Wednesday Evening, October 10, 2012

Rob and I had a great swim; the water was 60 degrees, calm, flat and clean.  The waves were knee high with an occasional 3 footer.  We planned to go out along the pier, over to the Poly Pier and back along the buoy line on the creek side.  Our start was delayed while we waited for a guy in a powered skiff to finish messing around near the end of the pier, neither of us wanting to become involved with seemingly random  movement by a power boat.  When we reached the end of the Avila Pier the sun was getting close to dropping behind the hills so we changed our route and headed to the last buoy at the creek and finished a half triangle.  
Last year we continued to swim on Wednesday evening through October, and will this year, the only limit being the amount of remaining daylight.

There is going to be a long swim option this Sunday's, for those who are interested in putting in some additional distance and are comfortable with being farther offshore.

Alan Freeman will be joining us on Sunday the 21st.  Alan has lived in Hawaii for many years but when he lived here he coached Masters and swam with the us.  He has a successful Catalina Channel crossing and a swim down the length of the Na Pali coast in Kaua'i among his open water adventures.  Alan wants to organize a Maui Channel Relay for 2013 so check your frequent flyer miles.

niel

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Fall was no where to be seen at Avila Beach on Sunday.  It was warm, clear and there was very little wind.  The water was 59 degrees,, green and had some occasional set of 3 to 4 foot waves.  The water had been retested on Wednesday and was safe to swim in.  We had a nice group of swimmers; Duke, Niel, Rob, Amy, Sylvia, Yvonne, Loren, Rob #2, Brad, Chad, John and Dale, and three paddlers; Brittany, Allison and Beth!  There was a regatta forming up off of the end of the Avila Pier so we decided on a route that would give the boats a chance to start their race while we were close to shore.  We swam out and formed up at the first buoy on the left side of the pier, and then swam under the pier and down to the last buoy in the line near the mouth of the creek.  With so little wind and no current the swimming conditions were great.  By the time that the group had reformed at the last buoy the boats in the regatta were down off of Port San Luis, so we were free to swim to the end of the Avila Pier and do a complete triangle.  We had a wide range of swimming abilities and speeds in this group so having the three kayaks with us was great.  Allison was able to hang back with the slower swimmers while Beth and Brittany took the front and back of the main body.  Besides the safety of having an escort the kayaks help other boat traffic realize that we are in the water and provide guidance to those swimmers who are still honing their open water navigation skills.  We swam to the last buoy on the east side of the pier and back along the line to our starting point covering about 1.15 miles.   With such a large group we spent a lot of time forming up and chatting at the turning points so this swim was more of a series of sprints over 44 minutes. For pictures from the swim check out our facebook page.

Don't miss Dave VanMouwerik slide show this coming Saturday about his successful Catalina Channel crossing;

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

There were three good reasons not to swim at Avila this evening:
A concert scheduled for 5 PM would have the the access road jammed.
The presidential debates were on at 6.
The county closed the beach after Monday's testing showed excessive levels of enterococcus (poo by another name) at both sides of the pier and in Shell Beach.  Wednesday's test results were not available by Wednesday evening.  No sewage spills had been reported.  (Does this sound like the OCSD to anyone?)
So we would not have been swimming anyway.
The water was 62 degrees over at the Harford Pier so Sunday should nice.  

Sunday, September 30, 2012

I was off in the southland attending a wedding and reminding myself why I live on the Central Coast.  John covered my but by writing up the following swim report;

Niel-- we missed you this past Sunday Sept 30th! There were 8 or 9 of us there--Sylvia, Brad, Bonnie, Britta, Lauren, Dale, Jeff, Robin and myself,  But gorgeous light, like you imagine the Mediterranean sometimes--bright fog drifting in and out, half there and then gone and drifting back, light fog, but enough fog to keep us from going out to the end of the pier, we also had no kayaks to accompany us. We entered the water around 11:10 and guessed it to be about 59 degrees, and swam to first buoy, there were huge rolling waves breaking onto the shore that made it great fun heading seaward, the largest I've seen at Avila in some time, and good sized rising swells farther out. We headed south to the last buoy, then waited to gather, then headed back towards the pier. Some were finished at that point and headed in, the rest of us were a bit concerned about going under the pier with the swells, but it ended up being no problem. We swam north to the last buoy before the creek, then we turned back, went back under the pier, and Brad and the Camarillo guy headed in, and Lauren and I decided to do a sprint to the next buoy, then we finally headed in. It was a gorgeous exit with the Sun fully out by then and the huge swells carrying us toward shore, and then the waves breaking over us as we exited. A wonderful exhilarating swim overall!
--John Hampsey

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Rob and I met up at the beach at about 5:15.  There was enough of a breeze out of the NW to put a chop on the water but no white caps.  The water temperature was 59.  AS we were getting ready Dave VanMouwerik stopped by to say hi.  We started talking about the channel swimming season, the recent successful attempts and failures, and wound up talking right through our swim window.  I was great to get caught up. 

