I’m in town this weekend and I had heard one of my Santa Maria swim buddies was thinking about swimming on Saturday to do some sprints for time as part of his training for USMS SCY Nationals in a few months. I sent him an email asking if he minded an extra swimmer to help push him a little and I was advised to “bring it.” Excellent :)
I drove down around lunchtime and the weather is starting to turn on us around here a little. It was overcast and a little colder than it has been, sounds like we may even be back into rain tomorrow… boo… upside was almost no one else was at the pool. Me, Mike, and Christy all got our own lanes to swim in and they all had starting blocks set up on them.
We went through an extended warm up of about 1600 yards and then worked on figuring out how to do our sprints. We did all out 50′s from a dive on 2:00. To ensure we had someone to start us and get times we had one person cycle out each round to run the “heats.” So we started with me vs. Mike, then Mike vs. Christy, Christy vs. me and so on until we all did 5 50′s.
I swam a couple fly, a couple free and one breast stroke. My first 50 was around 27 which is ok for just messing around in practice, but if I want to catch up to myself from last year I’ll need to get that closer to 25! Things got slower from there, but didn’t drop off too hard. It was fun to have some mini races with these guys. It was especially nice to have Christy in the mix because I haven’t seen her in the pool forever due to her job taking her out of town. Now that I know this pool is open on Saturdays at lunch I might have to do this more often!
400 mixer
8 x 50 kick @ 1:00
8 x 50 IM Switching @ 1:00
200 pull
8 x 25
5 x 50 sprint off the blocks @ 2:00 w/ a bonus rotating 2:00 rest (fly, free, fly, breast, free)
1850 yards total
After I got home I decided to add a little bike ride to my day just to get in some bonus activity. I geared up and set out with not much of an idea of where I wanted to go. I knew I wanted to get to Pismo for a peek at the ocean, beyond that it was just what ever happened would happen.
Out at the beach I got what is probably a preview of tomorrow’s ocean swim… chop city. Something is creeping this way across the ocean and it already has the water stirred up. We have a 50% chance of rain for tomorrow, I’m hoping it at least holds off until later in the day so that I have people to swim with me.
I’m no super cyclist so I only rode about 10.5ish miles, I had intentions of about 12 but the way I was going to take home had a bike detour on it which led me to turn earlier than intended. It felt good to spend some more time outside. The air was a little cool which kept me comfortable and only a few people tried to hit me with their cars so that was good :)
Niel, my training partner and star of lots of my open water pictures, had a birthday today so we celebrated the best way we knew how… in the ocean! It was warm and sunny at the beach, and a perfect day to knock out a swim for lunch.
We met up on the sand and hung out for a little while and contemplated our swim. The tide was way out and there was a little bit of a breeze moving left to right, but nothing major. We ended up doing the same swim route as we did on Tuesday except the other way around. We planned to get in on the right side of the pier, swim to the creek buoy then to the Poly Pier. After that it would be back to the top of the Avila Pier and down the side back to the beach.
click for swim details
Niel had measured 55 off the pier again today but we both agreed it felt way colder… my human thermometer said more like 53. The walk into the surf was pretty frosty, and the surf was so far out I felt like we might make it all the way to the buoy line before we would have to start swimming! Ha! Eventually Niel took off swimming and I had to work myself up enough to toss myself in the water. Luckily a set of waves that were big enough that they couldn’t be dodged showed up to make that decision for me! Whoosh!
I sprinted out to the buoy and regrouped with Niel for a second and then we made our way to the Creek buoy. On the way down I got a grip on the temperature and everything leveled out for me. One more short stop at the buoy and then we made our way to the Poly Pier. Since this is a somewhat longer leg I got to stretch out a bit and focus on my stroke. The cold water had me a little tense and I needed to relax a little to get my stroke in order.
Out at the Poly Pier we hung out for a bit and talked. I also spent some time fidgeting with my cap. Besides having a huge head I’ve been packing a gps underneath it… this has been leading to lots of rolled up caps. On top of looking stupid it doesn’t really do me any favors. I need to find some kind of new cap that is sufficiently snug to hold down my gadgets, but won’t roll up as soon as I hit water. I’m about ready to go get a water polo cap :)
The swim back to the tip of the Avila Pier was a little rocky, we picked up some chop but nothing major. The two of us took slightly different lines and spent most of this leg of the swim on our own. I don’t think we were ever more than 10m apart, but with Niel off to my left I never really saw him since I was breathing on the other side and looking forward at the tip of the pier when sighting. It’s always weird when you get that alone in the ocean feeling even when you know you’re not. Especially considering how much sea life is probably hanging out under us while we’re out there that we just never see.
