Before I start this, I want to caution all of you kiddies out there not to try this unless you are with somebody and/or know your limits and are a very strong swimmer. OK. I swam in the Pacific last week. This may not sound like a big deal to many of you. For those of you who don’t know, the water near San Francisco is COLD.
Over the past few weeks I had observed that the water was getting warmer. It had gotten to the point where instead of a thousand needles stabbing your feet, it was a hundred, and then no needles at all. It seemed to me that the water was just a bit colder than Ocean City, MD near where I grew up. Ocean City had always been my limit as far as cold water is concerned. Later I confirmed that June water temperatures in OC are about 65 F. In Half Moon Bay, where I swam, the temperature could be expected to be about 60. That 5 degrees makes a world of difference, since water coducts heat away from your body much faster than air.
First, this wouldn’t have been practical if I hadn’t finally found my shorts. I was looking for something else and in the process of digging boxes out of my closet I found the shorts. OK. Got shorts. Check.
I drove to Half Moon Bay, where I usually go when I want some beach. The weather was hot. There was no fog. There was a good off-shore breeze which means warm dry air so that you don’t freeze when you get out of the water.
I made sure to leave my phone and wallet in the car, but I took my car keys and shoes. I took a bit of a gamble leaving my shoes, glasses and car keys on the beach, covered by my shirt… but they would have had to walk around pushing the button next to every Honda parked near the beach, and I was not parked at the nearest lot so had somebody taken the keys they would have had to put in some effort, by which time I would have run to one of the art galleries, or Miramar restaurant and asked to use the phone. In the future though, having the spare car key on my person is probably not a bad idea.
I decided to let my waist-length hair fly loose. I had heard at least one horror story of hair getting impossible to comb out after being in the ocean, but mine was already forming loose dreds and I figured that would protect it. If a hair is already in a lock, it’s not going to leave for another lock. The locks themselves won’t form a huge megalock. Only when all your hairs are loose and have no “allegiance” to a particular lock will they possibly form the MOAD (Mother Of All Dreds) and that might be impossible to comb out. I usually have very little trouble combing out the little dreds. That was my theory going in.
OK so no big deal, I wade into the piddly part of the surf. Well, there was a bit of a surprise today in that the waves were rather large. One of the surfers on the beach informed me that there was a “south swell”. Some of these waves looked to be 8 feet, no kidding. I wasn’t going to go out that far. The teenagers in their wetsuits were going out, and they weren’t surfing–they were just swimming in the surf enjoying the ride of getting pounded by these waves. This was not a good surfing spot anyway. The wave falls over all at the same time instead of making a nice curl that sweeps parallel to the beach. It looked like they were really enjoying getting a pouding–in their wetsuits. Virtually everybody wears a wetsuit. To not wear one is a bit of a test. Even on a warm day like today, you can usually count the bare skinned swimmers on one hand. I don’t consider myself any kind of a “polar bear” so I knew I might chicken out.
I stepped out a bit more, and let my shorts get wet. Still not too bad.
Of course, this is no swimming pool. The waves come in and decide what you are going to get. You make a decision every time a wave approaches.
I splashed some water on my chest. Ooohh… OK… feeling pretty intense now.
I ducked down briefly to immerse the lower part of my torso. An instant reaction of rapid breathing kicks in. This is the natural impulse that kills people who are suddenly immersed in cold water. You hit the cold. Your respiration increases. You suck in a lungfull of water. You die.
I cautiously immerse my whole torso for a few seconds more, and get used to the idea of hitting the water.
Finally, there is a break where it looks like no huge waves are going to come. I take advantage of it, plunge all the way in, let the water support me, and “dog paddle” about 6 feet forward. Many people would not consider this true swimming, since dog paddle is not an official stroke. It’s good enough for me, and that’s as ambitious as I got. As far as I’m concerned, it’s swimming and you can’t say I didn’t do it.
The surf picked up again. Two medium sized waves came towards me and converged into one wave that was slightly over my head, roiling with foam and sand.
Now, the standard surfer way to deal with this is to “duck dive” it; but that presumes you are comfortable swimming out the other side. Knowing not only that I was inexperienced with cold water swimming, but also that this ugly monster was carrying much sand as well as water, I chose to let it pound me back towards the beach. It picked me up and did just that. Briefly it seemed I was lifted off my feet, but I was not thrown down and soon regained my composure.
A part of me wanted to try a full blown swim, to see if I could get aclimated to the point where I could swim with confidence.
Prudence prevailed, and I headed back to dry off.
If I ever decide to swim the pacific again, I’ll be joining the wetsuited crowd.
Oh, and my hair? My theory proved correct. It was no different than taking a shower. Granted, I didn’t immerse my head and I wasn’t out very long. If I had, it might have been a different story. When my hair was just shoulder length, I played in the Florida surf for a few hours, and had to go out to dinner looking like a madman. That tangled mess took hours to comb out. With longer hair in loose dreds, would that day have been better or worse? I don’t know.
