Thursday December 30, 2010

Rob and I did a noon swim today. It was sunny and clear at Avila Beach with a steady wind from the NW. There were no whitecaps on the water but the surface was getting messed up. The water temperature was 54 degrees. The county had updated the beach advisory website on the 29th and there were no closures posted. The water was reasonable clear and there were just a few ducks, one seal and two optimistic boogie boarders in the water. We were going to swim down to Fossil Point but the tide was really low, it seemed like we had been able to wade in all of the way out to the buoy line, and when we stopped to regroup at the end of the sea wall we could see a lot of white water around the point. We were also still riding up and down several feet on the incoming swells this far from the beach so we bailed on swimming into the rocks and surf at the point and turned towards the end of the Avila Pier. The wind was coming over our right shoulders on this leg and I had to start modifying my stroke so I could get a clear breath. The wind really kicked up while we were at the end of the pier and I had to switch from breathing on alternate sides to just the right side on the way back to the seawall. This swim was about a mile and we were in for 35 minutes. Rob was trying out his new GPS unit which was under his cap and velcroed to his goggles strap. You can check out his review of the unit and the map of our swim at his website; www.robaquatics.com.

Rob is doing his Pier to Pier Swim tomorrow morning. The weather report has upgraded (?) the conditions from a 90% chance of rain down to 80%. I don't know that the rain will make much difference to Rob, except that he may be able to get a drink by just rolling on his back. I does mean that everyone else, including yours truly in the kayak, will be getting wet too.

The Avila Dolphins New Year's Day Swim is rescheduled tentatively for January 9th. We are supposed to have sunny weather and 60 degree temperatures by Wednesday. We will swim on the 9th anyway, if the weather is good let's make it a party!

niel

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Rob and I met at Avila today for a swim before tonight's storm. Because of the rains neither of us had been in the ocean in a week and with Rob's Pier to Pier swim this Saturday he needed to keep his cold water mojo going. The weather at Avila was warm, sunny and surprisingly crowded. A lot of people apparently have this week off and came to the beach with their kids. As warm and sunny that it was, almost nobody was in the water. The county's website still has Avila posted as closed, but the notice is from 12/20 and has not been updated. The water was pretty clear, better than it is in the summer when the plankton is heavy, and 56 degrees. There were no signs posted indicating closure. The only birds around were a flock of ducks down towards Fossil Point. Rob and I spent 35 minutes swimming the big triangle route clockwise. There was just a small chop coming out of the SW to make things a little interesting. By the time we were done the weather was changing and clouds were moving in.

When we were getting out of the water we were met by a reporter from the Tribune. There will be a story about Rob and his winter Pier to Pier Swim in the next few days. Rob is doing this swim as a fundraiser for the SLO Food Bank. You can donate at www.robaquatics.com

The New Years Day Avila Dolphins swim and pot luck lunch will be at 1 PM this year. Since Rob is doing the pier to pier swim Avila to Pismo, that will give Rob and myself (I'm paddling for him) time to get back to Avila.

AND IF THAT IS NOT ENOUGH, we will be swimming at 11 on Sunday too.

niel

Beach Clean Up Day

Hey everybody, some of us that have Friday off are looking to make it into a little bit of a beach clean up day. If anybody would care to join us we'll be out 9am Friday morning in Avila Beach removing trash that this recent series of storms has pushed onshore, washed down the creek, or blown in from town. We'll meet up in the usual swim spot and then get to work. I figure we can spend an hour or two of making our beach pretty and then everyone can all run off to whatever Christmas excitement they may have to attend to. If nothing else it's a good excuse to hang out on the beach on a day the water is too dirty to swim in right? :)

I'll bring bags and some latex gloves if anybody wants them, but if you want something a little more serious you might want to bring your own. If it turns out there's a ton of garbage out there I'll have my truck with me to help cart it away.

If you want to come out shoot me an email at rob@robaquatics.com to let me know you're coming or just show up!

thanks!

Rob D.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Rob and I were eager to swim today, getting rained on would not be a problem, but we agreed that the runoff from the rain that we have had since Friday has probably contaminated the water at Avila. We will wait until things clear up to get back in.

niel

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Rob and I met up at Avila at noon today to get in a swim before the rain started on Friday. It was very sunny and calm at the beach with only a few thin high clouds. The water was 54.5 with no noticeable swell. The waves were close to nothing except for an occasional set of 3 footers. Except for the falling temperature, the water was flat and smooth and the swimming conditions were just about as favorable as it gets in the ocean. We were dawdling about in the suds, taking our time getting in, when a set of the 3 footers came along and hurried up the getting wet process. The water felt colder that the 55 degrees at our previous swim., more than the half degree on my thermometer. I kept feeling a lot of clod water moving around in my wetsuit and the neoprene free Rob said that his skin was burning more than usual. We headed straight out to the end of the pier, turned left and swam to Fossil Point. I found a nice cold spot from the upwelling from the rocks to stop at, Rob noticed my plan right away. From the point we swam parallel to the shore along the buoy line to the pier and in. This route was just over a mile and took us 35 minutes with stops. The legs to and from Fossil Point were about 700M and were a nice opportunity to stretch out and get into my stroke.

