Sunday, January 27, 2013

We had more nice conditions today; sunny, scattered clouds, offshore breezes, 4'+ surf and water that had warmed up to 52 degrees.  Duke, Niel and Ed swam while Ruta, Sylvia and Brad enjoyed the warmth up close to the sea wall.  We began on the right side of the pier, swam out and headed parallel to the shore towards the mouth of the creek.  There was no chop, just the swells rolling under us, so the swimming was easy.  Once my hands, feet and face numbed up the swimming was quite nice.  When we grouped up at the mouth of the creek we decided to go over to the Poly Pier and double back.  Ed had never been over to this pier so it would be something new for him.  We stayed closer to shore than usual, taking a line that would have us intersect the Poly Pier much closer to the shore than our usual route.  This line took us over the stretch of rocky bottom that is dense with kelp in the summer but this time of the year we just had to do a bit of weaving around the few remaining strands.  I thought that it was like flying through the canopy of a forest.  We took a course back that missed more of the kelp and swam directly to the Avila Pier and in.  We covered just over a mile in a total of 35 minutes.
There is no map of today's swim because I had my first malfunction with the Finis GPS today.  Either it never achieved a GPS lock or I messed up with the buttons. Since the indicator lights cannot be seen in full sunlight launching the unit can involve a certain amount of trust.  Perhaps this is an opportunity for an inventive entrepreneurial person with an interest in sports products to come up with a new product. 

Thanks to Rob for the photo of me and my gps cloak.

Kris dropped by with cookies and costumes to celebrate my birthday.  I got to find out how I look in a tiara! 

niel

Sunday, January 20, 2013

It was beautiful at Avila today, warm, sunny, very clear and no wind.  The only thing that said 'winter' was the water temperature of 50 degrees.  The big waves that were predicted for the west facing beaches were not putting in much of an appearance on Avila's south facing beach; it was flat except for occasional sets of long swells that were producing 3' waves.  We had a nice group today; Niel, Rob, John and Byron were joined by Kyle, and Matt who had each been out with us once before and Emily, who was here for her first time with us.  Dale, Sylvia, Rhonda and Sharlene were very happy to enjoy the sun on the beach and to be ready to help us thaw out after the swim.  We decided to swim what would have been the buoy line if there had been any buoys.  We went out, turned left and swam parallel to the beach until we were even with the end of the sea wall, and returned to the pier.  We had to time our pass under the pier because the swell was causing quite a surge, enough to move me back and forth the distance between two pilings.  Waiting for the slack between the sets made it easy enough.  We continued parallel to the beach until we were off of the mouth of the creek and then took a direct line to the shore at the base of the pier.  We covered .9 mile in 35 minutes.
Today's forecast is for a chance of rain next weekend.  We'll see how that shapes up and see if we get enough rain to cancel Sunday's swim. 

Emily, Byron and Niel.  Photo by Rob. 

niel 
  

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Welcome Back To The Beach

It was sunny and warmish at Avila Beach today.  There was only a slight breath of wind, no clouds, flat water and only occasional small waves.  Other than a raft of water birds down near Fossil Point there wasn't any other sea life to be seen.  At 50 degrees, the water temperature was a surprise.  It is supposed to be clear, sunny and in the upper 60's this coming week so hopefully the water temp will pop up a bit before next Sunday.  I was a little unorganized getting ready to swim and was confused as to why I was having trouble remembering how to get ready until I realized that that our last swim was on 11/25, 7 weeks ago!  Since November rain has kept us out of the water except for Robs' 3 Martini Swim on 12/9 and our short swim on New Years Day.  Maybe we will have to hold an in-service next Sunday and retrain ourselves about how this is done!  Rob was not feeling well so it was Byron, myself and Kyle.  This was Kyle's first time with us.  He is a poly student and surfer who is from Santa Cruz.  The buoys have been removed for the winter so our route was more of a 'self-guided' tour than usual.  We decided to go out, turn parallel to the beach and regroup at the end of the retaining wall, about where the last buoy was.  At this point Kyle decided to head in to the beach while Byron and I headed for the end of the pier.  Beth and Allison picked us up on this leg.  They had launched their kayaks about 30 minutes before we began swimming and swung back by to escort the rest of our swim.  Beth said that she had been initially surprised that there appeared to be such a large group of swimmers but as they got closer they realized that it was a pod of approximately 30 dolphins!  They came close to our route but Byron and I didn't see them.  At the end of the pier it was time to get out and start warming up so we came straight in along the pier.   We covered .8 of a mile.  

This was the last time we will see Beth's for a while.  She is moving to Vermont (!) and will leave the first week of February.  Beth has been a super support paddler and was with both Rob and I on our recent 10k swims.  We will miss her happy presence and extra confidence that the knowledge of having her support would bring someone contemplating doing something kind'a silly in the ocean.

niel

Tuesday, January 9, 2013

A Good Choice

Caution was a good idea last Sunday.  I received this e-mail from Liberty Amundson this morning;

The laboratory results of the ocean water samples taken January 7, 2013 at the following locations exceeded the state bacteriological standards: 

• AB8: Avila Beach (149 yards east of the pier by the last steps on rock wall)
• AB9: Avila Beach (176 yards west of the pier)
• OLDE 12:  Olde Port Beach (131 yards west of lifeguard station/restrooms)
• PB3: Pismo Beach (302 yards south of the pier-Ocean View Ave.)
• PB4: Pismo Beach ( 40 feet south of the pier)
• PB5: Pismo Beach (338 yards north of the pier-Wadsworth Ave.)
• CAY15: Cayucos Beach (halfway between the creek and the pier)  

There areas have been posted with a Health Advisory and re-sampled. 

Liberty Amundson, R.E.H.S.
Environmental Health Specialist
San Luis Obispo County
Environmental Health Services
(805) 788-2722

After that rain there was dirty water just about everywhere.  

niel

Sunday, January 6, 2013

We are sitting out another Sunday because that was too much rain to be comfortable with the water quality, so for those of you who missed it, a bit of ocean humor. 

Conditions on next Sunday look favorable (maybe very nice) at this point.

niel

New Years Day, January 1, 2013

                                                    Sylvia, Dale, Niel, Ed, Rob, Cathy

                                                                                  Evan

We celebrated the New Year by taking a short swim off of the Avila Pier. The water was 53 degrees, the air about 50 - 55.  There was a very high tide, no wind, one otter and one seal messing around on the east side of the pier.   The waves were 2' - 3' to 5'+.  It was gray and spitting when I walked out to take the water temperature but the rain didn't develop.  We had seven New Year's leapers; Niel, Dale, Sylvia, Ed, Rob and Rob's friends from S.F.; Cathy and Evan.  Kris and Ruta took pictures and carried sandals back from the start.  As we were walking out along the pier we started attracting some attention from the families and people strolling on the pier and by the time we were ready to start we had quite a crowd.  I lead off and was followed by Dale and Ed, which got the wetsuit contingent into the water. Then Sylvia, Rob, Cathy and Evan dropped in and we swam in to the beach.  It is not a long swim bet a great way to start off a new year.  
The seven-day forecast is for dry weather through the weekend so we will be swimming Sunday at 11.