Sunday, October 31, 2010

It was another beautiful day at Avila Beach. There was a bank of fog that extended from behind the hills at the port, all of the way around the horizon to Shell Beach, leaving Avila in a hole full of sun. There was no wind, small breakers, no chop and no seals or bird life over the ocean. I did a toe test of the water temperature and came up with 'probably 55 or above' on the twinkle toes scale. My new thermometer is on the way so we will be back to the Fahrenheit scale for water temperatures soon. Niel, Rob, Chad and Peter were swimming. Kim came by to visit and enjoy the sun. Nobody seemed to be too full of energy so we elected to repeat Wednesday nights swim of down to Fossil Point and back. Rob headed down to the surf first, perhaps to give himself time to get used to the water and expound to the gulls in private on the joys of the traditional approach to ocean swimming while the rest of us were finishing getting into our wetsuits. We caught up to him in the surf line and headed towards the point. When we regrouped at the end of the seawall there was a consensus that the water temperature felt colder than Wednesday night, therefor it must be about 55. I wished that I had the ability to get a reading so I could compare our impressions with a thermometer. I could not help but wonder what we would of thought of the conditions if I had taken a reading of 53, or 58? In any case we had a nice swim. There was a lot of kelp debris in the water down towards the point. We regrouped at the point and again at the end of the seawall on the way back. It was warm and relaxing on the beach afterwards.

This Wednesday will be the last evening swim of the season. I know that Rob and Ryan will join me. We'll get in at 5:30 for a short swim. Everybody's welcome.

niel

Wednesday Evening, October 27, 2010

It was a gorgeous evening at Avila Beach last night. There was just a breath of wind, a few thin clouds no fog, some occasional large waves but with glassy conditions beyond the surf line. I broke my thermometer while getting the reading so we are going to be using the tingle toes scale of water temperature until I get a replacement. I didn't see any birds, seals or fish on either side of the pier. We had four swimmers; Niel, Rob, Ryan and Pete. We decided to head straight out to the buoy line and swim all of the way down to Fossil Point and back. This would be about a mile. There was a lot of comments, expostulation and gesturing while we were getting in and I gott'a say most of it was from Rob but Ryan was contributing his share. When we regrouped about half way to the point the consensus was that the water temperature was 56 or 57 degrees. We continued along the line of the buoys all of the way to the point. We got to the rocks just as a big set of rollers came through. I felt a swell go underneath me so on my next breath to the right I took a good look and found myself looking up onto the face of a 5 or 6 foot wave with the lip just starting to curl over. I caught an extra deep breath, made a hard right turn and managed to just swim through the curl without getting tossed. I continued out for another 70 yards before I was beyond the break zone. Ryan and Rob had been behind me but nobody got washing machined. We regrouped and headed back along the way we came. The sun was dropping behind the hills and it was getting into dusk but the light was beautiful and the swimming conditions were great. Afterwards Ryan went for a run and Pete had to head home. Rob and Heidi joined Kris and myself for dinner at the Mercantile. The weather looks good for Sunday so I'll be back. Next Wednesday will be the last opportunity for an evening swim, as we go back to standard time on the 6th/7th. Rob and I are thinking that we would like to swim but will probably keep it short in order to get out before it gets too dark to keep track of each other.

niel

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Two Wet Guys - Rob and I had been keeping in touch earlier in the week and we both really wanted to get in the water today. It looked like rain was developing Sunday morning but hey, we were going t get wet anyway, right? It was wet at Avila at 10:30 this morning; shifting from spitting to drizzle to light rain. The air temperature was 60 and the water temperature was 56 with great visibility. There was a long swell that rose up beyond the end of the pier that would put up some good sized waves. A 5.8' high tide occurred at 10:38 and some of the largest waves were hitting the bottom of the pier. I saw no birds of any kind and no seals anywhere in the water. It was also perfectly still and beyond the surf line the water was as flat as I have ever seen it. As we were getting ready Rob met up with Steve, a member of the ocean swimming group that he had swum with in Monterey a few weeks back. Steve was in town for a car show and had not brought his swimming gear, but we filled him in about Avila and our swims and he wants to encourage his group to come down for a swim in the future. Rob is still recovering from his 12.6 mile swim last weekend so he was into something easy and simple today, he really just wanted to get in and enjoy the feeling of the cool water on his shoulders. Out and around the pier was fine with me so that is what we did. Between it being totally sunless and my not having been in the ocean in 10 days I thought that it felt colder than 56 and Rob concurred. The surf had mellowed out so we had no trouble getting out and once we were beyond the surf line the water felt more comfortable. The rain had stopped and we just enjoyed our cruse around the pier. There was not going to be any hanging about on the beach after the swim today so we both just took off. Rob and I will be back this Wednesday evening for out 5:30 swim.