Rain is likely on Sunday. Rob and I are going to keep in touch and may decide to swim, rain or not. We are going to get wet anyway.

niel

Sunday December 12, 2010

I do not think that it made it to the predicted 82 degrees at Avila today but it sure was nice. It was sunny, warn, cloudless and breeze less. The water was clear, flat, 55 degrees and with waves that were too small for anything but a playing on a boogie board. It was Rob, Sylvia and myself swimming today. Sylvia had not been in the ocean in a while so she elected to do the buoy line. I was into doing some distance and Rob is usually good for more rather than less distance. We swam out to the buoy line and turned left. We swam along the buoy line past the last buoy and continued straight to Fossil Point. With the tiny swell and flat conditions it was a great day to head down there because there is usually a lot of wave action close to the rocks. We turned from the point and swam to the end of the Avila Pier. From there to the last buoy at the creek and back along the buoy line, under the pier and in. This was about 1.5 miles and took us 50 minutes including stops.

Rob and I are going to swim on Thursday at noon, and he would like to go Tuesday as well if someone wants to jump in with him.

niel

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Rob and I decided to sneak off to the beach and get in a swim at noon today. It was comfortably warm and sunny with a moderate breeze out of the SE. There was a fog bank sitting offshore that extended from the port around the bay and hid Shell Beach. It seemed stationary, but later turned out to me kind'a play full. The water temperature was 55 and the surf was up. I could see the shapes of the waves in the water well out beyond the end of the pier. They were close together and running from 4 to 6+ feet. Not only would getting out be some work but all of that wave action would put short work to the wetsuitless Rob's usual plan of easing himself into the water. We had no swim plan beyond getting out and then figuring it out once we got through the surf and to the buoy line, although the thought of 'shoud'a brought our fins and then we could of just played in the surf' hit us both about the time our feet got wet. I had to swim full out in the wash between the waves and after diving under the third one I was out of breath and almost decided to bag it and ride back in, but I was out just far enough to breast stroke through the curl of two waves and gathered it back together enough to swim on out to the buoy line. Rob was not far behind me and we both spent some time catching up with ourselves and getting ready to swim somewhere. With the chop and the wind coming from the SE we elected to do the triangle route clockwise, thinking it would moderate the effect of the chop. When we got to the end of the buoy line and prepared to turn to the end of the Avila Pier, it wasn't there. A funny little patch of fog had materialized and was hanging on the end of the pier. We headed that way anyway and by the time we neared the end of the pier the fog had moved off. The chop was not bad on this leg but the swell was still large enough at this distance from the shore that I kept feeling myself getting moved around in the water. While we were treading water at the end of the pier I estimated that the water at the pilings was rising and falling 6' with each swell. When we were ready to head towards the end of the buoy line at the creek, the buoys were gone, shrouded in another (the same?) small fog bank that was hanging along the beach. We headed towards the buoy at the creek, navigating by the mooring buoys that we always swim past on this route. When we approached the buoy line the fog again moved off leaving us in sunshine. We came back towards the pier along the buoy line and turned left before the pier to head in. This was no day to try and swim under the pier. The swim in was easier than the one getting out but I still had to time the breaks and swim hard against the out rushing wash in order to get into water that was shallow enough so I could stand up. Rob and I agreed that we had not put in this much work for a 35 minute swim in a long time.

We will be back on Sunday for more fun in the suds and will probably be swimming at noon on Tuesdays of Thursdays as well for the next two weeks. Check this Sundays post for details.

niel

Sunday, December 5, 2010

It was raining at my house at the time when I usually head to the beach. Rob was in the Southland this weekend so since I didn't have to worry about standing him up my resolve weakened and I didn't make it to the beach. The rain cleared and I could of boogied to Avila but by then I was committed to house cleaning and meal planning and didn't break away. Did anyone else show?

