Sunday, March 28, 2010

It is spring break and there were lots of people at the beach today. The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny with no wind. The water was very clear and 53 degrees with no chop or current. We had one seal playing along the surf line. Rob and I swam down the buoy line to the creek, over to the Cal Poly pier and doubled back along out route. Sylvia swam the right half of the buoy line. Kris went for a walk and joined us on the beach.
This Wednesday's evening swim will be at 5:30 unless it is canceled due to rain.

niel

Wednesday, March24th, 2010

Rob and I swam at 6 on Wednesday evening. The water was 56 and had a small chop but no whitecaps. The only other beings out there were about 6 gulls. We swam the right side of the triangle and then retired to the Avila Grocery where Kris joined us for dinner. The food was good and reasonably priced. Rob and I are going do this again next Wednesday, but a half hour earlier at 5:30. Sundays are still on as usual.

niel

Sunday March 21st, 2010

Niel and Pete make their way into the ocean

Today was a great day to swim. It was sunny with thin clouds and no wind. The ocean was as flat as it gets and very clean looking with no chop or swell and just an occasional 2' breaker to ruffle the surface. The water temperature was back up to a more seasonal correct 54. Swimming today were Rob Dumouchel, Steve Mowrey, Pete, who is from Atascadero for his first time swimming with us, Dani, who swam with us last summer and Niel. Sylvia and Kris were on the beach. We swam the triangle route counterclockwise. Rob brought along a waterproof camera (tied to the leash of his wetsuit) so there may be some photos.

For anyone who is interested in swimming with us please check the swimavila.com website for details on how to find us and when we swim.

Now that the time has changed we are going to try swimming Wednesday evenings. Rob and I are swimming this Wednesday(3/24) at 6PM, same location as on Sundays. If it works well we will keep doing it. Clam chowder afterwards is a real possibility. A bowl at the Avila Market is $6.50, or about $10 at the Custom House.

niel

Niel and Pete at the end of the pier
Dani coming around the pier
Niel and Steve plotting the next leg of the swim
Rob taking a break
shot of the pier from the water

Rob and Niel getting suited up, Sylvia hanging out in the background

Sunday March 14th, 2010

Beautiful springtime conditions today; sunny, comfortable on the beach, some nice waves and a steady offshore breeze that was holding up the faces for the surfers and pushing the water temperature down. The water was 51 and reasonably clear with no silt washing out from the creek. I do not believe that I have seen that temperatuer since last spring. On the beach we had Sylvia and Kris and for swimmers we had Niel, Steve Mowrey and Andrew. It was great to see Steve, he is getting back into racing and has some events coming up. Andrew is a Masters swimmer from Fresno, was here with his family, had seen this blog and wanted to get in the ocean. We swam both halves of the buoy line and I found myself more comfortable with the water temperature than I thought I would be. Outside of the water temperature we had very nice swimming conditions.
Dave VanMouwerik came by and visited for a while. He was here with his son and two other friends get in some ocean swimming time before next Saturday when his son will be trying out for the Avila Life Guards. Good luck to him.

niel

Sunday, March7th, 2010

It was sunny and warm on the beach except for when the clouds were hiding the sun. The water temperature was 55.5and the tide was way out. The water was clean enough for a swim except for directly in front of the creek where it was muddy. Not much in the way of waves. The wind was coming up but there were no whitecaps. I decided to swim the triangle on the left side of the pier both ways, clock ways and then counterclockwise. The wind pushed up the chop quite quickly so I had a rougher swim than I expected requiring that I work out where and how to breath and to stay loose for those occasions when my reaches ended in air instead of water. It took me 40 minutes. There never were any whitecaps. The wind seemed to die down after I got out and Kris and I had a very pleasant lunch on the beach.

niel