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

Sunday, November 23, 2019

Another absolutely beautiful day at Avila Beach. The sun was low and very warm on the beach. There was a light offshore wind and the outgoing tide created a push from the SE. The water was nice and clear with a temperature of 56 degrees. We had three swims today;

Teresa and Sue are fast swimmers and went bareback. They swam down the buoy line (the buoys have been removed) to the creek mouth, over to the second crossbars on the Cal Poly Pier, to the end of the CP Pier and back to the end of the Avila Pier and in. Niel, Tom and Dave started out along the same route but only swam along the Cal Poly Pier to the third set of crossarms before coming back to the end of the Avila Pier. John and Maria swam the triangle. 

November 2019 in Avila Beach.

Niel, Tom and Dave at the Cal Poly Pier

Tom, Niel and Dave 

We could get .5 to 1.5 inches of rain over Thanksgiving but I do not expect that we will get enough to keep us out of the water. 
I think we will have a fair crowd for next Sunday's swim.  Hope to see you there.

niel

Sunday, November 17, 2019

That is not an island but Point Sal, about 19 miles from me on the
Avila Pier, poking up out of the fog.

Fall brings wonderful weather and great swimming conditions to Avila Beach. It was comfortable but not too warm on the beach. The water was clean and clear (for the Central Coast), warmish at 57 degrees and pretty flat. Today there was just enough chop and current to make sure that you didn't think that you were in a pool. 

Today we decided to do a simple clockwise triangle for just over a mile. Swimming today were Niel, Heidi, JoeAnne, Tom, Tim, Jonny, Dave, a friend of Dave's whose name I didn't get, Teresa and Stephanie. There were a lot of different paces so we got spread out plus, at this temperature, Tom, who gets cold and Teresa, who swims without a wetsuit, and are both fast swimmers, don't hang around for the rest of us to catch up. 

Everyone getting together at the first buoy.

Teresa, Tom and Tim at the last buoy 

 

Tom, Teresa, Stephanie and Tim at the end of the Avila Pier. 

This was the front group. I had caught up with them at the end of the buoy line and here at the end of the pier but that was it. They got to the buoy at the creek mouth far enough ahead of me to not want to wait. I sort of chased them back to the pier and onto the beach.

niel

Single Martini, Saturday, November 16, 2019

Niel and Tom completed a single Martini swim today. They were supported by 4 kayakers; Bryan, Thomas, Chris and GiGi. We got in the water at 8:32. The distance was 2.81 miles. Niel finished in 1:37 while El Speedo Tom got out about 20 minutes earlier. 

It was a lovely fall day at Avila Beach, clear, sunny, no fog and a slight offshore breeze.

The water temperature was 57 degrees.

Bryan and Thomas unloading their boats. 

Bryan and Thomas walking the boats to the suds.

The big swell that was hitting the west facing beaches today was only making 4' sets in Avila. Getting out was a simple matter of timing.

That is GiGi at the rock off of Fossil Point. The first leg from the Avila Pier to this rock was the most difficult of the three. There was a chop and current out of the SE that pushed back the whole way there. 

Niel, the same spot. 

The second leg from the rock at Fossil Point to the end of the Cal Poly Pier was the longest, at .98 mile, and the easiest, with the current and chop pushing. Coming from the end of the Cal Poly Pier to the end of the Avila Pier was across the chop which was easier swimming than the first leg.

Thank you to Bryan, Thomas, Chris and GiGi who made our swim possible and safe.

niel

Sunday, November 10, 2019

A nice looking start to the day at Avila Beach today. The fog was heavy along Pismo and S
hell Beaches but clearing in Avila. There was a slight current out of the SW with a pretty flat surface and no surf to speak of. The water temperature was 58.5, high but not unheard of for November. The water wa nice and clear and it looked like we would have a very nice day for a swim.

Niel, Duke, Tom, Theresa (bareback), Stephanie, a woman who's name I didn't catch and Tim planned to swim to the end of the Avila Pier, over to the end of the Cal Poly Pier and back somehow for about a mile and a half.  John, Jonny, Heidi, Dave, and possibly a few more, were going to do about a mile around the buoy line. Ivonne was here, haven't seen her in a year+, visiting from Michigan (?). She got in and swam half of the buoy line bareback. Sylvia Glenn joined us and soaked up the sun. It is always great when our master of Master Ocean Swimmers joins us.

 

Tom, Niel Duke and others forming up at the end of the Avila Pier. 