niel

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Except for the chill in the wind, and the easy parking, this could of been a summer day at Avila Beach. There was a mild offshore wind, very few clouds and no animals of any kind in or above the water. The air temperature was about 60 and, the water was 55 degrees, very clear and was only rippled by the wind with no chop or whitecaps. Nothing much to speak of in the way of surf either. It was just Rob and myself today. Neither of us wanted to commit to a distance so we opted for a route that would provide several bail out or double back opportunities. We swam what I'll call the big right triangle. Our route actually had four legs but who said swimmers were good at counting? We swam out to the buoy line, turned right and went under the pier and down to the last buoy at the creek. We could of doubled back but the water felt good so we continued from there over to the crossbars that are about 1/3 of the way out along the Poly Pier. We could of doubled back from there but decided to head to the end of the Avila Pier. At this point we declined going over to the sea wall or the last buoy and came in along the length of the pier. During the legs to and from the Poly Pier we had the experience of suddenly swimming out over what seemed to be very deep water. It was actually just us swimming into the shadow from a small cloud moving across the sun and shifting the water color from bright to deep blue. The water around her is not usually clear enough to get that kind of a sense of depth. Our total swim was about 1.3 miles and took us 40 minutes, including idling at the stops to regroup and to let Rob grab some photos. (Check out robaquatics.com). Out of the wind up next to the seawall it was t-shirt and shorts comfortable so I hung around and had lunch. Duke stopped by on the tail end of his bike ride. We got caught up on stuff and we should expect him back in the water in January.

Speaking of which, we will be having a New Years Day swim on Saturday, the 1st (duh?) at noon. The route will be determined by the conditions. No wetsuits encouraged. There will be a pot luck lunch afterwards. Last year the weather was beautiful and the water was 59 degrees. This year, who knows?

niel

Thanksgiving or Black Friday Swim?

If anybody is interested in a swim this Thursday or Friday let me know! I'd be interested getting in on either day or even both days if anybody else wants to swim. Shoot me an email if you want to go!

Rob D.

rob@robaquatics.com

Sunday November 21, 2010

In spite of the occasional showers ti was sunny and warm(ish) at Avila beach today at 10:30. There was very little wind and the waves were small but coming in in rapid, bunched up sets. The water temperature was 55 and there was no sign of silt in the water from Saturday's rain. . There was one pelican making a few dives out near the end of the pier. The only other birds I saw were roosting on the jet ski dock. There was a short dozen boogie boarders in the water trying to milk a ride out of the mushy Avila waves. No one else showed so I hung out and enjoyed the sun and watched the boogie boarders. Of the group that was directly in front of me there was one young woman who got out, shed her wetsuit and got back in. She was still in the water 40 minutes later when I left. I wonder if she is a swimmer?

I'll be back next Sunday for a post turkey day swim.

niel

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Rob and I managed our second week day noon swim today. The weather looked less than promising in the morning with fog and low clouds and a generally cold and winterly cast to things. I checked the Mr. Ricks beach cam at 11 and things didn't look too bad so I went ahead and headed to the beach. Avila was gray with low clouds or fog but almost unlimited viability towards the horizon. There was no wind or no surf and nothing else either on the beach or in the water. There was a raft of small duck like birds out towards the end of the pier and a large group of brown and white gulls on the sand on the beach to the west of the pier. I thought that they looked like they were waiting for a storm to blow in. The water temperature was 55.5 and the water had cleared up and looked real clean. Rob and I did a simple clockwise triangle swim; out to the buoy line, left to the last buoy, back to the end of the Avila Pier and to the last buoy at the creek. I this point I saw something white bobbing in the water between us and the beach so we swam in to investigate this possible pirate booty. It was an empty bottle of motor oil. I tossed it into the surf so it would get washed up on shore and picked up and we continued back towards the pier at the back of the surf line. The clouds had moved off while we were in the water so it was bright and sunny when we got out. We spent about 30 minutes in the water with nice swimming conditions and certainly no crowds or parking problems.

I'll be back Sunday. Rob will be in Long Beach doing some kind of water related playing.

niel

Sunday, November 14, 2010

The water was 56 degrees. There was no wind and it was sunny and warm. A flock of birds that looked like small ducks was resting on the water and there might of been one or two seals cruising about. Occasionally there would be a nice set of waves but it was mostly small stuff with no potential for play. We had a new swimmer join us today. Stephen is a Cal Poly student, is on the CP Tri team and found us through the web site. (Way to go Rob, you get free swims for the rest of the year!) He had done a few swims along the buoy line with the team and decided that he wanted to do more ocean swimming. Filling out today's squad was Sylvia, Chad, Niel, Kim and Rob. Rob and Chad were feeling a bit beat up and nobody else was feeling driven to hammer it so we did a short swim. We went out along the pier to the end. Turned right to the last buoy at the creek and returned along the buoy line and under the pier. At this point we had planned on grouping up and seeing if anyone wanted to go longer. There were no takers so we headed in to the beach.

