Sunday, August 30, 2015

Kind of a crazy plot today, I guess every time my Garmin lost its sync it jumped around. Anyway, we had a great day at the beach. The water was very comfortable.  At knee deep in the foam my thermometer read 64, the lifeguards posting was 65 and the pool thermometer that the guards have tied to a buoy read 69. Whatever it really was it was nice. The wind was coming up so the water was a bit choppy but it was very warm on the sand so the wind was welcome.  Niel, Tom, Claudia, Susan, Katie, Brett, Calvin and Damian swam all or part of the buoy line. Duke and Angelia arrived after we got in. They did the buoy line too. 

 Forming up at the start 

Claudia, Damian and Niel at the creek buoy.

As I was taking this picture a healthy looking sea otter popped up and gave us the stink eye for a while. 

niel

Sunday, August 23. 2015

We had a big crowd today with 17 swimmers and many new faces.  The water was 62 to 64 degrees and had the look of a mile red tide. There was small surf and light wind waves and chop. Swimming today were Niel, Bridget, Rick, Karen, Dale, Lorin, Tom, Markus, Nicole, Brett, Dave, Stephanie., Duke, Sylvia, John, Claudia and Pete Kelly. There were at least four different swims. Everybody swam left (east) along the buoy line to the last buoy. Dale and I came back along the buoy line. The group with Dave continued to Fossil Point, to the end of the Avila Pier and ?  The group with Duke and Rick went to the end of the Avila Pier and then over to a point a third of the way along the Poly Pier. They came back to the western end of the buoy line and came back to the Avila Pier. Sylvia did a lap of the buoy line. Stephanie, and maybe a few others, swam to the end of the Avila Pier and came in along the pier.

Dave doing his famous 'chicken dance' before full immersion

The crowd at the last buoy before we split up.

And this from Kevin Watkins -

Hi Niel

Saw in the latest email that Avila's water temp was 68 on Sunday!  That jogged a memory so I went back to the results of the 1997 Avila Ocean Racing Classic.  Please share with the group.  Here's what I wrote:

"Held at the pier at Avila Beach California on August 23, 1997.  145 competitors entered four events

Conditions: Perfect.  Clear, sunny skies, little or no wind, glassy seas.

Water Temperature: 64 degrees for the first events, warming to 66 degrees for the one mile swim (thanks El Nino)"

As I recall we experienced a humdinger of a winter a few month's later!

Best,

Kevin

Sunday, August 16.2015

We had a nice crowd today including a special guest, beautiful conditions, and I'm still nursing some tendonitis but I'm back in the water.  The water was flat and clean. The lifeguards got a water temperature of 68 degrees (!) and it felt like that was pretty close. Swimming today were Duke, Niel, Sylvia, Bret, Katy, Leslie, Tom, Rick, John Hampsey and Claudia and I may have missed one or two. We all went left to the end of the buoy line where we split up into several swims; I did the left half of the buoy line. Claudia did the left half twice. Sylvia did the entire buoy line. Duke, Bret, Katy, Leslie, Tom, Rick and John went to the end of the pier.  Bret, Katy and Leslie came in from the end of the pier while the remaining swimmers swam around  a boat on the west side of the pier and came back along the buoy line.

Hey, that is Rob Dumouchel dropping in while visiting the Central Coast 

This morning Dave Van Mouwerik began an attempt to swim across Estero Bay, a distance of 14.4 statute miles, from China Harbor near Harmony to Sponner's Cove in Montana de Oro.   https://esterobayswim.wordpress.com/
As of this writing he was doing well and was schedule to complete his swim around 3 PM.
You can track his progress on his Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/dvanmou

Sunday, August 9, 2015

August 9th

A happening crowd of dolphins gathered below the stairs, 14-15 swimmers in all. There were several new people and I was unable to snag all their names. Water temp was about 62, the air calm, the sea smooth.  We all entered the water together, briefly regrouped at the first buoy, then headed south and linked up again at the last buoy. At that point Dave VM, Dale, and Dave’s nephew followed the buoy line back, went under the pier and to the creek and back. The rest of us went on to Fossil Point, stopping just sort of the caves. The water felt lush and Zen-like. We were in the zone! The group split again, with Rick and Duke and Stephanie heading out to the end of Avila pier, and the rest of us swimming the buoy line to the pier. Some of the new people headed in, but Brandon and I headed under the pier and swam just short of the creek before returning back and in. Our swim was about a mile and a ¼, and Duke’s swim was about the same distance. Upon our return the wind had arrived and with it some strong rolling waves.  A half hour later, though, the air and sea were strangely calm again, and some light clouds and humidity enveloped us. Thus, we had three different climate experiences over 90 minutes!
It was great to have new people join our group.  Till next Sunday.
--John Hampsey

A Single Martinis and Other Swims

John Hampsey, Amy Hewes, Dave Van Mouwerik and Leslie Lorish swam a single Martini Swim today covering 2.48 miles around Avila Beach. Dave and Leslie finished in about 1:30, I'm not sure. John and Amy finished in 1:53. Duke swam a 'half' Martini, turning in when he was in line with the Avila Pier, covering 2 miles in 1:04.   Brandon, Dale, Margie, Sylvia, Pete, and Gerry Gross also swam about a mile.
The water temperature was 62 with 1 - 2' surf. There was some light chop out of the east.

Duke

Dave and Leslie

John and Amy