Sunday, March 29, 2015

It was full summer at Avila Beach today.

It was sunny and warm, actually too hot by 1 PM. There was a fog bank far offshore that wrapped around towards Pismo Beach and lots of families on the beach.  We had three new swimmers, Brandon, Chris and Breanna, joined Niel, Eric and Jeff. Sylvia did her own swim and Mark was with us to paddle. We did the triangle clockwise, cutting it a bit short and and covering .89 miles.  At the end of the Avila Pier Breanna headed in parallel to the pier while the rest of us swam towards the creek mouth and parallel to the shore back to the pier.
The water was 56.5 degrees with an occasional head high wave and only a slight breeze from the east. It felt like weak offshore breeze conditions.
There is no plot today because Garmin downloaded the data and then flung it somewhere, but not to my account. I'll post it if it shows up later.

Here we are at the end of the first leg.

and at the end of the Avila Pier

niel

Sunday, March 22, 2015

We had company at the beach today.  The lifeguards didn't take any action so it appears that until the swimming zone buoys are back in place we will have to share. 
The water was 57.5 degrees and back to it's normal opaque clarity.  It was comfortably warm but there was a breeze out of the south that seemed to be strengthening. We had Mark with us again today on his inflatable SUP so with him to act as a flag and jet ski spotter we decided to swim on the west side of the pier. Swimming today were Niel, Tom, Ali, Amy and Jeff.  Pete Kelly did his own thing. 

We headed out, under the pier and down to the mouth of the creek and from there over to the Poly Pier and back on a line directly towards the Yacht Club at the base of the pier. The wind kept building so we had to do some extra work on the leg over to the Poly Pier and got pushed really well on the way back. By the time we were out whitecaps were starting to form.  The chop built up more than I expected but I enjoyed the chance to work on the rough water part of my ocean swimming skills.

Here is a nice shot that Ali's mom took from the pier. 

Mark was nice and visible. 

Having the camera along seems to encourage a certain kind of behavior. 

By the time that Mark got back to the base of the pier the wind 

had him paddling on his knees. 

niel

Sunday, MArch 15, 2015

We had a really nice swim today.  It was warm, maybe in the upper 80's, at Avila with thin high clouds, no wind and very clear 57 degree water.   Niel, Tom, Leslie, Ali, Sylvia, Duke, Jeff and Rick were there to swim and Mark joined us on his new inflatable SUP.   We decided to swim over to the Poly Pier and sort'a made up a route from there. Sylvia swam to the Poly Pier and came directly back.  The dogleg in my route on the way to the Poly Pier is a present from Garmin GPS. Duke and I both had a distance of 1.34 miles.

At the end of the beach before heading over to the pier in the background. 

Grouping up at the pier

We swam along the length of the pier for a ways. I decided to simplify my navigation and swim between the pilings.

Grouped up and ready to head back to the ocean end of the Avila Pier, which you can see to the left of Mark's paddleboard.

The water at the end of the Avila Pier was extremely clear so I got this fish eye view of Duke and Rick. 

Rick had the great idea to do the Three Pier Swim that we have not done since the late 1990's. The route  begins on the beach at the west side of the Harford Pier, goes out and around the end of that pier, to the end of the Cal Poly Pier, on to the end of the Avila Pier and in to the beach. This route is 1.75 miles and will require kayak support and some shuttle service to the start from Avila would be great.  Now is a good time to start planning. Since July 3rd is Duke's 60th birthday he would like to do this swim on the Fourth of July, which sounds like a great idea. We could follow up the swim with a potluck brunch on the beach. 

and

There are alternatives to swimming at Avila Beach and we have this to consider courtesy of Big Steve.  Anybody up for a road trip?

niel

Sunday, March 8, 2015

An Geometry Lesson

Today began with a group of three dolphins making a pass along the beach. We always think that this is a good sign.  It was clear, sunny and cool at Avila with a fog bank hanging offshore and a slight wind out of the SE pushing the cool from the fog into Avila.  The water temperature was 55 degrees, the surface was pretty flat with small waves.  Niel, Sylvia, Rick, Duke and Tom and Leslie were joined by Elizabeth Mills and two of her friends, Jeff and Keith. Tom wanted to do something more interesting than our usual routes and suggested that we swim a trapezoid. I think that I was not the only one who was searching his memories of geometry class to remember what a trapezoid was, so I asked Tom to draw a picture. 

A trapezoid has four sides, two that are parallel and this one would have looked more perfect  if my gps had not lost its lock a few times and thrown in three hiccups.

At the end of the first leg Liz and Keith (no wetsuit) went in 

and I tried to get a photo of Tom squirting water up out of his fists, which he does to keep himself amused while he is waiting for the rest of us to catch up.   

This is Rick, Jeff, Duke and Leslie at the creek mouth.  Tom was behind me and I do not know what Duke is looking for.

We covered 1.12 miles in 42:39.  Afterwards conditions on the beach were just about perfect for a nap. 

niel