Glorious Fall Swimming

 A post covering both Saturday and Sunday:

Water: 51.6/54

Air:  low 70s, strong SSE breeze/high 60s, even stronger SSE breeze, a little more south

Waves: MAJOR chop/EVEN MORE chop!!! Yikes!!!

Clarity: Barely any/even less

Last swim: 6:30 a.m. Friday/12 noon Saturday

Saturday Kru:  Lydia the Tattooed Lady, Hollywood Abby, A La Mode, Mermaid Princess, We'Taco, Sandy, Mermaid Princess, Drangonfly, Itch, Brick, Diablo, maybe some others?

Shore Support:  Squeeze o'Showgirl

Sunday Kru:  Blake, Brick, Itch, Dragonlfly, plus Diablo on late shift

Shore Support:  Handyman Hank, Patriarch, many baptizees on North Beach

Next swims: Noon Saturday & Sunday

On Saturday there was a great schism, as Abby headed towards the warmth of the sun beating on the corrugated iron barrier to the north.  A number of us joined her there. Others persisted on staying in the shade to the South.

The water was Caribbean blue, the air was warm but the water was cold, cold, cold.  I felt the season had turned and wore full wetsuit - gloves, booties, the whole nine yards.   It felt like the right choice.  We battled south.  It was slow.  I went extra minutes  south because I knew the current would swoop me back to Klode in no time, and so it did.  I felt comfortable in my wetsuit but grateful for the sun - no afterdrop! 

As we exited the water, Sandy greeted us with giant coffee cake slices topped lavishly with buttercream frosting.  The frosting had the consistency of grease you might wear for a Channel swim, but it was so, so profoundly satisfying.  Maybe someone could share the bakery name in the comments?

On Sunday, I arrived at noon. No one in the parking lot.  At the beach, a lone figure (Blake) at the wall.  As we chatted, the remaining folks gradually showed up, including the rare but welcome appearance of Patriarch.  The water looked more inviting than on Saturday....but once I got in realized it was far far worse!  The chop was bigger.  The breeze stronger.   Though the reading was higher, the water seemed colder.  Maybe just because it was such a struggle.  Itch impressively swam skin. I swam mostly backstroke to make any headway at all. 

We snacked on Brick's hot pickles. Brick proposed, "To a shitty swim" but Itch protested and I backed him up, observing, "it was exciting!"  Not sure if we settled on a toast, but still we downed the Killepitsch.

Driving home, there were four kite surfers at Bradford Beach.  Perfect conditions for them.

Both days Kode  and environs to the north wowed us with a glorious fall foliage embrace.  Especially those mysterious trees with the quaking golden leaves as we climbed back up the hill.  Aspen? Poplars?  Perhaps someone from the Botany Corner can identify!