niel
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
New Plans for the Dolphin's Swim on New Years Day
The weather has changed our plans for an early swim on New Years Day. We had planned on jumping in the water at 9 on Thursday, HOWEVER, the weather forecast is for frost that morning with temperatures around 30 degrees, which is too cold for me! So, let's plan on swimming later in the day at 2:30. It should be about 50 degrees and sunny by then, still wintery but not frozen, with water temperatures in the upper 50's. Avila will be crowded but hopefully most of the Polar Bear swimmers from noon will have left and there will be some parking. As always, our swim plan and route will be determined on the beach by current conditions.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Sunday, December 28,2014
I was not at the beach so this report is by John Hampsey.
Swimming today were Pete, Rick, Tom, Stephanie, Bo, Amy, Dale, and myself. Niel was on vacation. Pete went in first and did his heroic bare-back swimming. The rest of us entered by the pier and swam south along the imaginary buoy line to just short of fossil point. The day was sunny, with a stunning blue sky and light wind. The water was clear and, according to our arterial Galileo thermometer, 57 degrees. Though the waves on shore were fairly small, there was a strong chop and current out at sea, especially as we headed from fossil point out to the end of the pier. At times my body felt toboggan-like crashing down between the chops of water. We stopped to gather at the end of the pier, except for Amy who apparently entered some kind of Zen-Proteus state and was about a 1/4 mile beyond the end of the pier when we hollered her back. Next we headed north toward the creek. I seemed to be the only one who thought the water smelled a bit funky the last 100 yards or so. Then, with the wind and current at our backs, we sailed back to the pier and walked out of the sea like gods. It was a great swim. The distance was 1.3 miles; exact swim-time unknown.
Swimming today were Pete, Rick, Tom, Stephanie, Bo, Amy, Dale, and myself. Niel was on vacation. Pete went in first and did his heroic bare-back swimming. The rest of us entered by the pier and swam south along the imaginary buoy line to just short of fossil point. The day was sunny, with a stunning blue sky and light wind. The water was clear and, according to our arterial Galileo thermometer, 57 degrees. Though the waves on shore were fairly small, there was a strong chop and current out at sea, especially as we headed from fossil point out to the end of the pier. At times my body felt toboggan-like crashing down between the chops of water. We stopped to gather at the end of the pier, except for Amy who apparently entered some kind of Zen-Proteus state and was about a 1/4 mile beyond the end of the pier when we hollered her back. Next we headed north toward the creek. I seemed to be the only one who thought the water smelled a bit funky the last 100 yards or so. Then, with the wind and current at our backs, we sailed back to the pier and walked out of the sea like gods. It was a great swim. The distance was 1.3 miles; exact swim-time unknown.
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Sunday, December 21, 2014
It was a nice day for a swim at Avila Beach; sunny with high clouds and a 10 to 15 MPH offshore breeze. The pier was closed because of the predicted high surf so I did not get a water temperature but the station at Harford Pier was reporting 61 degrees. There were occasional shoulder high waves between the 2 to 3 footers. Dale and Sylvia watched our stuff while Stephanie, Niel, Rick, Tom and Amy headed out through the surf, swam down to the end of the sea wall and then to the end of the pier. Amy and Stephanie headed in while Tom, Rick and Niel doubled back along our route.
Kevin Watkins was out body surfing on the left side of the pier. That is Kevin between Tom and Sylvia.
I won't be at the beach next Sunday but Tom and Rick will be there to swim.
On New Year's Day,Thursday January 1, 2015, we will jump in the water at 9AM in order to avoid the crowds for the Avila Polar Bear Swim at noon. The water should be warm (for Avila in January) but wear whatever is comfortable.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Sunday, December 14, 2014
There was high thin clouds and it was kind'a cool at the beach. The waves had been big yesterday but were down to an occasional 4 to 5 footer today. The pier was still closed so I could not get an 'official' water temperature but the NOAA station on the Harford Pier had been reading 61 - 62 degrees over the last day. This is crazy warm for Avila Beach at this time of the year. Last December I recorded one 56 degree reading with the other four being 53. That is 8 or 9 degrees colder than this year!
The water looked OK but concerns about bacterial contamination after the heavy rains on Thursday evening keep us out of the water. My Blue Water Task Force volunteers collected their usual beach and creek samples on Thursday so we would have had some data to base our concerns on but a power outage in Avila Beach from Thursday evening until late Friday shut down the incubator at our lab and ruined all of the samples. The County will sample Avila and all of their other sites tomorrow. Their results will be posted Wednesday at http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/health/publichealth/ehs/beach.htm.
Niel, Dale and Rick sat on the beach and enjoyed the view. Rhonda, Jon and Roxy joined us.
Rain is forecast this coming week so we may not be getting in next Sunday either.
niel
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Sunday, December 7, 2014
We had very nice swimming conditions at Avila Beach today. Thin high clouds, no wind, almost flat conditions, 3 foot surf and an amazing water temperature for December of 61.5 degrees.
Swimming today were Niel, Stephanie, Tom Lorish, Amy, Dale, Rick and John Hampsey. While the water in the ocean was very clear the recent rain has created toilet like conditions in San Luis Obispo Creek (http://www.surfrider.org/blue-water-task-force/chapter/34) so we stayed on the east side of the pier, well away from the creek mouth.
We covered 1916 M in a very relaxed 49 minutes, the warm conditions encouraging everyone to hang out at the turns and enjoy floating in the water.
We have photos in the blog now because Santa came early with a Ricoh WG20, a very nice little waterproof camera. Credit for my selection of this model goes to Rob, who having killed about half a dozen cameras of this type documenting his swim adventures found this model to be the most durable.
niel