Sunday, August 22,2010

A simple description of Avila Beach this morning was fog, lots of dense fog. The sun was shining just a couple of blocks inland but the fog was laying on the surface of the water and up on the beach. there was no wind so the water was flat and smooth. In keeping with the totally unpredictable temperature swings this summer the water was a bracing 53. This was after a 61 on the previous Wednesday evening. Waiting on the beach for the visibility to improve were Tim, Samantha and Pepper from SLO Tri and Niel, Sylvia, Gary Cushing, Gerry Gross, Pete and Chad. I could occasionally see parts of the buoy line from the sand but the fog was coming and going so we decided to wait and see if conditions would improve. At 11:40 the fog was consistently lifting and we could see the end of the pier so we got in. We did a rout that would give us good visual references if the fog came back in. Most of us swam straight out to the end of the pier, around and to the last buoy at the creek. We grouped up there and came back along the buoy line, under the pier and in to the beach. Gerry and Sylvia, forgoing wetsuits, picked their own routes along the buoy line. Other than the temperature the swimming conditions were beautiful and everybody was happy with the swim. By the time we had showered and gotten back to to our chairs the sun was out and the fog was gone.

niel

Wednesday Evening, August 28, 2010

It was lovely at Avila yesterday evening but kind'a crowded. The weather and the water was warm so there were still a lot of people both on the beach and in the water at 5 PM. There were also a lot of seals in the water. As individuals and in groups of up to a dozen, there were seals on both sides of the pier. They seemed to be frolicking rather than feeding. Last year I would of called this number of seals a 'high normal', but since there have seen so few seals this year this is the most that I have seen at one time. There were a few pelicans about who would occasionally take an individual dive at a fish. The water was fairly clear and 61 degrees. There was a steady breeze from left to right and a small chop on the water, but no whitecaps. Swimmers were Niel, Pete, Ryan, Lynne and Rob. We swam the buoy line/pier triangle counterclockwise. We had to wait a bit after we regrouped where the 4th buoy used to be while a commercial fishing boat came in along the pier and took a slow turn around to the right before motoring off. We had plenty of seals heads popping up to check us out whenever we stopped. The wind had died by the time we got to the end of the Avila Pier so we had smooth condition for the last half of the course. There were two real cold spots that woke me up out of my warm water comfort but they were not too large. We were in the water about 40 minutes.

niel

Sunday, August 15, 2010

It was another morning of gray sky but no fog at Avila Beach this Sunday. There was a little wind that was coming and going and not very many people on the beach yet. The water temperature was 57 and the water was very clear and green. Other than the few fishermen who were just showing up on the pier I saw no seals, pelicans or any signs of other carnivores looking for a meal. While we were getting suited up I saw an otter, or a very small seal in the surf line but it didn't stay around long enough for a firm identification. Swimming today were Joe, Niel, Pete and Chad. Joining us today was Kelley, who is from Clovis and came over for her first swim in the ocean. Dale did a run-by to say Hi! She is not swimming or riding until her left elbow heals from a minor bike accident. WE went in on the right side of the pier and out to the buoy line. We swam to the last buoy at the creek and regrouped. Kelley was doing fine with the temperature, her new wetsuit and the slight chop and was proving to be a fast swimmer too. We swam from the buoy to the second set of crossbars on the Poly Pier and retraced our route back to the buoy line, along it to and under the Avila Pier and in to the beach. The distance was probably just over a mile and I had a total of 40 minutes in the water.

Rob and Sylvia were in Long Beach at the Naples Island swim this weekend.

I forgot to mention that Pete recently completed the Vineman Triathlon, which was his first attempt at a full ironman race.

niel

Wednesday Evening, August 11, 2010

At 5 PM it was sunny and warm at Avila with a light breeze. There were still lots of people on the beach and in the water, which is always a good sign. There were about a dozen pelicans in the area one of which would dive occasionally, but in no concentrated fashion. I saw no seals from the pier when I was taking the water temperature, which was a nice even 60. It was looking like a very nice evening for a swim. When I got back to our stuff on the beach Rob was introduced me to Cliff. Rob had met Cliff this summer at the Masters open water meet near Fort Collins, CO. Cliff was on the west coast with his family, having joined two other Colorado swimmers in a successful triple Catalina Channel crossing on Friday the 6th! That was three swimmers; two men and one woman, one boat, and all three of them completed the swim! While we were asking Cliff to explain where he did his open water training in Colorado (lakes), Lynn and Pete showed up, so we got ready and got in the water. Rob suggested a route I have not done before; out on the left of the pier to the buoy line. left to the last buoy (this is what used to be the third buoy, as the first and fourth buoys are now missing), to the end of the Avila Pier, to the 'crossbars' that are about a third of the way out along the Cal Poly Pier, to the last buoy at the creek and then along the buoys to the pier and in. I recon that this was about 1.75 miles and we were in for 55 minutes. We picked up one seal at the end of the Avila Pier, several more at the Poly Pier and a cormorant that continued diving for fish within reach of Lynn and myself. I had a great swim, good enough to skip the pool this morning and sleep in.

