No REd Tide

Took my dogs to OB today. Not a hint of red tide out there. Maybe we need to swim elswhere?

New look!

I gave the blog a new look -- and here are some new fins too. These are for LFTC and all those merfolk that feel they could use a little spike in their magic fins.

~cary

Thursday cove check

Had to swing by the LJAC today and checked out the cove.  Doug B was finishing his swim and reported improving vizibility, esp around the .25.  There was much texture in the water (and a 'sleeping' pelican floating inside) even occasional breakers on the beach (at high tide).  Lifeguards expect a hurricane Hilary swell tomorrow.  I chose to pass on a swim today.  Feeling lazy.

Author! Author!

Tuesday evening, Warwick's Book Store in La Jolla was honored to host a book signing and discussion by Lynn Cox, author of Swimming To Antarctica, Grayson, and her newest endeavor, South With The Sun.

Lynn is best known for swimming more than a mile in the waters off Antarctica. She was in the water for 25 minutes. Her book about that experience, Swimming to Antarctica, was published in 2004.

Her second book, Grayson, details her encounter with a lost baby gray whale she named Grayson, during an early morning workout near LA. It was published in 2006.

In this newest book, her story is a heroic tale of discovery.  Roald Amundson is Norway's native son and explorer of the North and South Poles during the early 1900's.  Her research led her to Norway. After some impressive translation from old Norwegian, she was able to tell his story, giving him the historical credit he never got.

Look them up...all of them!

~Marta

leonard & lftc swim in the darkness

Swim report sunday, race day! only i wasn't racing anywhere with anyone-i snuck out of the house to meet some non racers: claudia, dianadarling, ralph, leonard at the shores since the cove was filled with ambitious relay racers winning stuff! some bitterness here but i'll get over it during dinner at the crabcatcher. anyway, dd bailed, claudia and ralph couldn't bear the thought of the swimming in the deep brown/red tide which was dismal. the whitewater was no longer white and i could see big swaths of red. a little competition between claudia and leonard about toxin levels, c rose said the red tide, leonard said mission. pick your poison, people! leonard and i chose the red tide, simply because it's mostly biological, our bodies are somewhat accustomed to it and we were there.  so we venture out and let me tell you, i have swam in red tides many times, even the wicked milky stuff but this was a whole new level of ewww. so sorry i had hi def goggles on, i could see the algae procreating right beneath me, undulating and getting jiggly in their den of iniquity! i was horrified and more than concerned about what might be lurking beneath. we could see nothing but red. leonard was very calm and quite happy which made me both worried about his sanity and relieved that the swim would very likely end well. i did not let him get more than two feet away from me, poor leonard, i tried to be tough! but i'm not. surprisingly the caves were very clear, not crystal but no red. i wanted to stay there, maybe a boat will come by! but no, we had to go back and leonard was bound and determined to get his full swim and we were there so i agreed. we swam about 1.5 miles and i was so happy to be done!
congrats to my swim peeps for absolutely kicking ass in the relay, winning stuff, braving the red tide and being team players. generally, i'm not really a team player, tis my nature to be quite solitary but i love you all and NEED you in the water with me. i want you, baby!
lftc-out

Ten mile relay

Lots of swim to be had during Sunday's Ten Mile Relay!  More red tide to test the mettle of the mighty teams (more than 100) out in the cove.  Off to a grey start and then the day turned out for a beautiful finish.

Teams we knew:  Just Add Water: Steve, Bill, Cary, Talya, and Amber; Must Have Swim (I don't think I got that name right) with Toni, Cami, Joe, Kathy and Phoenix -- other's out there included Hove-from-the-cove's team from Pfizer and a host of others... and PRIZES, did I say PRIZES?  Cami won the GRAND prize an iPad (that's a small net-book-like device that is actually a giant iPhone, for LFTC's benefit). LOL...  Phoenix said they also won dinner at the Crabcatcher in La Jolla. Even I won prizes!  I won a MONTH membership at the La Jolla Athletic Club -- yippee! And $20 gift certificates to Harry's Cafe... so, geez, it almost pays you to enter this race... next year, let's get some more teams on... it was lots of fun!

Good job all you racers, swimmers and winners.


Race start taken by Phoenix



2011 Inaugural Tiki Swim

This was a first for the Oceanside Harbor.

