6:05 a.m. at the Dolphin club. The rain against the windows of the club was so loud; Vince had to shout to make himself heard as he described our course. The four of us nodded in approval of the course and I was the first out the door.
I shuddered as I made my way down the stairs to the beach. The air temperature was 48 degrees, the wind was howling, and of course it was pitch black. The cold rain and wind hurt my shoulders and the frozen steps hurt my feet. I tried to stay focused, but something was different. It felt like the wind and rain were stinging me, biting into my skin. I turned toward the light coming from the club and couldn’t believe what I saw. . . the stairs were alive with bouncing white hail! I hurried down the stairs and regrouped with the other swimmers under an overhang. No one spoke. The crash of the hail and our swim caps made any discussion impossible. After a prolonged silent exhange of wide-eyed stares, we burst into nervous laughter and headed out into the weather.
Vince was the first one in the water. The lamp attached to the back of his swim cap momentarily illuminated the white hail covered beach. I stared at it in awe and it went black again. Nobu was next and by the light of his lamp I noticed a perfect swath of hail being pulled into the dark water by a wave. Insanity, I thought, but knew if I didn’t go now I’d be alone in the dark. I turned and forcefully waded into the freezing water until I had to swim.
The hail storm was short. It ended shortly after we began our swim, but it is something I’ll never forget. After our swim I took this iPhone photo of the remaining hail on my car.