The planning for the Avila Dolphins holiday dinner is commencing. We will be discussing plans next Sunday. Anybody got any ideas? All input is welcome.

New Years Day Swim - There will be a swim at 12N on Saturday, New Years Day and a pot luck lunch to follow. The route will be weather and opportunity dependent and will be finalized on the beach before the swim. Last year's route was popular so that is definitely possible. Let's hope for conditions like 2010; sunny and warm with glassy 59 degree water!

niel

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Niel and Rob Swim at Noon on a Weekday.

My first thought was to call this post 'Niel and Rob Do a Nooner" and give you all a chuckle but I decided (almost) to avoid the snickering. Rob had wanted to keep swimming more than once a week after the end of our Wednesday evening swims, so we scheduled one for this Thursday at noon and we both managed to show up! It could not of been a better day to sneak in a swim. The air was in the low 70's, the water was 56.5, there was no wind but some good sized waves and parking was easier. After we got out through the waves we continued straight out along the pier to the end, turned right and swam to the creek buoy. We came back along the buoy line to the pier and came in. We fooled around with the waves getting in and out, spent some time visiting at the stopping points and just enjoyed ourselves to the max. We are going to see if we can keep this going so listen in to the chat at the beach on Sunday and watch Rob's post and Facebook page. Fall and spring are usually when we have our best weather so if you can join us the conditions are likely to be some of the best we'll see.

niel

Sunday, November 7. 2010

There was no rain but no swimming at Avila Beach today. It was overcast with occasional weak sun, no wind or rain. The water was clean and 58 degrees. When I first arrived there were some 5'+ waves and a very messy ocean surface with little chops going in several directions. At 11 the surf had laid down, the water was getting glassy and the swimming conditions were very good but no one else had shown up to swim. Last weekend was the last one for the lifeguards for the season and none of the numerous dogs on the beach looked like particularly strong swimmers or I would have gone solo.

There are no more Wednesday evening swims so unless Rob and I get a nooner group going I'll be back next Sunday.

niel

Wednesday Evening, November 3, 2010

This was our last evening swim for the season. With the switch back to Standard Time this weekend it will be too dark to swim for those swimmers that can't leave work before 5. It was sunny and warm at Avila with just a bit of an offshore breeze. There has been very large surf, 12' to 16', earlier in the day on the west facing beaches. Some of that must of wrapped around into the south facing beach at Avila because the sand was wet up to the bottom of the stairs. All that was left at 5 was an occasional 5 to 6 footer. These were well spaced out so there was not going to be any trouble getting out. According to my replacement thermometer the water temperature was 58. The surf had dirtied up the water but I could see no birds, seals, fishermen or any other signs of potential company in the water. There were about a dozen boogie boarders down by the creek trying to wring out any remaining good waves. We had 5 swimmers; Rob, Pete, Ryan, Liz and Niel. We selected a short rout that would get us in before dusk and also avoid swimming directly into the glare of the setting sun. We went out to the buoy line and left to the last buoy. From there to the end of the Avila Pier and in along the west side of the pier. Rob, Niel and Pete did some attempted body surfing. The waves were all mush but it was still fun.

Rob wants to continue swimming during the week and is looking for interested parties who want to do a lunch time swim on Tuesdays or Thursdays. You can connect with him through his Facebook page.

niel

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

Wednesday Evening, September 29, 2010

Wednesday nights swimmers were Ryan, Niel and Rob. I got a water temperature of 60 degrees off of the right side of the pier. There was a mild offshore breeze that was blowing from Avila towards Port San Luis and some big long swells that I could see moving through the water all of the way out at the end of the pier, but they were only making an occasional 3+ foot wave. Perhaps the shape of the swell was wrong for this beach? Other than a few pelicans and gulls, there were no birds and no seals. We swam an easy, and short mile, which was fine with me. I just wanted to get in the water and loosen up my shoulders after a day at my desk, Ryan is starting to taper before the Scott Tinley tri next weekend and Rob, our real ironman, was looking to 'do something easy' after completing a 10 mile solo swim in La Jolla on Sunday. That's right, 10 miles, in 4:42. I'd still be passed out on the couch. Anyway, we went in on the left side of the pier, crossed under and swam to the last buoy at the creek. There was a BIG temperature change between the two sides of the pier. How the water can change 4+ degrees in 50' is a mystery to me. From the last buoy we swam to the end of the Avila Pier, where there was another big cold spot, and retraced out course back to our starting point on the left side of the pier. It was a beautiful evening at Avila with a great sunset and after the hot weather getting in the water felt wonderful.

