Sunday, December 29, 2019

Wintery conditions today. Low clouds carrying rain that was to begin later in the afternoon, no sun, cool and humid with a water temperature of 52 degrees. 2 - 3" surf and a surface that was strangely rippled without any wind. A very high tide at 11 was starting to ebb creating a strong current from the SE. 

Group 1 was Tom, David and Niel. They swam to off of Fossil Point, then parallel to the beach towards the end of the Avila Pier and in for a distance of 1.35 miles. The first leg out to the point was directly into the current and felt like it was 50% longer than it was.

Group 2 was John, Jonny, Heidi, Amy and Maria. They swam out to the end of the Avila Pier, over to the buoy on the little reef and back to the beach for .8 miles.

Tom, David and Niel off of Fossil Point

Underwater shots by Tom of Niel,

David

and Tom.

The long term forecast look good for being able to swim next Sunday.

niel

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Heavy rain and the likelihood of high bacteria counts on Sunday morning kept us out of the water.

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Back In The Water

After getting washed out the past two Sundays we were back in the water today. It was 55 degrees in the water and on the beach and nice and sunny with an offshore breeze. The recent large surf had muddied up the water. Avila had 3 foot waves and 4 to 5 footers that were several minutes apart. 

Today's Group 1 was Tom, Niel, Jim and Tim. Group 2 was Heidi, Maria, Amy, John, Jonny, Bob and Terrance.  Group 1 did a clockwise triangle starting and ending with a swim along the length of the Avila Pier for 1.4 miles.

Group 2 did the triangle without the out and in along the pier for about a mile even. 

Tom, Jim and Tim at the end of the Avila Pier for the first time.

Tom, Tim and Jim at the mouth of San Luis Obispo Creek.

I'll miss next Sunday but be back on the 29th. Dr. John will do the blog.

niel

December 8th, 2019

Storm Conditions Continue

Rain on and off through the week and the weekend. Thursday's water samples from the Blue Water Task Force had very high numbers, approximately 150 times higher than the state's limit for safe contact, in the SLO Creek Estuary and the creek mouth at Avila Beach, so getting in the water at the beach was not advisable.

The rain is predicted to end Sunday and for things to dry out all week so swimming next Sunday looks likely. 

niel

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Storm Conditions

I was at Avila at 11:30. The conditions were thoroughly messy and stormy. I'd decided to stay out today because of concerns about the water quality. The surf was not as large as I had expected but the waves were very close together. The water on this side of the pier was not brown sfom silt and runoff. Getting out through the waves was possible and swimming would have been a washing machine experience.

The County may collect their usual samples at Avila Beach and the SLO Creek mouth tomorrow. Sometimes they skip sampling when there are storm conditions. Their results are posted late Tuesday or Wednesday morning at http://slocounty.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/0693b6f43f444995afc3f90d29b81432. 

I hope they get out there Monday morning as I would like to know how buggy it was today.

niel