Day 166 - 11th January 2011

And for breakfast I tried something new; it is called Beach Crunch. It consists of a mouthful of pebbles, mixed lightly with sand and topped off with water that is heavily laden with salt plus a sprinkle of brown god knows what over the top. Yummy yummy good for the tummy!

By the time I was at the Arch, 7.05am, it was still dark, however, the rain had stopped but the wind was blowing. Damien and Soweichi were already finished and Damien gave me the account of the wave that turned him face down as he was trying to come out. Little Bob and Mike had just been in for their couple of minutes and were heading back in just as Big Bob, Fiona, Martina and I were heading down. The sea temperature was 5.4 degrees and the air temperature, despite the wind, was a comfortable 7 degrees. The sea itself was busyeeee.

Lots and lots of waves in succession made actual swimming a challenge; it was more a case of constantly either diving under the waves, riding high on them or being splattered by them. We stayed in for about 10 minutes and then headed to shore. Coming out of the sea was the challenge today as the pull from the sea receding was very strong; it really wanted to drag you back. You had to almost let it pull you backwards and then ride the subsequent wave back in as much as you could; kind of like two steps back and three forward, until you hit the beach. Fiona and I did hit the beach, literally face down. The fact that it was warmer today in the sea and the air made it much more pleasurable and the waves actually made it a lot of fun.

Tomorrow I’m in the pool for a 3 or 4 hour swim and then in the Gym in the evening; so playing today was allowed!