I'll be out of town this Sunday. Rob is getting caught up on work but will try and make it to the beach for Sunday's regular swim. If you see him give him an bit att'a boy!

niel

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

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

We were 3 swimmers deep on Wednesday - Me (Rob), Ryan, and Pete. The weather was beautiful but there was a pretty healthy breeze blowing. You could see the water moving right to left at a pretty good pace. Since there was a little wildlife activity on the left hand side of the pier we decided to swim on the other side. The water temperature did not live up to the air temperature at all! The ocean buoy said it was 53 and I'd guess the temperature near shore where we were swimming couldn't have been more than 55. We swam out to the creek buoy then to the top of the pier. From there we turned around and followed the same route back. All told we were in for about a mile.

If you want to get in one of these Wednesday night swims you better hurry up! The days are getting shorter and the time change is almost upon us... once we run out of sunlight we're out of evening swims until next year!

Rob D.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

We had ten swimmers today; Niel, Sylvia, Chad, Brittany, Pete, Margarete, Kim, Gerry, Christine and Duke. Margarete and Christine joined us for the first time and Kim was back for her second swim with us. The water temperature was 56, there was a very slight wind from the SW and a small surface swell from the NE. The water was very clean and there was an occasional 4+ foot wave. I didn't see any seals, pelicans or other birds of any consequence while I was out taking the water temperature. We got a slow start because fog was still hanging hanging along the beach at 11 and everyone was slow getting ready, waiting to see if the visibility would improve. By about a quarter after the fog was lifting and the buoy line was easily visible so we got started. With swimmers new to us along and the fog we decided to stick to swimming the both sides of the buoy line. That way, it would be easy to find the beach if the fog settled back in or someone wanted to swim a shorter distance. Instead, the sun came out and the fog burned off as we were swimming our first leg. With the sun out it felt wonderful in the water. This was Brittany's first swim since her accident. She has a good swim with no problems and got out at about half way. Kim went the full distance this time and was smiling when she got out. We swam for a half hour. After the swim it was very clear, sunny and warm on the beach with almost no wind.

Rob and I will continue to swim on Wednesday evenings until it gets too dark. I'll post it here when we are done with evenings for the summer.

niel

Wednesday Evening, September 15, 2010

We had four swimmers Wednesday evening; Eric, Niel, Pete and Ryan. The water was exceptionally clear and 59 degrees. There was a steady offshore wind, which in Avila blows from left to right setting up a current along the beach to the west and pushing up a small chop that was coming into the beach at 45 degrees from the left. There was a big raft of small shore birds that extended from off of the end of the Avila Pier half of the way over to the Poly Pier. They were just sitting on the water with not much feeding going on. I only saw a few pelicans and no seals. Not wanting to swim in water that was full of bird poop we elected to swam parallel to the beach on the left side of the pier. We swam out to the buoy line and down the beach to the left all of the way to Fossil Point and back. The chop was small enough to not be a serious challenge. We swam all of the way to the point, close enough for Ryan to climb up on an exposed rock. The water was clear enough that you could see a lot of detail on the bottom. The wind was dying but still had enough in it to give us a push on the way back. A couple of small seals picked us up when we got close to the Avila Pier and followed us in to the beach. We were in the water for 42 minutes.

niel

Sunday, September 12, 2010

We had nice swimming conditions today, it just could of been sunnier. The high gray clouds were hanging in over Avila and most of the rest of the coast. I could see Shell Beach but not Pismo and the fog was edging over the hills behind the port. There was a slight but steady breeze from the west and a small chop on the water. The water looked very clean, the waves were transparent and the water temperature was 57 degrees. I did not see any birds or seals in the water while I was out on the pier. Swimming today were Niel, Silvia, Duke, Kim, Bianca, Chad and Eric. Bianca is a guard a Paul Nelson Pool and knows Sylvia well. In fact Sylvia taught her to swim when she was 6 months old. Her friend Kim came along to try out ocean swimming, her previous open water experience having been limited to Lopez Lake. We elected to swim down the buoy line to Fossil Point and back. This would be a long mile and as it was all parallel to the shore it would give the new swimmers an opportunity to bail out at any point in the swim. We had a good swim. Sylvia spent some time with Kim, helping her get comfortable in the water. The wind had died down while we were getting ready but picked back up not long after we got started so the chop was building up, especially closet to the point. I had seen two seals in the water while we were getting ready and they tailed Sylvia and Kim for a ways, but they seemed to be more lonely than anything else. Dale McVay came by to say high and fill us in on her adventures in limited training (no biking or swimming) while she is waiting out her 6 week convalescence for a chipped bone in her elbow. She has about a week left before she will be good to go.
Rob was in Chicago this weekend for the Big Shoulders 5K but he and I will be here Wednesday evening. Wednesday swims traditionally continue until the end of DST, but this year we go back to Standard Time on November 7th and it may well be too dark before then. You'll see if here first when we decide to quit Wednesday evenings.

