Keep On Moving Club: June 2018

[Sunshine]

Today I swam 826 yards, just shy of 1/2 mile. In 27 minutes.

[stillstANNding]

Hooray! You must be proud and tired.

ANN

[Sunshine]

Very excited that I could tolerate it. Clearly been doing better.

[Virginia]

Amazing, Sunshine!

[Sunshine]

I purposely cut the swim shorter than yesterday to 23 minutes, 720 Yards, to avoid problems today in trip to PCP.
Stills great accomplishment

[Sunshine]

Today I swam 666 Yards, 22 minutes. Felt some muscle stiffening so I stopped.

Likely it was due to having spent @10 minutes on my feet wrestling two surfboards into the car. One is for a friend who will drive my car. Usually don’t have to do all that extra jamming in.

Going surfing in the morning! Excited as the rest of the week looks pretty darn flat.

[Sunshine]

Yesterday I went surfing with friends. It was truly summer waves. The air was warm, the water was refreshing and no neoprene was necessary, and the waves were June small, about knee high. The offshore light breezes kept the water very clean, almost glassy. It was beautiful to see right through the waves, and the sun made the waves a gorgeous shimmering color.

Because the waves were small, and the tide , the waves were breaking shallow. If my legs were better, no big deal. But, I cannot count on my legs not to buckle and then throw me forward off the board in a dive. That is what happened. This can be quite hazardous, breaking ones wrists if one remembers to put the arms out straight so that one doesn’t break one’s neck, but could also break ones neck with one careless move.

So, after pitching forward on my third wave, I decided that in those conditions and with my leg problems, it made more sense to take the waves lying down.

ALthough I prefer standing, lying down can also be quite fun! As one guy said, “You get barreled every wave!” Barreled means getting inside the curl of the wave, or “in the tube”, a very magical and ethereal place to be.

There were plenty of fun and funny occurrences on the beach. I especially liked going during the week, not the weekend, since there arent crowds on weekdays. Just retired people, degenerates (LOL) and people who call in sick on very excellent days, not small wave days. Days of low wind, offshores and waist to overhead waves.

I got my handful of rides, and really enjoyed being in the water and paddling out. Its such a sensual experience gliding over waves on the paddle out, with gentle incoming to easily paddle over.

Did you know that the overwhelming majority of surfers are environmentalists of one sort of another? We see the destructive effect of trash on the beach, in the water, the harm of poor water quality to the ocean and its magnificent creatures. We see the ocean become abnormally warm too early in the season.

I used to pick up trash in a bag each surf day. But now, of course, I cannot do that. But others do it. There was a time that a container ship in the ocean lost all of its cargo. Tens of thousands of containers of Bustelo coffee (hello Howie!), detergent, plastic ware, and other foods, washed up on our beach and all the way to Jacksonville. Many people “shopped” at the beach that week. But its disgusting to think about how humans foul their own nest.

But yesterday, all was focused on the ultimate beauty of the ocean, of raw nature.
It took until today to recover but it was worth it.

Today I swam 693 yards in 22 minutes. I had to stop so I could drive to an appointment without worrying about spasms. I had been wanting to approach 1/2 mile again...maybe tomorrow....

[stillstANNding]

Thank you for this, Sunshine. I love to go surfing with you.

Good on the swimming and good on the judgement to save legs for driving.

ANN

[Howie]

I sure could use some coffee. I wonder what happened to that shipment I ordered?

[agate]

Just head down to where Sunshine is surfing and wait for another ship to drop its cargo of coffee. Like those oil spills, it probably happens on a regular basis.

Hope riptides don't happen there, Sunshine. Last night's news included a stern warning about how people definitely should not be swimming at Rockaway Beach (near here) because of dangerous riptides that just sweep people away sometimes. We were given instructions on how to manage a rip tide (swim sideways but it didn't say for how long--just until you reach the end of that bad patch, I guess). We were even told that if a buddy or relative is out there caught up in it, we should NOT try to rush in and rescue the person no matter how tempted we are to do just that. We're supposed to leave the person struggling out there and call 911.

[Sunshine]

Surfers are savvy about rips. And we have a board as a flotation device.

On a big day where paddle out is too hard, you can find a rip and it will take you out effortlessly, to the lineup.

Yes, a panicked swimmer will pull you down. If I had to rescue a swimmer, And I was well, and no strong fella was around, I would approach but be out of reach and calm them down and tell them the plan to get them on the board. Never get too close as they’ll grab you in panic

[stillstANNding]

My brother was caught in a riptide near Ft Lauderdale. He said he went through Kubler-Ross's 5 stages of death very fast. Then he remembers that he couldn't hold his breath anymore and started breathing in and out saltwater. He said it didn't hurt at all.

He was rescued by lifeguards and shocked back to life on the beach. He was in ICU for awhile because of the saltwater.

And he made the newspaper, "Navy Man Near Drowns off Ft Lauderdale."

ANN

[Virginia]

Wonderful Sunshine, that you could surf yesterday and swim today.

Ann, how scary for your brother and your family when they found out.

[Sunshine]

My brother was caught in a riptide near Ft Lauderdale. He said he went through Kubler-Ross's 5 stages of death very fast. Then he remembers that he couldn't hold his breath anymore and started breathing in and out saltwater. He said it didn't hurt at all.

He was rescued by lifeguards and shocked back to life on the beach. He was in ICU for awhile because of the saltwater.

And he made the newspaper, "Navy Man Near Drowns off Ft Lauderdale."

ANN

What a terrifying story. It sounds like he was having a near death experience, feeling at peace while he breathed in water? A friend experienced that too, and then she saw the light in the tunnel...so glad your brother made it and was rescued.

[Howie]

Go into the light Carol Ann, go into the light........