First SKIN Swim!

 Probable next swims:

Mon - Fri 6 am and afternoons at 5pm

Sat/Sun 8am and noon

Last Swim: Thursday 6am, , and evening swims, I assume

Water Temp: 63 per mitchometer

Air Temp: mid 70's, humidity 150%

Clarity: pretty nice

Waves: Mostly flat, slight gentle amusing swell

Kru: Rachel, Mr. Bubble (early shift) Showgirl, Dragonfly

Shore support:  Two 20-something blonde girls on Robin's Rock

Late shift!  I woke up at 5:56 a.m.  Showgirl was already at the beach.  "Be there in 20 minutes!" I gasped on the phone as I flung myself out the door.  For the 2nd straight day the Hoan was engulfed in a solid slab of fog, I turned on the headlights.  Unlike yesterday, it cleared only slightly north of downtown.

Rachel and Mr. Bubble were only represented by piles of stuff on the beach when I arrived at 6:22 but Showgirl had waited for me.  

"The buoy said 60.  Mr. Bubble said 63" she announced.

"Well!"

"Well, the buoy lies?"

"Well yeah but  -- Well it's skin!  We have to try.  Do you think?"

She did.  We still garbed up with gloves & booties and cautiously waded in.  Immediately you could tell, slightly more than ankle deep, the water was warmer on the few square inches of exposed shin than it has been yet this year.

We ventured out inside the rock pile, heading North.  The barrier is only about a foot under water, so that was interesting.  Lots of interesting rocks on this side.  We conferred at Sewer Pipe...then again at Garage, then agreed to 50 more yards.  

We turned back then, "Because I'm not certain as to how cold I actually am," I said.

Still, it was pretty glorious.  With the fog, the underwater scene was pretty monochromatic - a sort of yellowish gray, but off infinitely to the sides, sort of a dirty aquamarine.  I could see Showgirl next to me both above and under the water.  We kept pace pretty well together, except she kept heading out to sea.  We paused again off Sewer Pipe and she said, "How did we get out here?"

My arms and shoulders (though a little cold) felt so free.  It felt so good to have the water flowing over them.  Oddly, my hands and feet felt wet in their gloves and booties.  Showgirl felt the water "catching" on one of her gloves.  I am sure the gloves will be off soon.

We swam back around the outside of the rocks on the return journey, then around the south rocks, then around the south rocks again to make 1,000 yards. Definitely warmer and cooler patches, a little pool of fingerlings just south of the rocks.

Rachel & Mr. Bubble returned from their swim to Mudslide.  They had opted for wetsuits - probably a good thing, since they complained about "getting lost" in the fog!  However brief that experience might have been, it is not one I would care for.  

One more thing I wanted to add (how quickly we forget) even though it was Skin-able - there was a lot of shivering on the beach afterward that continued over coffee - caveat afterdrop!  Please swim responsibly.