niel

Wednesday Evening, September 8, 2010

It was Rob, Ryan and myself this evening. There were low clouds and fog at Avila at 5 PM. Visibility was about a half mile but varied considerably. I could not see Fossil Point or the rock from the beach but in to opposite direction the hills behind the port were clearly visible. It was perfectly still and the water was so flat there could of been lane lines out there. What waves there were were about knee high and I did not see any birds or seals. The water temperature was 58.5. Since the fog was thinner between the Avila and Poly piers we decided to go that way and planned a couple of stops for route checks in case the fog decided to move in. We went in on the right side of the pier and swam down the buoy line to the creek. The lack of sun made the water feel more like 55 to me. things looked good at the buoy so we headed over to the second crossbars at the Poly Pier. We could just see the end of the Avila Pier across the way so we stayed on our proposed route and swam to the end of the Avila Pier. This leg is about .4 mile so combined with the super smooth water conditions I was able to let my mind go and just think about my body position and my stroke. It was very help full that I am now much better at swimming in a straight line than I was when I started swimming in the ocean. At the end of the Avila Pier we were in the middle of four Pale Kai outrigger canoes who were forming up before heading out on their evening workout. We exchanged greetings and we headed in along the west side of the pier. About half way in the sun came out and quickly burned off the fog. It is surprising how much warmer I felt in the water with just the late day sunshine on me. This swim was just over a mile and I had us in the water for 35 minutes.
Afterwards Kris and I had dinner at the Mercantile and at 7 PM the fog and clouds had completely gone leaving starry sky's.
Rob is going to Chicago this weekend to swim the Big Shoulders 5K. I'll be at Avila on Sunday.

niel

Monday, Labor Day, September 6, 2010

Today was an improved rerun of yesterday. Call if fog or low clouds, it was gray and visibility was about 2 miles. There was no wind, the ocean was flat and glassy and the water temperature was 57 degrees. There were lots of fishermen on the pier but almost no birds except for a few pelicans and just a few seals. The holiday brought out a few faces that we have not seen in a while. Swimming today were Sylvia, Niel, Rob, Duke, Kevin Watkins, Blake and Fred. I did not get Fred's last name but but he is friends with Kevina dn Blake and I believe that he used to swim with us in the late 90's. Kevin's son Charlie was along to paddle for us. As we were heading out we collected a guy who was out swimming by himself. Monte had heard of us but had not been sure how to find us at the beach. We did the triangle swim clockwise with three variations. When we got to the end of the Avila Pier Sylvia decided to head in. Blake, Kevin, Fred and Monte headed to the last buoy at the creek and Rob, Duke and I headed over to the second set of crossbars on the Cal Poly Pier. We only had a couple of seals pop up to check us out when we regrouped, nothing like the dozen or so that corralled us the last time we swam over there. We came back the the last buoy at the creek, along the buoy line, under the pier and in. It was about 55 minutes for us and about 1.7 miles. As we were heading to the showers a huge flock of sea birds wheeled in and settled on the water to the left of the Avila Pier, which was very good timing on their part.
Rob and I will be back Wednesday evening to swim at 5:30.

niel

Sunday, September 5, 2010

It was not very crowded at the beach this morning for a holiday weekend. Not too many people on the beach and very few in the water. The atmospheric conditions could be described as 'fogcast'. Call it high fog or low overcast, it was very gray but visibility was over a mile, so navigating would not be a problem. The air was very still with glassy conditions on the surface of the water. There was no swell, the waves were knee high and the water temperature was 57. There were several individual pelicans about, occasionally diving on a fish and a large group of seals that seemed to be just swimming about amusing themselves. At the beach today were Sylvia, Niel, Rob, Joe, Allison, Duke, Chad and Brittany, and Gerry Gross. Brittany is still recovering from the soreness remaining from being rear ended so she was not swimming, but it was good to see her back at the beach. Nobody was feeling particularly motivated to push so we wound up swimming the triangle route counter clockwise. The water felt colder than 57, probably due to the lack of sunshine. Still, the water conditions were about as accommodating as they will ever be and we all enjoyed ourselves. The sun made its appearance as we were rinsing off and the warmth was very welcome after the swim.