Since I picked the direction for the swim today Niel made sure to make fun of me for always knowing the wrong direction to go in regards to the chop… I do kinda have a knack for picking the hard way :) Eventually we swam back in along the length of the pier and I body surfed a little wave to cover the last piece of the swim. Apparently I took it in a little to far because when I got up my suit was full of sand! Whoops. All told a good swim and a great day to be in the water!
In other news… if you follow along on Facebook you may have noticed that I’m doing an 8 mile marathon swim in Utah’s Great Salt Lake in June. Well that portion of the event (there’s a 1 miler as well) is capped out at about 12 swimmers and is very close to filling up! I think they have room for about 3 more swimmers. If you want in on a very unique swim go check out the site: GreatSaltLakeOpenWater.com to learn some more about it.
And while I’m at it… a quick link for you guys to check out… Jen Schumacher who I got to watch swim mainland to Catalina back in October while on the boat for the Swim22 relay has a post on her site today that really caught my attention. She was swimming in Laguna Beach, the same spot I was this past Sunday, and had an unexplained “incident.” Totally worth a read, check it out here.
I traded out my normal Tuesday pool swim for a trip to the beach today and it looks like Thursday might go the same way. Niel was looking for some bonus ocean time during the week since he can’t swim this weekend and based on the weather right now I really can’t say no! It continues to be spectacular which makes me a little concerned for what might be coming in February because it can’t stay this nice forever.
We met up on the beach around noon and there were a fair number of people out there just hanging out in the sunshine. Apparently it was a good day to “be sick” or something because it’s usually pretty sparse on weekdays this far from any kind of holiday. The sky was very clear with lots of sun and no real wind to speak of. Niel measured 55 degree water off the pier and the water itself looked pretty mellow.
We took a little while getting in so I could acclimate and so that we could make a plan. We decided to swim to the end of the pier then to the middle of the Poly Pier, back to the buoy line and in. Niel took off first and I tossed myself in a couple seconds after. The water felt pretty cold but the sunshine really took the edge off of it.
Since it was just the two of us we swam straight out to the end of the pier without stopping. When we regrouped a couple of tourists were waving at us which is always amusing :) After taking a minute to look around and enjoy the surroundings we made a path to the Poly Pier.
On the way the water started to liven up. We had some chop building and pushing straight into our faces. It wasn’t huge but it was big enough to mess with your stroke and breathing patterns. At one point Niel stopped and made sure I was seeing this too and we looked for a possible source since it didn’t feel like the wind was high enough to make it happen. We didn’t see any boats either, but the swell was picking up. I’m still not sure what whipped up that chop though.
At the Poly Pier we regrouped and tried to sight the creek buoy… the size of the swells was making it hard to spot anything that far away so we just aimed for about where we thought it was. We shot a little short but it wasn’t a big deal, once we found the buoys it was an easy swim back to the Avila Pier.
As we neared the beach I hung back a little to find a wave to ride in. I caught a nice little wave just right and rode it in to the shallow water. According to my GPS we swam about 2km or 1.25 miles, not bad for a quick lunchtime swim!
click for swim deets
In other news… I saw a video today from the Distance Swim Challenge I did in October which has a couple brief appearances made by yours truly. The video is about this ex pro football player who works for ESPN that did the 1.2 mile swim, but they edited in some clips of the 12.6 milers on the beach and at the start for some reason. Look out for some sweet high five action and my zebra striped RobAquatics suit running into the ocean with a bunch of wetsuited swimmers!
Pre 12 miler high five! I don't think either of us could have done that after the swim! click the picture to get to the video!
The ocean really is this exciting... it elicits skipping and jumping on Sunday mornings
I do my best to drop in with the Oak Streakers in Laguna Beach when ever I’m even remotely in town… as a matter of fact I didn’t really have an excuse to be particularly close to there this weekend, but I went ahead and made it happen anyways :) As it turns out I wasn’t the only visitor today either. We had me from Pismo, Mallory from Indy (who just moved to LA), and Bart from Tampa all in attendance with 5 locals. Normally this group doesn’t go out on Sundays but the weather was so absurdly nice it was hard for people to say no, you gotta take advantage of days like this when you can… you never know when the rain is going to come back!
