It is the standard axiom in the open water swimming world that you should never swim alone and only with a swim buddy or in groups at all times under all conditions.

Ned Denison, the chairperson of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, always signs off his emails, “You swim at your own risk: follow safe practices.”

Rule #1 is Don’t Swim Alone. You can never be too careful whether you are swimming around Sandycove Island, Aquatic Park, Waikiki, Cabo San Lucas, Playa Flamingo, Rio de Janeiro, Bondi Beach, Atami Sun Beach, Singapore, White Beach, and many other places around the world.

But, frankly, swimming with buddies and groups is extremely hard to do in Huntington Beach in Southern California. It is rare when ocean swimmers train along the shores of Surf City USA.

So I swim alone.

But I am not lonely.

If I swim alone in the ocean, how can I not feel any sense of loneliness? How can that be?

For some reason, I just don’t feel lonely, perhaps because my mind is always occupied with thoughts.

I think about the water conditions: the surf, the water temperature, the wind direction, the surface turbulence.

I think about my distance and direction to be swum: am I progressing according to plan or am I swimming against the currents? Am I swimming parallel along the shoreline or drifting out towards Catalina Island or too close to the pounding surf?

I think about what I just did, said, or wrote while I was on dryland, either at work or with my family: Did I miss something? Did I forget something? Should I rewrite something? Should I re-do something?

I think about what I still need to do or want to accomplish: what more can I do? How can I do it more effectively or efficiently? What about next year? What about 5 years from now?

I think about the marine life underneath me: the ancestors of those little baby sharks that have been around, literally, hundreds of millions of years. How old are those dolphin swimming near me? How long are their bodies? What will I do if a whale comes close? Why do I sometimes run into kelp and other times not?

I think about the shoreline. What was Huntington Beach like back 100 years ago, 500 years ago, 2000 years ago? How has the marine environment and land features changed over that span of time? How can was the ocean way, way long ago?

I swim and swim as thoughts constantly flood my brain; it is like a mental conversation without slowing. Open water swimming – even when and especially when I am alone swimming along the shore – is very much a cerebral activity.

I am busy swimming and very much not alone.

© 2023 by Daily News of Open Water Swimming

“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“