niel

For those of you that haven't seen it yet, Dave swam the Santa Barbara Channel last weekend going from Anacapa to Oxnard! Here's a slideshow of his crossing

Sunday, August 8,2010

There was a very thick marine layer hanging over the central coast this morning. Avila was very gray, cool and still. The water was flat and glassy but the water temperature had slid down to 55.5 from a nice 60 on the previous Wednesday evening. The predator report indicates some changes besides the water temperature. There were over a dozen fishermen on the pier this morning and they were all out at the end of the pier. There were also 4 or 5 groups of seals also out at the end of the pier. Whatever was going on, apparently that was the place to be. We elected to avoid the end of the pier and swim the buoy line. Swimming today were Niel, Rob, Duke (who was the overall winner of the Bull Canyon Tri yesterday!) Silvia, Susan, Pete and joining us for the first time; Joe. We have now lost the last buoy on the left hand side of the pier. Don't know what happened, it is just not there now. This leaves us with two buoys making the line on the left side with and the stray buoy that has been out on the reef since spring. I do not know what this means for the definition of the 'no boats/swimming' area. Anyway, we took the opportunity to do a swim along the line of the buoys and extending it along the length of the beach almost all of the way to Fossil Point and back. This was probably about a mile.
Rob and I will be here on Wednesday evening. Rob and Sylvia are doing Naples Is. in Long Beach next weekend. I'll be at Avila.

Yesterday Dave Van Mouwerik successfully completed the 12.4 mile channel crossing from Anacapa Is. to the mainland. I don't have any details but congratulations to Dave! That's huge.

niel

Wednesday Evening, August 4, 2010

Wednesday was just another beautiful summer evening at Avila. While it is hot and probably humid anywhere east of Bakersfield, at 5 PM in Avila it was sunny and t-shirt and shorts comfortable, with just a bank of fog on the surface of the water way out there. There was some small chop on the water but the wind was dying and the surface was laying down. The water temperature was 60. The water has gotten more cloudy lately, but it is not yet close to being the brown plankton laden soup of summers past. The predator report consisted of 8 fishermen on the pier and two pelicans that were occasionally diving on a snack. Just before we got in a small pod of dolphins cruised down the buoy line on the left of the pier, we saw one seal head while swimming and after dinner Kris and I watched an otter play in the surf straight off of the steps where we gather. Swimmers were Niel, Lynne, Joel and Rob. We went out parallel to the pier on the left side, around the end, to the last buoy at the creek and retraced our route back to the beach. The water had completely flattened out and at 60 degrees felt wonderfully relaxing. I felt stronger the longer I swam and put in a push along the length of the pier coming back in. We were in for 40 minutes.

Everyone should keep thoughts of flat and warm seas in their mind this weekend for Dave Van Mouwerk, who will attempt the 12 mile swim from Anacapa Island to the mainland.


niel

Sunday August 1,2010

Our cold summer weather continues. It was very gray at Avila his morning with thick clouds all the way of the horizon. Visibility was fine but there was no warmth. The water temperature was 57.5, a little wind with a lot more south in it than is usual, (more typical of when we are expecting rain) but no real chop and an occasional 3+ft. wave. The water was dirty, possibly because to the southern wind. No fishermen on the pier, virtually no birds or any sign of sea life. Niel, Sylvia, Brittany and Chad swam. Rick and Rhonda enjoyed lunch on the beach. We swam the buoy line. Brittany dropped off at half way. The water was oddly warmer on the creek side of the pier. This was not a major swim but afterwards I felt good, Sylvia was smiling and I think it helped Chad cure his jet-lag.

