Friday, July 11th, 2026

Tom L's Swim Report -

Heavy marine layer, a breeze blowing on shore, and bumpy water. Toes in the water at 930 a.m.  The water temperature was 58° and it was a good morning Swim. 

Thursday, July 10th, 2025

This morning I swam a counterclockwise loop around the Poly Pier and the Reef Buoy and added a half triangle on the west side of the pier at the end for 4,179M. The water was 59° with colder spots and the air temp was 57°.  At the start there was no wind and the surf was 1 to 2 foot, it was overcast with a fog bank on the water to the west, south and east.  

Fossil Point from between the Poly and Avila Piers. 

The sun was coming out at this point. 

On the east side of the Avila Pier the water was brown and full of plankton but in other areas it was clear and when the sun came out I could see my shadow in the water swimming below me.  It was nice swimming in the sunshine for a while. When I arrived back at the Avila Pier the wind had come up, the water was getting choppy, the sun was gone and the fog was being blown in towards the beach.

The Saturday group will swim at 7 and I'll swim at 11 on Sunday.

niel 

Monday July 9th, 2025

Tom L's Wednesday Morning Swim - 

The conditions were basically the same as Monday… And Tuesday… Heavy marine layer, glassy water, and a small wave rolling in. The water temperature was about 56°. The lime green water had drifted over to the east side today. A lifeguard training and junior guards were in full swing. It was an excellent morning swim. 

Tuesday, July 8th, 2025

Chasing Tom Israel - 

On the 4th Tom surprised and impressed all of us by blowing past the 5,000M goal for the 4th of July swim by doing 6,500M for his birthday swim. 

So it is now up to me to catch up with him.  I'm going to try and do 4,000M on the three easy days of the week and 5,500 to 6,000M on Tuesdays. If that works out If I can do that for a cope of weeks I'll take a shot at my 7,500M birthday swim. 

The swimming conditions were wonderful this morning. Avila Beach was grey, windless, glassy and flat with an air temperature of 56 and water at 56° - 57°. I swam in water that had a greenish tinge like Tom mentioned Sunday. I'm guessing that we are seeing the onset of the summer plankton blooms and the end of our nice clean water.  

I'll swim at about 8 on Thursday and at 7 on Saturday.

niel

Monday, July 7th, 2025

Tom Lorish's Monday Swim - 

Heavy marine layer, 56° air temperature, glassy calm water. That was Avila at 915 AM.  There was a 3–4 foot wave rolling in and several squadrons of pelicans hanging out by the rock buoy.  The water was 56 degrees, clear and pristine, but there was a curious band of lime green on the west side.  I don't recall seeing that particular shade of water before, but it no doubt has to do with the marine layer, the way light refracts and what's beneath the surface of the water.  It was a good Monday morning vitamin. 

Sunday, July 6th, 2025

Tom Lorish's Sunday Swim

Overcast, bumpy water and a breeze.  That was Avila at 915 AM when I arrived. The water clarity was pristine and the temperature was 56 degrees.  Nice Sunday Swim. 

Members of the SLO Surfrider Chapter did a beach cleanup in Avila at 10.

  

Saturday, July 5th, 2025

A Perfect Morning for a Swim - 

Avila Beach put on its best for Niel and Don to do a short and relaxing swim. Don is in town from the Bay Area where he swims with the Dolphin Club and he had time for a short swim. I just wanted to get loosened up after a long swim the day before. 

At 7 it was sunny (!), 49° and calm with 59° water. The surf was up with 5 to 6 footers lurking among the 2 to 3 foot sets. The water was glassy with a small ripple on the surface. 

There was some bait ball action with pelicans breakfasting near the reef buoy. For an easy mile we swam over to the second crossbars on the P. Pier, to the end of the Avila Pier and in. 

So, Garmin began by tracking our swim then lost its mind before we reached the P. Pier but somehow logged the correct distance and time. 
 

Niel and Don at the Poly Pier with Fossil Point in the background.  

