Sunday, March 26th, 2023

Spring at Avila Beach - 

Spring means that the lifeguards are back, its windy, the water is (still) cold and there are more people at the beach. The no boats/swim zone buoys should reappear soon.

Stephanie Popp has moved back to SLO County from Carmel and will be swimming with us again.

It was 53° when I arrived at 10:30. It was sunny and breezy with scattered thin high clouds. There was a steady chop and current out of the SW.  I measured a water temperature of 10.5°C/50.9°F at the end of the Avila Pier, but there were spots where it was 1+ degree colder. See Tom's report below for his toe test.

Stephanie back in the water at Avila!

Stephanie and I swam down the beach and back to the Avila Pier. Being her first time in the ocean in 1.5 years that was enough for her. 

While Stephanie headed in I swam to the end of the Avila Pier and over and back to the end of the Cal Poly Pier. On the way over it was directly into the chop and current and was quite a slog. The upside was that the chop was nice and regular which made it possible to kind'a zone out and just do the work. The ride back had a nice push which was just what I wanted at that point. The water was nice and clean out there.  

 

Before we got in Duke stopped by on his walk and we chatted for a bit. Saturday he was the support team and cheering section for Margarite at the Cal Poly (?) Tri at Lopez Lake. Margarite finished second amongst all women. The lake was muddy and 51°, It was cool and very windy. Everybody was cold.  Congrats to Margarite for the podium finish.

Tom stopped buy to say hi after his swim. 

Tom's Sunday report: clear blue skies and sunny again at Avila this morning. Air temperature was 53 when I got in at 10 AM. The water felt a little colder than yesterday, so I would call it 48°. The water clarity was better, enough that I swam around the Cal Poly pier. It was a good morning vitamin!  

If this weeks weather report is correct there will not be sufficient rain (yes, more rain) before I can slip in a swim Tuesday morning. 

I'll be traveling Thursday through Sunday so it will be another week out of the water for me. 

niel