Wednesday Evening, April 30,2014

It was about 80 degrees at Avila this evening.  The water was 55 degrees, which makes this another Warm Wednesday after Sunday's 50.  There was a steady wind out of the WSW and wind waves that were not quite forming whitecaps. I was by myself and swam the triangle counterclockwise. I covered just over a mile, enjoyed myself and with the current and chop got a nice workout.

There is no plot tonight because the FINIS Bridge software has lost its mind.  I gott'a say, the FINIS Hydro Tracker is capable of some nice things and is reasonably priced, but the device in in serious need of an updated version to make it more user friendly and the software is slow and prone to crashes. It would not let me log in this evening, even after changing my password and then removing and reloading the Bridge software I could not upload data to the FINIS website.  I'll see if they can fix this tomorrow.

niel

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Sorry that there is no route map today.  My Finis Hydrotracker showed up at the beach with a dead battery.

John Hampsey, Amy and I swam today in very spring like conditions.  It was partly cloudy with a light wind out of the SE that changed to SW. The water temperature was 50 degrees with occasional 4 to 5 foot sets.  There were only a few birds, no seals and not many people on the beach.  We swam the east side of the buoy line.  Amy and I headed in but John was having fun so he swam for another 10 minutes.  We warmed up quickly and visited on the beach for a while.  

niel 

Wednesday Evening, April 23, 2014

When I got to the beach I didn't see anyone I almost called it a day (no swimming alone!). I decided to wait a few minutes and watch the water as it was a beautiful day at the beach. Good thing I did, as a lady came walking up the beach who looked like she was a swimmer. Her name was Holly (if I remember correctly) and swims with the SF Dolphins. We hit the water and swam the buoy line on the left side of the pier. The water was cold (55* according to the web site) and conditions were pretty good as the wind died down right as we started swimming.

`Mark

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Sylvia, Yvonne and Niel swam today.  Rick and Rhonda enjoyed the view from the sand.  Avila Beach was foggy with the visibility coming and going. There was no wind and the water was flat. The water temperature was 53.5.  Sylvia and Yvonne were getting in as I arrived. They swam the left side of the buoy line and were cold when they got out.  With the fog the water was going to feel colder than on a sunny day.  Thursday's water quality results from the mouth of San Luis Obispo Creek were bad so I stayed on the other side of the pier and did a rough mile down to Fossil Point and back.  
You can see the results of the Thursday water sampling of popular SLO County beaches and SLO Creek by myself and other volunteers for the SLO Surfrider Chapter's Blue Water Taskforce at http://www.surfrider.org/blue-water-task-force/chapter/34.

niel

Wednesday Evening, April 16,2014

An Even Warmer Wednesday
It was just Sylvia, myself and all of that 59 degree water this evening.  Avila Beach was crowded, sunny, warm and almost windless.  There was a bit of a swell but it was not producing any waves over 2 to 3 feet.  There were a lot of people fishing from both sides of the pier but no signs of bait fish, no seals and only two pelicans.  We began by swinging out to the second buoy to avoid the fishing lines.  Sylvia swam laps along the buoy line on the east side of the pier while I did a triangle.  I cane under the pier and continued to my starting point at the second buoy.  Just as I was approaching the buoy I ran head on into Sylvia. What are the chances of that? I was siteing on the buoy and she was working around some kelp.  We both had a good laugh about how we managed to collide with the whole ocean to swim in.
We'll be back Sunday.

niel 

Sunday, April 13, 2014

It was just Ali and I today. The water was 54 degrees, 2' surf, with overcast skies that were breaking up.   The lifeguards were training on the left side of the pier.  This was the first day since early last summer that there were baitfish present.  Pete Kelly said that they were either sardines or Spanish mackerel.  The ones that I saw being landed on the pier were nice looking foot long silver fish and whatever they were the seals and pelicans thought that they were good eating.  All of the bait fish action was on the west side of the pier so we gave them some room by starting down the buoy line on the east side.  Ali decided to swim to the end of the buoys and turn back.  I swam to the end of the pier and doubled back the way I had come. The clouds had gone and the sun was nice but we had also picked up a strengthening SW breese.  My leg to the end of the pier was a slog into a building chop and the leg back was part bodysurfing.  By the time we were back from the showers there were whitecaps forming and by 1 PM the water was totally blown out.  I'm glad that we got in when we did.

I'm ready for another Warm Wednesday on the 16th.

niel   

Wednesday Evening, April 9, 2014

Warm Wednesdays are Back!

Last summer the water was almost always warmer on Wednesday evenings than it was on Sundays.  Last Sunday the water temperature was 52 degrees. This evening it was 58!
Sylvia and Yvonne swam without wetsuits and felt (no pun intended) that the water was truly 58 degrees.  Even in my wetsuit the water on my face and feet had lost the 'edge' that it has at 55 and below.   There was a gusty wind from left to right along the beach that was pushing a steady current and a chop that was just not quite big enough to start breaking.  We also have our buoys back. Yvonne and Sylvia did the east half of the buoy line.  I did to whole length, which at 1500 meters means that for this summer a buoy line swim will be just under a mile.

niel

Sunday, April 6, 2014

It was a beautiful, warm, clear day at Avila Beach.  The water was 52 degrees and the wind was light and variable, sometimes offshore, or from the east or west.  On the beach were Niel, Tom, Kyle, Rob and Ali.  Niel, Tom and Kyle swam down towards Fossil Point.  I wanted to stay away from the west side of the pier as Thursdays samples from the creek had tested very high for bacteria.  This was Kyles first swim with us. He will be working this summer either as a lifeguard at Avila or for CalFire so I hope that we see a lot more of him.  Kyle got out at the end of the beach and ran back. Tom and I doubled back on our course and covered 1450M.  Ali and a friend got in on their own and Rob got in and re-immersed himself after too long a time out of the ocean.

niel