2009 La Jolla Rough Water Swim

Ande, We did this event in 2007! By we, I mean me, my sister Shirley, and my little girl who had just turned 7 yrs old. If you have kids that swim, this a great family event!! I highly recommend you do this swim, especially the 1 mile!! The 1 mile was certainly not too short - enough is enough after about 10 minutes. I totally "got it" and was ready for my "victory" run up the beach. But not too long either - I had to play chase with Claire in the hotel pool right after! It seemed like you had to wait a long time for the 3 mile event, like 1PM or so. The 1 mile was great because it wasn't too early in the day, but not too late either, so you could actually eat lunch and enjoy the day. Flight wise was awesome. There are always cheap fares to San Diego, and you don't even have to miss work (fly out Fri or Sat, then come back Sun after the event!) They give everyone a participant medal, and you get a BIG medal for 1st through 5th! Strategy? Just try to pull as much of an Eddy Merck as you can. With no open water experience or training (or conditioning swimming at that time, my goof off years!), I saw no point in attempting an open water strategy. I just swam as hard and as fast as I could from the beach back to the beach, following the fastest girl as best I could.

I've done the 1 mile each of the last 3 years and did the double of 1 mile and Gatorman / 3 mile last year. I can't say enough great things about this swimming event extravaganza. The setting is drop dead beautiful, the water is clear and perfectly temp'd, the atmosphere is party + fun + kick some butt (if you're into that kind of thing), and it is a perfect event if you've got a family of swimmers as they've got kids races as well I'll be there this year and am doing only the 1 mile. I'd prefer to do both again, but my older daughter is doing her 1st 1 mile ocean swim (she just turned 13) and that starts about the same time as the Gatorman. I want to be there at the finish for her. Of the two races, I actually preferred the Gatorman ... the 1 mile almost seems like too much of a sprint. My advice for the actual event: Spring the $100 and sign up as a Century Sponsor (www.lajollaroughwaterswim.com/.../Individual Sponsorship Form.pdf) -- the parking pass and front row seats are worth it Get there in time on Saturday so you can check-in at a leisurely pace in the morning, then head down to the cove for an afternoon swim to get a feel for the water, the beach entry/exit, landmarks, notable underwater rocks, etc. For the race, I prefer to line up nearest to the starter / on the right side of the pack and then swim a straight line from there. The middle of the pack gets very crowded and can be rough and the far left side has more rocks to worry about. If you don't do the sponsorship and get a nifty parking spot, allow plenty of time to park in the morning Show up early-ish on Sunday both to warm-up and to watch the kids' races -- they duke it out just as roughly as the teenagers and Masters You usually get a treat of some swimming superstars showing up for this (e.g., Chloe Sutton and Mark Warkentin have been there years I've been there), but I think the elites will be up in San Fran the same day this year for the RCP Tiburon Mile I wholeheartedly recommend doing the daily double of the mile and the Gatorman ... at least the timing for the men's masters' race is sufficient to allow you to recover in between. This maximizes your travel dollar. Random travel advice: Though it's a little bit of a drive, Mission Beach has loads of condos in front a very wide, flat beach. I stayed there last year with my kids and it was perfect ... a number of local restaurants / dives in walking distance and a great, great beach. If you want a fabulous "expense account" type meal, try George's Modern at the Cove. They've also got a nice balcony area for lunch upstairs that overlooks the cove and is a bit more sanely priced. If you can swing it with your work schedule, try to travel home on Monday. I haven't been able to do that any year and have always been absolutely wiped on the 6 hour drive back to Arizona on Sunday afternoon.

Ande, We stayed here, and I give it two thumbs up! www.thegrandecolonial.com/ It is quite nice and truly in walking distance. The problem with most LaJolla hotels is that they aren't within walking distance. There is one hotel that FACES the park of the cove, and in selected rooms you can literally see what's going on. There's a zonie group that gets the same rooms every year, and I hung out with them. But being a hotel snob, I didn't like the rooms. Too college-feeling-hey-everyone-pile-in-my-room (which is exactly what I was doing!) and you can forget about pillow top beds!

Haven't surfed it in decades but to the left of the cove is Boomer Beach, one of the worlds best body surfing breaks.

Some links from the open water forum, regarding La Jolla that may be beneficial. forums.usms.org/showthread.php forums.usms.org/showthread.php forums.usms.org/showthread.php

Ande, We stayed here, and I give it two thumbs up! www.thegrandecolonial.com/ It is quite nice and truly in walking distance. The problem with most LaJolla hotels is that they aren't within walking distance. There is one hotel that FACES the park of the cove, and in selected rooms you can literally see what's going on. There's a zonie group that gets the same rooms every year, and I hung out with them. But being a hotel snob, I didn't like the rooms. Too college-feeling-hey-everyone-pile-in-my-room (which is exactly what I was doing!) and you can forget about pillow top beds! Very good recommendation. There are also some places on www.vrbo.com that can get you in reasonable walking distance. While parking can be a pain, as long as you allow yourself plenty of time, you won't walk too far. Downtown La Jolla is pretty compact. There are also some chain hotels (e.g., Marriott, Embassy Suites) up near the I-5 / La Jolla Village Parkway area that, while lacking in beachside ambience, do the trick for lodging. This year I'll stay at the Residence Inn La Jolla (www.marriott.com/.../) as I've got enough points and it's about a 10 to 15 minute drive to the cove. Once I park in La Jolla, I don't worry about the car for the rest of the day 'cause everything's walkable.

I was a "first-timer" this year and had a blast. Great event. I can't say enough good things about it, especially the professionalism of the lifeguards and in-water volunteers. They had a tough job this year and deserve a huge thank you.

here's teammate pics from 2009 La Jolla Rough water 2009 Results

here's teammate pics from 2009 La Jolla Rough water 2009 Results Good pictures. They still don't capture the ferocity of some of the waves ... at one point, practically all of the "event staff" and lifeguards at the bottom near the finish line were wiped out by one wave. A number of swimmers were washed right through the finish line and dangerously close to the concrete steps. It's a testament to the event staff and the lifeguards (who formed a barrier to prevent swimmers from drifting too close to the really rocky shore line seen in some of the crashing wave pictures here) that no one was seriously hurt coming in.

Good pictures. They still don't capture the ferocity of some of the waves ... at one point, practically all of the "event staff" and lifeguards at the bottom near the finish line were wiped out by one wave. A number of swimmers were washed right through the finish line and dangerously close to the concrete steps. It's a testament to the event staff and the lifeguards (who formed a barrier to prevent swimmers from drifting too close to the really rocky shore line seen in some of the crashing wave pictures here) that no one was seriously hurt coming in. Patrick is to humble (not a common trait of Longhorns) to let anyone know about his taking 3rd place overall! Nice job my man!