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Rick and I swam at 11 AM today. The conditions were pretty nice. It was sunny (at first) the water was 55 degrees and there was no wind. There had been some large waves here on Thursday but they were mostly done Friday morning. There were occasional 4' to 5' waves but a lot of pretty flat water in between and a 1 to 2 foot swell out of the SE. Rick and I did a counterclockwise triangle without going under the pier. With a little timing we got out between the large waves without any trouble. I'm still retraining, getting used to navigating without the buoys, so our route was a bit ragged, but the swimming conditions were quite good. Riding up and down on the swell was fun. When we got out I almost felt OK with having had that second piece of pie yesterday. After the swim Dale McVay treated us to a ride buy. It was nice to visit with her for a while. We'll be back Sunday for more.
Brad Masushita is competing in his first full Ironman distance tri in Mexico Sunday so keep a good thought for him!
niel
We had 11 swimmers, one kayaker and 7 otters in the water today. Rob, Sylvia, Yvonne, Niel, Duke, Ali, Amy, Rick, Brad, John Hanse and Kim swam, Allison paddled and the otters entertained themselves by following our slow clumsy selves in the water. We only have one buoy left on the east side now and I expect that it will be gone next week, so swimming at Avila is now in winter conditions; no buoy line to organize a swim by and colder water. The water was 54 degrees today with a small swell out of the SW. There was no wind. Sylvia and Yevonne swam left, parallel to the beach and back. Niel, Duke, John, Ali, Brad and Amy swam with Allison over to the Poly Pier and back. Rob, Kim and Rick swam around the Avila Pier. As you can see by the plot, without the buoys my route became less organized. Brad and I made a jog to connect with Amy and Ali and I swam straight to the pier on the way back. Buoys or not this swim was still about a mile. I was in the water a total of 38 minutes.
I'd like to swim early on Thanksgiving but it will probably rain, so maybe a Black Friday swim could happen. I'll float the question on the Google group site and see if anyone else wants to do a Work Off that Second Piece of Pie Swim.
niel
Details of today's Grumpy Old Men Swim;
We had beautiful fall weather at Avila today. It was sunny, warm and it started out calm. The water was clear, 56 degrees and there was 1+ foot surf. Sylvia and Yevonne got in early by themselves and swam left down the buoy line, on towards Fossil Point and back. I was on the pier taking the water temperature when Sylvia and Yvonne were wading in and I could clearly hear their comments on the water temperature, but they get a pass on the grumpy thing because Sylvia doesn't wear a wetsuit and Yvonne goes with just a shortie. The grumpiness was from the second group. Ali, Niel, Rick and Duke did almost the same route. Ali was extremely happy because she was getting reaquainted with her wetsuit after swimming without it up to now. Niel was grumpy because his lower back was bothering him. Duke was grumpy because he rode from Orcutt to Halama and back yesterday which was 80 miles with a lot of climbing. Rick was grumpy because he had run for 2 hours yesterday in new (second time) shoes and blistered his feet. So, the three guys dragged out butts into the water and swam to catch up with Ali. When we got to the point the swimming was doing me enough good that I decided to stay out longer, so I swam to the end of the pier. Duke, Ali and Rick headed back along the buoy line. I finished up in 42m 30s and covered 1878 meters.
While we were relaxing and warming up on the beach a large pod of dolphins came along the beach. Some came in as close as the surf line while others were 50 to 100 meters beyond the buoy line. They were numerous and very active with lots of splashing and jumping. I don't know if they were playing or chasing lunch but it was fun to watch.
Rob threw out the idea of an Avila Dolphins holiday party. We have not had one in a while but they always used to be a lot of fun so let's get one planned. So, Rob, Allison, who is doing the organizing?
niel
We had a small crowd today but a nice swim. Sylvia and Yvonne swam down to Fossil Point and back and Niel, Jon and Rick swam a half triangle. It was sunny with a slight breeze that started in the SE and switched to the SW. The water was 56 degrees, clean looking and the surf was 2 to 3'. There was one seal messing about in the surf while we were getting in.
Katie did her first full length Ironman yesterday at Lake Havasu. She finished in 12:53. The details are at http://www.hitstriathlonseries.com/images/stories/havasu_full_13.pdf
Way to go!
Rick Marina has a full Ironman distance race coming up so he is considering doing a single martini lap in training. No date yet. Tom, are you interested in joining in? Anyone else?
I'll paddle for one swimmer.
niel
We had nice conditions and and a good group of swimmers today. It was sunny with only a slight offshore breeze and the water was 57 degrees. Pretty decent for November. Swimming today were Ali, Niel, Rick, Sam, Amy, John Hampsey and Duke. Sylvia stayed on the beach and Rhonda came by as we were getting out. We decided to do a mile by swimming down past the end of the the buoy line to Fossil Point and back. You can tell by my trace that we took different lines and I would up a ways inside the group at the turn around. We all turned in at the second buoy to avoid getting too close to some fishing lines near the pier. We covered 1585 meters in a total time of 35 min. 44 sec. Ali deserves recognition for being the only one in the water today without any neoprene.
Here is a follow up on the Will Swim For Food fundraiser. The swim is Saturday December 14th. It is a one mile swim around the Santa Cruz Pier and is a fundraiser for local food banks. Last year over $50,000 was raised and this year they have set a goal of $80,000. You can check out the history of this swim at http://www.willswimforfood.com/index.php
Rob did it last year and I am joining in this time so there is a Avila Dolphin team! We are raising money for the SLO Food Bank and so far have $885.00 pledged.
The water will be in the low 50's but wetsuits are welcome. There are four ways you can participate;
If you want to join the swim you should e-mail Rob at robdumouchel@gmail.com or Nick Alaga the event director at director@willswimforfood.com and let them know that you want to be a swimmer. Nick will send you a link so you can create your pledge page, set your fundraising goal and join the fun.
If you want to donate you can do so to an individual swimmer through the website, or, if you want to donate by cash or a check you can give your donation to a swimmer. It will be recorded toward our fundraising total and the swimmer will forward the donation to the Food Bank .
Lastly, you can sponsor a duck! Check them out on the website, this looks like great fun. For $150.00 you can sponsor a full sized duck decoy. The donor gets to decorate it and select swimmer who will tow it around the pier.
Correction - Lastly, our own fast swimming Jon Harmse completed the Florida Ironman Saturday in 10:52:31. He was bib number 1282
Congratulations to him and hope to see him next Sunday.
niel
