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.