Navy Ships, Coast Guard boats, even replica Spanish Galleons have come in to the Oceanside harbor, but on the morning of September 25th, the Oceanside Harbor was welcomming Tiki swimmers at the 1st inaugural Tiki Swim.

Two  courses were set up with a point to point route finishing in the parking lot just above the boat launch ramp in the Oceanside Harbor. They supplied double decker shuttle buses to shuttle athletes, family and guests.

2.4 miles of FUN!!

The 2.4 mile swim was a mass beach start at 7:30 from the south side of the Oceanside Pier (same as the Oceanside Pier Swim on Labor Day). Athletes swam out and around the pier before heading north, parallel to shore, for the Harbor mouth. Once in the shelter of the harbor, swimmers made a few right hand turns and sprinted (hah) up the boat ramp. The cutoff time for the swim was 2 hours and 20 minutes.  Everyone in this race was more than able to complete this.

There was also a 1.2 mile event. In retrospect, I should have entered that...I would have won not only my age group but overall non-wetsuit also LOL

 

Instead my fellow swim chums and I chose the 2.4mi event (my 1st time racing this distance). The "Oakstreakers" were present minus Patsee,Tanya and Annie. David came down from LA, but Gary opted out after getting nailed by the waves at the Labor Dat O'side Pier Swim. DB joined us en lieu of the Relay event in La Jolla, a former patient of mine, Tom, was straining his eyes early that morning at check in, as was Gracie (husband Neil was kayaking) and Fred!...Fred did the 2.4!!  Even Jaycee (12yo) from Arizona came out and declared her intention to swim it under and hour!

The water was amazingly flat, (NO REAL WAVES) with a nice current pushing North at times and approx 63F, with zero, zip, nada, bupkis viz.  The red tide has taken over ALL of San Diego County!

This was an extremely fast group of swimmesr and Tri-geeks (err athletes).  Few braved the elements sans wetsuit; the wetsuit division made up primarily of the Tri-guys.  There were contingents of the German National Team and the US Team, and sponsored swimmers including our very own Gracie.  The winning time was 48min!!!

They had Tiki surf hats for everyone and t-shirts, pancake breakfast and professional photos by Heidi (of La Jolla).  The over all winners received Tiki paintings on canvas and the age group winners received Tiki totems (very cute).

I came in 4th in my AG (no totem) but I'm well pleased with my time of 01:31:01.  This was a great event with great people...definitely on my list for the future.

 

It was announced that it will continue, due to a great turn out, every year on the day of the Oceanside Harbor Days Festival.

Where was everyone?

Beautiful day... the red tide is diminishing and the sun came out.  The temps were up to 65 with some smooth sailing out to the 1/4 with Ethan and then the 1/2... just a short warm-up to get ready for the 10 mile relay on Sunday... Okay, not much viz but it was better than Friday, so hopefully Sunday will be better still.

Ethan braved the red tide and we were proud of him --  looked for LFTC and CFTC or AFTC (anyone from the cove!) and no one... but Ethan, looking a little worse for the Friday-night-wear... He still made it to the 1/4 and we have proof he made it back... saw him in the village after we finished basking in a little cove sunshine sans touri.

Where was everyone? A little red tide stops the best A TEAM ever?  What?
~C

Friday Red Tide-day

Well red tide is the order of the week.  Today it was washing all the way into the cove, in the breaking waves, around the point toward Children's Pool.  I swam solo to the .25 and back to get used to it.  Sunday's race will be no place for the uncommitted.  I talked to a guy who came from Las Vegas to do the race.  He was obviously tripped out by the conditions.  This was his first time in the ocean since he was 4 yrs old.  I tried to coax him in, but he's too uncommitted.  Can't say that I blame him.  Tom Heck swam at 6 a.m. and reported that the efflorescence created by his hand in the red tide attracted small fish to the surface.  He kept getting pelted in the face by the little buggers!

