Sunday, September 26, 2010

It was hot at Avila Beach today but not as hot as just about anywhere else in San Luis Obispo County. At 10:30 it was warm, sunny and windless with flat water conditions and 3' to 4' surf. The water was fairly clear but had some clumps of kelp mixed in. The water temperature was 59, which was a pleasant surprise as the hot offshore winds that began Friday usually cause the water temperature to drop. There was a large raft of birds between the Avila and Poly Piers but they were just roosting and not feeding. I only saw a few seals and no pelicans. We had twelve swimmers today. Two new swimmers got there kind'a late, as I was getting in the water, and I didn't get their names. Those I knew were Sylvia, Duke, Chad, Brittany, Rick Marina, Gerry Gross, Kim, Allison, Pete and Niel. We took a route that would not involve swimming on the right side of Avila Pier where the birds were and would accommodate several different levels of experience and distances. The complete route was to swim down the buoy line on the left of the pier, past the last buoy and all of the way to Fossil Point, from there to the end of the Avila Pier and to return in along the length of the pier. The complete swim would be about 1.25 miles. Sylvia, Brittany, Allison, Kim and the new swimmers went down the buoy line to about half way to the point and came back. Duke, Niel, Pete and Chad went to the point. Duke and Chad headed back along the buoy line while Niel and Pete went to the end of the pier and in. Gerry did one and a half full laps of both sides of the buoy line. Pete and I were in the water for 42 minutes. Gerry swam for about 50 minutes.

Rob and I will be swimming Wednesday night. We meet at the same location and get in the water at 5:30.

A lot of our swimmers, including myself, will be out of town next Sunday so the group will be somewhat reduced.

niel