claudia's memorial swim for her grandfather featuring diana's butt and daisies!

can you guess who sports this cute butt? her daisies are the last photo of the day.

these gorgeous swimmers look too good to be done for the day.. 

cami and cary always have this model pose pose going on, hips, curves, sultry looks. i can never pull it off like these girls!
which is why i carry the camera tied to my body in a knot!

we found her! i recognized her from far away, cary and i waited in the kelp for her and here she comes! 

i don't know...saying hi? swimming? waving? wanting to be rescued? 

the cutest couple evar!

again, another cute couple cuddling.. awww

people we love. love, dammit!

flowers for claudia's grandfather and all the grandparents that left their love for us to enjoy.

flowers for grandpa

the beginning of the flower show

dianadarling's daisies

The photos tell the tale better than I can, you can see the sun, the sea state, the swimmers, the flowers, the cuddling and diana's butt and daisies which is all one really needs for a good swim. Too bad I didn't get any pictures of the memorial/Leonard's birthday bash on the grass, we had all kinds of yummy food and booze because we are alcoholics. Okay, none of are but we do often have the good stuff nearby. Even though Doug couldn't and wouldn't dare swim with us slowly mortals, he joined us for the food and booze, we love Doug! He doesn't read our blog but we should let him know once in awhile.  Thanks to everyone for signing the card for the twins and your contributions, thanks for making Leonard's birthday swim a success, (Leonard has had several birthday swims the past week, lucky boy) and for attending Claudia's memorial swim.
And as always, thanks for swimming with me.
lftc-out

Wednesday swim report from a non swimming cookie eater

Swim report for today: I made myself go. I actually bargained with myself, I told myself I'd get cookies later for going. I'd be rewarded with a suntan and my family would appreciate my efforts at soothing my soul in the sea. I have been landlocked for so many days, I wasn't sure I could swim. Did I ever? Isn't it cold? What about sharks? I mowed these ugly thoughts down and went to meet my friends (Leonard who IS ALL THAT and Loli the tough) shores side at noon. We had SUN! Dark water, kind of red tide looking but it was just murk and froth from the recent surf, zero viz, I mean zero for realsies, 58 degrees, big surf too. We had to do a little diving deep to get out, cruised to the 1/4 to see the cove, it looked so much calmer than the shores, went back against a current and encountered some really big swells but had so much fun! I can swim! I is a swimmer! What a relief! But, (wait, there's more) my swim today made me miss all my swim peeps! I missed so many days with you all, you were  so close and yet so far, today made our separation real because I associate good swimmy feelings with good swimmy people and it made me long for you all. That's right, LONG! I won't go as far as saying aching loins or anything, let's not get carried away here, but I did want you all. It's good to be wanted, ask anyone.
And, you will be happy to know that I worked on my tan and I got my cookies. More like brownies but let's not nitpick.
lftc-out

people i love hate me....

I last swam Sunday, I have been dry 3 days. I had Leonard invite me to be his partner all 3 of those days but I couldn't go due to regular life on land. Wednesday, I had Janie, Loli and Leonard asking me to swim and my dry life road blocked me. Are you kidding me? I'm so confused! Why does regular life interfere with my swim life? If you all realized how I feel in jeans with a zipper you'd have more empathy. Maybe the people I love would stop emailing, texting and calling with things like this: Best swim evar! You should swim today, it's the last good day evar! Water was clear and flat today, you should have swam! Perfect day for a swim, sorry you missed it! We saw the turtle, dolphins and a unicorn, the guards gave out cash prizes to all the swimmers today, you should have been here!  But alas, I'm dealing with jeans and a zipper. I cannot even tell you, my friends, about the inner turmoil of undergarments and makeup. I swear I had to dust off a compact and my perfume expired. I went to use my blow drier and spiders had made a nest in the motor.  The pain of having to deal with all those things while the people I love are frolicking beach side is exquisite, to wit: the people I love hate me.
I try to stay connected to the swimmers by thinking about swimming constantly, I try to talk to strangers about swimming but words like 'conditions, temps, surge, current, swell and murk' are odd to non swimmers. Just try to talk to your kid's teacher about the 'red and juicy', I can assure you, you won't be invited to any more school meetings. (okay, the ONE good thing) 
So I walk the lonely, dry path sometimes. In jeans with a zipper. And despite the torture you all sometimes inflict upon me, I will never stop loving you. Even as I furiously delete your text with all the might my index finger can muster, my heart is filled with adoration. 
That is all.
lftc-out  

Crabby about crabs

Cary was crabby today. I was crabby today. Didn't hear Cary's reason for her crabs, but my reason is my piece-o-shit wetsuit. Had to swim in the no-pants way today. Gawd, that's a whole new kind of frosty when you have to swim without a wetsuit. But I managed to swim for 30 minutes before my hands stiffened into open claws.

