Saturday, September 12, 2020

The Avila Pier is back, there is less fog and I go long.

This photo is noteworthy for two reasons, because of where it was taken from and what you can see. The Avila Pier has been closed to foot traffic since March and was reopened this week, so I could go out on the pier before the swim, get a water temperature and check out the conditions. The string on the railing is for my big lab thermometer and I can see one and a half buoys, so Theresa and I could start out along the buoy line instead of hugging the shore. 

The water was flat and glassy, still pretty clear except in spots and the temperature from the pier was 56° F. I got a reading of 14°C/57.2°F on the little thermometer that I can take with me during the swim.

Because of the fog Theresa and I decided to stick the the Tom's T route because it is safe from boat traffic (sort of today) and offers lots of options for distance.Our usual swim along this route is about 3,400M. I had been feeling pretty good after those swims so I decided to go long today. We would go out to the buoy line, turn right and swim teh buoys to the end of the line at the creek mouth, return, go out and around the pier and swim out and back along the buoy line on the opposite side. Repeat until the desired distance is achieved.

That's Theresa and I just getting started at the first buoy.

Theresa did about 3,400M. I decided to do another out and back 

around the pier and maybe out and back along the left side of the buoy line.

I guessed that this would be an additional 1,000M 

Me at my second and last stop at the last buoy on the left hand side of the pier. 

From here it was back to the first buoy and in.

Except it wasn't, quite. When I stood up and looked at my watch I had 4780M. Well shoot, just 220M short of 5,000M. I swam out to the first buoy and back in to get the 5K.

I'll be back tomorrow, getting in at 9:30, but going shorter than today.

niel