Sunday, April 29, 2012

Fog and Distance - There was more weird April weather at Avila Beach today.  There was low gray overcast and a fog bank that would move in and hide the buoy line and then slide back out  to where I could see Shell Beach, then move back in.  There was a bit of a breeze moving the fog around, a 1' +/-  swell out of the SE and small waves.  The water temperature was 53.  Swimming today were Susan, Sylvia, Rob, Niel, Yvonne, Ed, Ruta and Duke.  Ruta came with Ed and this was to be her first ocean swim north of San Diego.  Sylvia and Yvonne went in about 10:40 and swam along the buoy line.  They really felt the lack of sunshine which made the water feel colder than the measured temperature.  Rob had put out an inquiry for swimmers interested in going long today, say 2 to 3 miles, so the 11 o'clock swim sorted out this way;  Rob was going for 3 miles, Niel was thinking 2 to 3 and Duke was in for 2 miles, so, we would start by swimming down the buoy line on the east side of the pier to the end.  Ed would accompany Ruta and let her comfort range determine their swim.  Rob, Niel and Susan would do a clockwise triangle route; from the last buoy to the end of the Avila Pier, to the end of the buoy line at the creek on the west side of the pier, and back along the buoys to the pier.  Duke would wait on the beach and join us at this point for the rest of the swim.  We reversed our route and swam back to the creek.  At this point Ed and Susan returned along the line to the pier.  Niel, Rob and Duke completed the anti-clockwise route and then did another in the clockwise direction.  We finished up by coming through under the pier and in on the east side.  The wind swell was large enough to give today's swim some variety.  Swimming parallel to the shore was not too bad.  The leg from the east end of the buoys to the end of the pier was right across the swell in either direction and required some timing to stay smooth.  The leg from the end of the pier to the buoy at the creek had us either surfing the swell of punching through depending on the direction we were going.  The water temperature varied 2 to 3 degrees and wasn't the same the next time through the same spot.  On the other hand there were no lane lines and no turns.  The fog had cleared just before we got in and came back 20 minutes after we got out, which was nice timing on someones part.  
Niel and Rob completed 3 miles in 1 hr. 33 min. (total time in the water) and Duke did 2 miles in an hour.  Rob and I will be doing more swims of this distance if anyone wants to join us.   We will work them in around what everyone else is interested in doing on Sundays. 


niel

Sunday, April 22nd 2012

We had 5 of us swimming today in Avila. Rob, Sylvia, Kim, Duke and Jen who was visiting from Bakersfield. The weather was a bit overcast but trying to burn off. Water didn't have an official reading taken but we've determined it to be about 50 flat. Current was running west to east and although it started fairly smooth it got progressively rougher as the swim went on. All 5 swimmers held together on the start of a clockwise triangle swim. At the end of the east side of the buoy line Kim and Sylvia opted to swim back towards the pier and in. Duke, Jen and I swam headlong into the chop for the pier and then off to the far end of the other side of the buoy line. When we regrouped there we decided to angle for the beach since we were freezing Jen out. With that little deviation we probably swam just a touch over a mile. I ran a GoPro camera on my wrist through the swim and posted a bunch of the better ones to facebook here. Weather this week looks ok up until Wednesday when we have a chance of showers. Keep an eye on the Central Coast Open Water Google Group to see if we're hitting the water or not. Rob D.