this'll do I guess ;)
While we were hanging out on the observation deck above the beach chatting and soaking in the sun I was taking a good look at the surf. It was pretty burly today! Big swells, big waves, and a ton of surfers all over the coastline. Patsee gave a quick how to get out of the surf at this beach talk to a couple people before we went down the stairs to work on getting in the water. (Click here for a picture Patsee took that gives you a way better idea of the size of the waves than the suspiciously flat looking pictures I took)
getting ready up on the deck above the beach
Word on the street was anywhere from 56-58 degrees today, not even cold really. While I was busy trying to ease myself into the water I totally screwed up the timing of the sets. Lynn and I got caught with a big set of waves and had to wait it out a little before we could split. The other half of the group that was already out was already well on their way before we got past the last set of breakers. The waves on the way out were big! Definitely an awesome day to be a local surfer!
the view through the middle of the swim
Even out past the breakers we had really formidable swells rolling though and we couldn’t see anyone else so we just forged our own path in the general direction we figured everyone else was going. The swim out was really beautiful. I put Lynn on my right side so I could see her to help navigate, and the whole way down I got to check out all the awesome houses pushed up against the coast while watching the backs of big crashing waves.
me in front of main beach
When we got down to about even with the lifeguard tower at Main Beach we stopped and looked around for the rest of the group. Lynn thought she saw people towards this big rock a little further away so we swam that direction to check it out… no such luck. So we turned it around and made our way back to Oak Street.
Lynn on the lookout for other swimmers
We swam a lot further out on this part. It started out a good idea until we hit tons of kelp. There was some major kelp krawling going on… I was having Monterey flashbacks :) We tried to cut it back in a little ways and it just got thicker. Eventually we broke out of the kelp beds, but not before I got nice and exfoliated by scratchy kelp leaves.
today's route, click for the details
As we neared the end of the route we had to start considering how we were going to get out. Just like getting into the ocean, getting out successfully was going to be a matter of timing. Lynn and I hung offshore watching the swells and when the ocean seemed to be going temporarily flat we jammed towards the beach with a mix of freestyle and backstroke to watch out for any rogue waves or the start of the next set. I figured we guessed right because I swam though a little gang of Stand Up Paddleboarders that were taking the same opportunity to get their boards out into flatter water before the surf picked back up. Once I had sand under my feet I gave it a quick little jog to get out of the water, this beach has a healthy little undertow that’ll pull you back into the surf if you’re not paying attention.
Lynn negotiating one last wave before getting out
Back on the beach we all regrouped and talked about our swims. According to my gps we swam just a hair short of 2 miles in about an hour. I ran up the street real quick to change into some real clothes and then met most of today’s swimmers for breakfast at a local joint with outdoor seating and a great view of the ocean. At one point while eating my breakfast sandwich I saw dolphins at a distance! Can’t get mad at that! Eventually everyone had to go back about their days and I had to start to make my way home up the coast. I’m not sure when I’ll be back again to swim Laguna Beach but you can trust if I can make up an excuse to go do it it will be done :)
today's swim crew! thanks for having me out for a swim!
I’ve been down in SoCal this weekend and spent Friday night and the first half of Saturday with my team, Conejo Valley Multisport Masters. It’s always fun to get down there and see everybody in person. Even though I’m a far away satellite member most of them know who the guy with the weird beard and odd suit collection is :)
I got into town Friday night just in time to sneak into their workout at the Westlake pool. Those of us that were planning to do the One Hour Swim were set aside to do a meet warm up workout while the rest of the crew did a normal workout. We did maybe 1600 yards or so which is probably about all I could handle anyways. The pool was way too hot for me… admittedly my opinions on water temperatures are a little out of the ordinary though… but no one else seemed to feel the same way as me so I guess it was just right and I’m just a weirdo :)
This morning I made my way to the pool around 7:30 giving myself plenty of time to get ready for my swim. The first of two heats was already in progress and I was tasked with the very important job of 15 minutely kickboard reminder holder person. We had multiple clocks set up around the pool that you could glance up at to figure out where you were at, but to supplement that we sent people around the pool with kickboards to announce 15 minute increments. We also had Coach Nancy running around with a whiteboard to pass notes along to the swimmers in the water.
Once heat one finished up we got everyone out of the water, doled out some high fives and then pulled everybody together for a team picture. One of our teammates actually skipped swimming to shoot pictures through the whole event… I’m looking forward to seeing those once they hit the web!
After our team picture I went to go find my lane. In the one hour swim you can put up to 2 people in a lane so most of us were splitting with somebody except for a few people that are hard to split a lane with. One of our guys is like an 8 foot tall power lifter so it’s in everybody’s best interest to give Peter his own lane to swim in :) I was paired up with Jim, one of our pro triathletes, and it turned out to be a pretty good match. We were reasonably close in speed but with enough of a gap that we weren’t swimming shoulder to shoulder at all during our hour.