Seal from the Shores that was hanging around me today

The water was warm enough today (65?).  It was semi-clear near the shore but still could have been better.  I swear a 7 gill shark swam past me.  I looked over and there was no pattern on it.  Lots of stingrays and bat rays.  Only a few leopard sharks.  And this seal that was cruising around me for 10 minutes.

welcome back mighty c's!

welcome back weary travelers! drinking limoncello, eating italian fare, swimming in 85 degrees! yeah, it all sounds great but we had a secret vote (i have been watching 'survivor' so i'm all about alliances and votes, idols and immunity and stuff) and you can't really leave us anymore on weekends. mondays thru fridays only. look, i'm sorry but we have to make sacrifices for eachother. you two polarize the crew on the weekends and without you, we just can't keep it together. it's hard to keep it together in any case, some of us are barely holding on, but you guys make the weekend swims solid. leonard swam alone two weeks ago! all alone, adrift, an orphan at sea! he tried to get us together but lacked the star power. we love leonard so think of him when you are planning your next getaway. do you want to see leonard alone again? i think not!
we love you guys and all kidding aside, everyone missed you!
welcome home to no limoncello, regular common folk fare and 65 degrees.
lftc speaking for all the no pants crew...

goofing around in speedos

swim report wednesday noon, claudia, lftc swam out from the shores in 65 degrees, very flat easy seas, very clear along the shores, grey skies, very few swimmers out. we swam to the caves but turned around to check on some black bobbing things which we thought to be sea lions. one can only hope, can't one? they were gone so we head for the marine room and then the pins but murk came alive so back to the marine room or 'stingray alley', there were so many laying around, darting around trying to look menacing, we played here for a long time. i think we were trying to swim back but for some reason couldn't make headway. (goofing around) claudia was way late for work as she was supposed to be home at 1:30, it was like 2pm when we realized we were goofing around, i had to have dave pick up ali from school as her mother was busy goofing around. poor ali, the tales she'll have to tell when she realizes her mom is a swim junkie. she'll be at her wedding and her mom will be swimming. mom has to swim, that's all there is to it. anyway, had some giant grapes at the park and raced home to ..stuff. thanks to claudia for a fab swim, for fun goofing around and motivating me to get out of my house this morning. (i wanted to goof around in my sweat pants, she convinced me otherwise, goofing around in a speedo is way better)
everybody swim! swim like the wind! swim like you mean it! rip those pants off and swim!
lftc-out

the A team swimmeth!

check these girlies out, i'm proud to be swimming with these sassy hotties!

t

happiness glowing from within

aqua girl

omg! a real live mermaid!

swim report monday, the a team minus dianadarling:( , lftc, tftc, cftc swam in murk/clear/murk/clear, zero sun but really beautiful flatness, 66 degrees. we bounced around looking for stuff, didn't see too much but we had a good workout to help prepare cami and toni for the relay which they'll totally rock with their eyes closed AND hands tied behind their backs. duh.
the a team? i found these girls right in the water so long ago, or they found me, we found eachother! we collected diana way back then too and she just fit right in, together we have recruited, found, been found, hunted down, begged, borrowed and stole swimmers to surround us and i'm telling you for the millionth time, our wide spread group from the main players to the fringe players are the most awesome players around. i'd bet money on it! that is the story about The A Team! 4 lone swimmers who lucked out.
lftc-out

Saw a kayaker get rescued by a helicopter

Talya and Amber and I were swimming back to the Cove from the Marine Room when we saw the lifeguards drive up on the beach right in front of the Marine Room.  Next thing you know, the SDFD helicopter is flying back and forth over us.  Apparently a kayaker got stuck on the rocks just north of the caves.  Someone from the helicopter was lowered to the rocks and pulled the kayaker up into the helicopter.  That won't be a cheap bill!  And yes the water was lovely   lol

wow wow wow

Sunday, did I feel a sprinkle? Came over the hill to LJ on Soledad and could swear it was almost raining, dropped the kids at a friends, bolted to the club and down to the Cove, and our shining pod, smiling and waving! LFTC, DIana Darling, the Mighty C's, Leonard, CFTC and WKB (Wendy) dipped into initially chilly waters which turned out to be 66, oh we have become so soft this summer.... clear as glass on the inside, trooped out to the .25, wow, check it out, over here we were screeching practically. Onward towards the Marine Room, hey SHARK (7 gill I think) oh, over here, school of sargo, lots of white fish, which do have yellow fins also :) ... a spotty seal lollygagging about, then to the Marine Room, very distractible swim I have to say, with the current all the way... turned back after seeing a zillion guitar fish against the chop, like crawling on land home... then again, the mighty current did the switcheroo, and we were jamming again. Another shark on the way in, bat ray, frolicking sea lions blowing bubbles and being wayyy frisky and back into the shocking clarity on the inside. Remarkable day in the water with great company too!

