hectic, oh so crazy! we set out in pretty warm water, maybe 68 or so, we swam non stop at a good pace to the inside pin buoy and across to the marine room, where david and ali were playing in the surf. we had to play a little frogger due to the kayaks, ethan puts his head down and just goes so i had to be on the look out but the swim was fun, the leopards were out in force today, great big ones and a couple of very large rays or guitar fish. so many people! the marine was jammed with people, we sat for awhile watching kayak after kayak get dumped, the guard on duty right at the foot of the stairs was running and out every 5 minutes. sorry to have missed so many good partners today but it had to be short and sweet today as dave and ali were GETTING WET AND SANDY, IN THE SUN! shudder... i have missed ethan, he's a good partner, he just needs a push from the rest of us to go a little faster & little further.
 i missed you all so much today and i appreciate your faster and further attitudes!
it's common but not really, know what i mean?
be well my friends!
lftc-out

birthday suit, birthday swim, birthday love...tftc

swim report friday 11am: RUTH!, lftc, dianadarling and ethan swam in sub zero viz but warm at 67, maybe warmer in spots but you know it's the amoeba reproducing making the sea so warm, bacteria procreating! eww. anyway, we swam to the 1/4 with ethan, he turned back due to his lunch hour being just that, an hour, the girls swam across to find toni who is the birthday girl today, we landed at tower 30 and walked around looking for her, there were only 5000 people on the beach, no easy task but we press on because we felt like it. i see a little kid, a little toni looking and i think it's jake, it was! where's your mom? he didn't know. what is she wearing? he didn't know. cap and goggles? he didn't know. do you even know your mom? he was pretty sure he did but that was about it. finally we see our toni walking, sauntering even, out of the water in her tiny two piece, we tried to surprise her but she was sauntering pretty quickly. we did a little birthday swim out to the pin buoys and as she is supposed tom she went in her birthday suit! well, mostly, top off, pants on because she had nowhere to stash them.  we get to the pin buoy, i was working so hard to stay with her, shoulders aching, cardio burning and she tells me she wasn't even kicking. i had to say stuff about this, it got ugly for a minute. she went back to her beach and we to ours. the current going back was a killer workout. i love this feeling, being able to work hard without caving, to cruise through discomfort until it's the real time to stop. only in swimming do i have this fortitude, all other types of exercise, i want to quit after 5 minutes. i keep going though so i can stay in the water. lots of people out in the water, kayaker nation. an excellent swim and i'm so happy that we swam with TFTC on her birthday!
lftc-out

Some really great swims on our holiday weekend...

Just wanted to add a brief cheer to our holiday weekend swims... Bill and I had a great swim on Saturday, then with LFTC and our mighty 13ers to the pier on Sunday too. What a glorius weekend. On the 4th, we swam in the morning with Ruth while her Roger dear  traversed the People's Wall below the Museum of Contemporary Art! Quite a treat -- we could see Rog climbing as we swam north.  Waters were nice (not clear, but warming up), seas were calm, purple jelly encounter, bat rays, Ruth saw a shark -- lots of water joy! Thanks to all of you able to make it so...

Here are a couple of pics taken by Ruth:

Janie, C's and LFTC, with Ruth holding  camera.

C's relaxing (quite a fashionista, Cary!)

Birthday List

Name	Birthday	Notes/email
Leonard	January man	?
Steve	January 22	Aquarius
Don (paddler)	January man	paddle king
Marta	March 7	Pisces
Diana	March girl	Aries
Laura	November 7	Scorpio
Annamarie	April 7
Amber	May 23
Wendy	June 25	Cancer
Toni	July 8	Cancer
Janie	July 14	Cancer
Cary	July 16	Cancer
Bill	August 4	Leo
Doug	August 6	Leo
Claudia/Al	August girl	Leo
Carol	August 16	Leo
Shayne	August 21	Leo
Phoenix	September 29
Hovik	October 23
Cami	November 5	Scorpio
Lyndee	November 23	Scorpio
Ethan	November 24	Scorpio
Ruth	November 28	Sagittarius
Ralph	March, mid march	?
Beth	?	?
Alexis	March 28	Aries
Steph		?
Steve Dillard	February 6th

4th of july: everyone soaking in it..

going down, dianadarling, walter, lftc

walter in 1st and OUT like a rocket!

lftc taking the leap.

going north, goodbye world!

hogging up the entire invisible rail, eating, drinking, eating and drinking. it's what we do.

again but with dave.

hard to see but this is a night heron, below him is a school of fish right on the surface, he's hunting, waiting to for the primo snack to be plucked out.

brown people! walter, dd, dave, lftc, al, c rose..