I'll be here on Wednesday evening.

niel

Wednesday July 26th, 2010

It was a beautiful night in Avila and the ocean was nice and lively. You could see the occasional whitecap from up on the beach and there was plenty of chop out there waiting for us. We didn't have an official water temperature reading tonight but the consensus was cold... probably 56ish

We were 5 swimmers deep tonight and we all took the same route. We did the triangle around the pier in the clockwise direction. The leg from the end of the left side of the buoy line to the top of the pier was straight into the chop and pretty burly.

If anybody has and interest in swimming an open water race there's some good ones coming up the next couple weeks around California. On Saturday we've got the Santa Cruz Rough Water, it's approximately 1 mile and very popular. You can register on the beach but make sure you're early, there was quite a line last year for same day registration. On August 15th is the Naples Island Swim down in Long Beach which features 1 and 3 mile swims. I'll be at both of them, if you want to go or have questions let me know! (you can catch me at rob@robaquatics.com)

Rob D.

Sunday, July25, 2010

Avila had a high layer of solid gray clouds at 10:15. Not really fog because I could see the sand slide at the very south end of the Pismo dunes, but there was no sun and no wind of any kind. It was not very cold, 60+, but gloomy. Actually, it was perfect weather for the San Luis Obispo Triathlon. I had a 7:30 start time and it was nice and cool from start to finish and almost spitting on part of the bike. The lack of wind at Avila made the swimming conditions in the ocean better than in the pool at the race. The water was 57 and glassy with just little ripples or wavelets on the surface. You could water ski out there. I wanted to do the buoy line easy and work the soreness out, which was fine for Duke and Eric. Rob and Sylvia were at a long course meet in Fullerton. Everyone else might of been at the Triathlon. We had a very nice swim. I felt better at the end than at the start.
The sun came out at 12:45 and it warmed up a lot.
I will not be swimming this Wednesday evening. I'll be at the Fair having my annual immersion in heat, country music, pig races, funnel cakes and corn dogs. I should plan some extra long workouts for the remainder of the week to aid my post-fair recovery.
I'll be back at the beach next Sunday.

niel

Wednesday Evening, July 21. 2010

It was sunny, crowded and breezy at Avila at 5 PM. The wind was the 'traditional' Avila afternoon breeze from the NW. The chop was under 1' with not much white capping but certainly more than anything you would ever experience in a pool, offering an opportunity for a real ocean swim. The water was clean and 58 degrees. I saw no seals and hardly any shore birds before we swam. This evening we had Samantha, Bob, Ryan, Eric, Niel and Rob. We went in on the west side of the pier to best avoid the fishing lines that were trailing way off of the east side of the pier with the wind. We swam down the buoy line to the creek and grouped up to decide how we felt about the conditions and to plan the rest of the swim. Samantha chose to stay along the buoy line. The rest of the group elected to do the 'traditional' (or habitual) triangle swim. The leg to the end of the Avila Pier was across the chop. From there to the last buoy to the east of the pier we had a nice push and the leg home was into the chop. This was a great opportunity for me to make use of breathing on either side, choosing whichever worked better for that leg, and to remember to keep my head down. When it gets choppy I tend to want to lift my head up when I breath, instinctively thinking that I will be more likely to get a liquid free breath, but it actually works better to stay relaxed, keep my head down and just breath into the pocket of air at my shoulder on whichever side works better. We picked up Sam on the leg back to the pier and saw three seals nearby. The swim took us about 40 minutes and felt great.
Sunday Rob and Sylvia will be at a Masters long course meet in Fullerton. I am doing the SLO Triathlon. I should be at the beach in time to swim at 11 but if I am last I'll catch up in the water.

niel

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Weather you chose to call it high fog or low clouds, it was very gray at Avila Sunday morning. The clouds were high enough for the visibility to be unobstructed, I could see bird rock off of Shell Beach, so the gray was going to be more of a mood thing than actually interfering with our ability to swim. There was very little wind and just enough of a ripple on the water to keep it from being glassy. Two foot surf, a water temperature of 59 and no sea birds or seals in sight. There was a lot of loose kelp in the water. Samantha from the Central Coast Tri Club was here with two new ocean swimmers. She worked with them along the buoy line, helping them get comfortable in this big pool. Our group was Sylvia, Niel, Peter, Duke, Dale, Rick and Eric. Big Steve is watching our stuff and requiring his toe test skills. There was some boat traffic around so we did not stray too far from the area around the Avila pier. We swam the buoy line clockwise, out to the end of the Avila Pier, to the buoy at the creek and back along the buoys to the pier. The warmer water temperature sure takes the edge off that that comes with 55 degrees and under and makes it very comfortable to be out in the water.
Rob was in Indiana this past weekend and completed his first 10K swim in the Morse Reservoir in Noblesville, Ind. With a water temperature in the mid 80's and an air temperature in the 90's I think that this swim should count as a double. You can check out his post about the race at robaquatics.com. The additional effort required to compete in water that warm with that much sun on your back makes dehydration (while swimming!) a real issue. Rob, you need to get some of your competitors from the mid west and Atlantic states out here for some miles in water that is a good 25 degrees colder. It would even up the odd for you.