I'll be in San Diego this Sunday and Rob has another (his last of this season) assist on a channel crossing attempt so he is a maybe for out swim on Sunday.   Conditions should be nice  so you all should show up and get in.  If I'm lucky there will be time for me to get in the water at Mission Beach on Sunday.

There is a concert at the Avila Resort at 5PM next Wednesday, 10/3.  The last time this occurred the traffic was horrible for those of us just trying to get to the beach to swim so rob and I are going to give next week's Wednesday evening swim a pass.

niel

Sunday, September 23, 2012

We had a nice crowd at the beach today; Chad, Duke, Ruta, Ed, Sylvia, Yvonne, Loren, Amy, Dale, John, Niel and Lee.  Rob's was feeling used up by his recent adventures and was going to nap on the beach.  We also had Beth and Allison with us on their kayaks.  There was a slight breeze from left to right, a small chop and a water temperature of 58.5 degrees.  A small pod of dolphins was working along the buoy line while we were getting ready but we did not see them once we got in.  With a group of this size and with some new swimmers we decided to start simply and make it up from there.  We went out and down the buoy line to the left and regrouped at the end.  Everybody was happy so we decided to head to the end of the pier.  Allison hung with Sylvia and Yvonne and Beth stayed with the main group.  At the end of the pier Dale and Loren headed in along the pier while the rest of us went to the end of the buoy line at the creek.  The water from the creek was much warmer making the top foot very comfortable.  We came back, under the pier and to the first buoy on the left where we had started.  We were in the water for 42 minutes.

niel

Wednesday Evening, September 19, 2012

It was just Andrew and I this evening.  Andrew has swum with us before but lives and swims in the bay area. Work brought him to the Central Coast so he dropped in.  It was warm at Avila Beach, warmer than in San Luis Obispo, with a very slight offshore breeze.  The water was flat, calm, empty and 62 degrees.  It was also kind'a green and cloudy.   We did a big triangle counter clockwise; starting out to the buoy line and down to the creek, to the end of the Avila Pier, from there we swam to Fossil Point before coming back parallel to the beach until we picked up the east end of the buoys.  We continued along the buoys to the pier and came in.  We were in the water for 52 minutes and swam about 1-1/2 miles. 

niel

Sunday, September 15, 2012

Avila Beach was a surprise this morning with dense fog hanging over the water.  It was dead calm and the water was almost perfectly flat and 59 degrees.  From the beach the buoy line would come in and out of view as the fog shifted.  The fog was thinning but still coming and going  when Sylvia, Yvonne and Haley got in about 10:45.  This was Haley's first time with us.  She lives in Santa Barbara and was in town visiting family.  They swam left (east) along the buoy line and came back and went under the pier to swim the line on the west  side. The fog was thinning at 11:15 when Rick, Dale and I got in.  We took the same route and swam to the last buoy on the left.  When we stopped at the end of the line the sun was out and Avila Beach was sitting in a huge hole in the fog.  It was beautiful with bright sunshine and perfect swimming conditions.  We decided to do the triangle route and headed to the end of the pier.  On the leg from the end of the pier to the creek we picked up a following swell.  A breeze out of the east had come up so the last leg along the buoys back to the pier was into a small chop.  
We were in the water for a total of 34 minutes and covered about a mile.

niel

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Avila Beach Was Dirty So We Played At The Pismo Pier

Monday's water quality sample for the west side of the Avila Pier was really bad for enteococcus and fecal coliforms , http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/health/publichealth/ehs/beach.htm,  so we decided to play in the surf at the Pismo Pier instead of swimming at Avila Beach.  The County retested at Avila on Tuesday and the numbers were back below the red zone but the new results were not posted on Wednesday by the time we made the call to switch venues.  Rob, Allison Danilu and I just messed around in the mushy surf having fun in the water.  Danilu had her surfboard and Rob, Allison and I shared Rob's two boogie boards.  It was fun to just mess around in the water with no real goal or plan.

