Sunday, July 21. 2019

A nice day at Avila today with the fog clearing early and 58 degree water. If the fog cleared early it means that the wind was up early so we would swim with a mixed chop and current out of the SE. There were 'absolutely stay out of the water' bad red tide conditions over near the port but the water in Avila looked clean and had just a bit of a bad taste, so we decided to jump in but to stay on the east side of the pier.

Niel, MaryAnne, Jeff and Leslie got in first. Mary Anne would do a short swim by herself along the buoy line. Niel. Leslie and Jeff would do one or two laps around the triangle. 

Heidi, Amy, John, Jeneane, Stephanie and Eric got in a bit later. 

I'd been sick earlier in the week so I did just one loop for .78 mile.

MaryAnne, Heidi, Leslie and Amy getting in.

Jeff, our annual summer guest from NZ

Jeff and Leslie at the last buoy on their first lap.

More from John about the Hampsey6 when it is available.

niel

Sunday, July 21, 2019    Group Two - by John Hampsey

We started out as three—Eric swimming bare back, Stephanie, and myself. There was a catamaran anchored about halfway down the Avila Pier and in line with the second buoy. Since I can never resist swimming toward a boat, we headed for it... Eric and Stephanie sped past it and aimed for the end of Avila Pier. I lingered and yelled ahoy! There was no answer. Floating in the water, though, was an empty plastic peanut-butter jar. Figuring it came from the catamaran, I threw it up on board, then swam towards the end of the pier. After a few strokes, the jar splashed into the water next to me. Someone was on board the catamaran. I threw it back once more, and then swam like a demon...

At the end of the pier we ran into Heidi and Amy from Group One, and Janeane who had raced out to meet us from shore. We were now six. We decided to swim south-east to the fourth buoy, but the faster swimmers got tricked into swimming to the reef buoy instead, and kelp entanglements followed... Eventually, we corrected course, circled the fourth buoy, and headed back once more to the catamaran. We pivoted there and returned to shore. The water was choppy, and at times felt like we were surfing with our faces, especially heading into the wind. But swimming was a blast. It was a glorious day and we all felt an electric charge. Swim length—1.2 miles

--John Hampsey

Amy, Leslie, Niel and John. All wore their Avila Martini Swim hats Sunday. 

John's route map for Group 2