Tuesday, October 21st, 2025

Niel's Tuesday Morning Swim Report -

This morning Avila was Braille swimming and a winter swell.  

At 7AM the fog was thick enough that I could not see the swim buoys from the beach, which made it difficult to judge the timing the waves but I was patient enough that I slipped out between the larger ones. The air temp was 51° and the water was 57°. There was a big, long swell outside the surf zone that turned was turning into surprisingly small 4 to 5 foot waves. 

The plot of my swim pretty much tells the story. I needed to be half way to the next buoy in order to see it. I couldn't see much of the shore and there was no glow in the fog to tell me which way was east, so there was a lot swimming and stopping and adjusting my route. 

I swam out and back along the buoys on the east side, went out and back along the pier and down the buoys on the west side. At #4 I could see the end of the Avila Pier so I swam to there and then felt my way towards #4 on the east side. I found a buoy just inshore of me and to my left so I swam to it, and found that it was the reef buoy and that I was in the kelp. I swam out the other side, to the #4 buoy, down the line to #1 and in. 

I'll swim Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 7.

niel