We will swim tomorrow at 11 and have a pot luck lunch afterwards.

niel

more pictures from today are available over on Facebook!

Wednesday Evening, September 1, 2010

Wednesday night was just weird. First off it was hot and totally sunny in San Luis Obispo all day. I didn't even think of taking a jacket with me when I left for the beach. The air turned cool and damp when I was getting off of 101 at San Luis Bay Drive and Avila was completely wrapped in a thick ground fog that extended half way from the beach to Avila Road. I couldn't see the buoy line from the sand. It was windless and the water was flat and glassy with only small surf. The water temperature was 60 degrees. Could of been great swimming conditions except for the fog and the birds. It was hard to see, but there were two very large rafts of 100's, maybe 1,000's, of sea birds, one on each side of the pier. All I was seeing through the fog was large dark areas on the water that could of been kelp, but there are no kelp beds that close in and in time I could pick out enough movement in the darkness to tell that it had to be birds. The one on the left side extended in to roughly half way between the buoy line and the sand. The one on the right was much farther out. I only saw two seals but with the visibility as poor as it was that was not an accurate count. Rob, Peter, Ryan and Eric showed up to swim. By 5:30 the birds had moved off out of site and the fog had lifted enough to see out past the buoy line from the beach, so the five of us decided to get wet. We decided to swim parallel to the beach keeping about half way between the surf line and the buoys. We started out towards the creek and the glare from the sun on the fog was so intense that it had me navigating by looking at the beach. The water was much colder by several degrees on the right side of the pier. A bunch of seals had us surrounded when we stopped to regroup at the creek. We headed back and under the pier. We were going to continue our course parallel to the beach and turn around a the big white rock at the end of the retaining wall, which is approximately the point along the beach where the last buoy used to be. However, just past the pier we found that the raft of birds had floated back in and was inside the buoy line, so Rob, Niel and Pete decided to head in while Ryan and Eric continued on to the turn around spot. The three of us waited on the shore for until they came in out of the fog, angling in to avoid the birds.

Kris and I stayed for dinner, and when we were leaving at 7:30 the fog had moved out to the end of the pier, leaving clear twilight sky's over the beach and no birds in sight.

Labor Day Swim - We will swim on Sunday at 11 as usual and on Monday, Labor Day, at 11 with a pot luck lunch afterwards.

niel

Sunday, August 29. 2010

There was no fog at Avila Beach today. At 10:15 it was sunny t-shirt weather and there was no wind. There were several individual and a couple of groups of seals on both sides of the pier. There was a very large group of 100's of birds roosting on the water about 3/4 of a mile directly off shore from the beach. They were not feeding and were moving steadily to the west. A pod of approximately 6 large dark grey dolphins swam by from east to west about even with the end of the pier. I think that dolphins are always a good sign because of their reported agressive behavior towards sharks. In keeping with its recent habit of providing warm water on Wednesday evenings and cold water on Sunday mornings, the ocean temperature was back down to 54 degrees from Wednesday's 62. We had nine swimmers today; Sylvia, Niel, Joe, Rick, Chad, Allison, Duke, Pete and Yvonne. Sylvia, Joe, Allison and Yvonne decided to swim a shorter route along the buoy line. The rest of us selected a long buoy line route, starting by going down to Fossil Point, all of the way back to the last buoy at the creek, and back along the way we came, under the pier a second time and in. Rick was the only one of the swimmers on the long route who had on a farmer john instead of a full suit. He elected to cut his swim short as the wind was kicking up and his arms must of been freezing. A strong wind had come up quickly and when we emerged from under the pier onto the creek side of the buoy line we were greeted by a head high chop and current pushing towards us. When we regrouped at the last buoy at the creek the flags on the boats in the bay were standing straight out and the chop was starting to develop white caps. On the way back to the pier the chop was now breaking over my head and I was getting regular mouth fulls of water. Buy the time we were on the beach the whitecaps were in all of the way to the surf line.
Rob and I will be back on Wednesday evening expecting another dose of warm(er) water.