Wednesday Evening, April 18, 2012

It was beautiful at Avila Beach at 5 PM. There was a gusty breeze but it was warm, in the upper 70's, and clear. The wind had set up a west to east current along the beach with some small chop. I got a water temperature of 52 and the water looked clear on both sides of the pier. Swimming this evening were John, Byron, Niel and Rob. Our first plan was to swim west to the creek and to then consider going over to the Poly Pier and doubling back, which would be about a mile swim. Getting in took some commitment but I kept telling myself that this was 4 degrees warmer than last weeks water so it should feel 'warm'. It still felt cold. By the time I got down to the end of the buoys at the creek I was tolerating the temperature. The chop was just enough to make things interesting but not very troublesome. John and Byron had to ask Rob, with his 'traditional' swimming costume, if he was 'getting comfortable'. Rob's answer was kind'a hard to translate, something in the way of 'no, I'm not comfortable but I'm OK with this'. OK or not, Rob felt better about heading for the end of the Avila Pier and doing the triangle route since this would keep us closer to the beach, so we headed that way. On this leg I focused on seeing how close I could keep to Byron (not even close, but it gave me a goal) and was feeling pretty good when we formed up at the end of the pier. We agreed to do the full triangle route so we headed towards the last buoy on the east side of the pier. Oh Boy! Not 5 strokes into this leg the water temperature dropped 2 or 3 degrees and never did seem to come back up much. We finished up by coming back along the buoys to the pier and in to the beach. It was still nice and warm on the sand after we got out. This swim took 33 minutes and covered just over a mile.


niel






Quick notice for you guys thinking about hitting the beach on Sunday, there's an Earth Day event going on between the Sea Life Center and the Local Surfrider Chapter. There will be a dive clean up out at the port that you can observe and then a regular beach clean up going on at noon. The afternoon will have a carnival for the kids at the sea life center and adult beverages at Mr. Ricks for the rest of us :) - Rob D.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

It was beautiful, sunny and warm at Avila Beach on Sunday. The water was 52 degrees, which sounded great after last Sunday's 48. We held a discussion about the water quality. Since the County takes water samples at the beaches on Monday and posts them on Wednesday their information is of no use to us to determine the cleanliness of the water on a Sunday, so up to now we have had to come to our conclusions. (More on this in a bit) The ocean on the west side of the pier near the creek was muddy and the curls of the waves looked dirty. On the east side of the pier things looked pretty clean; the waves were transparent and there was little silt in the water outside of the surf zone. We decided to swim and to stay on the east side of the pier. We had four swimmers today; Niel, Rob, Byron and Kim. Byron has been swimming with Dave VanMouwreik but had not been out with us before. Kim has been swimming with us last summer but now has a full 4/3 suit instead of the Farmer John and a rash guard that she had been using. We decided to start out with a repeat of last Sunday's swim, out and down the buoy line to the end and to then plat a route depending on how everyone felt. With the water being 4 degrees warmer than last Sunday I was expecting to be fairly comfortable. Getting in was easier but once I got my face in the water it just felt cold. At the buoy Kim was more comfortable than she had ever been before but wanted to head back along the buoys. Byron and I were interested in going a bit longer so we decided to all go back along the buoys to the pier where Rob and Kim would head in and Byron and I would go out to the end of the pier and back. There had been some spots along the buoy line that were a degree or 2 colder and we found some more near the end of the pier. I had considered going in along the west side of the pier but just as we stopped at the end I got some water in my mouth that had a very metallic taste. I do not know just what that taste was but it was not good. I stopped right there and headed back the way we had come and didn't encounter it again. We got out after being in for 26 minutes. Kim was real happy with her new wetsuit and Byron had a good time so we should be seeing more of them on future swims.
Casey, Chad, Duke and Berto didn't swim but ran and joined us on the beach.


Rob tell me that the local chapter of the Surfrider Foundation is about to start their own independent water quality testing. They have a grant for the equipment and a certified operator to run the tests. The lab will be in the Avila Sea Life Center. They will be able to turn around test much quicker than the County so we have the possibility of having water samples taken on Friday and results posted on Saturday, which would mean no more toe tests to try and determine water quality. Watch their website http://slo.surfrider.org/ for an announcement.