The water at the Shores was placid and clear to 20 feet. T'was LFTC, Leonard, Diana, TFTC and the MCs braving the overcast sky. The menfolk swam off to the Q while us womenfolk hugged the shore to the WH and back. In keeping with the crabby theme, the only thing we saw was--CRABS! Two cute little rock crabs that I harassed to watch them scuttle away on their claws; and one ginormous spider crab that was just beautiful to watch as it lumbered along the sandy bottom.

Great swim ladies and fellows! Next time I swim no-pants will be on a sunny day at the very least.

Lynn's Lucky Day

My friends Lynn, Jules and Barbara came down from Laguna Beach on a whim this morning for a La Jolla swim...so had to do the hostess thang and show them a good swim...and what a swim!  Last night Lynn stated she wanted to swim with the sharks, but none to be had lately, so I offered up the possibility of spying a turtle. The reply?  "If I swam with a turtle...I'd pee my speedo!" 

 

Us locals aim to please so off we swam to the Shores, 1/2. then MR then half way to the Q, there they were...Turtles, not one but two (only one graced our camera...the little one got away).  The UW Coffee Table one graced us with a long visit, but Jr, who was only maybe 20in across sped away.  One the way in we saw dolphin going from the Q out to the B.  After a long soak to de-thaw we had breakies at the cafe over at the LJ Museum of Art...yumm so good.  Try it.  Hope to swim with y'all soon. (all photos courtesy of Lynn since mine was given up to Neptune as a peace offering)

cary canning has crabs! eyewitness report! read shocking details here!

swim report for sunday: the mighty c's, leonard, dianadarling, tftc, lftc met at the shores in cool weather, grey skies, wind and brrr.  we stalled for a bit while cary announced the she was CRABBY, she missed our cove, why weren't we there? why were we here? she hadn't wanted to come but bill coaxed her along, she was tired, she was cold AND she was stepping into my whining territory (but with much cleaner language) so we listened because she is darn cute. who else can be as cute while whining?  No one, that's who.
toni literally shredded her wetsuit while putting it on, she doesn't even know her own strength, she ditched it as it was a rag and went no pants! woo hoo, tftc, way to share the misery! we tip toe in, literally tip toe in because brrr.. finally we are all in only to immediately split up, the manly men swam off to the 1/4, the girlies swam to the marine room to turtle hunt and to allow for a fast exit and it was amazingly clear, so beautiful down there! we swam all the way to and past the white house, toni and cary went spelunking into that cave over there, they were walking around while diana and i spotted really big fish, the black ones with the yellow dot. lot's of other little snack fish too. we finish our tour and head back when cary spotted a crab, about palm sized, just sitting right there in the sand below. she messed with him a little, he didn't budge and  threatened to give her a pinch so we move on and she sees another one! and another one! and a very large spider crab! the spider crab was dinner plate large (dinner plate, indeed) and really cool looking skittering along. it was diana who coined 'cary has crabs on her crabby day' and so she had. cary canning's crabs. we exit and see our guys sailing in from the 1/4 which they declare very clear. we got to watch cary perform her deck change but her show was trounced by toni today, toni had it going on! incredible contorting, twisting, turning, limb dislocating and so on under her swim jacket,  it was like watching houdini escape from a straight jacket! we left after an enthralling and highly educational discussion about cary's and diana's magical aquatic urinary abilities, toni's sad and tragic urinary inability and the reasons for both. i cannot explain the reasons nor do i dare. ask the other's, i know you want to. 
you all will be happy to know that diana did end up wearing pants home, she was one inch from going home nakie, no unders, no nothing except her ugg slippers and surf poncho. she has been pulled over post swim, it could happen again so pants are the answer here.  
that is the swim/crabs/pee report for today. fun, fun, fun and i want to do the whole thing over and over, it will never be dull with this crew!
lftc-out

Some yous Saturday

The MCs were late -- I forgot my warm neo-hat and Bill gallantly went back home to fetch it. Then, the holiday weekend, yes, no parking. Leonard gave up waiting and went in alone. When the MCs were on deck, Diana was chatting with Janie and even Claudia appeared... then many more appeared -- Shane, Chris, Vic , Richard and more that I don't even remember. Took us an hour to prepare -- we saw Leonard as we headed out.  Not as gorgeous a day as Friday, but still, very nice  -- little rollers in the cove, smooth seas, not much viz, felt like 56-58ish water temp.

