Short Story/Long Story

The short answer: sublime.

You had better grab a hot mug and have a seat for the details…

Tim jumped in with Elizabeth and me for what I anticipated would be a few Creekers of DEATH! We caught up with Rhett at the Creekers. Rhett predicted it would be an even better Chas Lap Day. Rhett was only partially correct.

We started out in a dying ebb and headed out for the opening. It was cold, dark, and cold. Note the repetition of 'cold' indicating air temp of 50 and water temp of 57 - SI 107 - WTF?

Only a slight ebb along the sea wall with a minor ebb boost once we rounded the elbow. At the Creekers, Elizabeth and I decided to swim a Chas Lap. Tim seemed on the fence, and Rhett had already put his head down and started swimming. Rhett took an outside line, so we thought he might also be headed down to the Gas House. He wasn’t.

At the opening, Rhett and Tim took the left turn and entered the cove. Assuming they safely returned to the beach and their daily routine. Elizabeth and I continued west toward the Ft. Mason Piers. It was still dark as we rounded the Muni Pier. Although the moon partially lit the way, the overcast skies created an ominous creepy stealthy sensation before the morning twilight broke.

Due to the early hour, a few pods were already making their return trips on West Main Street. Quite the surprise to see others out so early. Not knowing if these were the infamous Fast Kids, we kept a safe distance to avoid incidents. Mostly, we just put our heads down and swam. Every time I stopped, I started shaking. As soon as I returned to swimming, the shaking and chills went away. Duhhhhhhh. I'm going to need to keep this in my mental book of knowledge.

The marathon elites, known to train/lurk for hours in the Ft. Mason piers, magically appeared between the 2nd and 3rd piers. My hypothermic mind recalled a conversation about the ebb that wasn't and the flood not yet kicking in. Elizabeth will have to confirm whether or not this was a hallucination or reality.

We reached the Gashouse in 50 minutes. During the past few swims, I noticed the cold feeling goes away after an hour. More likely, as Sprink suggested, I convinced myself I'm no longer cold. Either way, it felt good so I went with it.

Although I wasn't cold, my jaw did not move so well. I sensed it may have been the same for Elizabeth. We planned to swim for 90 minutes. I tried to get out the words indicating we should add a lap between the piers, but I don't know if I actually articulated the words with clarity. Elizabeth must have understood since she turned toward shore and we added in an extra pier lap to give us more time in the water.



It was an honest return back to the beach. As we rounded the Muni Pier, Elizabeth recognized the TTH 7:00 a.m. pod making their way toward Ft. Mason. Sprink stopped to say hello. Mostly, we kept our heads down and kicked it into high gear to get to the beach. It's quite a fun challenge to keep up with Elizabeth when she turns on her sprint finale.

We managed a great 88 minutes. This will be my last swim before Sunday's Angel Island circumnavigation. I'm ready.

Shown in Dark Colors - We swam in the dark!