Sea Swimming Blog #52
Day 91 Sea Swimming.
#52 of the blog.
Late last night I saw a little instagram video by Matt Porteous in which he said he’d just been surfing with dolphins near Rocco Tower… so that was my mind made up… La Braye tomorrow then!
With it being half term and with high tide being at 9am(ish) I thought I’d give it a bit of time before heading down as I expected pretty big seas and didn’t fancy getting smashed into the sea wall… I arrived at 11am and even from the car journey down the hill could see plenty of white water from what appeared to be pretty chunky sets of waves that were building from the break and heading into shore like a stampede of white horses.
I grabbed my camera and swim gear and headed down the slip, changing into my booties so that I could get into the shallow water whilst taking a few shots of the numerous surfers who were out in force, trying their luck and hoping to ride a stallion or two.
With so many surfers about I thought I better stay to the left of Rocco for my swim but just as I was about to undress a group of windsurfers headed my way and I had a change of heart - it probably wasn’t the best place for a dip after all and the chances of me seeing let alone photographing a dolphin were slim at best - there was a much higher chance that I’d be taken out by a surf board.
So I packed up and headed to Ouaisne where conditions were dramatically different… there were nice little waves but none of the rough and tumble that St Ouen had offered and it would be a much safer spot for me to get some decent minutes in the water and actually do a bit of proper swimming.
I took a quick photo then put the camera away, got ready and headed down the beach… I kind wished I’d had a wide angle shot of that image as I pretty much had the whole beach to myself as I ran towards the water… there were a couple of dog walkers wrapped up in the winter dress wearing hats, scarfs, gloves, coat and an expression which suggested I was a little mad.
Sticking close to the shoreline and well within my depth, I swam for 10 minutes from inline with the slipway to the fort and back… on the odd occasion getting swept into shore by the waves as they crashed onto the beach.
Short and sweet, another salt water treat.
‘The cure for anything is salt water.
Sweat, tears or the sea.”
- Isak Dinesen