When we got started I felt pretty strong and probably took it out a little too fast. I’ll have to take a look at my split sheet later, but that first 2 or 300 yards was probably attacked with a little too much effort considering I had 56 more minutes to go and whatnot. Once I settled down into a rhythm I started to put a little distance between my lane mate to one side of me and Beata on the other side of my lane line.
Around 15 minutes into the swim I started to get a little uncomfortable. I was really hungry and my stomach was a bit out of sorts. All I had in the tank was some Gatorade and a granola bar… I just can’t eat in the mornings but I really could have used it today! As we neared 20 minutes I had a bit of a diversion though, I was catching up to pass my lanemate. I made sure to make the pass quick so we wouldn’t get stuck next to each other for an awkwardly long time. Both of us are pretty good sized dudes and the lane would have gotten pretty cozy feeling if we stuck together for too long.
Somewhere after 25ish minutes I came up on Beata to lap her but when I pulled even with her she really picked it up and stayed stroke for stroke for at least 10 minutes. It was nice to have her right there to give me a frame of reference for what I was doing in the water. As we neared the 36-37 minute range I came up on my lanemate again and sped up a little to get past him and put some distance between us, I ended up losing Beata in this process as well and swimming the rest of the hour without anyone else running the same pace that I could see.
As we got deeper into the hour my legs started getting tight from all the flip turns. One of my quads was locking up a bit but not going into a full cramp which was good… I didn’t want to have to stop and massage out a knot 45 minutes deep into my swim! I could feel myself losing some steam and my walls were definitely deflating, but I kept at it best I could. I was over the hump and nearing the end of this thing.
By my bad at math calculations I figured I would catch my lanemate one more time before the swim was over. I was gaining on him in those last 10 minutes but I just couldn’t close the deal. He picked up the pace and I just couldn’t overcome the difference. As the last 2 minutes ticked down I tried to swim faster to squeeze what I could out of that last little part.
I ended up finishing at 4180 yards. I did better last year by about 100 yards, but considering how I felt going into this my result isn’t too bad. Plus I had like 3 extra inches of beard and a drag suit on this year :)
After the swim I hung out on deck and chatted with my friends while enjoying the sunshine and rummaging through the food the coaches brought for us doing the swim (hooray post one hour swim sprinkle doughnut!). I followed that up with big breakfast and then a big drive to Irvine. Tomorrow I’ll be out in the ocean in Laguna Beach!
Another beautiful day for a swim this afternoon which was good because I wasn’t feeling so good and needed a little motivation to get out of the office (besides Saturday’s impending One Hour Swim!). I’ve been having a hard time getting excited about pool swimming recently, but when it’s outdoors and the weather is like this it’s hard to say no! There were 4 of us swimming today and I got to stretch out in my own lane which is always a bonus.
8 x 100 free @ 2:00
200 dolphin kick on back
8 x 25 fly drill @:45
4 x 25 fly @:45
200 flutter kick on back
8 x 50 free @:50
4 x 50 free descending @:45
500 yards of random swimming (was supposed to be 6 x 150 pull)
2600 yards
I popped out a little bit early today because I had a project sitting on my desk at work that I had to go do something about, but I still got in like 95% of the workout. I liked that we had some fly built in there today, I’m anticipating a lot of it between here and SCY nationals since Mike is aiming for the 200 fly this year! Maybe I’ll have to swim it too… we’ll see :)
In other news… I’m now officially Red Cross certified in CPR and First Aid! 100% on all my tests, look out! The classes were pretty decent but didn’t really go far enough for me. My Army first aid training was far more hands on and practical, but they also had days at a time to make us do it over and over and over again. I think I want to go back and get some Lifeguard training and maybe a more advanced first aid class. I just want to feel like if something bad happened at the beach I could make a meaningful difference in the outcome by knowing what to do while waiting for the pros to show up. The basic classes were a good start, but I wouldn’t mind being a little more competent in this area.
From here I’ve got plans to hit a CVMM workout tomorrow night and then do the USMS One Hour Swim with them on Saturday Morning. Since I’ll be in SoCal anyways… I’m going to spend the night in Orange Country and get in a Sunday morning ocean swim with some of my Laguna Beach open water friends!
