Trouserflapping good! 17-10-12

The trudge through the tunnel in the morning is usually an accurate indicator of what awaits on the beach and this morning Pete was battling, fish box in tow, down the small incline against all the demons of the underworld.

Another empty beach greeted with bits of weed and the odd startled flounder whizzing past at head height.  With no Joan, Pete began what now must be done.  In order to appease the sea demons, someone has to do the penance of running widths.  Fortunately, after number two, tall and small figures morphed into Joan and Ollie who had been waiting under shelter for someone to turn up.  Numbers were shortly swelled by Stefan who when asked if he was going in protested that he was "not dressed" for it.  How can Stefan ever be "not dressed" for swimming, unless he was undressed which this morning, he most certainly wasn't. Paul arrived shortly after and  the group was completed by Sara who proceeded to natter at such length with Ollie that Pete declared that he was stripping off and going in and that he would see the others later.

The water was reached as usual now by successive widths run across the sand, each width getting into deeper water until swimming had to be achieved.  Fortunately, the tide was very low otherwise the waves would have made it impossible to get in.  Pete swam gamely for France but ended up nearer to Hastings, the current was back.  Eventually all mustered in the surf except for Ollie who was "only running" on account of a tiny insect bite on his ankle.  He felt that he didn't want to risk infection (in the sea?) Anyway, Sara, Paul, Pete & Joan swam whilst Stefan took pictures.  Situation normal.  the waves were about 1m high and low frequency which made it quite swimmable.  Sara shot off and completed 1.5 widths before Pete arrived at the far end, they then "dared" each other to do 50 strokes due south. Unfortunately, Pete ended up swimming twice as hard since Sara was counting half stokes (Or was Pete counting double strokes?).

Back to the beach and the fun of dressing under airborne yodas was entertaining to watch.

Swimmers' bike ride confirmed as Dec 9th and all looking forward to the grand opening of Joan's beach residence on the 2nd.

Swimmers:  Joan, Paul, Sara, Pete

Runners: Ollie

Lifesavers: Stefan

Water temp:  Damn - forgot

Sea: Howling Yodas