Tuesday, January 18th, 2022

 A nice morning at Avila Beach with a 49° air temperature, a 55° water temperature, broken clouds, no wind, nice clean water with a bit of swell on it and small surf with an occasional 3+ foot wave.

Heron vs Fisherman. I didn't stay on the pier long enough 

to see which was the first to get their fish. 

Duke had plenty of time this morning so we both swam my Two Triangles route. I thought that the water felt colder than 55° but my inner thermometer has been running cold lately.

We missed Tom in the water but I saw his car.  

Clean water.

Tom wants to get 'the country back on the right track' so he made me a t-shirt intending to jump start my presidential campaign. 42 head shots cribbed from this blog and a nice sentiment on the back.  I didn't know what to say. No one has ever encouraged me to run for president before.  

I'm tempted but Tom did not volunteer to join me as my running mate. 

I'll swim Thursday at 8.

niel

Sunday, January 16th, 2022

Back To Normal -

By 10:30 today the only sign of yesterday's tsunami was the debris on the beach and that the sand was wet all of the way up to the sea wall. The water looked nice and clean. I spoke to Tom as he was getting out and he said that the swimming conditions were wonderful. There were high clouds, no sun, no wind and the air temperature was 59°. The pier was still closed but the toe test and brain freeze estimate of the water temperature was 53° to 54°. There were occasional 3 to 4 foot sets and a big long swell outside, but a pretty smooth surface for swimming.

Niel, Duke and Jodi swam the route that we had planned for yesterday. Other than some debris in the water the conditions were great. Our route was out along the west side of the Avila Pier to the barrier on the pier, to the second crossbars on the Cal Poly Pier, to the end of the Avila Pier, to the end of the CP Pier and back to the beach where we got in for a bit over 2 miles.

Niel, Duke and Jodi at the second crossbars on the CP Pier.

I'm swimming next at 8 on Tuesday, Duke is a maybe.

niel

 

Saturday, January, 15th, 2022

 

Shut Out By The Tsunami

                                                                                                                                                          At 8 AM Leslie, Niel and Jodi had a route planned and were walking to their get in point when we heard a Harbor Patrol truck on Front Street announcing the the beach was closed and everyone had to get off of the beach. A tsunami surge from the volcanic eruption in Tonga was expected before 9AM and would arrive around high tide. A 2 to 4 foot surge was expected on top of the high tide so they wanted everyone off of the beach. We hemmed and hawed a bit and decided to respect the Harbor Patrol's concerns. So it was back to the cars, change and get into Leslie's banana bread and Niel's brownies as if we had spent an hour in the water.

We'll be back tomorrow at 11.

niel

Photo from Tom who got in about 10:30.

Tom's tsunami report: conditions were… Interesting.  I swam @ about 1030, so a couple hours after the main part of the tsunami was supposed to hit Avila. I could see the water had been all the way up to the wall on the beach, but had receded a bit by the time I swam. There was a lot of debris in the water. And still a pretty good wave going with currents going many different directions. I swam down the imaginary buoy line on the east side, but then decided to go west under the pier and over on that side because there seem to be less debris over there.  I ended up swimming for about 30 minutes.  All in all, It was a nice tsunami swim!  What's next?  Earthquake? Locust? Godzilla?  

Thursday, January 13th, 2022

Duke and I were set to get in at 8:40. Tom would follow at 9 or 9:30. There were high clouds, no sun, no breeze with 55° on the beach and 54° in the water.   For me gettin in was like 54-55 but my hands got cold which happens around 51 so I'm going to say it swan like 53°. The waves were 3 foot with occasional 4+ footers. I went with Duke on his U-Burner and when he got out I swam around to make my hour.  

Tom was there but we never saw him.

Duke and Niel

 I'll be back at 8 on Saturday.

niel

Tuesday, January 11th, 2022

It was 44° in Avila this morning, clear with strong and gusty offshore winds.  The water temperature was 53°. The 8 to 12 foot surf that was predicted showed up somewhere else.  Avila was 3 foot with a 4+ footer every 10 minutes. The offshore breeze was holding them up nicely.

There were three solo swims this morning. I got in at 8, Tom at about 9 and he was finishing as Duke got in. Duke didn't make it at 8 because he was having coffee with his daughter.