Rob has a mount on his boogie board for his GoPro camera got some really cool shots. 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

We had 10 swimmers today; Sylvia, Niel, Monte, Jennifer, Dale, Amy, Duke, Dave, John and Gerry.   The water was flat and 59 degrees.  There was an occasional 3' wave and very little wind.  While I was taking the water temperature there was a small pod of dolphins along the east end of the buoy line, but they moved off by the time I got back to the beach.  There were a lot of sail boats maneuvering off of the end of the pier, a race forming up, so we decided to not argue about right of way issues with them and stayed to the buoy line.  We swam the the ease end of the line and then continued straight on to just off of the rocks of Fossil Point.  We returned back to the buoys and along the line to the pier, under the pier and to the last buoy at the creek.  Then back to the pier, under, to our starting point and in to the beach.  This was a 1.5 mile swim.  With all of the regrouping, visiting and joking (the water was very pleasant) I had us in the water for a total of 52 minutes. 

niel

Wednesday Evening, September 5, 2012

Kind'a strange conditions due to a tropical storm to the south; scattered clouds, cool or warm depending if the sun was out, humid, a steady breeze blowing from left to right and the water had the liquid metal look it gets when it is bright but cloudy, greenish and shinny.  The water temperature was 60 degrees, sort of.  There was a pod of 5 or so dolphins swimming back and forth between the buoy line and the shore on the left side of the pier.  Rob and I decided to stay on the other side just to avoid and territorial misunderstandings.  We did half of the large triangle, swimming out along the length of the pier to the end, then to the end of the buoy line at the creek and back to the pier.  The water temperature played some serious games with us.  It felt real warm until we reached the buoy line, where the temp. dropped 5+ degrees.  About 200 M short of the buoy at the creek the temperature shot back up and the water tasted more fresh and metallic.  There was another cold spot in the middle of the buoy line just to keep us guessing.  

niel

     

Monday, September 3rd, 2012 Labor Day

This was not the last swim of the summer for us!

We had a nice crowd today and conditions that were a lot like yesterday.  the water was 1 degree warmer at 57.5, still nice and clean but with a wind chop out of the SW.  The surf was larger, with sets of 3 to 4 foot waves.  Swimming today were Niel, Rob, Dale, Sylvia, Susan and her friend Marta, Bonnie and Duke!  Allison was paddling her kayak and Danilu was with us on her SUP.  There were a lot of people fishing from the pier so we decided to begin like yesterday; out to the buoy line and down to its' left end, where we would decide what to do further.  Sylvia and Bonnie decided to head to the end of the pier while the rest of the group went back along the buoy line.  Danilu and Allison stayed with the largest group.  At the pier Duke and Rob went in while Niel, Dale, Susan and Marta swam to the west end of the buoys at the creek.  When we regrouped at the creek Allison headed for the end of the pier to pick up Sylvia and Bonnie while Danilu accompanied us back along the buoys.  We stopped short of the pier and came in.  
While we were setting up the pot luck Al McVey and Duane and Linda Leib dropped by.  Duane has not been swimming with us since a shoulder injury that he is still dealing with.

We will see Wednesday evening if the water warms up even more.......

niel

Sunday, September 2, 2012

We had 11 swimmers today.  It was overcast, cool and calm while we were getting ready.  The water temperature had fallen to 56.5, which is over 10 degrees below what it was last Wednesday evening and but only a bit below normal for this time of year.  Nobody was too excited about getting in after all of the warm water we had enjoyed in August.  We decided to go down the buoy line to the left end, see how people were feeling and plan the rest of the route from there.  At the buoy Sylvia, Bonnie, Rick, John and Dale decided to swim back along the buoy line while Niel, Rob, Brad, Bo and Amy headed towards the end of the pier.  Allison was accompanying the group and went with the group that went to the end of the pier.  Before we got in the water there had been a very slight breeze out of the east which was now changing to a strengthening wind from the SW, so those of us heading to the end of the pier were working directly into an increasing chop and current.  While we were regrouping at the end of the pier swimmers were drifting east at a pretty good pace.  We continued to the last buoy on the west side of the pier near the mouth of the creek where we met up with John who had swum the length of the buoy line.  We swam back along the buoys, passing Sylvia and Bonnie where heading west to the creek, under the pier and to the buoy on the east side where we had started.  Rob and I came in while Brad, Amy, Bo and John continued to the last buoy on the east side before returning to the pier.  I was swimming for 44 minutes.

