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