Saturday, March 16th, 2024

 

Jodi, Jim and Niel

at the end of the Avila Pier

l

It Might Be Spring - 

At sunrise it was 39° and clear with the beginnings of an offshore breeze.  The surf was up a bit, there were occasional sets of 4+ footers with 2 to 3 footers in between.   

The water temperature at Avila Beach is the coldest in the spring, so Thursday's 50° and todays 49° are providing spring swimming conditions. The water is nice and clean and the offshore breeze puts a chop on the water to make it more interesting. 

When Niel, Jim and Jodi began wading in this morning there were expressions about unhappy toes. After full immersion and a short swim out to where we grouped up the conversation was short and we got back to swimming in order to not focus on how our exposed skin was feeling. 

We swam the west buoy line, to the end of the Avila Pier and to the second crossbars on the Poly Pier. That was enough for Jim's shoulder so he went back while Jodi and Niel swam to the end of the Poly Pier and back to the end of the Avila Pier.  Offshore as far as the end of the Poly Pier the wind chop was real enough to make swimming like running a rocky trail, except for the addition of 3 foot swells.  The chop would flatten out the closer we got to shore which was nice to keep in mind during the slog back to the Avila Pier.

Spring also means that it is sunny at the showers which makes getting changed a much friendlier experience. 

I'm looking forward to swimming tomorrow at 11.

niel