If you still had your armpits....

 Last Swim:  Wednesday 6:15am 

Next Swims:  M-F 6:15 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.;  Sat. & Sun.  8 a.m. and noon.  (Not sure about the 5:30 pm situation)

(Blog comments may have other swims)    

Water temp: 50....yes, 50!!!

Air Temp:  64

Surf Report:  Some waves, SW breeze blowing our towels around on the beach.

Clarity:  Too cold to notice

Kru:  Lydia the Tattoo'd Lady, Fin-Fyn Klodecky, Lt. MJ, Showgirl, Dragonfly

Shore Support:  A La Mode, Wim Hofers

This was not even close to a sunrise swim...pre-dawn, with the sky lightening ever so gradually in spectacular colors to the east.

TTL announced the temperature, and immediately people began to gear up more slowly, rearranging items on their blankets, anything to the avoid the actual moment of submersion.

Discussion began with a generational divide, with Lt. MJ referencing Mister Magoo and Fin-Fyn stating "I don't even know what that is."  The rest of us reminisced about Mr. Magoo's blythe myopia which led him on adventures such as driving into a gladiator pit of lions, being launched in a moon rocket, and confronting his own mortality in A Christmas Carol.  

But the great thing about being Mr. Magoo, is that everything works out in the end.  

Lt. MJ shared this helpful link:  “ https://youtu.be/t8GTHXTEvIc ” 

Swims were pretty conversative and centered around the rocks, with no one wanting to go too far in the darkness "in case they had a heart attack."  Even TTL's adventure light, which flashed like a strobe in her buoy, was only intermittently visible.

"I'm just here for the waves and the sunset," said TTL.

The water was startingly cold, but brought on a sense of euphoria once you recovered from the shock.

Fin-Fyn, in skin with sleeves, gloves and booties, scored 1,000 yards!  "I was thinking about the science," she said as we shivered back into our shore clothes, "like how can you be standing in a swimsuit in 50-degree air, and its fine, but 50 degree water is devastating."

"But at least you would still have your armpits," said Showgirl in one of those logic leaps attributable at least in part to hypothermia.  Oddly, we all seemed to understand what she meant.

Fin-Fyn Klodecky, Dragonfly, Lt. MJ, Showgirl, TTL Goofy post-swim Magoo-grins.

A lone Wim Hofer and fiery sky captured by TTL

Forgetful Full Moon Friday

Last Swim:  Friday 6:15am (and many many others that go unblogged because.... reasons)

Next Swims:  M-F 6:15 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.;  Sat. & Sun.  8 a.m. and noon.  (Not sure about the 5:30 pm situation)

(Blog comments may have other swims)    

Water temp: 57f

Air Temp:  low 40's

Water Quality/Clarity:  Pretty amazingly clear with small waves out of the south

Kru:  Lydia the Tattoo'd Lady, Dragonfly, Lt. MJ, Fyn-Fin, Luna Laguna, Showgirl

Shore Support:  AlaMode, Magic Mike

She matched the sky.  And also had no socks.

Today was a classic example of how you can never predict the greatness of a swim based on all the pre-swimming grumbling and profanity.

So. Much. Profanity.

Also... everyone seemed to forget something.  Fortunately, other swimmers were mostly able to provide the missing item. I forgot my entire bag of post-swim clothes.  Luna Laguna forgot her swim socks, and miraculously, TTL's teeny-tiny neoprene socks saved the day for her.  

I forget what all everyone forgot, but every few moments someone said the words, "I forgot my.... mind, patience, filter, whatever."

We had also clearly checked our tolerance and sweet dispositions at the door, so any verbal mis-step was immediately called out.

Meanwhile, we put on varying layers of neoprene and predicted varying swim distances.

The little waves were out of the south, and so we decided to swim that way.  Again, there was fairly continuous grumbling as we got in the water and began swimming.

That must have been when the magic began.

The moon.  Did I mention the moon?  It's was an enormous, bright, super moon. The Hunter's Moon, according to MJ.  

Photo credit: Showgirl

It was amazing-- peeking brightly over the trees, following us for the entire swim.  And then along came the sun--also beautiful.

So most of us wore some level of wetsuit.  Luna Laguna and Fyn-Fin wore only the neoprene accessories (socks, sleeves, maybe gloves).  Post swim Fyn-Fin said something like, "I couldn't tell if I was swimming through warmer water or if I was dying."

All to say, it was a shockingly great swim.

Photo credit: Lt. MJ

And finally, because every day at the beach has some bit of weirdness, Ala pointed out that scattered all over the beach were shells.  Not the zebra mussel shells that we're used to, but ocean-y shells that previously housed some type of sea creature.  Yet here, at Klode.