6+ Hour Swim

It was that times seven.

I was awakened at 3:00am this morning by the loud crashing waves down the street. "Oh no" I thought...I could pick a better day to do this swim.

stress...stress....stress. And I could pick a worse day too.

I got up at 5:30am. I gulped some coffee and oatmeal and got my nutrition bottles ready.

When I got to the beach the waves looked as big as they sounded. I put some A&D ointment on my neck and arms and dove in - Oak Street at 6:55am. Getting through the waves was fun but the water felt a lot colder than the 70F that was displayed on the website for Shaw's Cove (north of Oak Street).

The neat thing about this swim was I saw ""I could have picked a better day" fall away to "I couldn't have picked a better day"

The first lap was really unpleasant but I saw the sun rise over the houses spreading light rays through the sea mist. Second lap was a little better, felt a little warmer. It took me 2 minutes on the sand to write down my times and get food and get back out. Third lap the winds died down. The guards had arrived in the middle of the fourth lap and I saw a red flag go up at Main Beach. I did 7 laps total and on my way in I got slapped around by some waves and lost my goggles (good time to quit).

I felt pretty good except for all the sand in my suit, ears, etc, from getting rolled. Next time goggles go around my neck, not on my forehead!

It was not steady because the conditions changed throughout the day. Currents turned...(I could tell because of the way the kelp flowed).

The way it went was:

6:55-7:45 (50)

7:47-8:41 (54)

8:43-9:38 (55)

9:41-10:35 (54)

10:38-11:33 (57)

11:35-12:30 (55)

12:33-1:28 (55)

So with food, ins-in-outs I was 6hours, 20 minutes...and around 11.55 miles from rough Google Earth guess. I can't figure the getting in and out of the waves factor but they were pretty big!

Next long swim will be 7 hours (but I will be shooting for 8!)