I'm not swimming tomorrow. I'm with the Surfrider chapter tomorrow doing a beach cleanup in Avila. I plan on swimming this coming week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 7.

niel 
 

Friday, The 4th of July

Earning A Second Piece Of Pie  -

We had 10 swimmers in the water this morning looking to do a long swim and to be guilt free later today when solving the choice of 'apple or cherry pie?' and saying I'll have both! 

The plan was to get in at 7, beating the crowds and the parking hassles, and to do about 5000M. With the large difference in our speeds and one persons desire to sneak in a Birthday Swim we swam in several groups. 

Nick, Alan, David, Avery, Eileen, Jim, Tom Israel, Niel and Paula

Tom Lorish got in later. We spoke to him at the first buoy as we were finishing up.

The water gods smiled on us with nice swimming conditions. It was overcast with a peek of sun and a hint of warmth after we were out of the water. The temperatures were 55° air and 58° water. When we got in at 7:15 the water was smooth with a slight swell, the waves were 1 to 2 foot and the water was clean with good visibility. Midway through the swim the swell picked up and the water became lumpy with some push. When we were getting out the surf was up with some 5 foot waves. 

The route was east along the buoys and past buoy #4 until we were clear of the kelp at the reef buoy, go around the kelp and to the end of the Avila Pier. Then to the second crossbars on the Poly Pier, to the end of the P. Pier, back to the end of the Avila Pier and in to the first buoy where several people had tied off bottles of endurance drink. We checked our distance and decided that another triangle would put us at 5K. Tom Israel said that he was feeling good and was going to swim to the Avila Rock to make the 6500M distance for his birthday swim. 

Getting In

Niel's plot

Tom I's plot

Tom does Poseidon walking out of the sea after swimming 6,500M.

Don and I will swim and easy mile tomorrow at 7. 

niel

Thursday, July 3rd, 2025

Holiday Warm Up Swim - 

Tom swam to the Avila Rock yesterday. I had not been out there is a while so that became my goal for today.  Avila in now in its 'July No Sky' season, it was gray and 56° with no sign of when there would be some sun. There was a light breeze and a on foot swell out of the SE so it was a push into the swell on the way out to the rock and surfing it on the return.     

The water was 58° but with the cloud cover it is feeling colder. 

Tomorrow we will have a nice size group to swim on the 4th. We'll get in at 7 to beat the crowds. Distances will vary out to 5000M, depending on enthusiasm. 

The Saturday group will swim at 7

I'll take a rest day on Sunday and not swim.  I will be in Avila at 10 for the Surfrider beach clean up. We'll collect plastic trash to keep it out of the water. 

niel 

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2025

Tuesday Morning With Tom Israel - 

It was Swim around Avila Rock Wednesday.  Typical summer morning at Avila: Partial cloud cover, flat calm water, and 56° water temperature. The swimming was beautiful and going around the Rock is where it's at on a morning like this. 

Tuesday, July 1st, 2025

I had some Surfrider water quality testing to do this morning and didn't in until 8. Conditions were as they have been; 55°, calm and gray with flat, 57° water.  I bumped into Jim as I was heading to the water. We got in at the same time but did our own swims. We crossed paths once near the mouth of San Luis Obispo Creek.       

I had a good swim and made my goal of 5000M for today's distance. I'll do about 4K on Thursday, 5K yards or meters, whichever the group wants to do, on Friday's 7AM holiday swim, and 4K on Saturday. I'm taking Sunday off from swimming to work a Surfrider post holiday beach clean up at Avila. 

At the showers is ran into Bryan. He lives and swims in Ventura but has family here. It has been a number of years since we last met at Avila. He says ocean swimming has been the best thing for the recovery of his shoulder after rotator cuff surgery. 

niel

Sunday, June 29th, 2025

Bumpy Swimming - 

At 11 o'clock it was gray, 59° and breezy in Avila Beach. There was a tall fogbank that was thinner on the west and hanging onto the hills beyond the Harford Pier and on the east it was thick, rolling over Fossil Point and making like it would move into Avila Beach. The water was up to 57°, the surf was minimal and there was already a chop on the water all of the way in to the buoy line. 