I met Steven Munatones in person for the first time at a Make-a-Splash event with Cullen Jones in Los Angeles in 2009, as one would expect our conversation went straight to Open Water. Since then I’ve run into Steven on beaches, at conventions, and on boats all over the country and we still cut straight to talking about salt water whenever we’re together. I don’t think I know anyone else who is as knowledgeable, passionate or connected within the Open Water world as Steve. He is one of those people who seems to have some kind of behind the scenes connection to just about every major Open Water event going on in the world. He is also constantly working to promote the sport and push our thinking as to what the sport is all about and what it could become in the future.
You probably know more about Open Water Swimming than anyone else on the planet, what is it about Open Water Swimming that fascinates you so much and sparked your passion for the sport?
Open water swimming is, at once, so natural and so unnatural. For people who can swim and enjoy the marine environment, it is natural to look across a lake or river or bay or seashore and imagine swimming from point A to point B. At the same time, we are land-based creatures and swimming across channels and lakes involves inherent risks. Open water swimming – especially marathon swimming – is not only a physical and mental challenge, but swimmers can face sharks, jellyfish, waves, winds, currents, tides, hypothermia and hyperthermia. That is the fascinating part – balancing what you want to do vs. what you shouldn’t do.
The passion that I have for the sport was born as a result of growing up in Southern California where I was impressed with the Catalina Channel swimming community of the 1970s – when swimmers like Lynne Cox, Penny Dean, John York, Cindy Cleveland, Siga Rose and several others were making their initial marks on the sport. Watching these swimmers start or finish and swim off into the horizon enthralled me.
A lot of people know you as the Daily News of Open Water Swimming and Open Water Source guy, but not everybody knows that you’re a pretty legit swimmer in your own right. Give us a quick tour of your personal swim background.
Between water polo seasons, which was my favorite sport, I trained pretty hard, doing all kinds of crazy sets and massive amounts of distances under renowned Olympic coaches Jim Montrella, Jon Urbanchek, Joe Bernal and Ed Spencer. But I always enjoyed swimming in the ocean and won many amateur swims including the 1982 World Long Distance Swimming Championships in Lake Windermere, England, but then ran into a swimmer named Paul Asmuth in the 1980s on the professional marathon swimming circuit. It was a lot easier doing unprecedented solo marathon swims than beat Paul at his peak. I still swim, but I prefer watching others compete and studying how and why they win rather than participate in competitions myself.
You are currently involved on a FINA Open Water committee, what is your position with FINA and what does it entail?
The FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee is a 14-member group of people from 14 different countries. My colleagues on the FINA Committee are experienced individuals who are appointed by their respective national swimming federations to share their passion and expertise on open water swimming for the benefit of the sport in general. From my perspective, we have two primary functions. The first responsibility is to make recommendations on how to improve the sport. To achieve this goal, we meet annually to discuss and make recommendations that are forwarded to the 22-member FINA Bureau and FINA Office to either accept, modify or reject. Our second responsibility is to serve as the referees and advisors for 20 or so FINA World Cup, FINA Grand Prix and FINA World Championship open water events around the world. Practically, this means that when a World Cup, Grand Prix or World Championship event is conducted, the FINA Committee members function as the officials and referees although the World Cup, Grand Prix and World Championship events all have the local race directors and staff.
All of the committee members are volunteers and are asked to attend one meeting a year to share our opinions and at least one FINA event per year. I was fortunate to be asked to attend the famous professional marathon swims in Quebec, Canada last year which are very well-run swims. This year, I will go to the World Championships in Shanghai. During these annual meetings, it is always educational to hear the perspectives of other committee members from Egypt, New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, Cuba, Lithuania.
Obviously due to the tragic death of Fran Crippen last year, some changes may be made. But those recommendations are determined by the FINA investigative committee that is a separate group of people and must be approved by the FINA Bureau and FINA Office. So, like others, I am anxious to learn what changes will be made – and how these changes may be the same or different than the changes to be implemented by USA Swimming.
Steven watching the finish of the final leg of the Swim22 Catalina Channel 4 way relay
I’ve also read that you will be working with US Masters Swimming this year, what are you working on for us in the Masters Swimming world?
The first project – a very interesting one – is the organization of the Open Water Swimming Safety Conference in San Francisco on March 18-20. While people in the open water swimming world have met for decades to improve the safety of open water swimming – from the days of the Channel Swimming Association in 1927 to the subsequent formation of British Long Distance Swimming Association – this will be the first time experienced people of different disciplines will get together to specifically talk about open water swimming safety. We have assembled race directors, life guard associations, long-time USMS open water swimming volunteers and some of the most distinguished aquatic safety experts in the world to come together to specifically talk about open water safety. I am hopeful our recommendations and findings will help provide valuable information to other administrators, race directors, coaches, athletes, parents, referees and governing bodies. We are going to cover everything from hypothermia and hyperthermia to equipment, tools and emergency procedures.