niel

Sunday, April 8. 2012

I gott'a be careful what I say.
Rob and I are out on the pier waiting to pull up my thermometer when I hear myself saying 'Today's swim should be great. It can't be any colder than last Wednesday', (when it was 49 degrees). Well, the number was a weak 48 degrees. I was unwilling to call a 47 and a fraction. Rob and I both let out a long Ohhhhh which ended with thoughts of what this swim was going to be like. On the bright side it was beautiful at Avila today; sunny with just a slight breeze, nice clear water and small surf. We had a big crowd as well and some new guests. The regulars were Rob, Niel, Sylvia, Yvonne, Duke, Susan James, Amy and her brother Bo. Bo was visiting from Santa Monica and has jumped in with us before. New to swimming at Avila were Alicia and Tim. Tim is from Australia, he is an accomplished triathlete and is here with his family for 6 months. Alicia is a Poly grad who enjoys open water swimming but had not been swimming at Avila before. 48 degrees is the lowest water temperature that I know of at Avila so they had picked quite a day to try this out. Sylvia has not been in the water much lately and decided to sit out. Yvonne got in early on her own with the stated intent of just going to the first buoy and then getting out. At the first buoy she turned left and continued down to the second buoy before heading back and got a round of applause by the rest of us. We were a bit scattered getting in with everyone but Tim grouping up at the first buoy. All of Tim's previous ocean swimming experience has been in Australia in 70 degree water and he made a smart decision to bail on this swim rather than risk getting too cold. We grouped up at the last buoy and headed to the end of the line towards Fossil Point. The route meeting at the last buoy was a short one as no one wanted to tread water for long. Rob and Alicia headed back along the buoy line and the rest of us went to the end of the pier. When we counted heads there no one voted for going longer so we came in along the pier to the shore. We were in for 28 minutes. Today was just about my limit in two ways; I've never been in water that was colder and, like on last Wednesday, I was starting to get chilled on the last leg of the swim. If the temperature drops any more I'll probably sit it out.
We will be back Wednesday evening, getting in at 5:30. I'm sure that it can't be any colder than today;s 48 degrees. :-)


Rob will post his pictures from today's, and all of our swims, on the Avila Beach Open Water
Facebook page.


niel

Wednesday Evening April 4, 2012

Windy Choppy and 49 Degrees -

Rob, Niel, John and Ed had a 'real' ocean swim Wednesday evening.  There has been strong winds all day with gusts up to 30 MPH that had the ocean's surface well churned up.  The good news was that since the winds were offshore, the water close to the beach in Avila would not be as choppy as those farther out.  The bad news was that the winds were offshore, which pushes down the water temperature.  There were a few fishermen on the pier so we decided to swim on the right (windward) side of the pier and avoid any possible entanglement with fishing gear.  The plan was to swim down the buoy line to the creek and then decide how much more we wanted to do.  Even Rob, was unsure about how long he would want to stay in this evening.  John, Ed and I got out faster than Rob.  I have no idea how he even got in because the water on my unprotected skin hurt.  

Rob had his GoPro camera on his wrist and got a bunch of fun photos.

We grouped up at the buoy line and headed towards the creek.  The wind was angling off of the shore, blowing from Avila towards Pismo Beach, so we were crossing the chop on this first leg. 

Rob at the buoy line reconsidering the wisdom of his no wetsuit philosophy.

At the creek we agreed to head to the end of the pier and to then come in to the beach along the pier.  The leg to the end of the pier has the wind directly behind us so we got a nice push.

We grouped up at the end of the pier and everyone was ready to head in.  This leg had the roughest conditions.  I was switching between breathing on the right, left or alternating, before settling on alternating.  The timing seemed to be the most in sync with the chop so I was breathing the least water.  We got out 28 minutes after we started.  Rob was the same color as his cap but he was smiling.

You can see all of his photos from last night's swim on his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.377822335591793.90735.117753191598710&type=3&l=b1078109e4  

The wind is supposed to be laying down so conditions on Sunday should be for flatter and warmer water. 

niel 

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Nobody went swimming today.  I got there about 10:30, checked out the water conditions and  settled in to catch some sun and enjoy the waves from the beach.   The water was 51.5 degrees.  It was muddy but it was tough to tell how much was due to rain runoff as opposed to the large surf.  The biggest waves of the morning were larger than these and part of a set that came in while I was out on the pier.  They broke just inside the buoy line (!) and sent up a wall of spray that came up and over the pier and soaked me from top to bottom, so I got wet today without having to get in the water :-)  The weather looks real pleasant this coming week so we look good for Wednesday evening at 5:30.

niel