I saw Tom Lorish as he was getting in and headed east on the buoy line. I didn't see him in the water. 

Jim, David and I planned to swim two or three triangles.  

The tide was low and it seemed like we could walk to the first buoy.  Swimming down the buoy line was quite bumpy. The chop was out of the SW and swimming to the end of the Avila Pier was a push against the current and through the chop. At the first buoy on the west side Jim went in, shed his wetsuit, and got back in. He is planning on doing the 5K in Santa Barbara next weekend and wanted to see how the water would feel bareback. 

David and I came back along our route for our second triangle. The chop was now larger but our path relative to it was more favorable and it was flatter on the east, lee, side of the Avila Pier. Arriving at the first buoy I had lost my interest in doing a third triangle in today's conditions and came in with David. 

I'll swim at 8 on Tuesday, 7 on Thursday and there is a 4th of July swim at 7 on Friday. You can join us, beat the crowds and justify eating a second piece of pie. Extra points will be awarded to anyone who swims in a colonial, wool, swimming costume. 

We'll swim at 7 on Saturday and I'll skip Sunday to do a beach cleanup at 10 at Avila with my friends from the Surfrider Chapter. 

niel

Saturday, June 28th, 2025

 Saturday Morning --

 

Jodi, Paula and Niel got in the water a bit after 7.  The conditions at Avila Beach were 52° air, gray and calm, with 1 to 2 foot surf, a slight swell and nice clean 55° water. We swam a route Jodi suggested. It involved swimming the buoy line from the 1st to the 4th buoy on the east side , to the end of the Avila Pier, to the 4th buoy on the west side, in along the buoy line to buoy #3, to the end of the pier, to #3 on the east side and continuing until we have been to all of the buoys on both sides of the pier ending at #1 on the east side where we began. That would have been a 3500M swim but we decided to add the buoy line to the 4th buoy and back to #1 for 4K.

I'll swim tomorrow at 11

niel

Friday, June 27th, 2025

Tom Lorish's Friday Swim - 

Similar to Wednesday, but different. There was a partial cloud cover, some blue skies, and a breeze blowing from the west to the east. There was a pretty good wind chop on the water and the water clarity was good. My toes tell me the water temperature was about 55°. Excellent Friday morning vitamin. 

Tom's Lorish Swims - 

Partial cloud cover, low tide and flat glassy water. In short, a typical Avila  summer day. The water temperature felt about 53° and the water clarity was excellent. Excellent morning Swim. 

Tuesday, June 24th, 2025

The wind keeps pushing the water temperature down and making it hard to think of June as summer. This morning the water temperature was 53°- 54° and with the gray sky it was a winter swim.  Otherwise the swimming conditions were perfect: small surf, no wind, an air temperature of 52° and glassy water.   

I had an appointment at 9 so I did just one triangle. 

I checked my records and last year the water temperature was in the mid 50's, more or less, well into July and not consistently above 55° until August. The highest water temp I recorded last year was 59°. 

I'll be wearing my winter weight wetsuit for another month or so. 

I'll swim at 8 on Thursday and at 7 on Saturday. I have a conflict on Sunday so I may not swim that day.

niel    

Sunday, June 22nd, 2025

Tom Israel and Niel's Sunday Swim - 

Our plan was to swim west along the buoy line and on to the first crossbars on the Poly Pier, to the end of the pier, to and around the reef buoy on the east side of the Avila Pier and back along the buoys to the Avila Pier, with possibly some extra distance added at the end.  The air temperature was 68°, the water temp was up to 56°, the surf was 2 to 3 foot and there was a light wind and small swell out of the SE.  

