Sunday, December 12th, 2021

 Avila Beach in the 'winter' could be the best time to be here with beautiful sunny weather, mild temperatures and no crowds.  

At 10 AM the air temperature was 50°. It was sunny with a light breeze. The water was pretty flat which would change with the weather as the predicted rainstorm began making its arrival known. I measure a 55° water temperature but it felt a good degree plus colder.

Niel, Tom, Jodi, Jacki, David, Leslie and Pat swam. tom got in at 9:30 and did his own swim. Jacki is getting more comfortable in the water. She swam out past the surf line and swam parallel to the beach util she was ready to get out. The group swam out along the Avila Pier to about where the swim buoys were and decided to do yesterdays course in the opposite direction. 

Yesterday there was an offshore wind and chop that was bigger the farther you were from the shore. Today there was no wind but high clouds were moving in with the front of the storm and multiple swells out of the SW were building up and making the swimming chalgening. The first leg to the end of the Cal Poly Pier was into the a chop/swell that became more powerful the farther out we swam. It got me wondering how pushy it was going to get by the time I reached the end of the CP Pier. The leg along the CP Pier had the push behind us but it was messy swimming. The leg back to the end of the Avila Pier was across the waves and chop and it took some experimenting with the timing of my stroke and breathing to find a happy place where I could relax and swim. Thanks to Jodi for suggesting this swim. We all got beat up and had fun. 

Niel in front with Pat, David, Leslie and Jodi at the end of the CP Pier.

With heavy rain predicted from Sunday night through Tuesday morning, getting in the water Tuesday morning for our usual swim is a bad idea. The first heavy rains push all manner of filth that has built up over the last 8 months off of the roofs, streets, ground and storm sewers into the creeks and the water near the mouth of SLO Creek in Avila Beach will probably be high in bacteria. Maybe Thursday, but there is currently a chance of rain Wednesday into Thursday morning so we'll have to see. Right now next weekend looks pretty good.

niel