It was sunny and warm when I got to Avila with a light breeze out of the SE. The water was clear, 1 to 2 foot surf, a water temperature of 58 and there was one seal playing in the surf near the pier. Swimming today were Rick, Duke, Niel, Sylvia, Ali, John Hampsey, Rob and Gerry Gross. Gerry was going to swim the buoy line, Rob was going to play in the surf and the rest of us were going to swim down the buoy line towards the creek and then head over to the Cal Poly Pier. Doubling back along that route would be a mile swim. On the way over to the Poly Pier the wind began strengthening and shifted to the WSW. The water was medium rough by the time we reached the pier. Ali, John and Sylvia headed back the way we had come while Duke, Niel and Rick decided to go a little longer by swimming to the end of the Avila Pier and to then come in along the pier. The wind waves were coming over my right shoulder and I had to push to the right to make the end of the pier. The waves were starting to combine so I occasionally found myself picked up and bodysurfing. I was feeling good and having fun remembering how to deal with conditions that were this rough. We grouped up at the end of the pier and swung wide of some fishing lines on the way in. Even being on the lee side of the pier didn't seem to lessen how much I was getting tossed around. We all met up at the beach. Duke, Rick and I covered 1.2 miles in a total time of 42 minutes. When we were dried off and in our chairs the water was whitecapping all of the way in to the shore.
I'll be back Wednesday.
niel
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