Hey, what happened to the 11th swimmer?  After we were back on the beach, Jerry Gross returned form his run and then swam the buoy line for 30+ minutes on his own. 

We will swim tomorrow at 11 with a pot luck lunch afterwards.

niel 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

This was the best swimming day of the year.

Rob and I scored huge on the conditions Wednesday evening; the water was 67 degrees (I had to check it twice to be sure), the ocean was flat and windless with no swell, the water was amazingly clear (when I was taking the water temperature I could see the bottom under the pier) and empty of critters except for a few gulls.  I did a toe test and it felt so nice that I decided to go without my wetsuit for the first time in a year.  Allison was along to paddle with us.   We swam the buoy line, starting left and then back under the pier to the creek and back to where we got in.  The top 18" of water didn't have any 'bite' to it, so my legs and chest were comfortable, but with each stroke my hands would pull up some deeper water that was a more normal temperature.  Maybe if I had switched to breast stroke I could have stayed completely in the toasty layer.  There were also some spots where the temperature dropped but they weren't large.  Rob wasn't real happy with the increased visibility, he doesn't want to know what is down there, but it was strange and fun for me to be able to see the bottom moving along under us all of the way out at the buoy line.  I was in for 28 minutes and got a little cold after I got out, I'm such a clod water wimp, but this was a rare and special opportunity to experience conditions like this at Avila Beach.  I'll have to try and remember this if we see some sub 50 degree water temperatures this winter.



Byron was sitting on the beach when I came back from taking the temperature, so we got to visit with him both before and after we swam.  He experienced a bad bike crash on the 17-Mile Drive in Carmel about a week ago.  He still looks pretty rough but a lot better than the day after photo.  He came up on a car that had parked in the bike lane (to take pictures of some deer) and with traffic on his left, forest on the right and not enough space to stop he hit the pavement rather than the back of the car.  Besides the abrasions to his back, arms, hands and chest he experienced some serious injuries to his face, exposing his jaw.  He was treated in the ER in Monterrey by an excellent plastic surgeon and looks like he will have a complete recovery.  
I'm sure that he would enjoy hearing from those of you who know him.  
We will have to add him to the Injured Reserve list along with Duke and set up a special spot for the walking wounded. 

niel

Sunday, August 26, 2012

It was sort of eerie at Avila when I got there a little after 10 this morning.  Everything was still; there was no wind, the ocean was completely flat, the 'waves' would not have come up to your knee, there were not many people on the beach and there was not a bird, seal. dolphin, whale, otter or any other sea creature to be seen.  I actually checked my watch to see if I had somehow managed to arrive several hours early.  I got a water temperature of 59.  The water was extremely clear and clean looking.  From the pier I saw Allison on her kayak and spoke to her briefly.  She had had a group of seals following her but they had taken off to find someone else to play with.   Rob, Susan and Yvonne were already on the beach and were followed by Sylvia, Ronnie (who found us on the net and is doing an Alcatraz swim in a couple of weeks), Amy and her friend John who is new to swimming in the ocean and Gerry Gross.  Rob was not going to swim. He had crewed a successful Anacapa Island to Oxnard crossing Saturday and worn out.  Joining him on the beach were Dale and Al McVay  and Rick and Rhonda.  With two swimmers who were both new to us and ocean swimming I decided that a route up and down the buoy line would be best so if anyone became uncomfortable the beach was only a short swim away.  Everyone did fine and enjoyed themselves.  We had people swimming a lot of different speeds and so group became stretched out but Allison did a great job of working back and forth along the line, keeping track of everyone and lending navigating assistance as required.  The water was especially clear for Avila Beach,  which was even more unusual because the visibility is typically better in the winter when there is less plankton.  While swimming under the pier I could clearly see the base of the pilings in the sand and count the shells on the bottom.  

We will swim Wednesday evening at 5:30, Sunday at 11 and also MONDAY, LABOR DAY at 11.  After  Monday's swim there will be a pot luck lunch.

niel