Thursday, November 25th, 2021

 A Happy Thanksgiving Swim

At 7:30 Avila was bright and sunny and already getting crowded. Avila was starting to fill with tourists on Tuesday and it looked like it would be a happening place today. The air temp was 35° and would be 63° in 90 minutes. The water was 55°, clean and between the light offshore breeze and the various swells was generally bumpy with 1 foot surf. A white shark had been spotted over near the Cal Poly Pier early in the week but the warning signs were no longer up.

We decided to swim to the end of the pier, to the end of the CP pier, in to the second crossbars and then to do whatever felt right. 

Niel, Leslie and Jodi gettin in. 

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

I'll be back at 8 on Saturday and at 11 on Sunday to work off that second piece of pie!

niel

Tuesday, November 23rd. 2011

 It Is Nice To Be Back

It was not too bad for November at Avila Beach this morning, looking very nice for the tourists that were already filling up the town. It was clear and cool, 41° at 8AM, calm, with flat, clear 56° water and knee high surf. The water swam one or two degrees colder than 56, especially on the west side of the Avila Pier. 

Duke nad I got in at 8:10 and swam a couple of triangles. Duke had a busy morning and got out a bit shorter than I did.

Duke and Niel at the end of the Avila Pier.

Tom on his way out while I was heading in.

I am going to swim at 8 on Thursday morning. Duke and Tom will be out of town. Anyone who wants to feel justified when you go for that second piece of pie is welcome to join me.

niel

Thursday, November 18th, 2021

There was no hole in the clouds over Avila this morning. It was a solid ceiling of grey with of visibility of 3/4 mile. At 9 AM the air temperature was 55° and the water 57°. The water was nice and clean and the surf was 2 to 3 foot. There were several different swells so the surface was a bit lumpy and pushy. There was no sign of Duke or his car. I saw Tom wading in ahead of me as I was getting changed. I saw Hillary coming in through the surf after I had gotten out so we went to the showers together. I think that she said that she had seen Tom over at the Cal Poly Pier.      

I had an urge for some distance and was hoping to do a first full lap of the Cal Poly Pier. I'd looked at swimming all of the way to the base of the pier several times but there had always been people fishing from the rocks. Today the conditions were good and there was no one there so I swam in and made my touch on the rocks before returning to the end of the pier.

 I seem to remember that there was a narrow beach at the base of these rocks but I could see no bottom this morning so I could swim right up to the rocks and hang there in the swell.

There is almost no kelp on this side of the pier compared to the other side which is pretty solid with weed, so with a mild swell access is easy.          

Back at the end of the CP Pier.

A blurry shot of Hillary getting out with her Avila Dolphins party boat which includes her GoPro camera, the Tube Ducky water thermometer and both a shark and wahine hula dancers.

I'm going to be MIA again this weekend but I'll be back on Tuesday at 8AM.

niel 

Tuesday, November 16th, 2021

A Wonderful Welcome Back Day

I've been out of town and had not been in the water in a week and Avila put up a very nice day for my first swim. We had the Avila Hole which is more typical of summer, where there is a fogbank all around the horizon with Avila Beach in a sunny hole. There were high clouds and a very light breeze. The air temperature at 8AM was 55° and the water was 57°.  Duke had a 8 AM phone call and would arrive late so I swam on my own. 

Looking down the buoy line towards a fogged in Shell Beach 

I did a loop around the buoy lines and the Cal Poly Pier.

At the end of the CP Pier

I almost ran into Tom as I was swimming in and he was heading out.

Duke's car was next to mine and I saw him out near the end of the Avila Pier. 

I'll be back Thursday at about 8:30 for some more of this.

niel

 

Thursday, November 11th, 2021

Tom was the only swimmer today. He texted it was clear and sunny, the water was about 55 degrees and clear and a bit breezy.

niel

Tuesday, November 9th, 2021

 

It was either light rain, heavy mist or just totally dripping this morning. It wasn't really rainiing but everything was wet and getting wetter. The air temperature was 54° and the water was 56°. The surf was 2+ foot and there was a triple SE swell that made for variable swimming conditions.  I was on my own this morning.  Duke likes to put on his wetsuit at home before the short drive down the hill to Avila, but this morning the zipper gought caught in the couch and he couldn't get untangled in time to jump in with me.  I swam a couple of triangles with four lengths of the pier thrown in. 

The water was nice and clean but I was colder than I should have been, which was either a mental thing or having had just a salad with no protein and just some oil and vinegar for dinner last night.