Found a ring at La Jolla Shores

Found a nice ring at La Jolla Shores yesterday, Sept.12. I posted a listing on Craigs List. If you hear of anybody who lost one, have them contact tftc.

our first picture of loli! so happy you joined us today!

swim report monday, tftc, cftc, lftc, claudia, ralph, steve, loli, a big group for a monday and what a great group too! tftc read some 'best swim evar!' stories that made her ill (told ya these stories hurt) so she pulled the shores out of her hat and all flocked to her. how could anyone refuse? the sun was shining, a little breeze, absolutely flat and calm, we walked right out, a little red tide to the 1/2 then over to the marine room for leopards, huge guitar fish, sting rays, the white sandy bottom. gorgeous! speaking of gorgeous (handsome too): 

happy campers out at sea!

swam across the shores to see sand dollar beds, some more leopards with little siver fishies flying thru the water,a really stellar sight. my watch read 66 degrees but it felt cooler due to wind. thanks to all my glorious partners, thanks especially tftc for getting us on the 'other side'.
lftc-out

wow! seriously, wow.

sea lions greeting us

fred doing his version of hello-our first fred foto!

swim report thursday noon, loli, fred, cami, lftc: swam out with some trepidation for the red and juicy but had heard the a was decent so we head thataway, pretty clear mostly but not great, sea lions hanging very close by doing their thing, suntanning or whatever, waving hello. one was curious about us but they others stayed put. at the a we decided to cruise to the caves via #5 pin, we ran into a swimmer girl who said "go to the inside" all excited like so we did and what do you know? total clarity, all the way down! wow, what a good call because why? 3 black sea bass, that's why! surely juveniles but jumbo still, just lollygagging, checking the scene out just like us. it was awesome and we were very lucky. right after that we head further in and a big harbor seal, all black and white polka dotty, came to say hi. seriously? we couldn't leave now despite the cold spots. the water ranged from 62 to 65 and the caves were wild feeling, cold on one body part and warm at another, rippling. magical. on the swim back fred hugged the caves for his own experience and made the cave trip, we waited for him outside. too dark and cool in there. we did sprint drills, per cami, all the way back in. thanks to my swim partners for this amazing swim, wow.
lftc-out

No Pants Allowed!

Way to go Fred! Fast and few in 62! No pants, no fins, just swim it and grin. Thanks for the nice swim LFTC and Fred

sea you when I get back ~~~ >)))))*> ~~

hot day, cold seas, no quitters

tuesday swim report: fred, marta, lftc swam in flat, calm cold seas today, (i have to say that 61/62/63 is NOT cold but it was the buzz word today and i'm a sheople, just got right in line) no real viz but some clarity at the 1/4, the a looked scary with kelp so we did a dash to the 1/4, fred needed to read his emotional and physical temps before forging on due to the cccold. he was totally fine and blazed on, john wayne style, as we expected. john wayne in a pink swim cap. we love fred, he's one of us but he may be worried about the winter. tftc will have to have a talk with him, she tried to quit one winter so long ago and ended up swimming further, more often and in way rougher seas. such a mistake my beloved tftc! counsel fred.  we made the 1/2 our goal but we were pushed way outside by an invisible current so we were a scattered trio. very few swimmers, NO tourists! it was almost silent today, it was surreal after a summer of crowds but beautiful to behold. bumped into lonely leonard on our way in, he is requesting a group swim this coming sunday at 11 or so. you all have to be there! he needs us, he wants us! we have to swim for leonard and the mc's and ruth, we have to represent, people! get it together and swim. 
lftc-out
No man drowns if he perseveres in praying to God, and can swim.
~ Russian Proverb

good luck marta!

good luck to marta and all the osd swimmers in the labor day pier race!

