Sunday, July 26, 2015

There were six swimmers today; Sylvia, Margie, Brandon, Leslie, Tom and Dave Van Mouwerik. The water was 63 degrees with 2' waves and small wind waves. The group swam left down the buoy line to the last buoy, to the end of the Avila Pier, back the opposite way to Fossil Point and parallel along the beach to their starting point, a distance of 1.35 miles. Dave and Tom continued on under the pier and along the right side of the buoy line to the creek mouth and back, to make their swim 1.7 miles.

Margie is interested in swimming Wednesday evenings. She will put a post up on the Google Central Coast Open Water Group site.

Note the corrected time of Dave's presentation -
Dave Van Mouwerik is going to be making a presentation about his marathon swim in Lake Siljan, Sweden, at the Steynberg Gallery, this Saturday, 8/1, at 7:30 PM.  

Sunday, July 19, 2015

San Luis Obispo had a night and morning of thunderstorms with lightning and rain thanks to Tropical Cyclone Deloris.  No beach for me today.

niel

Sunday, July 12, 2015

We had quite a crowd today. Duke, Niel, Amy Hewes, Rick, Dave VanMouwerik, Dale and Tom were joined by 6 triathletes from Fresno who were looking for some ocean experience and Marcus, who is a multi-sports athlete who is new to San Luis Obispo.  Also seen swimming today were Pete Kelley and Gerry Gross.

It was sunny The water was about 62 and there was a breeze building up.  WE got in and went left to the last buoy. At this point I bailed out and swam in. I'm having pain in my right elbow. It looks tendonitis so I will not be swimming for a while. :-(  Dale gave me some pointers which I hope will speed my recovery. 

Everyone else continued on and did the triangle.  

We had a nice big crowd with a lot of new faces.

niel 

Wednesday Evening, July 8, 2015

Mark, Kurtis and I swam Wednesday evening. I think that this was the first Wednesday evening swim of the summer. Mark and I have been too busy to get out but we found a window this week. 

The water felt warm, it was 62+ over at the port.  There was a 12 to 19 mph wind from the WSW that was making white caps all the way to shore. None of us had been out in water that was this choppy in some time so this was going to be a special swim. Nether Mark or Kurtis had been swimming in the ocean much so we decided to do half of a triangle, figuring that a route with three different exposures to the chop and wind would be enough.

Kurtis and Mark at the first buoy

The first leg was a slog into the current and chop. It was hard work and I had to breath only on my right, the downwind side. 

When we grouped up at the last buoy at the creek Mark decided that he had already swallowed enough water so he returned back along the buoy line while Kurtis and I headed to the end of the pier.   

This leg was across the chop. My body was getting twisted and torqued around and occasionally swamped by the biggest of the wind waves. The plot doesn't show it but I made three major course corrections to counter how far to the left I had been pushed.   

Kurtis at the end of the Avila Pier. 

Coming in along the pier was special in its own way. The pier pilings were knocking down the chop some but it was still rough and now coming in over my left shoulder.
It felt great to finish after doing all of that work and it was good to swim and to have to work the conditions.

Another swim on next Wednesday evening is a real possibility. Watch the open water swim group posts to see who is coming out next week.

niel

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Our swim today was a clockwise turn of the triangle. I fat fingered a button on my GPS and got the route correct but the time and distance are wrong.

This swim is about 1.1 miles and should have taken about 25 to 30 minutes. 

Sylvia, John Hampsey, Amy Hewes and Niel swam. The water was 63 degrees. With the pier closed I got my water temperature number by standing in the foam. The lifeguards are taking the temperature by paddling out in a kayak to the buoy line. They also got a 63. It was a sunny and very clear day. The wind came up out of the SW and pushed up enough chop to make things interesting.  

John

Amy

John and Amy are going to do a Single Martini Swim on Sunday, August 2nd. This is a 2.2 mile swim and requires that each swimmer have their own support paddler.  The second leg is .94 miles and parallels the beach a 1/2 mile offshore. This is not a course for someone who is new to open water swimming or not comfortable in the open ocean.  This route is also susceptible to rapidly changing conditions due to wind.  More paddlers and swimmers are welcome.
Respond the this blog or directly to Amy or John if you are interested in participating.

niel

A 4th of July and Almost Duke's Birthday Swim

We had a great swim.  A large number of swimmers and support people turned out, the conditions were just about perfect and everyone had a good time.
There was high overcast, no wind and 60 degree water that was as flat and current free as it gets.
I counted 12 swimmers and 7 support people on SUP's and kayaks. I sorry but I did not get photos or names for everyone.

Swimmering were Chad 1, Rick, Duke, Rob, Niel, Amy Hewes, Tom Lorish, Amy Perposky, Hank, who joined us and swims with the South End Rowing Club/San Francisco Dolphins, Casey and more friends from the N. County tri community.

The support crew was Rhonda, Mark, Bryce, Brittany, Chad 2, Danilu,Cindy and Sharron.

The route was 1.84 miles. Mark was the lead on his SUP with the main pack. Bryce and I were several minutes back and Amy Hewes and Rob were a few minutes behind me. Thank you to Rob and a number of support people for hanging with Amy Hewes to keep her company. 

The start at the Harford Pier. The gulls chowing down on rock 

fish bones on the beach was a nice touch. 

Rob and Hank were our only 'naked' swimmers. 

That's Bryce. We are halfway between the Harford and Cal Poly piers. 

Lovely swimming conditions.

This is why having plenty of support people is important. I've just come around the end of the pier. During the leg to the Avila Pier a fishing trawler came in and began working both sides of the pier. I had Bryce stay close so they would give us plenty of room.

The third was Duke's birthday. Leslie made a batch of delicious carrot cake cupcakes for him. There was a bit of partying the night before so Duke is trying to count the cupcakes to help him remember what age group he is now in. 

niel