We headed to the B via the A and then to the virtual half (Shane always know where we keep the virtual half, so we followed him). The fast guys were way ahead, but Janie, the MCs, Diana and Shane had a nice swim. Many fish out swimming and birds buzzing our heads.  I think Diana got buzzed and nearly hit on the head by a huge pelican!

Here's hoping Sunday is good and LFTC and our other peeps show up too.
~mercari

where is yous people?

swim report jan. 13, 12:30 WITH NONE OF YOUS! only claudia could take off her pants and swim with me today. pam (from the athletic club) went at noon, janie and her manpod were going at 1:45, i needed something right in the middle so it was claudia and me cruising the sea and what a sea! sunny skies, clear cove, 60 degrees. we swam to the caves but it was kind of murky but not too bad and then veered out to the 1/4 but again, not too clear. we decided to swim to the point and hit paydirt! clear to cami's pot (ask her about it, all i can say is that she has an imaginary pot from days of yore down there, she has a photo of said pot but by the time she has it developed, the technology for instamatics will be dead. just like days of yore!) we swam further out, past the point and it was magnificent, we mostly bobbed and stared. we finally had to go in for adult responsibilities. poor little ali has stood out in front of her school so many times because 'mommy is swimming' and running late. claudia had 'work' or whatever so playtime was over.  
really good conditions considering the beat down the cove recently experienced, it's magic!
see you all this weekend and i'm especially excited because bill has a new neoprene beanie! he's gonna whip it out and show it to us. we all have to see it.  get in line. 
lftc-out  

whales and dolphins and girls, oh my! whales and dolphins and girls, oh my!

swim report tuesday, 11am: claudia, lftc. i went to the cove based on the 'fair' conditions report and found waves! the guards confirmed it and told me to go away, to take my happy self and get the f**k out so i did just that. they don't have to tell me twice. i met claudia on the good side, sunny skies and truly flat seas. NO waves at all but look to the right, look to the caves and whompers. we decided to go turtle hunting, the A team's turtle sighting was too much for claudia despite her long and rich history of mingling with more sea animals than i will ever see. clear to the floor, we could see our shadows on the sand, count the sand dollars and the top was warm. heaven. we swam close to the shores and veered toward the caves but it became murky, turned around and at one point i'm alone, claudia had stopped way back there, she yelled 'whale!', i turned to the horizon ans sure enough, stuff was ahappening! dolphins between us and the b buoy, throngs of kayaks and a boat at the b and a whale, spouting and rolling. we saw the giant flipper, it looked the biggest dolphin you could ever see from where we were. a lone helicopter cruised by, i thought it was the news but haven't found anything, the chopper was blue and white in case anyone knows about it.  we stayed out for far too long waiting for the whale to come and see us but it moved on. our toes were frozen but it was worth it. 
we have to swim! we have to get it while the gettin' is good! if we have one factor on our side, jump in. be it sun, clarity, flat, warm-ish, wet or simply there, we must swim! do it for me, we'll all be happier for it!
lftc-out  

Monday swim

More sun and visible horizon than we knew what to do with! Man it was a beauty day out there. Just Toni, Cami and Laura showed up for an all-girl swim. LFTC tasked me to blogg about today. I can only hope to half as entertaining as other bloggs; the bar is set quite high doncha-know.

Water temp was 58-ish with pockets of sun-warmed jacuzzis that soared to temp of...60. Practically geothermal I-tell-ya! Due to my lousy amber-shaded (free) goggles, I have no idea what the visibility was like. Based on my fellow mer-friends' commentary, all I can say is that it was only okay from the cove to the Q, then stellar from the Q to the white house. AND because of Cami's freakishly keen eyesight, she spotted the sea turtle in 15 feet of water (straight out from the WH)! WOO-HOO! We were like paparazzi on that turtle's tail. But with my piece-of-crap amber goggles all I could see was murk. Thanks to LFTC's naturally-gracious thinking, she took off her awesome goggles and offered them to me for a REAL look at the turtle and the viz.

