HB Tower 9 Swim, Tuesday, February 22 at 8am.

We will have our usual buoy (or multiple buoy) swim. Meet at 8:00, in the water by 8:10. Usually out of the water by 8:50. One trip to the buoy is ~1,000 yards. A double is ~1,700 yards. Will explain at Tower 9.

Waves will be 3-4 ft, according to MagicSeaWeed. Wind will be 8-9 mph. Water & air temp will be cool, so be prepared!

The waves and wind will not be ideal, but challenging.

OH, and this assumes it DOES NOT RAIN Monday.

If you’re unaccustomed to the cold, bring a hot beverage in a thermos to Tower 9 (not your car). You’ll want to sip it about 2-4 minutes after exiting the water to offset the afterdrop.

All levels welcome. Most of us average 1:35-2:20/100m. If you’re a little slower, don’t worry; we’re a nonjudgmental group. If you’re faster, that’s awesome.

You can bring your fins, especially if you’re a wee bit nervous about the waves and/or ocean swimming. Fins will give you the power to make it through any chop and likely increase your speed over your entire swim. Fins are the best speed advantage for metabolic cost available. Hand paddles help, too, but you’ll feel the increased workload.

P.S. Water temp has been 56-60 F recently. Air temp, sun, winds, and humidity can also make you feel warmer/colder. You can check Surfline (check Huntington Street; it gives you a live camera on Tower 9, but with ads interspersed every 30 seconds) and MagicSeaweed (check Huntington Pier as it’s the nearest location for MSW) for a recent forecast. Be warned, though, that Surfline can have a delay of a day and MSW tends to overestimate the water temp & windspeed by quite a bit.