fred is funny in the liquid gold

swim report sunday, fred, lftc-11:30: upon hearing that conditions were even remotely swimmable i scrambled for some swim love, only fred could handle the short notice request. (thank you thank you fred!) i ditched my other beach plans and raced down to find that indeed, conditions were decent. we collected a swimmer on our way out, a very nice guy named kevin, who wanted some company to the 1/4. the 1/4? just the 1/4? we went through some small tide waves,  some heavy muck and thick sea weed but made it out perfectly. at the 1/4 i tried to lure kevin further, he declined and said that he recently met some crazy swimmers who wanted to swim "like a mile and a half". this caused fred to crack up,  he tells kevin that 1 1/4 miles to this crew is a warm up, 'don't listen to her man, she'll have you all over in a minute, you'll be out all day long! fred was funny today! poor kevin was a little scared and took right off. baby.  we had some good clarity at the 1/4, pretty murky elsewhere, some swells rolling around but easy to handle and so fun, it was such a fix for me, like liquid gold. bumped into the king and queen of the cove on our way out, doug and janie stripping off their robes of glory to play in our playground, i didn't see any of the other regulars, many, many tourists though. NO parking to be had! so good for what ails, all the shark and surf drama fading away like a bad sunburn. i expect to see everyone and their mother's out this week, the end of this week looks killah! 
lftc-out

Getting Back To Normal

Rarely have I seen such commotion over Fluffy! Close the beach? What's a mermaid to do? Well I waited until 2pm Thursday...they said it would be open by then and LG John, said it was down graded to a a strong advisory (I think mostly due to the rising surf). Upon first glance, past the Channel 7 News wagon, no one was in the water, no kayaks, no SUPs, no paddle boards and no swimmers. Five lifeguards were hanging out at the shack and 2 more roving around up top answering questions about the shark sightings and the surf. When I came down, John greeted me with "okay, now were getting back to normal" (Boy do I have him fooled LOL). Eric and John gave me the low down re the conditions upon hearing my intent to swim to the Marine Room. Strong surf and current, with occasional 10ft faces, waves breaking at the buoys, watch the rips, stay away from any rocks...basically Winter conditions with Summer temps. I got about 69.8F at the 1/4 buoy. I figured with 5+ guards and me, the only swimmer, my odds were pretty good...took my fins just in case.

The looks on peoples face and the occasional comments were cracking me up as I prepped for going in. Just as I got down on the sand, a HUGE wave came in...I glanced back up at Eric and John, yikes!!..."just wait for the set to pass and go for it" There is such power and majesty, soaring emotion and absolute calm finality about the Ocean. You can fight him, but you won't win, he'll tear you apart...or you can peaceably caress and stroke him and have the most amazing experience of your life...yes, I'm still talking about the ocean :o)

I won't say it was the 'best swim EVAR' but it was what I needed. Made it over to the Marine Room from the 1/2 in record breaking speed and found, amazingly enough, there was good viz with all the usual critters (what??) Who knew? Coming back was a challenge, but loved playing in the waves at the 1/4 and at Take-Off. Bottom line...Loved it! When I got out I saw Harry going out for a body surfing session, Ken checking it out and Cy came down with his fins. Later, ran into Anne coming down for some fun in the surf...yes, we ARE getting back to normal again (never saw hide nor hair of Fluffy by the way).

PS: Laura, the red tide is long gone!

mommy help me, i'll be good, you'll see, eek, eek, shark!

people in the place: wednesday desperation swim with fred, marta, lftc, 11:30 swam to the 1/2 after launching in rough and tumble BIG high tide, zero zero viz but temps were 70, 72. bath tub water. at the 1/2 we decided to go to the a but holy cow was it dark red over there, big fat red and juicy. i had bad vibes over and to distract myself i kept thinking about cami and how she would have seriously been on one of our backs to get out of this stuff, maybe even crying. in the mean time i totally raced off course back into the cove. relief! what was that about? where? why?  after fred left us marta and i had some food, checked out our cutie guards, analyzed their workout habits (all of thses boys spend time in the gym) and watched tourists get knocked down, dragged around and generally get mugged by the surf. marta laughed and laughed-she likes this type of humor, you have been warned-don't fall down!
after i was home all relaxed and sated with my fix, marta calls me to let me know that the cove was closed! shark! so we were swimming with a shark, close by, in zero viz. we are brave and tough swimmers! so what if we didn't know until after our swim, it was there and we lived! i knew something was up when i was in the R&J, i felt more weird than usual. this news was so exciting to me, i passed it on to a few special people, ethan, who we bumped into (swimming with an ironman hottie, way to go, ethan) cami, doug who was in the water earlier, and diana d who was on the fence about heading out for a swim the moment i called her (pushed her back). i was so happy my swim was done and over, i needed it and even if i heard sharks were right in the cove i would have tried to swim somewhere, i was desperate.  eyes open, watch the surface!
thanks to my swim peeps for an awesome swim! another day, no prison. aahh!
lftc-out