new thread
The latest post on my blog describes my swim in the Pacific, and has two paragraphs regarding the hair implications.
Oh, and since I don't post here that often any more, it also calls attention to the blog for anyone who might want to keep up on what I'm doing.
istartedi is the handle I use most places. MLHH is one of the exceptions to the rule.
My blog
Steve,
cool blog. I enjoyed reading about the ocean. Maybe Russell Brand swims in the ocean to get his hair the way it is : )
rob
Awesome pic. I don't know what that guy does; but it illustrates the effect perfectly.
I don't know what he does either Steve, but whatever it is, I don't want to do it : )
rob
Love the narrative style, Steve. Very well written. I wish I could figure this blogging thing out, it seems to be everywhere. I've tried to start a blog on myspace, but can never figure out what to write.
Jim
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the blog link. Your story reminds me of when I lived in an apartment building right across from SF's Ocean Beach along the residential part of The Great Highway, between Taraval and Ulloa Sts. I lived there between '78 - '79, and then again 10 years later, --- only in a different apartment unit. In both cases, I made it an annual commitment to dip myself into the Pacific. And, just as you described, I always waited for a heat wave in either Sept. or Oct., so that the icy waters were not quite as shocking to get into or out of.
For those unfamiliar with the West Coast, Northern California does NOT have the same balmy, pleasant swimming-type weather and water that Florida, Hawaii, and the majority of the East Coast of the US has, --- in fact, most of the summer the majority of the Calif. coastal areas are just plain damn COLD!!! Southern Calif. waters are a tad bit warmer; but still, nothing even remotely like the Gulf of Mexico! San Francisco is so famous for its cool coastal fog, in fact, that Mark Twain once said the following quote: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco!"
Inland parts of California, however, can be BAKING HOT, --- in the triple digits for weeks on end!! It's the cold ocean current coming down from Alaska, contrasting with the inland heat, that creates this weird climate.
The one time we can actually get truly pleasant swimming water is when the phenomenon called, "El Nino" takes place, --- which is approximately every 10 or more years. The last time I went swimming during an El Nino year, it was GORGEOUS; but, only really swimmable for about a month (August of '84, as I remember, --- although we also had an El Nino year in the late '90s, too)....
Happy dunking and heavy-breathing!
- Ken in SF
Great tale (tail?).
I like your description of the water feeling like needles.....Been there - Done that. When I go to either the NorthWest or New England I always get in the water just to remember. Once when I was very young (on a dare, DUH !) I joined the Polar Bear Group for Ice Swimming....NEVER again ! HA!
Thanks for Sharing
Walter
... were the only people in the water my friends and I saw at Point Reyes beach when we were traveling in the west mid 70's. That should have been enough information, but being daring and stupid, we dove right in and swam until we were blue! I hope you got out before all your extremities went numb.
Bruce
Wow your a daredevil swimming in cold water like that.
I swom in a cold mountain lake when I was young.