My next swim will be next Tuesday so Duke is in charge until then.

niel

Sunday, November 7th, 2021

Sunday morning at 10:30 was bright and sunny, 67° with a steady offshore wind. The water was nice and clean and 57°. There was a 6.4' high tide at 10:44, so high that the buoy on the reef was under water, the beach was small and the swim out to the buoy line was extra long. The lifeguard towers have been pulled up to their winter locations and the swim buoys may be pulled out at any time. 

I got a photo of Tom walking back to his car after his swim. 

He must have gotten in at about 9:30. 

There were sets of nice swells that the tide was helping and the wind was holding up

making some of the most rideable waves you'll see at Avila Beach.

Maria and Heidi had swum before and were warming back up when I got there. Leslie, Niel and David would swim the triangles. Leslie had forgotten her wetsuit so she went bareback.

Tough girl! She did 1,700M and went in at the turnaround point. David and I doubled back on our route for a two mile swim. We both thought that it felt colder than the measured temp.

Unfortunately I had left the belt that I wear to hang my camera on at home and couldn't bring the camera along in the water so I couldn't get a photo of Leslie out there gloriously with no wetsuit.     

 I'll swim Tuesday morning at 8.

niel

Saturday, November 6th, 2021

 

Sorry, your pool can't compare to my ocean. What a great place to swim.

Avila Beach was 47° at 7:30 heading up to a noon temperature of 70°, in November.

The water temperature was 56° and felt colder at the end of the Cal Poly Pier.

The water was nice and clean with surface conditions what were messy but great for swimming. From the Avila Pier I saw three different swells. One from the west (? bouncing off of Fossil Point? I have no idea how this was happening), the second from the SE and a third from the SW. The SW swell was the largest but none of these were big. The ocean did not look chalgening from the beach but once in the water there was a lot of movement to deal with.   

At 8 it was Leslie and I. We decided to do a loop that would have options to drop off if we got cold or whimpy. 

Leslie and Niel at the end of the Cal Poly Pier

Stephanie had gotten in after us. We met up as we were getting out.

And Tom getting in.

I'll swim tomorrow at 11. Duke will be out of town. Leslie is planning on being there.

niel

Thursday, November 4th, 2021

 Another day when the beach was all Tom's. He says the swell was up and the tide high. The water was about 57° with excellent swimming.

I will be there at 8 on Saturday.

niel  

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021

I was beached due to a stomach bug and Duke chose to ride so Tom was the only swimmer this morning. He texted that the surf was up but not as big as last week and that conditions were beautiful. 

niel

Sunday, October 31st, 2021

Beautiful Conditions, A Large Group and a Visit From The Walrus. 

At 10:30 is was 62° in Avila beach with clear, sunny skys, no breeze and a flat 58° ocean with 3 foot surf. The water was very clean with better than usual visibility. 

I had not seen Heidi and Maria for many months. The had done their swim earlier and were soaking up the sun and sparkling air.  

We had a big group today which included Hillary, who has been swimming at Avila but had not made it at our times in over a year and Omayra, who swims in the Aquatic Park in San Francisco and was visiting the Central Coast.  The rest of the group was Niel, Jodi, Duke, Tiki, David, Alex and Pat.  I planned a route that would accommodate our range of abilities and interests.  

Hillary, Tiki, Omayra, Jodi, Alex and David

Tiki, Omayra, Jodi, Alex and David with Duke and Pat behind them 

Hillary with her crew at the last buoy on the left; The Float, Ducky (who has a thermometer in his belly, and the Avila Dolphin Party Boat with Sharky and a Wahine in grass skirts on either side of the GoPro.  

David, Duke, Jodi and Pat and Niel at the last buoy on the right.

Hillary's video of today's swim:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZowaKQF91s&authuser=0

We had a Halloween visit from The Walrus himself, Peter Kelley.

Goo goo g'joob

Tom texted that he went in early and swam around Avila Rock in excellent conditions.

Today was the last day of the season for the Avila Lifeguards.Thanks to all of them for watching out for us this year.

Duke and I will swim at 8 on Tuesday.

niel

Saturday, October 30th, 2021

It was a very gray morning in Avila Beach with thick low clouds, no sun, no wind and an air temp of 58°. I measured a water temperature of 58° but with no sunshine it would swim a degree or two colder. There was 3 foot surf and a nice swell farther out and east of the Avila Pier.  Jodi, Tiki and Niel got in at 8 having planned a longer swim that had several drop off spots built in; the last buoy at the creek, the second crossbars on the Cal Poly Pier, the end of the Avila Pier, the end of the CP Pier, to the last buoy in the line on the left and back along the buoys to the Avila Pier and in.           