niel

Wednesday Evening, July 14, 2010

It was beautiful at Avila this evening. It was sunny and warm and there were more people on the beach and in the water at 5 PM than I usually see on a Sunday at noon. Part of the reason must of been a water temperature of 63! Whoah, this was unexpected. The wind was offshore, blowing from left to right, which usually pushes the water temperature down, but for some unknown and welcome reason had not yet had its usual effect. The wind was steady and strong enough to put up a mild chop but other than that the swimming conditions looked wonderful. I saw only one lonely pelican and no seals before we got in. It was David, a triathlete and strong swimmer who I last saw here a couple of weeks ago, Rob and myself. We decided to do something just a little different. We swam directly out to the end of the Avila Pier and from there over to the second set of crossbars on the Poly Pier, where a couple of harbor seals popped up to check us out. From there we swam to the last buoy at the creek and then along the buoy line, under the Avila Pier and back in to our starting place on the beach. There were some spots with big changes in water temperature and at the buoy at the creek you could feel the much colder water 3 feet below the surface. Near the end of the Avila Pier I was thinking that my wetsuit with sleeves was too warm. The swim took us 40 minutes.

niel

Sunday, July 11, 2010

At 11 o'clock we had low gray sky's, no wind, no chop, no swell and small waves. Not too many people on the beach on this non-holiday weekend. The water temperature was 57 and I saw one seal in the surf while I was taking the temperature. Not many sea birds around but there were a good number of optimistic fishermen on the pier. It was couples day at Avila. We had Big Steve and Nan, Niel and Kris, Duke and Angela, Al and Dale and Rick Marina and Sylvia. Rick, Niel, Duke and Dale swam the triangle/buoy line counter clockwise, swinging by the end of the pier, for about a mile in give or take 30 minutes. We had beautiful swimming conditions; flat water with no current. The sun came out as we were finishing up. By 12:30 the wind was coming up and I think that there were going to be whitecaps on the water by 1.
The next swim will be Wednesday evening at 5:30.

niel

Wednesday Evening, July 7, 2010

Avila was sunny and fog free at 5 PM. There were still quite a few people on the beach and in the water, which is always a good sign. The water temperature was 57.5 with good visibility. There was a steady wind from the west and a chop on the water that was just short of white capping that extended all of the way in to the surf line. There were quite a few fishermen on the pier, a few small groups of pelicans in the air and one seal playing in the surf. We had four swimmers; Rob, Pete, Joel and Niel. We did the triangle counterclockwise, starting on the right side of the pier to avoid the fishing lines that were streaming downwind on the left side of the pier. I thought that the water temperature was comfortable (in my full wetsuit) and the chop was enough to make me mindful of my head position but not to the point of upping my seawater intake. Nobody was interested in pushing it so we just had a nice swim.

Rob is competing in a 2 mile race in a lake in Virginia this weekend and he has reports that the hot weather may push the water temperature into the upper 80's or even higher! Does Blue 70 make a cool suit?

niel

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Kind of an odd day at Avila but a nice day for swimming and eating. It was gray over the beach at Avila and sunny a quarter of a mile inland and over at Pismo. What wind there was had changed from its typical summer direction of out of the NW and was coming from the west and southwest, holding the fog over Avila. With the fog it was very calm, with no chop and no sign of the 'big' southern swell that had been predicted. The water temperature was 57, the water had good visibility. There were numerous fishermen on the pier and seals and a nice pod of dolphins along the buoy line. On the beach we had Sylvia, Niel and Kris, Rob, Chad, Dale and Al, Dave Van Mouwerik, Rick and Rhonda Marina and Pete. We had 8 swimmers. Nobody was feeling like hammering it so we swam both sides of the the buoy line in about 30 minutes and headed for our pot luck lunch on the beach. The fair ranged from shrimp through broccoli salad to homemade apple pie with vanilla ice cream. We probably should of stayed in the water longer.

Rob and I will be swimming Wednesday at 5:30.

niel