Bringing the Drama

 Next Swims: Mon-Fri 6am or possibly 6:15 a.m. to accommodate later sunrise.  Tuesdays/Thursdays noon. 

 Sat/Sun 8am and noon. (All of these are weather and people-dependent) 

Last Swim: Saturday noon

Water temp: Thermometers said 60, but felt more like 58

Air Temp: 60-ish, cool breeze

Water Quality: 3.5 foot (estimate) breakers with a lot of force.  You had to swim out 100 yards to get past them. 

Clarity: Very murky

Kru: Brick, Moondaug, Diablo, Peaches, Laguna Mike, Luna Laguna, SDragonfly

Shore Support: Sauna people on the early shift, Sandy with peanut butter cookies

October brought the drama, with clear skies at 11 a.m. turning dark and foreboding at noon.  I was  late, but my timing was actually perfect because the Lagunas were arriving at the same time. Brick, Moondaug and Diablo were already heading out, but Peaches was coming back.  She decided to make another go of it with the Lagunas and me.

The water was quite shallow, all the way to the rocks.  I turned my body to catch the waves on my hip, facing them head on spelled trouble for my knees.  It was not a place to linger.  No gradual acclimating. When the next really big one came, I dove under and let its energy surge overhead.  Repeat, maybe 4/5 times before I was out far enough to swim. 

It was not as bad as one might expect, though going north was quite a slow slog.  I turned at the rock wall - MUCH easier on the return trip with a lovely rhythmic push.  Coming back, I lined up so the surf would take me between the rocks. On about my third surf in I was taken by a really powerful wave that forced water up into my sinuses.  As I skimmed over the sand, I thought, "Wow, I have no control here."  But it was over after just a few moments.  Not my roughest Klode experience, but maybe in the top 5.

Some Kru members enjoyed the body surfing - Diablo, Moondaug, Laguna Mike with fins -  but Moondaug paid a price when his green Swedish goggles were ripped away by the surf.  So if you find them, hang onto them for him. 

In the parking lot, we were disappointed to find that Brick's "Clowns to the Left - Jokers to the Right" stickers had come off his truck. How will we know now, where the jokers are?