I am also planning to help establish open water swimming clinics in various parts of the country. I see a gap between the information provided to the top echelon of the sport – to those athletes who may qualify to the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim – and what is generally provided to age-group and masters swimmers. I am in the fortunate position to share information with some of the world’s most successful and experienced open water swimming coaches in the world, so information on the training methodologies, racing tactics and equipment that is used at the elite level will be provided at these clinics. While not everyone in the sport is necessarily interested in or capable of winning races, I think the information will be of interest to many.
Tell us about the new OpenWaterSource web site that you launched late last year – what is it all about? What is the goal of the site?
The goal of the site is to provide an informational infrastructure to the sport. There are many websites that focus on showcasing individual swimmers, promoting individual races, selling coaching services or offering products. But what I see as missing is objective, factual information – information on open water swimming records, technologies and personalities. There are so many outstanding feats, records and people in the sport that I want to share those facts and their stories with the greater global community. We will be rolling out Openwaterpedia, an expanded Open Water Wednesday, World Swimming Majors and a handful of other initiatives that are all information-based, including programs called “Creating Waves” and “Changing The Tide”. We are going to provide lists of information and a plethora of facts and features about the sport. We launched with 162 pages of information on Day 1 and have been feverishly adding information day-by-day.
Ultimately, we want to enable open water swimming to be seen as both entertainment and an athletic endeavor. The sport is so large and diverse – from Polar Bear Swims to the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim. There are charity swims and stage relays. There are ocean races and open water expeditions and orienteering. We want to cover it all in an entertaining and unique manner.
We will get there, but it just might take years of effort.
I know that you travel all over the world in support of open water swimming, where might we find you this year?
This year, I will go to Brazil, Greece, South Africa, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Cayman Islands, China and lots of places from coast to coast in the United States including San Francisco, San Diego, Atlanta, Ft. Myers, New York and several other cities. As a kid growing up in Southern California, I always wanted to travel. I am achieving that dream.
Steven running an Open Water workout in Huntington Beach
In personal conversations I’ve had with you I know that you’re always looking forward to the future of the sport. What do you think the next big thing for open water swimming is going to be?
The great thing about open water swimming is that there will always be surprises, but some of the things that I am looking forward to include the continued growth in the number of people doing the sport of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. For example, the number of people in the Half Century Club (those who have swum a major marathon swim over the age of 50) is increasing year by year. So is the number of Triple Crown swimmers. This increased number of open water swimmers is going to demand that safety protocols and procedures are enhanced. Split timing and improved timing systems at events is another exciting area, as is our knowledge of feeding, pacing and navigation. The expansion of relays will definitely very interesting to observe and be a part of. This includes Team Pursuit relays, marathon swimming relays in oceans, lakes and rivers. Stage swims will also continue as will swims of extreme distances and … many, many, many, many unprecedented swims.
We are in the Age of Discovery in the open water swimming world. There are so many places that have not been swum before. It is wonderful to be the first person in history to swim a particular waterway – like you did with the Pismo Polar Bear Swim. That experience of being a pioneer – an adventurer – will be experienced by thousands of people around the world over the next decade. Open Water Source wants to recognize all these people, if possible.
The Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in Hyde Park at the 2012 London Olympics will be absolutely fantastic, perhaps only to be overshadowed by the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in Copacabana Beach at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The sport will look nothing like it does now in 2016. I always say that the sport of open water swimming in 2009 is like the sport of triathlon in 1979. We have not seen anything yet.
And, of course, perhaps one of the toughest competitions in all of human endurance sports is the race to be the first to achieve the Ocean’s Seven. To be able to successfully swim the English Channel, North Channel, Molokai Channel, Strait of Gibraltar, Tsugaru Channel, Cook Strait and Catalina Channel will require so many years of sacrifice and effort – it will truly be a superhuman feat. From what I have confidentially heard, there are at least 14 people on their way to be the first.
check out this video of Steven running a workout with some SoCal Open Water Swimmers
I made it to Santa Maria today for just my 2nd pool workout there of the month! Work, meetings, and other random things have conspired against me and my lunchtime pool swims. I was pretty excited about going to swim today because it’s so ridiculously nice here still. All sun and no clouds!
At the door I ran into a bit of a snag, my membership card had expired! Nooooo… The good news is that this pool is the best deal in town, it only costs $50/year for an adult lap swim pass. That’s $4.17 a month people, I hope the city never catches on to how cheap that annual pass is. The available hours aren’t all that great for a lot of people, but it’s just right for me and my lunchtime swim excursions.
