Pier-to-Pier with Anthony this morning!

Surf was head high, water gained five degrees in just one week. Wetsuits were superfluous and hot. Guess what? I was stupid enough to wear a wetsuit.

I met three gentlemen from WH2O; a swim team in "we ho" or West Hollywood, who ran the two miles to the pier and then swam the same two miles back. (I see these guys at meets a lot.) Speaking of swimming, it was like swimming in a endless pool. There must have been a northernly current for the swim took forever and was demoralizing the whole way. If we do it next week which looks pretty likely, no wetsuit instead I will wear the 24/7 suit.

Anthony got me by 2 minutes this time. I thought it would have been 20 by the time I got out but he had the same issues I had.

Back from the pier-to-pier swim with Anthony.

I don't know what got into Anthony today; he buried me at sea! (Above is a graphic of swim routes from ALcatraz. The circular port in the bottom right quadrant is Aquatic Park. I will get to that later.)

In an open-water start I am really good at both getting out to the buoy and getting into shore. I duck dive, I do butterfly and when a big wave comes, I triangulate off the bottom by diving down to the sand and thereby push off the sea bottom like it is a wall at a pool. (I learned all these skills through decades of surfing.)

Today, Anthony and I began our swim with a pod of triathletes. I felt great this morning so I just comfortably swam out in a rip-tide to save time and just stretched out. Anthony and the triathletes swam pretty much against the surf so when I got to the end of the pier I was waiting for everybody. You should of seen the look on Anthony face when he looked up and saw I was 15 meters ahead. Hence, that set the tone and Anthony just swam HARD.

There was a lot of chop today, the tide was low, and spotting was difficult. At the end of the swim Anthony probably beat me by 100 meters at least and possibly 200 meters at most. I joked that I was pulled over twice for a sobriety inspection because I was weaving so much hence the lost time.

At the showers we saw other swimmers we knew and it was very pleasant. Next week is the Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim and my strategy is to hold Anthony and then out sprint him in Aquatic Park! Hear that, Anthony! It's only 1.5 miles this time. No more 1/2 mile, pier-to-pier, back-half, to drop me! Oh, and I know the darks arts of Alcatraz; see ya' at the finish line in my street clothes. ;-)

Okay, I will be nice, here is a page called "Be Recruited" dedicated on how to swim Alcatraz: [Link]

Back from pier-to-pier with Anthony

The drive up to the Manhattan beach pier. This picture was taken at 7:45 and the beach is all ready humming.

When we got to Hermosa pier a group of swimmers were taking off well before us and got a half-pier head start. I could tell Anthony smelled blood; for if there is ever a pod of swimmers in front of Anthony, it's like waving a rabbit under a greyhound's nose. Hence, I swam at full blown race-pace the whole way to keep up. Ultimately I did a pretty good job. He got me by about 25 yards after catching two great waves to shore.

(Oh, some 'wanker' fisherman threw something at me and hit me in the shoulder when I rounded Hermosa pier. Whatever it was, it had gravity and mass but the water dampened it. This guy actually risk getting arrested for assault or battery and perhaps sued over a stupid fish.)

A crowd of swimmers and triathletes, some of them LA Tri members, perhaps some SCAQ swimmers and some nomads meet up at the Manhattan pier each Sunday morning to walk/jog to Hermosa Pier and swim back to Manhattan Pier. Some swim the whole thing, some swim half, and some even less. If you swim the whole thing it is 2 miles.

Back from Pier-to-Pier

Lots of athletes today; dozens and dozens of swimmers but few did the two miler. Most did a mile or a mile-and-a-half probably as a result of spotting issues due to the fog.

As usual Anthony swam without a wet-suit but I wore mine. We swam fast and I struggled a bit, probably from the workout at Santa Monica yesterday, nonetheless I did keep up with Anthony today in that he only got me by about 30 yards or so rather than 2 minutes worth of standing on the beach waiting for me. Not bad for a two-mile swim.

Second week in a row I brought my camera and forgot to take pictures.

Pier-to-pier this morning with Anthony - 3rd swim so far

Anthony and I have done three ocean swims so far after today with three more training swims to go before the Alcatraz Sharkfest. These pictures were taken at 6:18 this morning, The tide is low, there is a little bit to much moisture in the air for my taste, it means more sensory deprivation in trying to spot the pier 2 miles away. I bet that any swimmer in San Francisco reading this thinks I am wimp. The fog gets so bad there I suppose that swimmers have to use a compass to find the shore. Will meet Anthony there in about an hour or so.

Pier-to-pier this morning with Anthony

This picture was taken at 6:17 AM this morning. Hermosa Pier is on the left and Manhattan Pier is on the right. Look at all the moisture in the air. That means spotting landmarks is going to suck. Photos brought to you by "watchthewater.org" which features web cams on most or all of L.A. beaches.

Anthony and I will swim the two-mile length this morning as a training swim for Alcatraz Sharkfest swim that we will be doing in June. I will wear a wet-suit but Anthony won't. Side note, Mark told me he saw Anthony on a re-run episode of Seinfeld; he was Elaine's boyfriend.

Pier to pier swim went well

I wore a wetsuit this morning but Anthony didn't. I shiver more when I get out of an 80-degree-pool then he does when getting out of a 61 degree ocean. (Hermosa Beach stats for today: [Link])

We swam side-by-side and each of us thought we were holding the other back so we kept swimming like it was a descending interval. Ultimately, I personally swam pier-pier faster than I ever have; something like 45-50 minutes. (My surf skills got me to the beach first but I was in a wetsuit.)

We will be there next Sunday!