I did Duke's U-Burner 1000 yd. quickie. I had an appointment at 9:25 and needed to get wet and get going on my day. A quick, cold, choppy, hard swim worked out great. I think that I was the most awake person in the building at my appointment.  

I have another busy morning on Thursday and will get in at 8:45ish. I may see Duke or Tom.

niel

Sundy, January 9th, 2022

What a beautiful day at the beach today! It was sunny with some passing clouds, calm and nothing worth mentioning in the way of surf. There were several swells out of the SW that made swimming in that direction harder but hey, it's the ocean. 

Heidi and Maria got in at 8:30 and slipped a jump off of the Avila Pier into their swim.

Tom got in at 9 and swam by himself. Duke, Pat, Tiki, Jodi and Niel got in at 11. For fun we swam on the opposite sides of the piers as we were going and coming back just to give the swim a purpose. That is about as big a goal as we can get this group to agree to.      

                                        At the second crossbars on the Cal Poly Pier 

Tiki's fins, Niel, Pat and Duke

Tiki, Niel and Duke

Pat, Duke, Niel and Jodi behind my left ear.   

A whale must have swum by.

Duke and I will swim on Tuesday at 8 AM and Thursday at 8:30 AM.

Tom created a t-shirt that will change the world, one swim at a time. You'll see mine as soon as I figure out how to get them into the blog.

BREAKING NEWS FROM MARIA

She found this about our summer drop in swimmer 'Kiwi Jeff' on Facebook:

 

niel  

Saturday, January 8th, 2022

                             

The 8 AM group had a 48° air temperature, a 54.5° water temperature, a steady and strong offshore breeze and clean water. The surf looked pretty flat but some 4 foot sneaker sets kept us on our toes getting out. The Blue Water Task Force's water samples for human bacteria from Thursday for Avila Beach and the creek mouth were in the safe zone so were were good to swim on the creek side of the Avila Pier.   https://bwtf.surfrider.org/explore/34

Jumping in this morning were Tiki, Niel, Jodi, Leslie and Stephanie. Tom got in at 9. 

That's Tiki, Stephanie and Jodi walking down to the water on the right side of the Avila Pier.

If you take a close look you'll see that Stephanie's wetsuit is unzipped. This was not a mistake. The sipper had blown out earlier in the week so Steph was going to go 'bareback' and see how long she lasted.  I floated the suggestion that in solidarity with Stephanie others should unzip their wetsuits, but solidarity lost.  

We swam out to the fence on the Avila Pier, to the second crossbars on the Cal Poly Pier and  to the end of the pier. From there Leslie, Stephanie and Tiki swam to the end of the Avila Pier and in.  Jodi and I swam to the creek buoy, in to the phantom last swim buoy and back to the pier. The swimming conditions were much like Thursday. Swimming out to the end of the CP Pier was easy. Heading back was into the chop was a nice piece of work.   

Jodi providing directions to the Avia Pier from the end of the CP Pier for Tiki and Niel.  

I connected with Tom on my way in along the Avila Pier. 

I'll be back tomorrow to swim at 11. Duke, Jodi and maybe some others should be there.

niel 

Thursday, January 6th, 2022

There was a big change in the weather and water conditions today. It was warm, 55° at 8AM, clear, sunny and with a strong offshore breeze. The water was also 55°. The wind was blowing off of the beach and pushing up a nice chop that would be larger and stronger the farther you were off of the shore.

Niel and Leslie did a lap out and over to the ocean end of the Cal Poly Pier and back. The direction of the chop was aligned with our route, pushing us on the way out and in our face on the way back. 

Tom swam this morning. He got in later than we did and I did not see him.      

Niel and Leslie at the end of the Cal Poly Pier. 

I'll swim Saturday morning at 8 and Sunday at 11.

niel 

Tuesday, January 4th, 2022

 A busy morning for the Dolphins; Stephanie got in first and swam by herself. Her report was "rough, bouncy, got tumbled", next were Tom and Sue who found similar conditions and swam about 3000M. Last was Niel and Duke at 11. The air temp was 58°, the water 55° and sets of 6+ foot breakers which pushed the king high tide way up the beach.    

The swells looked smaller and less consolidated on the right side of the pier so we got in on that side and did Duke's U-Burner route. Short but very physical. My plot looks screwy, we got out at the last set of stairs near the start of the seawall, much further to the right than the plot shows. I didn't take my camera because I did not want to risk beating it up or losing it in the surf. 

