Pier 39 Reprise

Hello Babes and Bobs--After wrestling with my computer for most of the afternoon and firing Internet Explorer in favor of Mozilla I am finally able to post the tale of the Pier 39 swim a week ago Sunday morning.
I hemmed and hawed most of Saturday about the swim hoping that Tiny Seal would be too tired after rowing training to carpool that Sunday morning. However, she was not. Despite heavily hinting that you know you could always call me at the last minute if you don't want to go.... there was no call. So, I was up at 5am, practically blasphemy for a Sunday anyway, and on my way up to her place to car pool into the City.
I had swum on Friday, only 20-25 minutes to test my cold water readiness. And I decided that if I didn't get into any trouble out there and stayed on course I could probably last a good 40-45 minutes during the swim.
On Saturday, against my better judgement, we did a swimmers mile at Masters which went actually really well. I thought to myself... well, I shot the wad on this. If I can hammer out a good mile tomorrow, it will be a minor miracle.
Anyway, I went to my massage appointment later that day. My usual person was unavailable because her father had passed away and I got a new and surprising technician. This woman had been trained I think in Germany and so I thought hmmm.... now I will get to see what all of the kur-bad twitter was all about when I was over there. Well, I really had my muscles pushed around for 1 1/2 hours and was stretched and lectured about nutrition.
Not being one to waste advice I decided to give the advice about magnesium with my calcium a try.
Well, Sunday morning arrived with no cancellation call from the TS so I loaded up on supplements, protein powder and spirulina and headed up.
I was very early which suited me fine and I killed off my protein powder concoction drink and sat around waiting for the swim briefing. I had pulled number 19 and was hoping that would be a good lucky number for me. I was very nervous as I usually am and had my earplugs in and caps on before the briefing. I never have time to get them on correctly so I did them early. Of course I proceeded to get a headache but at least my head was warm.
The swim briefing told us that we should not get too close to the piers on the left and we should not get so far out we missed the opening. Always more of an art than a science, I asked for more clarity and got a little bit more precision to the distances. And if we could smell the sea lions we were definitely too close. No worries there. I was not even going to hug their pier. The briefers described a course that stayed 30-40 ft from the piers and breakwater on the left.
There were boats and kayaks stationed strategically wherever motorized craft could depart from their moorings and enter the bay. And of course we had our usual flotilla of oarsmen and women between us and the bay to keep any of the boats and ships from coming into us.
So we were off to Pier 39, kind of a cold hike. I had a set of long underwear and a light fleece jacket on as well as good heavy socks to try to keep my feet and ankles warm. I still found it cold on the walk. It was a solitary hike with most folks buddying up with old friends but I did not really have anyone to walk with but that was ok with me. I waved at the bakers at boudin and listened to a couple of guys yammer in front of me about I can't remember what.
When we got to Pier 39 we actually went to the small yacht harbor just beyond it, on the right. There we awaited the word to strip down and I finished off another bit of protein drink. I always do the calorie load thing as you can tell. But I get hungry out there.
Very soon we got the word--get down and get in, we need to beat a whale watching boat. And that is a motivator, I must say.
We tottered down the ramp, no sea gull poop to dodge this year and onto the catwalk which was really not very rocky this year. The bay was calm and quiet. As we neared the end I started to talk to a guy I knew from timing last year and told him he didn't really have to listen, just nod his head, that talking was how I coped and he seemed ok with that. There at the end of the catwalk there was just the water--green, flat and looking remarkably cold. Why do I do this? Why am I here on a Sunday morning at 7:30? I don't like cold water. I don't like getting up early. Just take a breath and jump. Just focus on the jump. Don't hold onto the googles. You don't want to sink like a rock. Use your arms so you don't sink too far. So ok, just take a breath and... It was an amazingly long second before I hit.
Was it cold? Oh yes indeed. I went under a couple of feet but nothing like a couple of the jumps on the Alcatrazes where you just drop. I was at water's edge, which helped with not sinking too far. I shot up out of the water so quickly and swam as quickly as I could, head out of water to the start. It was way cold!!
They started us very soon and I began to stroke out toward the bay. I was going to wait a few minutes and let everyone go by and then I just thought... why? I will be careful and these guys can just move. I accidentally ran into one guy a couple of times and apologized and then he was gone.
Coming out of the yacht harbor I hugged the breakwater on the left and tried to stay sort of close in--about 30 ft from the pier. When the pier disappeared I did not swim left and pick up the next pier, I just made for the end of the Jeremiah O'brien. There was no one around me. There was a big pod in front of me and I knew who was probably in there but I could not catch them. In fact, I made the decision not to even try. I remember thinking that I would never finish first and probably wouldn't finish last so I just decided to swim for the sheer pleasure of it and to watch the city go by with every breath. And it was glorious!
I did not smell any sea lions as I passed opening to their lair and prayed that they would not be curious enough about the swim to come out and investigate. Fortunately they did not.
As I approached the O'brien I just thought about what kind of pollutants were coming off of it and then tried to focus on the end. It is always a challenge for me to find the opening and then find the beach. Part of it is that my goggles usually get foggy and part of it is that I can't really see without my glasses so it is kind of an adventure in orienteering.
Anyway, Muni pier came up rather quickly and I had been pulled out into the bay so I stopped and took stock of my situation and made a 90 degree adjustment and went like mad toward the pier. That was my biggest regret that I had let myself be swept too far out there but it was the danger that my route had posed as I let myself go for points in the swim that were the shortest between points rather than focusing more on the distance to my left. Once the water takes you it is very hard to readjust unless you are aware for every second.
Amazingly, there was very little chop. It was almost lake like and I could see the pod in front of me turn on the jets as they approached the opening to the pier. I lost a little time trying to find out where I was and making the turn in.
I hugged the pier as rounded it into the cove. This may have been an error as there is a big eddy right close there but these things are always easier in hindsight. As I took a breath I could see a sea gull land on the pier and look down at me as if to say... what ARE you doing? Is this insane for a Sunday morning or what?
As I entered the cove I tried to stay near to the Balclutha and as I got to the end of it I relaxed and just swam. In a very few strokes I stopped since I could not see the club with the sun rising and my foggy goggles, peered through the bottom of my goggles and realized that I had been blown far to the right almost into an anchored sail boat. So it was a mad few strokes always hugging the left. I stopped a couple more times since I still could not see.
Once I got in between the boat launches I swam hard and just kept going until I hit sand. No running out of water for the DC. We swim and then get out at leisure. I thought I had finished the 1 1/2 mi course in 35 but it ended up being 32 and change but I got a big push.
Next stop was the sauna and a great breakfast with marvelous Indian rice soup made by Tiny Seal. And my thought in going up the stairs toward the showers was... What a terrific way to spend a Sunday morning! The very best way!! Ha! How being done changes one's perspective!!
We are so fortunate at DC to have the privilege to swim in the bay and we have so many terrific folks interested in supporting these swims. Without them they would not happen. I am so lucky and urge everyone to take advantage of our wonderful natural resources.
And next time you go touristing to Pier 39, take a look at the little yacht harbor on the right and consider a Sunday morning swim!