Our workout was pretty good today. Beyond just swimming we did a lot of catching up between sets since some of us haven’t seen each other in over a month.
200 mixer
200 1 arm fly drill
200 kick on back
3 x 50 dolphin kick on back @ 1:15
8 x 25 fly drill @ :45
3 x 100 kick w/ board
8 x 50 free @ :50
Repeat x 3
50 back @:10 rest
50 back to breast @:10 rest
50 breast @:10 rest
150 swim @:10 rest
2550 yards total
I felt a little odd in the pool. Almost all my time in water this month has been salt water so the taste of chlorinated water was a little weird for me. I can still smell it on me too… that’s my indicator of whether I’ve been out of the pool too long, the ability to smell chlorine on my person… if I’m swimming a lot I just always smell that way :)
After work I ran up to San Luis Obispo for a Red Cross CPR class. I passed my tests with 100%, yay! I’m going to do a few Red Cross certification classes this week. As someone that spends as much time around the ocean and races as I do it just seems like a logical and responsible thing to go do. If you’ve got a little time I’d recommend you guys to do the same… especially when you’re around water you never know when bad things might strike, best to be ready!
Dave and I in Port San Luis during the prep for my Pismo Polar Bear Swim
Dave Van Mouwerik is one of my favorite local open water swimmers. He’s a cool guy, a good swimmer, and he has a real deep appreciation for the sport. He’s a board member of the Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association, former event director for the Pismo to Avila Pier to Pier when it used to be a Masters sanctioned event in the summers between 99-02, and probably the most methodical and well prepared swimmer you’ll find in the ocean. I wish I had his capacity for training and planning!
On August 7th of 2010 Dave set forth on a pretty sweet aquatic adventure. He became the 17th person to have ever swam from Anacapa Island across the Santa Barbara Channel to the California mainland. This was a 12+ mile shot through 62 degree water that he conquered in 7 hours flat.
I’ve gotten to hear Dave tell the story about his swim a few times in person and it’s great… great to the point that Anacapa is on my 2011 wish list for this year! Back in December he was a presenter at a Pecha Kucha Night at San Luis Obispo’s Steynberg Gallery, between here and there he adapted it to a video that he could share online. I’ve known that the the narrated video was in the works for a while and I’ve been really excited to see it completed. I got my first viewing of it on Sunday night and it’s fantastic! I really dig listening to Dave talk you through the swim, you need to take a few minutes and check it out!
If you have any comments or questions Dave would be stoked to hear it! You can leave him a comment here on the blog, over on YouTube, or email him directly at davevm@att.net
If you’re not familiar with the swims offered by the Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association I highly recommend checking them out (santabarbarachannelswim.org). They cover swims from 7 of the 8 Channel Islands (the 8th island is Catalina which has its own association). SBCSA swims range anywhere from 12 to 60 miles and take place in one of the most beautiful parts of California. I’m eying Anacapa for right now, but there are some other swims in there that are pretty intriguing.
If you want more from Dave’s swim, check out the full picture slideshow from the swim, and if you want to talk to someone with some first hand knowledge of swimming the Santa Barbara Channel feel free to get a hold of Dave direct at davevm@att.net!
It’s been pretty obnoxiously beautiful here this weekend so I lived it up as much as I could today so all my snowbound friends could live vicariously through me :) I started my day off with a trip to the beach…
the view on the beach is nice, but this always beats it :)
I hit Avila around 10 which is an hour early for swimming, but I wanted to take a little while just to hang out in the sunshine. It’s good I showed up early because Avila was the place to be today! Parking was already hard to come by. Eventually I was joined by 4 other swimmers and we all enjoyed the heat on the beach while we contemplated what the water would be holding for us. Everyone anticipated the worst in the temperature department… 52 seemed pretty possible… amazingly Niel came up with 55 degrees on his thermometer, sweet!
Niel on his way into the water
Lynne, Kim and Sylvia right behind us
At 11 we marched into the ocean and all proceeded to disagree with his thermometer! It was warmer than last weekend, but not 55… I’d give it 54 in the warm spots at best, probably 53 everywhere else. There wasn’t much time for acclimating today because the surf was pretty respectable. Big clean waves were breaking right on top of us and we got a little bit of the washing machine action on the way out. I had my GPS on under my cap so I was very careful diving under waves and kept a hand on my head just in case, I didn’t want to lose my fun new (expensive) gadget to the sea!
