Wednesday Evening, April 13, 2011

I guess that you could say that we had spring conditions this evening. There was a stiff breeze that would gust hard enough to shake the pier, as if a big wave was passing under it. The wind was unusual as it was blowing from right to left, almost directly from the west and parallel to the beach. The surface of the ocean was pushed up into a short, sharp and close spaced chop that did not have any whitecaps. The water was clear and the temperature was 52. Swimming tonight were Rob, John and Niel. John and I wear wetsuits and I kept looking over at Rob in his trunks and cap as we were wading in to see what kind of fun he was having. We started on the right side of the pier and grouped up at the buoy line. We swan down the beach to the right to the creek. This leg was directly into the wind and chop. For me it was harder work but an OK swim, as I found a rhythm that worked with the chop so I wouldn't catch any water when I breathed. From the creek we swam to the end of the Avila Pier. The chop was coming over my right hip now so I was getting a nice push, even sliding down a few faces, but the direction meant that it was easy to get a mouth full from the chop breaking over my head. From the end of the pier we swam along the east side of the pier in to the beach. The pier broke up the chop some and made this the easiest leg of the swim. We finished in 28 minutes. The idea of a shower in that wind didn't sound too inviting so we just got into dry clothes as quickly as possible.

I'm busy Sunday but Rob will be at Avila on Sunday for the 11 AM swim.

For those of you who knew Alan Freeman, he will be in town next week and he is hoping to swim with us on the 24th, Easter Sunday and possibly Wednesday (the 20th) as well.

niel