Sunday, February 23, 2014

It was thick today.  The large catamaran that has been anchored in Avila the last few weeks is out there, just left of center in this picture and only a short distance off of the beach.   

This was definitely not the view at Avila Beach today.  An unusual and  thick wall of fog was laying right along the coast leaving the beach looking like a flannel pocket.  It was cool with no breeze and very flat 51 degree water, all of the makings for a chilly swim.  We had five regulars and two new friends.  Niel, Duke and John Hampsey were joined by Shawn and Emily from Cal Poly. Sylvia and Yvonne stayed on the beach.  The fog was very thick and didn't show any signs of lifting which made plotting a route a challenge.  For those of us who are familiar with this beach a swim parallel to the beach was possible but with two swimmers who were new to us and were unfamiliar with this area a route out and back swim along the pier would be safer.   The combination of 51 degree water and no sun made the swim out along the pier really cold. Emily and Shawn did pretty well.  They had to get comfortable with both the cold water, the fog and the neoprene caps we had loaned them but they did OK.  Everybody was cold when we got out, I'm not sure if this swim was too long or too short.  It took me longer than usual to get to a degree of comfort and when I was getting out I was wondering if this short of a swim was just a chance to get cold and not long enough to really warm up.  It was safe and we had fun, which is what counts.
We are supposed to get some rain or showers late in the week.  At this point I'm planning on being back here next Sunday.

niel 

Monday, February 17, 2014

This morning Avila had clearing fog and a breeze that kept changing direction. The surf was larger, chest high and the water colder at 53 degrees.  At 11 it was sunny and clear.  No one else showed.  I swam yesterdays route the opposite way.  For most of my swim the wind was out of the SW so I got a nice push towards Fossil Point and worked my way into the current and small chop on the way back along the beach.  We have had mostly flat conditions so it was nice to have some real ocean conditions.
I'll be back for more Sunday.

niel

Sunday,February 16, 2014

Sunday was a beautiful day for a swim at Avila Beach.  It was sunny, warm and calm with the typical small surf, clear water and flat swimming conditions.  The water temperature was 54.5 degrees.  We had 10 swimmers today and broke up into three different swims.  Sylvia and Yvonne swam out around a large catamaran that was moored on the east side of the pier and swung down to the seawall and came back.  John Hampsey and Ali swam out and back along the beach on the the east side of the pier.  Niel, Sam, Katy, Duke, Brad and Tom Lorish swam down to Fossil Point, to the end of the Avila Pier and in along the pier.  Our group covered about 1.2 miles in 40 minutes and had a great swim.

We are swimming tomorrow!

Today was so nice that I want to celebrate Lincoln's birthday by swimming on Monday.  Same time and place.  We'll get in the water at 11.  Hope to see you there.

Today is the last day that we will have the pleasure of swimming with Brad Matsushita, a.k.a. Fast Brad.  Brad is moving up to Santa Clara as part of his career reboot.  Brad was always off the front of the group so we will miss the pleasure of catching up to him at the end of each leg of a swim.  I hope that you find great success and we will look forward to seeing you at the beach when you are in town. 

niel

  

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Yahoo! Our swim was rained out today!
It was spitting when I arrived.  By the time I had finished taking the water temperature (54 degrees) it was light rain.  I waited around for a bit (10:35) until it was actually raining.  I figured that anyone who, unlike me, had checked the weather wouldn't be coming so I bailed. 
We have not had any rough water swimming in a while so today's conditions would have been fun; a steady wind out of the SE pushing wind waves with 1+ foot chop on top.  Kind'a like the water conditions on the first swim leg of a tri minus the bumping.

niel