Tom and I swam out to the buoy line, dodged some fishing lines, swam under the pier and to the Poly Pier. The water was warmer than yesterday but there were still a lot of areas of colder water. We swam out along the P Pier and picked up some chop from the SW when we passed the third crossbars. There was a day charter fishing boat off of the end of the P. Pier that was idling while they cleaned their catch. We didn't want anything to do with them so we changed our plans and swam back in along the P. Pier to the second crossbars. From there we decided to swim to the end of the Avila Pier. The chop had come up quickly to 1 foot plus and we were swimming across it.  It was a slog getting to the Avila Pier with a lot of course corrections.  To the reef buoy the chop was quartering behind us so it was downhill. The return to the Avila Pier was again across the chop for a hard finish.         

Tom and I agreed that neither of us would have done 4K in today's conditions by ourselves.  

At the showers it was nice and warm in the sun while the wind was blowing umbrellas down the beach.  

I'll swim short at 7 on Tuesday, at 7 on Thursday and Saturday and at 11 next Sunday.

Duke shared this link of the Alki Beach Open Water Swim group in Seattle.

https://youtu.be/xc7XsNzBA68?si=mqkJ66kYGCYA04wK 

niel

Saturday, June 21st, 2025

This morning's swimming conditions were both wonderful and surprising; it was 47°, sunny with glassy water and a small swell, 😊and the water was 52° to 54° 😱.  The wind that began yesterday afternoon had pushed the water temper back down to winter numbers.   

Niel and Jodi at the end of the Poly Pier.

Jodi suggested that we do a big circle; down the east buoy line to the 4th buoy, around the reef buoy, to the end of the Poly Pier, back in along the pier and to return along the west buoy line to the Avila Pier. That route would be about 3200M. I'm already out of practice for sub 55° water so getting in was a wake up call. It took me until I was around the reef and headed towards the Poly Pier until I was evened out with the water temperature. I was grateful that I had decided on wearing my winter weight wetsuit before heading to the beach. Being evened out lasted until we were even with the end of the Avila Pier where the water temp dropped another degree or two. I was looking for warmer water the rest of the way to the end of the Poly Pier where it warmed up a bit. We swam in along the pier to the second crossbars. We decided to not swim to the first crossbars to avoid the kelp near the shore and instead swam to the end of the Avila Pier. 

We had not thought about what the swim to the P Pier had been like and 150M from the pier we swam back into the icebox.  It warmed up some near the Avila Pier. From the end of the pier we swam back the way we had come, to the #4 buoy on the east side and back along the buoys to #1 and in.  We had a nice finish for 4,087M in 1:35.

Having sunshine at the showers was nice and we felt good going home. 

I'll swim tomorrow at 11. 

niel                  

Friday, June 20th, 2025

Tom Lorish's Friday Swim - 

The conditions at Avila were pretty much the same as they have been for the last few days. Flat, glassy, and blue skies. The water temperature was about 56°. It was a nice morning swim. 

Thursday, June 19th, 2025

The swimming was excellent today. 

The air temp was 54°, the water was 57° but felt colder, the surf was 1 to 2 foot and Avila was in a hole in the fog so the sun was shining.  

At 7 the ocean was glassy with a mild SE swell. About half way through my swim the swell became a chop that grew to be a hand slapper that had to be pushed into.  The water temperature varied a lot depending which side of the pier I was on and how far offshore I was.                               

I'll swim Saturday at 7 and Sunday at 11.

niel

Wednesday, June 18th, 2025

Tom's Wednesday Swim - 

Low tide, flat and glassy. Toes in the water at 9 AM. Blue skies and sunny and the water felt about 55° to me so I am thinking it was probably 57.  Still getting recalibrated from the warm water. Excellent swimming conditions. 

Monday, June 16th, 2025

 Tom Lorish's Water Polo Tournament in Spain -

At the 2025 Masters Barcelona cup for water polo, we won gold in the 40s and silver in the 50s.  It was a very competitive and fun tournament!  Teams from Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Turkey and us.  Super cool.  

And Tom's Avila Swim Report - 

Foggy, flat, and glassy.  After two weeks in Spain, I am back and happy to see the Pacific Ocean again.  The Balearic Sea was beautiful and warm and I love swimming there, and it's always good to get back to the good old pacific.  All I know about today's Swim is the water was colder than it was in Menorca! I will guess it was 57°, but that is just a ballpark guess. It was a good morning Swim. 

