Surfing My Way Out of 2011

This morning I went to Pismo on a mission… to get barreled with my new GoPro camera. The older surf mount kit I ordered (which is better for boogie boards) showed up Thursday, I modified it and drilled it into my board on Friday, and today I was in search of a big ride for the camera. The good news is that it was big out in Pismo, the bad news was it was a touch above my skill level. Undeterred I went out anyways, got tumbled and faceplanted a few times, and got some awesome footage. I grabbed a few stills before leaving for Santa Barbara to celebrate New Years Eve… I might have some video in the next day or two.

See you kids in 2012! In the meantime… me in a wave from start to about to get thrashed :)

December 31, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Early Morning Avila Swim with Channel All Star Jen S.

Normally I don’t believe in mornings, but marathon swim machine and sports psychologist Jen Schumacher was in the neighborhood and wanted to go for a Wednesday morning swim… who am I to say no to that? :) I got up early and headed for the beach a little ahead of the rising sun. I got there early to scope things out and get a water temp. The wind was light, not too much surf, and there wasn’t much sealife moving about. I couldn’t get a water temp reading over 50… I got 49 like 5 times in a row… but I think that was influenced a lot by the 42ish air temperature. In reality the water was probably more like 52, and although the air started cold it did warm up quite a bit in the course of our swim.

Jen and her family drove up right on time and I greeted them on the sidewalk. The rest of the Schumachers would be out running while Jen and I ventured into the ocean. We walked down to the beach, got ready to swim and then sloooowly worked our way into the water. Luckily she’s a fan of the little bit at a time method of acclimatization like I am. Eventually the waves were tall enough we didn’t have a lot of choice about it and we had to dive through and start swimming. I had already laid out the route on the beach with plans to stop at major turns to regroup. Jen is quite a bit faster than me, so she swam circles and back tracked at some of the turns while I caught up so she could keep moving and not freeze out.

Everything moved along really smoothly. The ocean was great, the scenery was beautiful, and it was just a good day for a swim. We chatted a little at each stop and took some pictures since we both had cameras on us (I’m testing out a new point and shoot!). At the tip of the pier we had to make sure and stop so Jen could add to her piers of California collection.

Once we’d swam all the way to the creek buoy we decided that we’d think about swimming under the pier since things were looking mellow enough to do so. We swam down to the last buoy, gave it one more look, decided it was a good idea and then Jen added a couple extra buoys to the swim. She wanted to swim back to the end of the buoy line on the other side which was cool with me so we set off under the pier and swam into the sun all the way to the far buoy.

Afterwards we swam it back towards the pier and then in towards the beach. I didn’t wear my GPS but by my calculations it was good for about 1.5 miles. All told a great start to the day! We were greeted on the beach by a few shocked dog walkers not expecting to see wetsuitless humans emerge from the sea while they were bundled up as if there were real winter here :) We also caught up with Jen’s mom and then the rest of the fam back up on the sidewalk. I hung around to chat for a bit but couldn’t stay too long because I had to get back to work. Hopefully we see more of Jen up here in Avila, it’s a great place for those who are marathonally inclined to hang out and get the occasional shot of barely 50 degree water!

December 28, 2011 | No Comments »

Xmas Morning at the Beach

My family gets all its Christmasing out of its system on the 24th so Christmas morning is all mine to do what I want with. Since it’s on a Sunday this year I went to the beach just in case someone from my open water group showed up for a swim. I figured the odds were slim, but worst case scenario I could play in the surf and learn to work with my new GoPro (yes!).

After sitting on the beach in the sun for a while I decided it was time to get in the water. It was totally gorgeous out and almost no one was around. I grabbed my fins and my GoPro and waded it out into some 52ish degree water. Although the air temp still wasn’t that high it helped the sun was shining. It took a little while to get out past the break, largely because I was avoiding putting my face underwater :) Once that was out of my system it was time to play! I bodysurfed a bit and tried to shoot shots of the tiny tubes the waves were producing. I’m pretty stoked with a lot of the shots I got today!

When I got out of the water 30 or 40 minutes later I found a swimmer on the beach goggles in hand. She was visiting from San Francisco and looking for a wetsuitless Xmas swim. Who am I to say no to that? :) I’m excited with how popular we’ve been with out of towners recently. Last week I had a swimmer from the Central Valley and one from Sacramento in the water. I went to grab my goggles and spread on a little body glide then returned to the water. She was just looking for a short swim since she was coming off of a cold so we did a loop around the pier. Nice and easy in some cold but beautiful water. It was a pretty perfect morning!

I spent the rest of my afternoon playing with pictures, it feels nice to have a waterproof camera again, ahhh… Here’s the choice cuts from this morning…

December 25, 2011 | 5 Comments »

2011 Swimmer Xmas List

I saw frost on the roof the other morning so that must mean it’s “California Winter” and Christmas is shortly upon us. With that here’s my annual swimmer xmas list for those of you at a loss for what to buy your swimmer. Some of the list consists of things I already have, and some I just want to have. Feel free to buy me anything on the list in appreciation of a blog well blogged this year… I wear a 36 if anyone is asking, haha :)


Also… while you’re out shopping if you happen to use SwimOutlet do me a favor and visit them through swimoutlet.com/robaquatics, I get a little commission when you do and it helps keep the lights on and whatnot :)


Swim Suits!


New suits are always a winner. They wear out, they get boring, and it’s nice to add a few new ones to the rotation. Personally I enjoy obnoxious drag suits, but a jammer or banana hammock would be just as well for your swimmer… on the ladies side I have no idea what the suit differences are, you’ll have to do your own preference investigating there, but I do know what I like aesthetically so here’s some new favorites.




