Saturday, June 6th, 2026

The Return of the Party Boat -

Hillary has rebuilt the one of it's kind Avila Dolphins Party Boat so her GoPro is back in its original configuration and not only looks great but should be much harder to lose.

The new GoPro party boat with camera, two hula dolls and flags

Today we had Niel, Hillary, Tom Israel, Jodi and Paula in the water. The water temperature was up to 57° with a moderate wind, no chop, a 58° air temperature and heavy overcast. The pushy swell that Hillary and I had on Thursday had grown and was offering up occasional sets of 5 foot waves. 

We couldn't decide on a route so we swam to the end of the pier and would figure it out once we were there. Getting out through the surf required timing and sprinting but was uneventful. 

Hillary, Tom, Paula, Jodi and Niel at the end of the Avila Pier

 

The plot of my swim is kind'a correct. My Garmin was having another bad day with the plot somewhat of a fantasy and the charts of my pace and stroke rate changing between data and a flatline. Jodi and Tom's plots were more accurate than mine. One of us always has funky data from the swim.    

We swam over to the Poly Pier, in to the #3 crossbars, back to the end of the Avila Pier, to the #4 buoy on the west side, to the end of the pier for a third time and in to the beach.  Google maps measured our route at 3,800M +/-.

Coming in was a bit of an event with the group approaching the beach just when the largest waves of the morning arrived. There were some rides in the washing machine on the way to the beach but it was fun and no gear was lost.

Our apres swim at Hillary's van with 

fresh brewed coffee and snacks. 

Hillary and I will swim at 7 on Tuesday. I swim at closer to 8 on Thursday and with the group swim at 7 on Saturday. 

niel