Swim Avila - Open Water Swimming: August 2016

Sunday, August 28, 2016

We had another big turnout today with 19 swimmers in the water. The conditions at Avila were clear skies, just a slight breeze, probably 75 to 80 degrees on the beach and 58 degree water. Visibility was good and the surf was small with an occasional 3+ foot wave.
Like last week, I got a head count but with so many new faces I can not yet put the names and faces together in the water. Swimming today were Niel, Sylvia, Sheryl, Matt, Amy, Duke, Jeff (visiting from New Zealand), Heidi, Sue (visiting from England), Archie (Sue's son, and on the Cal Poly swim team), John, Josh, Ben, Marcus, Sydney, Sammy, Ben, Jeffery and Gerry Gross. The was Marcus's last swim with us. A job opportunity is taking him to San Diego.

We all went out to the first buoy and left to the end of the buoy line. Marcus and two others headed back to the first buoy. The rest of us swam down to the end of the beach near Fossil Point. From here Duke, Niel, Heidi and Sammy swam back to the first buoy while the rest of the group swam to the end of the Avila Pier. Sue and Archie came in along the pier. Jeff swam to the last buoy near the creek and Amy and John swam to the second buoy on the west side of the pier. Everyone else did something similar and came back in a group.

Ben, Heidi, Jeff and Sue at the start

Jeffrey, Marcus Amy at the start.

Three taken at the end of the buoy line.

The group at Fossil Point.

Tom Lorish did the 10k Golden Gate to Bay Bridge Bridge to Bridge Swim today.

http://www.odysseyopenwater.com/bridge-to-bridge.html#tmup=/p/50925-odyssey-open-water-swimmi/e/4872748-bridge-to-bridge-swim/

They don't have any results posted. :-(

niel

Sunday, August 21, 2016

We had a great swim today with nice conditions and 15 people in the water. It was sunny with a light wind . The water was clear and the temperature was posted at 59. It felt like the high 50's once you got away from the colder water near the shore. Swimming today were Niel, Hedie, Duke, Chad, Tom, Rachel, Cheryl, Holly, Peter, Jeff John, Sue, Archie, Sydney and Sammie. I apologize, we had a lot of new swimmers today and I'm not able to match all of the faces in the photos with the names.
The plan was to swim the east (left) side of the buoy line and continue to the end of the Avila Pier where we would break up into shorter and longer swims. When we formed up at the last buoy 3 swimmers decided to stay along the buoy line and returned the way we had come. At the end of the Avila Pier we had 5 people head over to the Cal Poly Pier, one swim in along the Avila Pier and the remaining 5 (Peter always swims solo) swam the the last buoy at the west end of the buoy line.
From the Cal Poly Pier we swam back to the west end of the buoy line, along the buoys to the Avila Pier and in. The route to the Cal Poly Pier was 1.42 miles The route shaped like a triangle the included both ends of the buoy line and the end of the Avila Pier was 1.1 miles.

Peter getting in.

Archie, Sue and ?,?

10 of the 15 swimmers wading in.

Chad and Duke at the Cal Poly Pier.

Afterwards Sue treated us to a great cake with raspberries inside. Thanks!

niel

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Blog report from TOM. Sunday August 14, 2016.

In Haiku format:

Fog at Avila…
Many people; routes for all…
Sun pokes through mid-swim.

In longer format:

It was a foggy overcast morning at Avila to start. Well beyond the pier out in the open ocean, there was a sailing regatta in full swing – boats heeled over pretty good. But that was out there. On the beach, it was calm, although there was a bit of a chop on the water.

Swimming today were many – some new, some regulars, and some infrequent regulars. It was Duke, Chad, Heidi, Tom, Jeff from New Zealand, Amy, John Hampsey, and two youngsters whose names I didn’t get. Mark was the paddle escort on his SUP.

Most of the swimmers did some form of the buoy line, with John & Amy doing their own route that included the end of the pier.

In the words of Jeff, coming from the dead of winter in New Zealand, “The water was perfect, tropical.” It wasn’t quite tropical, but it was nice, probably mid-high fifties.

And this from John Hampsey -

We had a good crowd with some newcomers—Jeff from New Zealand and two teenage sisters who had recently moved to SLO from Arizona. With about ten swimmers over all and mixed levels of experience, we decided to swim the buoy line and were fortunate to have Mark joining us on his stand up board! The water was about 58 degrees south of the pier and there was medium chop. As we entered the sea we were still enshrouded inside a thin fog. After reaching the last buoy Amy and I decided to swim to the end of the pier, everyone else returned along the buoy and under the pier to continue on the north side. As Amy and I swam our diagonal, the sun began to break through creating a mystical glint of light. At the end of the pier there was a commercial fishing vessel that Amy and I and Mark avoided by swimming fairly close to the pier on the north side. By the time we returned to the beach the fog had morphed into a puffy-white layer a few miles out to sea and we were under a gorgeous blue crystalline Avila sky.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

We had beautiful conditions and a nice crowd with a mixture of familiar and new swimmers and a few we have not seen in awhile. Swimming today were Sylvia, Niel, Heidi, Rob, Danilu, Rachel, Ben, Jeffery, Chris, Jim, Johnny, Elizabeth and Gerry Gross. Most of us completed the triangle counterclockwise. Rob and Danilu did a half triangle and came in along the pier. Gerry Gross did his own swim.

Rob Dumouchel dropped in from Humboldt County for a swim visit

With the number of of new people I did not get all of the caps, faces and names sorted out,so I can't properly do captions. The water was clean, clear, flat and about 55 to 58 degrees, with some extra warm spots and much colder water under the pier.