GoPro HD Hero2 Camera



The new version of the GoPro Hero came out just recently and I’ve been lusting after it pretty hard. I’m hoping this will be the waterproof camera I can’t break! Since it’s a sport orientated device there’s all sorts of mounts and straps and accessories available for different purposes. I want the surf pack so I can attach it to my boogie board and film my wipeouts down gnarly wintertime wave faces! You can pick up an HD Hero2 direct from GoPro here.


Waterproof GPS



If you saw my posts during “review week” not to long ago you know that I’m enamored with GPS devices and for right now the Garmin 310xt is my weapon of choice. Garmin has a new version out that sounds like a combination of a Swimsense and a GPS unit but I’m yet to see one in the wild and have no idea if it’s worth the $400+ or not. You can pick up a 310xt from SwimOutlet here and see my review here.


Blurb Custom Books



I made one of these a few months back and absolutely love it. I got to make a glossy paperback picture book made of my own photos, super rad and not really all that expensive. I think I paid $30ish delivered. You can check out the book I made and even buy it if you want to here, but I would strongly suggest making your own by going here. The process is fairly simple, you download Blurb’s software. Drag and drop and upload pictures, fill in some blanks and voila… book! I spent a couple hours one night putting mine together, picking the pictures was tougher for me than formatting the book.


Swim Spray



Hate the smell of chlorine? I do. Although some swimmers enjoy that Eau de Chlorine aroma, I prefer to smell like salt and sunshine… not pool chemicals. The idea behind Swim Spray is to neutralize the chlorine smell and let you smell like a regular person again. Swim Spray sent me a bottle a while back and I undertook some extensive scientific testing that consisted of making my girlfriend smell me pre and post shower to determine how much it cut the pool smell. Her verdict, it works. If you only use the spray it leaves a light scent of its own, but once you soap up over the top of it it’s totally gone. You can get your hands on Swim Spray directly here



Fins



Everybody likes fins right? I mean I do… I only have like 13-14 pairs floating around the house right now :) A while back FINIS sent me some of their newest fins, the Positive Drive Fin (PDF) and the Zoomer Fit Fins. I’ve become very attached to my PDF Fins and have switched over to using them almost exclusively in the pool. They have a stiff, short round blade that allows for you to kick in all directions which means you can breaststroke in them even! The heel is open with the fin being held on with a strap. I find them pretty comfortable but if I wear them too long they can get a little uncomfortable on the back of my foot. You can get PDF Fins direct from FINIS here (use the code ROBAQUATICS09 at checkout to save 20%!).


The Zoomers Fit Fins are not for me, but they’re not meant to be. They’re aimed more at the fitness crowd not the competitive swimmer crowd. If you have a friend into mellow lap swimming or someone just starting to swim these would be a great fin for them. Soft, comfortable with a good amount of propulsion. You can get Zoomers Fit direct from FINIS here (use the code ROBAQUATICS09 at checkout to save 20%!).


Custom Swim Bags



My friends over at Splish, my favorite place for creative and custom suits, have also started to print up mesh swim bags. They have a small collection of bags they’ve designed but they also allow for custom prints. They sent me a super rad Rob Aquatics bag in November and I totally dig it. It looks great and it’s a good size for all my fins, goggles, bottles, etc for when I swim at the pool. The Rob Aquatics bag isn’t listed for sale on their site but I’m sure you could request one if you really need one :) Splish bags are available here.


Intelliskin Shirts



Intelliskin sent me one of their compression shirts a couple months back and I’ve been using it a fair amount and really like it. I’d never previously been into the whole compression thing but some of my triathlete friends are all about it so I figured I’d give it a shot. The shirt they sent me is very nicely constructed and tight as hell! I have a hard time getting it on, but once it’s where it needs to be it pulls me into a better posture and takes some pressure off my chronically displeased lower back. I wear it most frequently to work just under my regular clothes. The shirt forces me to sit upright and not succumb to office chair slumpyness. The stuff from Intelliskin isn’t cheap, but I’m impressed with what I’ve seen from them so far. You can buy shirts/shorts/sports bras from Intelliskin here



Beard Hats



Want an adventure beard of your own but can grow your own luscious face carpet? Some enterprising knitters have found a solution… knitted hats with beards attached… genius! Although a knit beard probably isn’t FINA or Channel Rules legal, it’s probably still good for keeping your face warm in terrestrial environments. You can get yourself a fake beard over at Beardhead.com.


swim vacation



I’m still waiting for someone to buy me one of these along with the airfare to the BVI… please? somebody? :) This would probably be the greatest swimmer gift of all time so if you’ve got the money to burn I recommend you book two spots and go play with my buddy Hopper in the beautiful blue waters of the Caribbean. You can get more info on SwimVacation here


Swim Parachute



I already have one of these so I don’t need one, but I’d like to be able to give them to my friends that are way too fast for me! I’m thinking if I could strap one of these on Evan we might finally be able to have a similarly paced ocean swim together :) The swim parachute really tugs at you, I was surprised at just how much drag it created the first time I used it. You can get Swim Parachutes direct from FINIS here (use the code ROBAQUATICS09 at checkout to save 20%!).


Swim Related Books


I like to read when I can, and I always dig reading good swimming related books when I can find them. A few of these I’ve read and really enjoyed like Jeff Comming’s Odd Man Out and Lynne Cox’s Swimming to Antarctica. Beth Barnes new book Escort and Lynne’s Latest South with the Sun are either on my list or in progress. I also tossed in the Island of the Blue Dolphins because it’s been a source of conversation amongst some of my open water friends. We all read it and loved it as kids, but now that we’re older and ocean swim focused realized it takes place in the Channel Islands off of Santa Barbara! I reread it just recently and it’s still an awesome book, a perennial favorite.


December 12, 2011 | No Comments »