Lynne and Niel floating around
We swam out to the buoy line, stopped to make sure everyone made it out of the surf and then swam for the end of the pier. I haven’t been swimming as much as I’d like to recently, but this felt pretty good despite missing a big pile of pool workouts. I swam just behind Niel and I had Lynne just off to the side of me. We cruised out to the tip of the pier and then hung out to wait for the others.
While waiting at the tip of the pier we also drifted… a lot… the wind was blowing offshore and pushing us out to sea slowly but surely. You can see it in my GPS map of the swim if you look at the line you can see where we switch from swimming to floating.
Just short of a mile in the water... some swam, some drifted... click for all the GPS details
Once we had all 5 of us we renegotiated the swim. Originally there was some talk of swimming to the Poly Pier and then back to the buoy line, but instead we aimed for the creek buoy which was getting progressively further away!
me hanging out at the end of the pier
Niel, Lynne and myself broke off into our own group again with Kim and Sylvia swimming together behind us. I got into a really good rhythm and felt very glide-y out there. We were swimming right into the wind driven current but cutting right though it, it felt good.
Once we hit the creek buoy we started to scan the water for our other swimmers. It was hard to find them with the glare of the sun and the big swells rolling in. There were some pretty formidable rollers out there today, you had to wait to be up on top of one to really see anything. Slowly we picked out one swimmer aimed right for us, but then there was another way out making a line more towards the pier. We figured one of the ladies got off course and Niel swam down the rogue swimmer… turns out it was Pete! He was late and had chased us down from the other side of the pier but guessed wrong on where we were going. It was funny, normally you worry about losing track of a swimmer, instead we gained an extra one!
Niel hanging out at the creek buoy
Once we had all 6 instead of 5 of us gathered at the buoy we decided to swim back to the pier and then swim it in. We didn’t want to swim under it because there was too much movement in the water, plus I really had no desire to get tossed bare chested into a pier piling covered in muscles and barnacles!
On the way in I kept on the lookout for a decent wave to ride in. Since I didn’t have fins on it needed to be just right. I let 2 slip by that I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch and then a 3rd came and I could tell it was a winner at a distance. I waited for it and could feel myself start to get pulled back into it… good… but I was starting to worry that I was too high up on it. The fun part about bodysurfing though is at a certain point it doesn’t matter what you think, the ocean has already picked you up and you just have to roll with it. I was pitched forward a little but got a healthy ride out of it… I skipped across the whitewater as opposed to face first underneath it in the sand so I’ll call that one a win :)
Dani with Morro Rock in front of her
After my swim I hung out for a little bit soaking in the sun but then it was off to Morro Bay to get in some Stand Up Paddleboard action! I met my friend Dani up there and we hit up my buddies over at Central Coast Standup to get some boards. Matt set us up with some gear and we headed down to same beach I went to for the demo day in December to get ready. The wind was blowing into the bay but the tide was due to be pushing out of the bay so the plan was to paddle with the wind in and with the tide out. Since the last time Dani and I paddled together it ended in small craft advisories and free boat rides we listened very carefully to Matt’s plan for us. We were out for a nice fun leisurely paddle, not a full on oceanic disaster adventure today :)
It was beautiful out in Morro Bay today, tons of sunshine and cool stuff to look at. We hung to the inside edge of the bay making faces at tourists above in the shops and restaurants. It was funny, we were little aquatic celebrities today :) People were pointing and waving and smiling at us trying to figure out what we were doing. Totally amusing for us, but a lot of pressure not to fall over! Haha
we paddled about 3km along boats and piers and restaurants... click for all the GPS details
After about a half an hour we turned it around and started to paddle for the beach we launched from. Right away you could feel the return leg was going to be a little harder but nothing crazy. We were paddling into the wind and in theory the water below us was supposed to be moving with us but I never felt it. Maybe we were a little early for the low tide… I’m not sure. On the way back we saw a few other SUPers which was cool. We also saw a huge ass sea lion with the biggest deepest bark I’ve heard before! He was a beast!
the view into the bay
As we rounded the last set of piers on the way into the beach I picked out a spot to glide in and step off in. I’d landed a bunch of different boards here before so I was feeling pretty confident that I could do this in a pretty suave manner. Turns out, not quite… whoops. I totally ate it. I saw what looked like a foot of water that once I stepped into it turned into about 4… at least there were about 8 people on the beach to see it. A little embarrassing but funny.
All told a pretty awesome day… the sun’s been down for 3 hours and I can still feel it on my skin. I feel good and my personal solar powered battery feels recharged. If my days could go like this everyday I wouldn’t complain!
gonna burn this one into my memory until the next time I can get in the ocean!
