Sunday, October 2, 2016

Sunday, October 2, 2016
  
It was a startling day at Avila—serene and bright, quiet and warm. Parking was readily available and at 10:45am there were only three groups of people on the beach south of the pier. We had a small group of swimmers—Amy, Heidi, sisters Sammie and Sydney, Pete, Sylvia, and myself. Pete and Sylvia did their own thing; the other five of us swam along the buoy line south. The ocean was glassy and smooth when we entered, and amazingly clear. Water temp was on the cool side, about 56 degrees, and there were intermittent 5-6 foot waves that seemed to rise up out of nowhere and majestically roll into shore. After reaching the 4^th buoy we decided to head to the end of the pier through a water surface that was now undulating and against a fairly strong current. As we approached the pier, conditions altered again and we found ourselves surrounded by a playfully choppy sea with white caps. At times it seemed like we were surfing the water with our faces. From there we swam to the second buoy on the north side, under the pier and back to the beach. Near the shore Sammie and Sydney frolicked in the waves, the water so clean they could count the hermit crabs on the ocean floor. It was a fantastic swim (distance .85 miles) on a gorgeous and sublime day.

Thanks to John Hampsey for writing this Sunday's blog post.

niel

Ironman World Championships, Kona, HI, October 8th, 2016 

Rhonda Marina will be competing in Kona this Saturday so send good strong thoughts her way all day.

Her bib number is 363        Mareina Rhonda               F60-64                 USA