Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Rock Me Gently

Next Swims:
Tuesday thru Thursday - 6am & 6pm, Friday 6 am and 5:30 pm

Last Swim:
Monday, Sept. 13, at 6 pm
Water Temp:  Itch-o-meter 60, agreed with toe-mometer of 60, warmer past the rocks
Waves:  Smooth surface, small gentle rocking swells
Clarity:  Brownish green, but pretty clear, lots of debris floating around
Kru:  Staggered shifts:  Drangonfly, Itch, Aaron, Super Hera, Diablo
Shore Support:  Panini and her neighbor, also a random mom-and-kid

The sky was blue and the sun golden as I cursed traffic en route to the beach Monday night, arriving finally around 5:45 p.m. thinking I was the only Kru member to show (totally spacing meetup time was  6 p.m. not 5:30.).  Fog softened shore and horizon contours to the north. What the heck, I waded in to "ice my legs" as the marathoners do.  "How's the water?" piped the ginger-headed 8-ish year old.  "Cold," was my equally witty reply.  "I think it's about 60," I added, to invite further conversation.  There being none, I slid in to enjoy an exceedingly gentle, rocking swell, distinctly more pleasant beyond the rocks.  

Arriving back at shore, I found Itch chatting with the mom and kid like old friends.  "Have fun swimming!" the kid yelped (I tell you, he had the one-liners!) as Itch's orange cap faded into the fog which now engulfed the scene. 

Next up was Aaron, carrying a motorcycle helmet, then Super Hera, "a bright spot of color" with her green caftan, as Harini observed.  Aaron and Super Hera set out into the grey and Diablo appeared.  "Someone's calling me," Harini held up her phone.  "It's your neighbor!" quipped Diablo.  "It IS my neighbor.  My other neighbor.  I'm like the Daniel Tiger of adults!" Harini declared.  As Aaron and Super Hera disappeared to the north, Itch reappeared.  Diablo swam off South so he could more easily keep the shoreline in sight through the pea soup.  Itch and I walked together up the bluff, speculating on who had set stones in the shape of a heart on Diablo's towel.

3 comments:

Super Hera said...

Look, I gotta say that I think the temps Saturday and Monday were generous. There are some damn cold spots out there. Major props to Aaron who made it to the ?birches? ?cedars? for his longest swim with the crew. I am making his first official nickname nomination: Big Sky. Cuz he's from Montana. And not a lot of people are. And I think it's a pretty cool name. He seems cool enough to carry it off.

Wytosk said...

Swimming with Aaron last night was a joy. Big Sky is a great name! We were appreciating the hell out of a gorgeous swim to birches and he did it skin, brrr. Definitely cool!

Big Sky said...

Thank you for the escorts to the north! There is magic and medicine in this water. It feels so immense it's a little overwhelming if I think too much about it. Nice to have such great company out there! I can live with Big Sky.