It was nice getting out when it was warm and sunny and seeing Peter Kelley up on Front Street.

Duke and I will swim at 8:30 on Thursday.

niel

Sunday, January 2nd, 2022

After 10 days of rain we had a beautiful Sunday at Avila Beach. It was clear, sunny and almost still. The air temperature was 70° to 75°. The water was 55° and looked cleaner and less silted up than it has this past week. 

Most everybody had something else to do (Duke, in So Cal; David ?; Leslie, a wedding; Jodi, scheduling conflicts) so I was going to be on my own when Penny and Angela walked up. They are from Berkeley, swim regularly in the bay, were on their way home from Baja and looking to get in the water. Angela had dropped in with us on a Sunday this past summer.

They would swim bareback, easy and shorter than I had planned so we got in and headed east along the beach. I loop back when I got too far ahead. At the end of Front Street they were ready to head back and I continued on with my planned route. 

Angela and Penny

It was a lot smoother out between the Avila and Cal Poly Piers than it has been with no chop and a nice swell out of the SE to work into on the way over and to push me along on the way back. 

This coming week looks pretty normal.

I'll be swimming at 8 on Tuesday and at 8:30 on Wednesday.

And this just in - 

John Hampsey, Jonny and Amy swam at 3:30 today.

niel
 

Saturday, January 1st, 2022

New Year's Day morning found Avila Beach bright and sunny, 38° and breezy. I measured a water temperature of 54° but most of our route felt several degrees colder. 

Leslie got some nice photos of Avila and the pier  

and one of me coming back in off of the pier after taking the water temperature. The Cal Poly Pier is in the background.

We got in at 8. Jacki swam along the surf line. Niel, Jodi and Leslie swa a route the took us down the beach, to the end of the Avila Pier, to the end of the Cal Poly Pier, back to the Avila Pier and in along the pier with a stop for some New Years celebrating. 

Tom and Sue got in at 9 and swam around the Avila Rock. It was high tide and Tom said that it was especially nice out there. 

 

Jodi, Leslie and Niel starting out at the Avila Pier. 

Jodi, Leslie and Niel at the end of the Cal Poly PIer.

Conditions were much like Thursday with a swell, current and chop out of the NE, which is a strange direction. Possibly a SE swell was bouncing off of the shore and coming back across the bay in this strange direction. 

 

We paused at the ladder on the west side of the Avila Pier for a New Year's Day Celebration.

Leslie and Jodi, who's going to go first?

It was so much fun they went for seconds.

Niel on the mark.

I will be back at 11 on Sunday. Duke may be out of town. Jodi is a probably. It should be a lovely day.

For after the swim Niel had bought cinnamon rolls and there was a chocolate apricot oat bar thing that Leslie had made. I definitly consumed more calories that Garmin says it burned up swimming.

niel

Thursday, December 30th, 2021

 Avila Beach was sunny and 45° at 8 o'clock. There was a light offshore breeze that wound up developing some legs as the morning progressed. The water temperature was 54°. I took a chance on the water quality so soon after a rain and hedged my betts by staying away from the mouth of SLO Creek at the west end of the beach.  I got in about 8:15.

The plot tells the story. Heading to the CP Pier the water wasn't flat but I had an pretty easy time of it.  Once I turned around I was swimming at about 45° to a head high chop. The chop was slapping my head and catching my hands and just messing with me. Things got tougher halfway to the Avila Pier and then laid down after I rounded the pier and got closer to shore.

A nice welcome back to the ocean.

I didn't see Tom but he said that he was running late and would be swimming.

No rain is predicted for the next week so I'll be back at 8 on Saturday and 11 on Sunday.

Saturday is New Year's Day so we should bring snacks for afterwards.

niel

Tuesday, December 28th, 2021

At 7:30 I measured an air temperature of 40° and a water temperature of 54.5°. The County didn't take any water samples on Monday because it rained. When it rains they suspend water testing and declares that it is dirty for the next 72 hours. The clock starts over if it rains again. The water looked clean enough but you can't go by visual clues so I decided to sit out.  Tom was going to swim at 9:30. Duke is beached with a tweaked neck.

There will be more rain from tonight through Wednesday so I'll decide about Thursday morning based on how much it rains between now and then.

niel

Thursday, December 23rd, 2021

 A Thursday swim report from Leslie;

I had a great swim on the sidewalk of Avila today!!!  It’s wild here