Same group, now at the end of the Cal Poly Pier

Niel

We swam in along the Cal Poly Pier to the third set of crossbars. From there the group made its way back to our starting point for about 1.5 miles.

I wanted to do about 2.5 miles so I headed over to the end of the Avila Pier and did a lap around the triangle before coming in along the Avila Pier. 

I had 2.56 miles on the clock when I got out. 

niel

Sunday, November 3, 2019

I was not feeling well and did not go to the beach today. A lot of our swimmers were going to be at the Morro Bay Tri today, so the crowd was probably thin. If someone did show and will send me a swim report I'll get it posted. 

niel

MB Tri Report from Leslie;

Hi Niel

Here are some shots from the Morro Bay tri   We See Johnny  John Hampsey and Maria there But I didn’t get pics of them   Maybe Heidi did?  My team was Heidi's husband Dave in the Hawaiian shirt ( our team name was team aloha) and Sarah Donahue who id never met bride but she said she’d like to swim with us at Avila   John hampsey finished strong and with a smile on his face and we cheered him in!

Tom’s Blog for Sunday November 3^rd 2019.

It was a beautiful fall day at Avila – clear, blue skies, a light breeze, and a refreshing crispness in the air. 

Swimming today were Duke and Tom.  Tom and Duke.  That’s it; just the two of us.  We headed out and around the first buoy on the eastside and on down to the fourth buoy.  After a quick check-in, we swam around Avila rock and back in via a route of our own choice.  The water temp was probably around 56 +/- 1 degree at various spots.  There were some kelp beds scattered around, but nothing too route altering.  It was a good swim on a beautiful day.

Meanwhile… at some point, Theresa, showed up.  She swam the buoy line a couple times and around the Avila pier at least once.  Theresa, as has become her regular choice of late, swam bareback. 

And finally, congrats to the folks who did the Morro Bay Tri.  Team Aloha placed first (Leslie swimming, Dave, Heidi’s husband ran, and Sarah biked).  John Hampsey solo’d and came in strong.  Apologies to any folks I missed (this is all I know about at the time of this writing ). 

Thanks for the information!

I wish that I'd been at one of those events. Pesky bugs!

niel

Sunday, October 27, 2019

A Bit of Winter's Breath Today

Sunday morning was gray with low clouds and much cooler temperatures than earlier in the week. The water at Avila was 56 degrees, flat and windless with no sign of the offshore winds that made last Sunday's swim so special.

On the beach were Niel, Leslie, Augustine, Jonny, Evan, Jonny's brother who was visiting from Nova Scotia, John, Sue and Theresa. This would be Evan's first ocean swim. 

We planned two or three routes and wound up with four. 

Group B, John, Jonny and Evan, swam out to the end of the Avila Pier, west and around two moored boats, to the last buoy at the creek mouth and back to the pier for a distance of about 3/4's of a mile. Group A, everyone else, swam to the last buoy at the creek mouth and over to the second set of crossbars on the CalPoly Pier. I got there last. Leslie had waited and told me that the rest of the group had headed to the ocean end of the Cal Poly Pier and that she was cold and would return directly to the Avila Pier and get out. With the lack of sun the water was feeling more like the lower mid to low 50's. I couldn't see the group ahead of me along the length of the pier so I just headed to the end. Nobody was there so I swam to the end of the Avila Pier but hadn't caught up with the front group yet. They had gone on to the last buoy on the east side of the pier and back along the buoy line to our starting point and in, for a distance of 1.7 miles. About now the sun was coming out and I felt warmer so I decided to do some extra distance. I swam to the last buoy on the west side at the creek mouth and then the length of the buoys to the east end, back to the first buoy and got out. My watch said 2.4 miles and 1 hr. 25 min. when I got out but I forgot to stop the plot so there is some extra time and distance in map. 

Augustine, Sue (bareback, as always) and Theresa at the start at the first buoy.

I missed including Leslie.

Theresa, Augustine and Sue at the last buoy at the mouth of the creek. 

The CalPoly Pier is in the background. 

Niel at the end of the CalPoly Pier. 

The water stayed flat and clean during my swim. 

Leslie had gotten out and was headed to the hot tub at Kennedy but got 

these shots of the clouds and the sun peaking out.  

This was the last Sunday with the lifeguards and the swim line buoys, so we will be in full winter mode beginning in November. 

Thanks to all of the guards and staff that work the summer season and help us stay safe in the water.

niel