Sunday, June 15th,

A Beautiful Day for a Swim at Avila Beach and a Bit of Drama -

At 10:30 it was 60° in Avila Beach and there was a wall of fog that started at the boardwalk and hid the buoy line. There was a slight SE wind and swell. The water temperature was 57°. David Cheney and I would swim while his wife Alex would play in the waves. 

I wanted to do another 4K swim and David wanted to go a bit shorter so we took my three triangles route and David would come in before I did. 

Niel and David

The fog began to clear when we were suiting up and we swam in sunshine. The swimming conditions were glassy until noon when the regular west wind came up and pushed up a small SW swell.

While swimming the west on the west buoy line we encounter a swimmer in trouble. A man was hanging onto the third buoy and was a picture of exhaustion. His arms were wrapped around the buoy and his head was down on his arm. He was wearing a wetsuit but no goggles or cap. David spoke to him and he waved us off. Neither of us liked the idea of dealing with a panicked swimmer so we continued to the 4th buoy and watched him from there. We could not see the #2 lifeguard tower well enough to know what the guard was doing. The guy left the buoy and headed for shore, swimming hard for about 50M and then stopping to tread water. We watched him do this five times until he reached shallow water and then we continued our swim.

On the third lap David went in from the end of the pier and I completed the third triangle. 

This coming week I'll will swim on Thursday and Saturday at 7 and on Sunday at 11. 

niel                

Saturday, June 14th, 2025

Niel, Iliene, Jodi, Tom Israel and Paula swam a 7 AM this morning. It was 55°, sunny and clam in Avila Beach. There was fog hanging on the hills to the west. The water temperature was 58°.   

We swam the west buoy line and over to the second crossbars. I was going short so I swam from there to the end of the Avila Pier and in. The group swam to the end of the Poly Pier, back to the third crossbars on the P Pier and over to the end of the Avila Pier for about 3,000M. The fog had come in and once they lost sight of the Avila Pier during the crossing.   

That's Ilene, Tom, Jodi and Paula starting towards the Poly Pier.

I'll swim tomorrow at 11

niel 

Thursday, June 12th, 2025

I got in the water closer to 8AM today. It was still June Gloom but the clouds would start burning off while I was in the water. The air temp was 53° and the water temp. was 56°.  It was nice swimming in calm and glassy water. On my third lap the wind and a SW swell picked up and the sun began to come out.       

I swam three triangles for 4,257M in 1:47 which is about my limit without some supplemental nutrition onboard. 

Saturdays swim will be at 7. Paula and I will go short for an hour or so. 

I'll swim Sunday at 11. 

niel  

Tuesday, June 10th, 2025

Swimming Longer and Relearning an Old Lesson - 

I had unlearned an old ocean swimming lesson about never being cold when you get in the water. I'd never put shoes or slippers on when I got up and gone barefoot when I drove to the beach. My feet were cold when I got out of the car. They felt cold when I walked into the 57° water and were the one cold part of my body for the entire swim.  Lesson relearned.  

At 6:50 it was June Gloom, 57° and calm. The water was glassy. I measured the water at 57° but my cold feet made it feel like 55°. The water temp varied 1,° colder close in along the buoys and warmer closer to the end of the pier. 

It looks like the water will stay above 55° so I'm starting to push my distance to prep for this year's birthday swim.  Today's 4K went fine. If the next 3 or 4 4K swims feel good I'll move to 5K, and if I feel good at that distance I'll go for this years goal of 7,500M. 

I'll swim Thursday and Saturday at 7. Paula and I will swim short on Saturday so we will have time to change and won't need to wear out wetsuits to the No King's March, I don't know what plans Tom Israel and Jodi have. 

niel

Received this from Tom Lorish. He is in Menorca, Spain for a water polo tournament, air and water in the low 70's. Next he is on to Croatia for a swim vacation. Everyone I have spoken to that has been there said it is very beautiful with great swimming.