Tuesday, February 14th, 2023

I had a great swim this morning. 

There was a strong gusty wind out of the NW. At 7:10 the air temperature was 48°. The surf was as usual, 3 footers with sets of 3 - 4++ footers to know let me get lazy getting in or out. I measured a water temperature of 10.5°C/50.8°F.      

I did something different today: I got in on the west side, swam parallel to the beach to the mouth of the creek, over to the second crossbars on the Cal Poly Pier, along the pier to the third crossbars and then directly to Fossil Point. That leg is 8 or 9/10's of a mile. The wind provided a good chop that was going south while I was going east . The chop and wind got stronger when I passed the Avila Pier and started pushing be around. The squiggles in the plot are me making corrections so as to not wind up in Shell Beach .    

The photo doesn't show it but there was a 4 foot plus swell out of the south that was bouncing off of the point so I had the swell towards the beach passing under me and the rebound from the swell off of the point passing back south. It was interesting to swim in but would have been nasty for a kayak or SUP. 

Tom's Report -

That is one chilly breeze out there today. I know your thermometer said 10.5 but my toes and teeth are telling me it was under 50 today. Or that was the wind factor kicking in. Definitely a hearty day of swimming.

I'll vote for the wind as Tom chooses to swim in a Farmer John and a long sleeved rash guard and the wind on his arms must have felt like an ice bath.

Tom in his dreams.

I'll be back on Thursday morning at about 9, after a 7AM meeting. 

niel