Zuma and Seal Beach - Double the Fun! (7/14-15/01)

An email early in the week from my helpful friend Grant spoke of an upcoming swell and temperature inversion, and also contained a suggestion re seasickness medicine, i.e., take some Morton, but why take heed of such helpful advice after venturing into the deep so early this year (I think my braincells froze and never recovered during that fateful 3/31/01 swim)? So as usual, I followed the call of the wild (well, Tracy and Bill said they were going) and made my way down to Zuma Beach for the One Mile Swim this past Saturday. The day was gray, the water looked dark and cold, and the waves...well, more on the waves in a moment. I cheered up slightly when I saw our very own Craig Hummer gracing the announcement tower. The Irelands and the Edwardses sat themselves down to a game of cards, which seemed appropriate especially with the about even chance I would survive the swim. Given we were on Evanswich Mean Time, we all trooped a mile or so South and waited for the start of the 11am race. By 11:30am, we were cold and discouraged, having sat huddled on the beach in our brief speedo attire, and having watched the waves get bigger, bigger and yet still bigger. Now for the wave report. The waves were, quite simply and to use a technical term: Humungous. I speak with some authority, having held the Wave Wimp of the World title for several years. In fact, I have retired from the competition in order to give someone else (Grant? Dave N.?) a chance. Finally, when I had just about decided that I could hide rather well behind the lifeguard truck and then sneak anonymously back down the beach to my warm parka without too much embarrassment, the race began!

SCAQer after SCAQer stumbled in, pummeled by the waves. Our Alex placed second, but looked the best in my opinion (well, I can only imagine it as after all, I probably had about ten minutes left to swim after he crossed the line). Dawn Heckman continued her domination, finished 4th overall and first woman, as well as having helped at the ocean clinic prior to the race (these SCAQ coaches are amazing). (As usual, I remind you of my caveat - these are unofficial results, for the official, indeed correct, results, please go to the SCAQ webpage ruled by another amazing SCAQ coach - Dan W.) Chris Y. was 7th. His introduction at the ocean clinic prior to the race had elicited murmurs of admiration. He was ably assisted by Parks and Bill who held his towel. Tracy, who had brought his son Matthew to the swim (see the cards picture above), was tenth and first in his agegroup. Dave Nelson, having survived a close scare prior to the race when Parks almost made off with his wetsuit, finished 11th and was cheered on by Nicole Z-B whose sharing of clothing prior to the race as we shivered was much appreciated by all (onlookers and recipients).

In the next round of SCAQers came Grant at 16th, and Parks at 18th, with his better half Reiko cheering from the beach despite an overnighter from Hawaii and no sleep - is that dedication or what? Jenny, who starred in Friday morning's TV show with our fearless leader, Cat and Robert, finished an amazing 19th and first in her agegroup. Bill Ireland was next in. His daughter Elizabeth competed later in the day in the junior guards swim. She barely finished her pizza and off she went to finish 10th among the girls, despite having been moved up an age class, showing both the Ireland swimming ability and iron stomach (I was in awe). She did mention to Dad that his finish in the one mile would have been met by a command to do some pushups from her JG supervisor. I didn't have the heart to tell Bill to drop and give me 20. Fortunately our fearless leader had already left for the day. John J. and Marc Willick (who was 12th overall - wow!) were both there and finished well as usual, showing very different clothing styles after the swim (John had to ride back home in order to do a training run in the afternoon - we were impressed though we will be more impressed when he rides to the La Jolla Roughwater, does the swim, rides home, and then does a marathon in the afternoon! We look forward to hearing about it John).

Kathy M. was indomitable as usual, she said she didn't even notice the waves. John, a recent immigrant from the East, had no problem with the conditions and also introduced his fellow SCAQers to his pretty two month old daughter Caroline. Satchi from Indy showed her oceanswimming prowess learnt at last year's Catalina swim, finishing a strong 57th. Bob Bowman did very well, 7th in his competitive division. Shannon Sullivan finished 2nd the beautiful womens division, and Auggie was first in the handsome mens division. A big thank you to his wife Peggy for helping with the check-in and timing (that's Dave Flanders in the photo, who finished second to Auggie in that handsome mens division). Many other SCAQers were in attendance. Please introduce yourself at future swims! And please spell your name for me, after all, my strength is numbers not letters...

Well, as if Zuma was not enough fun for one weekend, we all agreed to do it all again on Sunday at Seal Beach. The ride down with Bill, Grant and Tracy was very informative. Each bated the other until all agreed to do both swims, the three and one miles. I think Bill was the one that first used the term "idiocy," and I for one concurred on many dimensions. The first major problem we encountered at the beach were the many rumors circulating about the water temperature. Unfortunately, all the rumors had a mean of about 61 degrees and an extremely low variance. Yipes. Though Jenny and I agreed that our decision to just do the three mile was wise, we wondered if we could have been wiser with an n of 0. Most of the guys laughed it off, while Eric and Parks proudly pointed out that they two had settled on one race. The second problem I encountered was that the Breyer camera only holds a limited number of pictures and I should have downloaded the Zuma pictures prior to the Seal Beach swim, despite complete exhaustion. My apologies for the single photo!

Well, I could (can) only dawdle on the beach figuratively and literally for a few minutes (and I decree that Eric should receive a gold star for offering to take my parka at the last possible minute so my core body temperature would only drop to 90 degrees rather than 85 just prior to the swim) and then we 76 crazy swimmers were off! Alex won the whole darn thing in a startling upset. Grant smashed home in 7th, Tracy in 10th and Bill in lucky 13th. Jenny shivered home for 19th, and Mac placed first in his agegroup. I managed to catch a wave (Reiko and Bill both saw it - I am not kidding!) and stood up incredibly proud of myself, only to fall immediately into a large hole not once but twice just to amuse and entertain the spectators. Cat was third in her agegroup and Robert was also a strong finisher. Adan and my new friend Sean also braved the deep, as well as several other SCAQers.

In the one mile, Eric E. was awesome, speeding home to 4th overall and first in his agegroup. Very impressive running up the steep beach. Grant was 7th again, not wanting to change places from the three mile. Tracy was 14th, followed closely by Bill at 15th. Mac finished second in his age group, impressing all. Wow again.

In the ten mile, Don V. finished in a personal best (congrats!), despite having his paddler pulled for hypothermia, and having to swim the last 3 hours of the race with a new paddler who had none of his gatorade or food. Wow. And just to put our macho friends into perspective, Jenny Buys from San Diego did the three mile, the one mile, AND the relay. Go Girl! Women Rule! I would point out that Bill, Grant and Tracy were all plotting as to how they would put together a relay team for next year.

And so I close another oceanswim race report and invite you to come to the San Clemente Ocean Festival next weekend, and of course my favorite swim - the Naples Three Mile - the weekend after! Hope to see you in the ocean soon oceanswimming buddies and congrats to all the swimmers at this past weekend's events.