We met up with Leslie and Stephanie off the end of the Avila Pier.

Jodi, Leslie, Stephanie and Tiki

Leslie and Tiki went short while Stephanie joined Niel and Jodi 

and headed to the end of the CP Pier.  

Jodi, Stephanie and Niel at the end of the CP Pier

The flat gray light and the swell made navigating harder, requiring some complete stops to find my landmarks but the water was really nice.

Tom's car was there but I didn't see him in the water.

 

I'll swim tomorrow at 11 with Duke, Jodi and whoever else shows. 

niel

Thursday, October 28th, 2021

 IT was nice and sunny and warm at Avila this morning. The air temp was 63 degrees at 8AM. The pier is still closed so I could not measure the water temperature but in the water felt like 55°, meaning it felt more like 54° wading in but I did get more comfortable after a 1/4 mile so probably 55°. There was a gusty offshore wind putting a good chop on the water. There was an occasional 4 foot wave so getting out was just a matter of waiting.    

Duke went to the right of the pier to do his U Burner route and I got in on the left, turned right at the first buoy and went under the pier. Duke and I managed to swim right to each other near the second buoy.  

I did my triangles for two miles. I got a text from Tom. He and Sue swam out around the Avila Rock and back. Their leg back to the beach across the chop must have been interesting.

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

niel

Tuesday, October 26th, 2021

I had a work appointment this morning at 8:30 (how did I schedule that ?!?!) so today's swim report is by Tom.   

The wind was offshore. Water temperature about 56° - 57°.  A big swell made it hard to get out and challenging to get back in. No sign of Duke.

Jodi, Leslie and Theresa will swim at 5PM on Wednesday.

I'll swim Thursday at 8:30.

niel

Sunday, October 24th, 2021

"It's A Mess Out There" - Peter Kelley

The Walrus himself opined that today's water conditions were nothing that you would ever find in a pool. I thought that it was a mixture of adventitious and challenging but not pesky. 

At 10:30 the air temperature was 61°. There was very little wind. The pier had been closed in anticipation of the large surf that was to come with this evening's storm so I didn't get a water temperature but it swam like 56 or 57 degrees. There were also patches of red tide, which is weird for this time of the year, so just more strangeness. As for the messiness; the surf was much smaller than Thursday or Saturday but still had a good push. There were at least three different swells coming in from the SE, all with different sizes and periods, so the surface beyond the surfline was A MESS. With no wind the water had a almost glassy surface but there was no discernable pattern to the motion making it a good day to be able to breath on either, or both, sides and to be able to stutter step your stroke.  

We had a great group today. I was first to arrive. Duke did a ride by to let me know he was not going to swim, which I figured out because he was all kitted up in bike gear and sitting on his Colango, and was going to try and get in a ride before the weather arrived. David and Alex arrived. Alex had quit renting and bought a wetsuit and had a goal of swimming a few buoys today. Which she did, setting a personal record. Tiki arrived followed by Theresa, who is back in town for a few days. Spoiler Alert - She has accepted a job in SLO and is getting out of LA! 

        

I liked the idea of the two triangles in order to 'enjoy' the biggest number of conditions. 

The orange plot is my stroke count which is pretty steady except for at the start waiting for the group to form up, but my pace (blue) is all over the place because of the variations in the surface conditions. It was all a challenge but the leg from the 4th buoy on the west (left in the plot) to the end of the Avila Pier was directly into the waves and was a piece of work. Kind'a reminded me of running up a steep trail that was full of roots and rocks. Every stroke was different and no pace would fit.    

While I was getting ready the Harbor Patrol did a drive by inside the buoy line. 

Tiki at the first buoy.

Theresa at the same spot. 

Theresa, Tiki and Niel at the 4th buoy on the left. We are up on the swell here.

And a second later they are above me and the buoy is gone.

I figure that is 3 to 4 feet of vertical movement. 

David at the 4th buoy on the west.

8 AM swim report from Heidi:

Maria and I went for a swim at 8 this morning.  A beautiful overcast morning, conditions were good except for gross red tide.  We were surprised at this, resulted in a short swim today.  Icky taste, smell and irritated sinuses

I have work obligations Tuesday morning so the next time I'll be back is Thursday at 8:30.

niel