fun day for all! my little family hung out near the pier all afternoon, mostly chasing ali, getting ali out of the water, calling ali back toward us, yelling at ali, looking for ali, wondering where ali was, diana and her cute cute husband walter joined us for some ali time, then diana and lftc decided to swim but the surf! what to do? david offered to let us off the pier, walter wanted to body surf too so we all took the leap. walter was worried, this seems to be a trend, everyone is a tad shaky, it's the newness, the steep stairs that shake as you walk down and then you're in the shade, almost under the pier. but! he took off like a rocket as soon as his feet hit the water, we followed suit and head north but didn't know how to come in so we swam back south but again, the surf! so i'm deciding between swimming to the marine room or jumping on the lifeguard boat which is nearby. diana said no to my brilliant lifeguard boat plan but to make me feel better she said we'd go in right in front of the guards. why? why, diana? WHY? just in case, she tells me. wtf does that mean? clearly i want answers. but she's a pro at handling shaky old people so we calmly made our way in. a little diving deep but absolutely fine. thanks, dd! for the hundreth time guiding me in rough surf. claudia and al showed up later, they took off to swim south, exited at the tower and jogged back in their thongs. i love this 'who cares what people think' attitude! it's true hard core! we hit the pier to eat and drink champagne & talk about the many disasters at sea we have had-note to all: never invite any person in this group to sail, ever! it was so great to watch the fireworks and the night heron, many kayakers were out too, it was cool to see them at night. a fab day! i hope all of you had a wonderful, wet day!
lftc-out
   

Happy 4th!

July 4 I wake up and my back is sore from swimming nearly 3 miles yesterday. So i decide to take it EASY, and do a gentle swim along the coast with the Mighty C's. Well, those C's are so mighty i could barely keep up them as we put in at the beach just south of the beach where the People's Wall is, and then zipped north along the coast up to the point and back. Very little viz but I did manage to see a small smoothhound and Cary saw some batrays. We ended up swimming for a good hour. Then on the way back we lolligagged in the water looking up at Roger who was bouldering a traverse along the People's Wall! As i tried to exit i caught the end of a big wave which tumbled me around a bit. With my hands full of goggles and cap and fins I was too slow getting up and got whipped around a few more times before being spit up onto the shore. It was the must fun i've ever had getting about 3 buckets of sand under my bathing suit. I was literally padded with sand. Then to the Shores to boogie board and body surf with Roger my darling husband. We had a blast - i saw the largest fricking leopard shark EVAR - 4-5 feet long.
It was another grand day at the seashore!

really the best swim EVAR!



CFTC haapy girl!




happy swimmers, two of us..this may be the mighty c's..




the otherlaura, cary, any ideas about the middle swimmer? maybe leonard.



this was taken after our 2nd dip, we look so happy! or before. the theme? happiness!

i love this pic, it's cary swimming out of a fly stroke, more on this in the story.

pre swim, left to right: CFTC, the Mighty C's Rebecca, RUTH!, Neill and Gracie. 

pre swim still, left to right: laura, cary, cami's cute butt, bill.

finally in! RUTH trailing someone. 

end


end of the pier super stars..



end of the pier.

end of the pier again! osprey in the top right. checkin us out! 

a little hello from the no pants crew!

osprey is not impressed.

oh wow! swim report for july 3rd: our lucky number is 13 so far and the number of our pod. otherlaura, gracie, RUTH, the mighty c's, CFTC, TFTC, LFTC, amber, leonard, paula, gracie, rebecca swam in in sub zero viz but cooking at 68 degrees, straight to the pier in a very long line. some big swells rolling through, some chop but no real current to speak of and oh so fun!  on the way back i found it interesting that some of the regular no pants swimmers ended up all together, it was so great to have this group of 13, everyone is so strong and good in the water but i love especially how the core group ended up together naturally. to me, this says we know eachother, we know how we swim together, we fit!  sorry the pics are not in order, i know not why. user error.  the picture of cary ending her fly stroke is after our fun second swim. doug and janie came by to nibble and visit so we sat around for a long time in the heat, we needed to cool off so doug took off, we snagged janie and went out to play, per bill. well, the 'play' turned into a wicked game of tag and the swim chicks were all 'it' chasing after bill. cary changed her stroke several times and whined that it was hard, not playing at all but working! bill was long gone, maybe at the 1/2. when a helicopter came by cary was so relieved that it might be life flight. it wasn't so we turned it up a notch and moved out.  all in all THE MOST FAB SWIM EVAR! we missed those that couldn't attend, especially dianadarling.. who shoulda been with us!
lftc-out
1 more thing-thanks to marta for sending gracie our way and so sorry about your bat ray boo boo. hurry and heal!

Black jellyfish

The viz could have been better today. But the company made up for lack of good viz. 13 podmembers struck out from the Marine Room to the pier. On the way back we oggled a huge black jelly bobbing on the surface. It was so big it looked like a blob of seaweed.

The water temp was 66-ish. Large upwellings of chillier water here and there. Vizability left much to be desired.