niel

Wednesday Evening, August 25, 2010

Avila Beach was performing at it's best Wednesday evening. The Central Coast's typical summer marine layer had reestablished itself during the day and all of the west facing beaches were fogged in. But Avila Beach is one of our few beaches that faces south, so at 4:30 it was bright and sunny, sitting in a big hole in the fog that was wrapped all the way from the hills behind Port San Luis, out and around all of the way to Shell Beach. There was a light breeze out of the West, enough to put a ripple on the water and set up a right to left current along the beach. The water temperature was 62, continuing our summer of yo-yoing temperatures. the water was 53 degrees last Sunday and 61 on Wednesday of last week. In truth, compared to the beaches south of Pt. Conception where summer water temperatures will edge into the 70's, the water here is always cold, but 62 has a lot less cold in it than 53. I saw no seals, there were no fishermen on the pier and I saw only a dozen pelicans, who were disorganized and only occasionally diving on a fish. It was Rob, Pete and I tonight. We decided to do a long buoy line swim; out at the pier and left, continuing past the last buoy all of the way to Fossil Point. Then reversing all of the way back along the buoy line, under the pier to the last buoy at the creek, then back along the buoys, under the pier a second time and in to the beach. Our total time, with stops to regroup and enjoy the view, was 48 minutes.. The distance was 1.25 miles. When we were picking up our towels and getting ready to head to the showers we noticed a huge bait ball about 3/4 of a mile straight off of the beach with 100's of birds diving on bait fish. I'm glad this was after we got out, because I prefer to not be in the water when everything else in the vicinity is either eating or being eaten.

niel

Sunday, August 22,2010

A simple description of Avila Beach this morning was fog, lots of dense fog. The sun was shining just a couple of blocks inland but the fog was laying on the surface of the water and up on the beach. there was no wind so the water was flat and smooth. In keeping with the totally unpredictable temperature swings this summer the water was a bracing 53. This was after a 61 on the previous Wednesday evening. Waiting on the beach for the visibility to improve were Tim, Samantha and Pepper from SLO Tri and Niel, Sylvia, Gary Cushing, Gerry Gross, Pete and Chad. I could occasionally see parts of the buoy line from the sand but the fog was coming and going so we decided to wait and see if conditions would improve. At 11:40 the fog was consistently lifting and we could see the end of the pier so we got in. We did a rout that would give us good visual references if the fog came back in. Most of us swam straight out to the end of the pier, around and to the last buoy at the creek. We grouped up there and came back along the buoy line, under the pier and in to the beach. Gerry and Sylvia, forgoing wetsuits, picked their own routes along the buoy line. Other than the temperature the swimming conditions were beautiful and everybody was happy with the swim. By the time we had showered and gotten back to to our chairs the sun was out and the fog was gone.

niel

Wednesday Evening, August 28, 2010

It was lovely at Avila yesterday evening but kind'a crowded. The weather and the water was warm so there were still a lot of people both on the beach and in the water at 5 PM. There were also a lot of seals in the water. As individuals and in groups of up to a dozen, there were seals on both sides of the pier. They seemed to be frolicking rather than feeding. Last year I would of called this number of seals a 'high normal', but since there have seen so few seals this year this is the most that I have seen at one time. There were a few pelicans about who would occasionally take an individual dive at a fish. The water was fairly clear and 61 degrees. There was a steady breeze from left to right and a small chop on the water, but no whitecaps. Swimmers were Niel, Pete, Ryan, Lynne and Rob. We swam the buoy line/pier triangle counterclockwise. We had to wait a bit after we regrouped where the 4th buoy used to be while a commercial fishing boat came in along the pier and took a slow turn around to the right before motoring off. We had plenty of seals heads popping up to check us out whenever we stopped. The wind had died by the time we got to the end of the Avila Pier so we had smooth condition for the last half of the course. There were two real cold spots that woke me up out of my warm water comfort but they were not too large. We were in the water about 40 minutes.

niel

Sunday, August 15, 2010

It was another morning of gray sky but no fog at Avila Beach this Sunday. There was a little wind that was coming and going and not very many people on the beach yet. The water temperature was 57 and the water was very clear and green. Other than the few fishermen who were just showing up on the pier I saw no seals, pelicans or any signs of other carnivores looking for a meal. While we were getting suited up I saw an otter, or a very small seal in the surf line but it didn't stay around long enough for a firm identification. Swimming today were Joe, Niel, Pete and Chad. Joining us today was Kelley, who is from Clovis and came over for her first swim in the ocean. Dale did a run-by to say Hi! She is not swimming or riding until her left elbow heals from a minor bike accident. WE went in on the right side of the pier and out to the buoy line. We swam to the last buoy at the creek and regrouped. Kelley was doing fine with the temperature, her new wetsuit and the slight chop and was proving to be a fast swimmer too. We swam from the buoy to the second set of crossbars on the Poly Pier and retraced our route back to the buoy line, along it to and under the Avila Pier and in to the beach. The distance was probably just over a mile and I had a total of 40 minutes in the water.

Rob and Sylvia were in Long Beach at the Naples Island swim this weekend.

I forgot to mention that Pete recently completed the Vineman Triathlon, which was his first attempt at a full ironman race.

niel