Thursday, October 19th, 2023

Mr. Magoo and the Surf -

Avila was all dense fog this morning. From Front Street I could see only a short way out along the pier. The air temp. was 57°, it was damp and drippy, there was no wind, a very high tide and the surf was sounding large. The water temperature was 57° and felt pretty comfortable, probably because once I was in the water there were a lot of other things to focus on.

I walked down to the water and didn't like what I was seeing on the east side of the pier and walked over to the west side which isn't usually as large. I waded out to waist deep and tried to figure out what the waves were doing.  The waves were stacked up close together and had sufficient power that it was difficult to stand in the wash. The white water was head high. Later, Duke and I agreed that the large swells were 6 to 7 feet.  

On the west side I could just see the waves when they began breaking. That's a Mr. Magoo in the surf moment.  That was not going to work so backed out and walked down the beach most of the way to the creek to where the waves were more mellow and swam out without having to do any duck diving. (I took this picture after I had gotten out and the visibility had improved).

 

Outside of the buoy line the surface conditions were something. I think that there were three different swells, all a foot + high, all from the SE to SW.  Swimming across that surface was a full body workout. 

The light was so flat that my photo doesn't convey the very lumpy nature of the water's surface.

Coming back in I didn't judge the sets correctly and got in too far as the swell was building. I swam back out and dove under three breakers. It was still big and I was getting gassed so with goggles full of water I just swam for the beach and took what the water had for me until I could stand up.

Duke had arrived after I had gotten in. I saw his car when I got out but I never saw him in the water. After I'd changed I used my binoculars to look for him and both sides of the pier and never saw him until he was at his car. He told me that he could see me scamming the ocean when we was on the buoy line but even with his yellow cap and buoy I never saw him. 

We had a good laugh about how much sand was in our wetsuits and declared it to be a memorable day for swimming at Avila Beach.

I'll swim Saturday at 7 and Sunday at 11. 

niel