Great swim today, ladies. I had to book it to the public shower where some lady was taking her weekly bath in that cold public shower. Her shower rivaled my 13-yr-old's epic daily showers. This was woman scrubbing herself before, during and after my shower and change. Must have been a dirty week.

birthday boys

we have two birthdays this month that i know of: steve, january 22nd and leonard, january 21. (i think, i could check the list but the clicking you know, it's exhausting) just a reminder to send a little birthday love to our friends! we love our friends, people!

stealth swimmers, full frontal booze

Swim report January whatever, noon: The Mighty C's, Leonard, Marta, Dianadarling, Claudia, LFTC met at the shores and somehow collected a girl from Colorado who wanted to swim with us (who doesn't) so we fixed her up and swam in shining sun, flat and glassy seas, clear and beautiful conditions, my watch read 60 the entire swim. Parted ways near the marine room, Claudia and I went turtle hunting, no turtle but snack fish and the sea floor made the departure from the group worthwhile. The rest went to the 1/4 to see our greatly missed cove. We all met alive and well and more than happy, I heard our CO girl got cold and went in but still had a manly swim to the 1/4, no pants! Awesome swim you guys!  Thanks to the MC'S for being the den mother and setting us up today in perfect weather. 
Commentary regarding the Polar Bear Plunge: I viewed the pics today on the swim club Facebook (see, I DO get on facebook) and notice two things in particular, we are the largest and very last group on the grass and the pictures show all the girls swilling hooch. We are either holding a cup (someone is holding TWO cups), about to drink or drinking. Posing with our cuppies even! A little eating is going on too. My thought is that our group is not so much about swimming, as there are no photos of us even remotely near the water, but more about lounging around on the grass getting hammered.   To this I say that we are covert swimmers but full frontal party people. Way to bring in the new year!
lftc-out

whompers!

swim report from the end of the world: fri. 10am, shores, lftc, claudia & ralph.. we all arrived at the shores early to watch the cliffs and cove, giant surf pounding the caves and cove, i mean really freaking big! not 7' surf but 10, 12, 15 foot stuff. at one point i watched a breaking wave eat the 1/4 at snack time. boomers was enormous and breaking so far out that it wasn't really boomers at all. don't forget about scripps! waves were breaking near the end of the pier, we knew because we were in line with the end of the pier and the waves were too scary to  swim further thataway. dammit. surfers were too inside to catch these bad boys, after that set, they swarmed out. anyway, we swam! tower to marine room back towards the pier but waves, you know. turned back and did that whole thing again. it was so fun and the waves easy south of the tower, we just walked on in to 58 degrees and sun! very clear too. we raced to the cove after our swim to check out the wave action, surfers were out, surfing dontcha know, jimmy and a few others out too. the guards had a physical barrier at the tops of the stairs saying run! run for your lives! too bad because i was so tempted! things peak tonight and slowly go down late saturday. go check it out people! 
lftc-out

LFTC to NOAA: suck it!

Here's a story: Early this Tuesday morning I received a stern warning from my sweet Claudia that there is a high surf advisory in San Diego, it was an official looking thing replete with menacing words like; pulses, rogue, severe, swells, rips, death, die, and even this blurb: be advised that while waters may look calm, the building NNW swell can produce rogue waves rapidly, especially dangerous near shore blah blah blah. I have no plans to swim ever again lest I perish in monster surf.  But then two things happened, Leonard emailed me all happy and carefree (does he not KNOW?) asking if I wanted to swim in the sun and Cami called me all excited and said she hoped I was swimming, it was beautiful, flat, lake like, glassy, calm and that I should go, that she was in La Jolla! She wasn't swimming but I should. (what a teaser)  So I decide to meet Leonard, to take my chances and if the conditions were doomsday like, I could bail and at least keep an eye on Leonard. I drive over and what do I see? Beauty, sunny skies, big wide beach and the water? Nothing, flat, barely a ripple, not even a ripple, like NO waves, like walk out chest deep without a splash and clear to the bottom, It was amazing, like a summer day. Man alive, the weather people are so wrong, NOAA is wrong, Scripps and Surfline are wrong. Leonard and Cami were right, THEY should do the weather. We swim from directly in front of the tower to the 1/4 and back to the tower via the marine room.  (Leonard has a thing about the tower, it has to be right from and right back to the tower and not one inch less)   A pretty decent swim distance wise, easy to relax in sweet conditions and no other swimmers out, we had the whole place to ourselves. My watch read 60 degrees, it felt warmer, especially the top. I did some floating around today, just loving the sun frying my face into leather. I do enjoy a good face fry.
I declare that Leonard is ALL THAT. That's his new nickname: Leonard is ALL THAT. 
Happy happy joy joy!
lftc-out