Swimmers Don't Want to Get Kicked out of Pool

They come in the dawn hours to sneak in a swim session before the demands of the day catch up to them.

They are young and old, of many professions and of many levels of ability – everything from wannabe Navy Seals and triathletes to swimmers in their 80s holding onto strength and agility that belie their age.

They are members of the Capomasters Swim Club  and they swim at .

And the neighbors at Casitas Capistrano don’t like it.

About 40 members of the swim club deluged the City Council meeting Tuesday night to urge their support of their right to swim.

Head coach Belinda “Bee” Eschenwald said she was aware of neighbor complaints when she took over the program five years ago.

“They were pretty disgruntled about the lights, so we swam at the dark. They complained about me being too loud, so I whisper. I’m always shushing everyone,” Eschenwald said. “We’re doing everything possible to keep it quiet in the morning. We just want to swim.”

City Manager Karen Brust reported that the city is trying to facilitate talks with JSerra, Capomasters and the neighbors. A  meeting is set for May 14.

Swimmers said they have heard that the neighbors don’t like the sound of splashing, which they found incredulous.

“There’s no way they can be disturbing the[neighbors] between the train and the 18-wheelers on the freeway,” said Angela Duzich. “The swimmers aren’t doing cannonballs and playing Marco Polo.”

Added Erik “Wolf” Hanke: “We don’t have a whistle, we don’t make any noise. I’ll swim with a muzzle.”

Swimmer Michael Epstein said he found the whole situation ironic.

“People pay a lot of money to live next to the ocean where they hear the splashing of water against the rocks. People spend a lot of money to have a fountain outside their house because water is calming,” he said.

Epstein was one of several who said the non-impact aquatic exercise helped healing in some ailment, in his case a bad back.

Several speakers, many of them San Juan Capistrano residents, said life is just too busy to have to swim to an out-of-town pool for a program. Joseph Busch noted they would have no other options. The , which is smaller than the JSerra pool, isn’t open to the public and even if it were, it’s inconveniently located in the heart of the school.

There were no residents who spoke to the issue, which was raised in the open comments’ section, when residents can raise issues not on the agenda. Council members cannot take action on items not on the agenda.