Sunday, April 30, 2017

Avila Beach was warm and sunny today with almost no wind, 2' waves with nice clear water and the buoys are back for the season.  There was almost on one in the ocean.  I waded out and got a water temperature of 51 degrees in knee deep water.  The shallow water inside the waves is usually warmer than that which is outside the surf line so most beachgoers were finding it too chilly.  We confirmed this during the swim. The water temperature was about 1 degree lower outside the surf and the water between the Poly and Avila Piers was probably two degrees colder yet.

We had a big group today with some new faces; Niel, Christina, Heidi, Duke, Amy, Jim, Sam, Sydney, John Hampsey, Pete, Maria, (both had done the SLO 1/2 marathon this morning), Margarite, Sara and Sue.

Most people swam the route in the plot. Christina (this was her first ocean swim and no wetsuit) and Sam doubled back from the stop at the creek. Jim didn't come in along the pier but continued to the last buoy on the east side of the pier and came back parallel to the beach. 

I lost track of one or two people.

Getting in

Grouping up at the Avila Pier

Part of the group at the creek mouth

Sue, Jim, Sydney and Duke at the Cal Poly Pier

Sydney, Duke and Margarite

The water temperature should have bottomed out today so we should start seeing conditions more supportive to longer routes in May.

niel

Sunday, April 23, 2017

It was a great spring day at Avila Beach today; warm sunny, windy and cold water. About 10:30 it was 75 degrees on the beach and would warm up as the day went on. Initially there was no breeze, flat water and 2 foot waves. I got a water temperature of 51 degrees in the wave wash from the Avila Pier. We Planned to do a triangle that would end up at the end of the Avila Pier.  Once there we'd poll the group and see how people were feeling and what they felt like doing. Swimming today were John Hampsey, Amy, Heidi, Niel, Jim, Pete and Maria.

Heidi, Amy, John, Pete and Maria getting in. 

Jim and John at the end of the first leg.

Heidi, Jim, John, Pete, Maria and Amy

Jim at the end of the Avila Pier. 

John, Maria and Pete at the end of the pier

  From the end of the pier we decided to swim parallel to the beach over to an anchored catamaran. Niel and Jim rounded the cat, swam in towards the creek mouth and then parallel to the beach back to our starting point.  John, Amy, Heidi, Pete and Maria went on a diagonal from the cat to our starting point. 

The cat, 'Tunnel Vision'

Jim when we stopped off of the creek mouth.

Niel and Jim covered 1.38 miles. For the rest of the group it was 1.13 miles.
By the time we ere at the showers the wind had come up and the area near the cat was of white caps and chop.

Maria, I have your shopping bag. I'll bring it next week. Thanks for bringing goodies to celebrate your birthday!

niel

Sunday, April 16, 2017

The lifeguards were out training this morning. 

We still have spring conditions at Avila Beach, an air temperature of 60 to 70 degrees (except when it is raining), a water temperature in the low 50's and not much wind.  It was low tide at swim time today so I could not get a water temperature from the pier. The NOAA station 2 miles away at the port was reporting 53 degrees. Our consensus based on the amount of time that was required to approach being comfortable was 51 or 52 degrees.

There was the potential for a sci fi movie confrontation between objects I've found on the beach . 

Swimming today were Niel, Heidi, Jonny and Stephanie. We decided to swim to the end of the Avila Pier, over to the Cal Poly Pier and back to the base of the Avila Pier. Stephanie had not been in the ocean in a while so she would swim to the end of the pier and back.

Jonny and Heidi at the end of the Avila Pier.

Stephanie and Jonny at the end of the Avila Pier.

Heidi, Niel and Jonny at the Cal Poly Pier.

The route was 1.16 miles with nice water and good swimming conditions. The water was clean and mostly flat with some small chop and swell on the last leg back to the Avila Pier.

I saw Jon Harmse running on the beach, training for lifeguard season, before we left.

niel  

Sunday, April 9th, 2017

Avila Beach was about 60 degrees and cool with thin clouds blocking the sun.  There was an offshore breeze, occasional 3'+ waves and the water looked really clean. The Blue Water Task Force samples on Thursday showed the Avila Beach and the creek mouth to be well under the limit for bacteria but the estuary and the creek beyond were all up to 5x above the limit. An inch of rain on Friday complicated things because there was no way of knowing if the rainfall had pushed the creek's bacteria load into the ocean. We talked it over and decided to stay away from the mouth of the creek. I was able to get a water temperature of 51 degrees from the pier.

Niel, Jonny, John, Amy and Heidi decided to start out with last week's short course and see if we felt like more once we arrived back at the pier. 

Avila Beach and the pier from halfway to the end of the pier. 

 There was a one or two degree temperature drop when we got beyond the surf line. 

Jonny and Amy at the end of the Avila Pier.

John and Heidi at the end of the Avila pier. The Cal Poly (formerly Unocal) Pier is in the background.

Niel at the end of the second leg. No my foot is the first tar blob that I have picked up in a long time.
I'm glad that I still carry shop towels and baby oil in my beach bag.

Heidi at the same spot. The water was very flat and clear.
Great swimming conditions except for the chill. 

John 

 

Jonny

John, Amy and Heidi

Trying to frame John and Heidi with my feet wasn't so easy.

John, Amy and Heidi were getting cold so we came in. I had a distance of .93 miles. 

The wind had died down, the clouds cleared off and it got nice and warm on the beach after the swim.

. 

We'll have to think of something fun to do for our next swim on  Easter Sunday.

niel 

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Spring Conditions at Avila Beach

The fog was burning off at 10:15 and it promised to be a nice day for a swim. There was very little wind and an occasional set of 3' breakers. The tide was out so I could not get a temperature reading from the pier but the lifeguard said that the had measured the water temperature at 49 degrees.  Niel, Heidi, Jonny, John, Amy, Jim and Sydney were ready to swim. The plan was to go out along the pier to its end, swim by the anchored catamaran on the way to the end of the sea wall and then to come back along the beach to the pier. Those that were interested could swim under the pier and down to the creek and back. 

Jim, Sydney, Keidi, John and Amy experiencing the toe freeze

Sue took this one of us getting in.

Heidi, Jim and Sydney at the end of the pier. 

'Are your toes warmer in the water or out?'

Sydney, John and Jim at the ed of the sea wall. 

Once thoroughly chilled, why not swim farther?
Niel and Jim swam down to the mouth of the creek.

 

The short course group on back the beach.

The long route was 1.24 miles

The short course was .83 miles.

niel