niel

click to view video

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Well, no swim for me on Sunday because I was in Eureka, but you ought to check out Rob's post about his 12.6 mile swim on Saturday! Go to www.robaquatics.com

niel

Wednesday Evening, October13, 2010

There was dense fog in Pismo, offshore and over the hills beyond the port but Avila was a hole in the fog on Wednesday evening. The sun was coming and going, getting lost in the fog beyond the port and there was a light but cold damp breeze coming from the direction of Pismo and Shell Beaches. The water was 59 but with the lack of sun and the breeze it would feel colder . The water was still incredibly clear. I could see 10' down through the water along the pilings to below where the kelp stopped growing. I saw only a few shorebirds and a couple of seals. A fisherman on the pier told me that there had been a football field size school of anchovies just off of the end of the pier but that there had not been any birds or seals on it. Swimming were Niel, Rob, Ryan and Pete. Nobody felt like going strong or long so we went straight out along the pier to its end, turned left at a 45 degree angle to the beach towards the end of the sea wall and came back along the buoy line to the pier and in. This was about .6 of a mile. The water did feel comfortable and the swimming conditions were great. Having the fog hanging down to the water everywhere around us was kind'a weird and the light was strange, but there was easily adequate light for swimming. We will probably get in just a few more evening swims. The time changes the first weekend in November and that will end our Wednesday evening swims for the season.

This Sunday Rob will be in LA for the Distance Challenge 12.6 mile swim and I will be in Eureka. I will be busy next Wednesday evening, but Rob will be swimming if he can reattach his arms after Saturday.

niel

Sunday, October 10, 2010

This October day at Avila Beach was about the best summer day possible. It was warm and windless with 2'+ waves and exceptionally clear water. The water temperature was 58 and I didn't see anything in the way of birds, fish or seals. Swimming today were Niel, Susan, Sylvia, Allison, Chad, Brittany, Duke, Lori, Dale, Pete, Bianca and Gerry. Someone must of sent out a memo before todays swim because one we first got out to the buoy line in I realized that all of the girls were wearing pink caps and all of the boys were in yellow, except for Duke who was proudly wearing blue. We must of looked extra organized and racy from the beach. We all headed down to the last buoy at the creek. From there Niel, Duke, Chad and Pete headed over to the Cal Poly Pier. The rest of the group was still deciding between doubling back along the buoy line and heading out to the end of the Avila Pier when we left so I am not sure, but I think that group split up between both options. The Poly Pier group doubled back to the creek buoy, along the buoy line, under the Avila Pier and in. We did pick up three seals over at the Poly Pier who followed Pete back to the buoy line. I think that they looked lonely. There were lots of smiles on the beach afterwards, The swimming conditions were fabulous and it was the first time Brittany had gone out and around the Avila Pier. No breeze had come up so it got nice and warm on the beach for a post swim layout in the sun.

A big hand for Chad who took a third in the Tinley Olympic distance tri and for Duke who celebrated his new in his new age group by clocking a third in the LA Triathlon.

I'm planning on being back at Avila for one of our few remaining evening swims this Wednesday at 5:30.

niel

Wednesday Evening October 6, 2010

For the last few weeks the Wednesday evening swim has been Rob, Ryan and myself. This week Ryan is tapering, Rob is out in the Catalina Channel as a support swimmer for the attempted channel crossing relay of 4 individual back to back crossings. I was willing to get in at Avila, it's wet anyway, but it would be kind'a dark and lonely. It is supposed to be in the upper 80's this weekend so I'll be at Avila on Sunday.

You can check out the lead in story about the Catalina Channel Relay at http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-distance-swimmers-20101002,0,2881344.story

and check www.robaquatics.com tomorrow to see if Rob has posted any photos and comments from his experience as a support swimmer.

niel

Sunday, October 3, 2010

At 11:00 AM on Sunday I was making like a steelhead trout, swimming my way upstream towards San Luis Obispo on I -15 near San Diego. I has hoped to be able to get in the water while I was in southern California but it just didn't work out. I hope a bunch of you had a good time in the water. Anybody following the Catalina Channel relay that is 4 consecutive crossing by 4 swimmers?

niel