Sunday, January 5, 2012

We had six swimmers today.  Niel, Duke, Sylvia, Ed, Amy, and Casey.  Conditions were just like last week, and for many weeks before.  Looking back, I measured a water temperature of 53 on December 4th and it has not been that high since.  In December and January of 2011 the water temperature was 54 and 55 degrees.  Our current weather pattern and the resulting cold ocean temperatures do not usually show up until April or May, so I have no idea what we will see this spring.  

In any case, water temperature aside, the swimming conditions have been wonderful; flat and windless with clear water and small waves.  While these pictures may look like ones from previous posting I did take them today.  We have had two months of one beautiful Sunday after another at Avila and it is going to be a bit of a shock when real stormy winter weather finally returns . 

Four of us swam the triangle route clockwise today.  Sylvia swam the east side of the buoy line. Casey go in but was having unsolvable goggle problems so he bailed.  There were occasional larger sets of waves when we were getting out and I could feel the larger ones passing beneath me as I was swimming down the buoy line.  At these water temperatures no one felt like hanging out in the water and visiting so when we reached a turning point we waited just long enough for the group to gather up before heading out on the next leg.  I could feel an occasional push from the larger waves on the leg from the end of the pier back towards the creek.  When we finished at the pier there were some large waves coming through so we passed on crossing under the pier and swam in on the west side.  We were in the water for 39 minutes and covered 1-1/4 miles.


niel